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Article MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. Page 1 of 4 →
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Masonic Antiquities.
M
FROMBRO . DR . RAWLINSQN'S MANUSCRIPTS , & c , IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY , OXFORD . ( Continued from page 700 . ) " But now , Sir , to draw towards a conclusion ; and to give my Opinion seriously , concerning these prodigious Virtuosi;—My Belief is , That if they fall under any Denomination at all , or belong to any Sect of Men , which has hitherto appeared in the World , they may he ranked among the gnostics , who took their
Original from Simon Magus : these were a Set of Men , which ridiculed not only Christianity , hut evenEational Morality ; teaching That they should be sav'd by their capacious knowledge , and Understanding of no Mortal Man could tell what . They babbled of an amazing Intelligence they had , from no-body knows whence They amus'd , and puzzled the hair-brain'd , unwary crowd / that foliow'd 'em , with Superstitious Interpretations , of ' extravagant Talismanic Characters , and abstruse Significations , of Uncommon KdbaMsticTc Words ; which exactly agrees with the Proceedings of our Modem Free Masons .
"I am inclinable to believe , That by the word Mason , they mean a Builder , and they take the word Build , in a Figurative and Metaphoric Sense ; as it Is us'd Acts xx . 32 , and in many other Places of the New Testament : in which . Places tie Word Build , is us'd to signify the Pounding and Establishing of the Christian Church . If this be their Meaning , 'tis no Breach of Charity to presume ^ that these Gentlemen we Masoning and Building up something , that it were heartily to be wish'd they would let alone ; for I must take the Freedom to say , That there are Schisms and Fractions more than enough already , in our most Excellent Religion .
" Sir , I shall trouble you ^ with nothing more at present , than just to observe , that if the Tenets of these Men , do contain anything that is conducive to the Improvement ofManners , the Honour of God , or the real Advantage of Mankind ; they are guilty of an Unpardonable piece of Injustice , to conceal such beneficial Dogmata from the World . That if , contrariwise , they advance any thing , which is , or may be " Detrimental and Pernicious , it is great Pity , it is . not made Publick ; that it might be expos'd , censur'd , and taken care of , for Dm crescentes nugce Horeant in miserias .
" J am , Sir , "' Your Most HumUe Servant , YeRUS CoMMODUS . " "P . S . Since my writing this , I have seen a little Tract call'd The Grand Mystery of the Free Masons Discover ed ; * winch , as I take it , gives us a Genuine
Account of the Questions severally put to the Members of that Society , at their Admission , Meetings , & c . As also of their Oath , Health , Signs , Points , & c . And this I inclose , that you may have a farther Light into this pretended Mysterious . Fraternity . Whereby , also , you will perceive , what an unintelligible Jargon these People make a Mystery of . "
Our readers will not be especially obliged to us if we here enter into a lengthy refutation of the above quoted absurd charges against the Society of Freemasons / and so merely again traverse the ground so successfully occupied long since by Ashe , Anderson , Preston , and the Masonic writers of the age in which they lived ; it is , however ,
* See Free 7 nasons' Monthly Magazine , September , 1855 , p . 544
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
M
FROMBRO . DR . RAWLINSQN'S MANUSCRIPTS , & c , IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY , OXFORD . ( Continued from page 700 . ) " But now , Sir , to draw towards a conclusion ; and to give my Opinion seriously , concerning these prodigious Virtuosi;—My Belief is , That if they fall under any Denomination at all , or belong to any Sect of Men , which has hitherto appeared in the World , they may he ranked among the gnostics , who took their
Original from Simon Magus : these were a Set of Men , which ridiculed not only Christianity , hut evenEational Morality ; teaching That they should be sav'd by their capacious knowledge , and Understanding of no Mortal Man could tell what . They babbled of an amazing Intelligence they had , from no-body knows whence They amus'd , and puzzled the hair-brain'd , unwary crowd / that foliow'd 'em , with Superstitious Interpretations , of ' extravagant Talismanic Characters , and abstruse Significations , of Uncommon KdbaMsticTc Words ; which exactly agrees with the Proceedings of our Modem Free Masons .
"I am inclinable to believe , That by the word Mason , they mean a Builder , and they take the word Build , in a Figurative and Metaphoric Sense ; as it Is us'd Acts xx . 32 , and in many other Places of the New Testament : in which . Places tie Word Build , is us'd to signify the Pounding and Establishing of the Christian Church . If this be their Meaning , 'tis no Breach of Charity to presume ^ that these Gentlemen we Masoning and Building up something , that it were heartily to be wish'd they would let alone ; for I must take the Freedom to say , That there are Schisms and Fractions more than enough already , in our most Excellent Religion .
" Sir , I shall trouble you ^ with nothing more at present , than just to observe , that if the Tenets of these Men , do contain anything that is conducive to the Improvement ofManners , the Honour of God , or the real Advantage of Mankind ; they are guilty of an Unpardonable piece of Injustice , to conceal such beneficial Dogmata from the World . That if , contrariwise , they advance any thing , which is , or may be " Detrimental and Pernicious , it is great Pity , it is . not made Publick ; that it might be expos'd , censur'd , and taken care of , for Dm crescentes nugce Horeant in miserias .
" J am , Sir , "' Your Most HumUe Servant , YeRUS CoMMODUS . " "P . S . Since my writing this , I have seen a little Tract call'd The Grand Mystery of the Free Masons Discover ed ; * winch , as I take it , gives us a Genuine
Account of the Questions severally put to the Members of that Society , at their Admission , Meetings , & c . As also of their Oath , Health , Signs , Points , & c . And this I inclose , that you may have a farther Light into this pretended Mysterious . Fraternity . Whereby , also , you will perceive , what an unintelligible Jargon these People make a Mystery of . "
Our readers will not be especially obliged to us if we here enter into a lengthy refutation of the above quoted absurd charges against the Society of Freemasons / and so merely again traverse the ground so successfully occupied long since by Ashe , Anderson , Preston , and the Masonic writers of the age in which they lived ; it is , however ,
* See Free 7 nasons' Monthly Magazine , September , 1855 , p . 544