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Article FREEMASONRY VINDICATED. ← Page 3 of 7 →
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Freemasonry Vindicated.
a The Masonic institution is certainly exclusive . Its members not only admit that this is its character , hut ,-they : ' regard ' . it to be one of its chief merits . Who are the parties whom it excludes ? It excludes the atheist , the libertine , the liar , the traitor , the thief , the disturber of the public peace—in short , all persons who
abstained with vice or crime of any description whatever . The place for such individuals is certainly not the Masons' lodge . In an open and properly regulated lodge , they would be completely out of their latitude , and would not be allowed to manifest any of their distinguishing propensities for a single moment . On the other hand , tjis door of Freemasonry stands open to all freemen of mature years who possess an able body and a sound mind ; who believe in an Almighty Being , the Creator and Governor of the Universe ; who cangive satisfactory evidence that they respect and obey the laws of their country , and the rules laid down in Scripture for the regulation of their conduct "; and who are willing to make a solemn declaration that their sole object in seeking for admission into the Order of Freemasonry , is a desire to obtain knowledge and to be of greater service to their fellow men . "
Upon the matter of secrecy , after alluding in an able maimer to the value of that virtue in conducting the ordinary affairs of this life ,. in private and public . business , and in ecclesiastical affairs , "A Freemason" adds : — Cc Freemasonry , ladmit , has its secrets . It has secrets peculiar to itself ; but of what'dp these principally consist ? They consist of signs and tokens which serve as testimonials of character . and ' qualification , which , are only conferred after a due course of instruction and examination . ' These are of no small value . They speak a universal language ., and act as a passport to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world . They cannot be lost so long as memory retains
its power . Let the possessor of them be expatriated , shipwrecked , or imprisoned , — let him be stripped of everything he has in the world , still these credentials remain , and are available for use as circumstances require . The good effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of history . They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer ; they have softened the asperities of the tyrant ; they have mitigated the horrors of captivity ; they have subdued the rancour of malevolence , and broken down the barriers of political animosity and sectarian alienationr : Grrthe field of battle , in the solitudes of the uncultivated forest , or in ' the busy haunts of the crowded city , they have
made men of the most hostile feelings , the most distant regions , and the most diversified conditions , mall to the aid of each other , and feel special joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason . To communicate these . secrets to all and sundry , to the unworthy as well as to the worthy , to the unqualified aw well as to the qualified , would destroy the institution altogether , and would be as absurd as if a religious sect were to license all the vagabonds that crowd our jailf ? and our haunts of iniquity to preach the ( iospel;—or as if the incorporations of Burgeons and physicians of this city were to invite to their respective halls all the denizens of the Grassmarkct and the Oowgate , and furnish them with , the requisite authority to practise the healing art . "
The remainder of this excellent ewsay ( for such it is ) upon . 'Freema sonry ^ is of great value und interest , and we have seldom met with more terse and vigorous writing upon any subject . . 'Hut enough of "M ' edicus . " We certainly should Dot have bestowed so much of our limited space upon that benighted individual , save for the good lie has unwittingly done to the Craft by showing 'how utterly untenable are the arguments in its disfavour .
The recollection of this correspondence had hardly time to fade away from the minds of the newspaper readers of Edinburgh , before the whole of the inhabitants of that fair city were aroused from the somewhat humdrum ( Tuietness usually prevailing there , by the proceedings incident upon laying the foundation of the new Masonic Hall on Midsummer-day . We need scarcely remind our readers of the excitement and delight produced in the ancient city by the proceedings of that day , Suffice it to say . that the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry Vindicated.
a The Masonic institution is certainly exclusive . Its members not only admit that this is its character , hut ,-they : ' regard ' . it to be one of its chief merits . Who are the parties whom it excludes ? It excludes the atheist , the libertine , the liar , the traitor , the thief , the disturber of the public peace—in short , all persons who
abstained with vice or crime of any description whatever . The place for such individuals is certainly not the Masons' lodge . In an open and properly regulated lodge , they would be completely out of their latitude , and would not be allowed to manifest any of their distinguishing propensities for a single moment . On the other hand , tjis door of Freemasonry stands open to all freemen of mature years who possess an able body and a sound mind ; who believe in an Almighty Being , the Creator and Governor of the Universe ; who cangive satisfactory evidence that they respect and obey the laws of their country , and the rules laid down in Scripture for the regulation of their conduct "; and who are willing to make a solemn declaration that their sole object in seeking for admission into the Order of Freemasonry , is a desire to obtain knowledge and to be of greater service to their fellow men . "
Upon the matter of secrecy , after alluding in an able maimer to the value of that virtue in conducting the ordinary affairs of this life ,. in private and public . business , and in ecclesiastical affairs , "A Freemason" adds : — Cc Freemasonry , ladmit , has its secrets . It has secrets peculiar to itself ; but of what'dp these principally consist ? They consist of signs and tokens which serve as testimonials of character . and ' qualification , which , are only conferred after a due course of instruction and examination . ' These are of no small value . They speak a universal language ., and act as a passport to the attention and support of the initiated in all parts of the world . They cannot be lost so long as memory retains
its power . Let the possessor of them be expatriated , shipwrecked , or imprisoned , — let him be stripped of everything he has in the world , still these credentials remain , and are available for use as circumstances require . The good effects which they have produced are established by the most incontestable facts of history . They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer ; they have softened the asperities of the tyrant ; they have mitigated the horrors of captivity ; they have subdued the rancour of malevolence , and broken down the barriers of political animosity and sectarian alienationr : Grrthe field of battle , in the solitudes of the uncultivated forest , or in ' the busy haunts of the crowded city , they have
made men of the most hostile feelings , the most distant regions , and the most diversified conditions , mall to the aid of each other , and feel special joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason . To communicate these . secrets to all and sundry , to the unworthy as well as to the worthy , to the unqualified aw well as to the qualified , would destroy the institution altogether , and would be as absurd as if a religious sect were to license all the vagabonds that crowd our jailf ? and our haunts of iniquity to preach the ( iospel;—or as if the incorporations of Burgeons and physicians of this city were to invite to their respective halls all the denizens of the Grassmarkct and the Oowgate , and furnish them with , the requisite authority to practise the healing art . "
The remainder of this excellent ewsay ( for such it is ) upon . 'Freema sonry ^ is of great value und interest , and we have seldom met with more terse and vigorous writing upon any subject . . 'Hut enough of "M ' edicus . " We certainly should Dot have bestowed so much of our limited space upon that benighted individual , save for the good lie has unwittingly done to the Craft by showing 'how utterly untenable are the arguments in its disfavour .
The recollection of this correspondence had hardly time to fade away from the minds of the newspaper readers of Edinburgh , before the whole of the inhabitants of that fair city were aroused from the somewhat humdrum ( Tuietness usually prevailing there , by the proceedings incident upon laying the foundation of the new Masonic Hall on Midsummer-day . We need scarcely remind our readers of the excitement and delight produced in the ancient city by the proceedings of that day , Suffice it to say . that the