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Article AN CLP MASON'S ADYICE TO HIS NEPHEW ← Page 2 of 3 →
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An Clp Mason's Adyice To His Nephew
up for future application . In a word , my dear hoy , you lack industry and perseverance . But enough of this . You inform me that you are the S . W . of your Lodge , and stand for Master at the next election ; but as the bishop has consented to admit you into holy orders at Christmas , you entertain serious misgivings , after reading Trevilian ' s book which you enclose , whether as a clergyman you isah conscientiously continue to associate with the Brethren in a Mason ' s Lodge , and you state the following plausible reasons as the grounds of your dubitation : —
I . You gather from several existing documents , if I understand your epistle rightly , that at the union in 1813 an arrangement was agreed to by the "U nited Grand Lodge for the purpose of excluding all open professions of Christianity from the Order , lest it should be
considered sectarian ; that the G . A . O . T . U ., who is so fre quently invoked during the Lodge ceremonies , does hot refer to the second person in the Trinity but the first ; and that ah reference to the religion Jesus is pronounced by authority to be at variance with historical truth , although it is a well known & ct that the primitive lectures explained the Gr . A . O . T . IT . to be Him that was placed on the topraost pinnacle of the temple , " which could not by any possibility bear a reference to any but Jesus Christ . This you tell me is your first stumbling block ; and you quote the Athanasian Creed to show that , if the attribute of deity belongs to the first person in the Trinity , it must also belong to the second- —for
that profession of faith plainly teaches that ¦ " the Father is God , the Son is God , and the Holy Ghost is God ; and yet there are not threie Gods , but one God . " And hence you fancy that the only alternative at your command is , either to renounce your creed or abandon Freemasonry , because they teach different and irreconcileable doctrines , and you produce the following published statements in proof of your allegations : —
2 . In a manifesto , which , as you affirm , was officially forwarded to the Grand Lodge at Berlin , in 1846 , by the Grand Secretary , you find the following passage : — " The Grand Lodge of England , by the earliest history and tradition , has always declared and observed the universality of Freemasons , making no distinction or exclusion on the score of religious faith , a matter in which she never inquires beyond
the point in which all men agree . It is for this reason that she does not sanction or recognize meetings which in some places are holdenassemblies of particular religionists . With these the Grand Lodge does not interfere , but she strictly guards , by her laws and her practice , against the introduction into her Lodges of any emblems or decorations which are indicative of peculiar creeds , deeming them liable to be taken as offensive demonstrations , at variance with the true spirit of Freemasonry . This universality the Grand Lodges of England have always upheld . " In this manifesto you suppose the doctrine to be distinctly affirmed that universality is the most essential characteristic in Masonry , to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Clp Mason's Adyice To His Nephew
up for future application . In a word , my dear hoy , you lack industry and perseverance . But enough of this . You inform me that you are the S . W . of your Lodge , and stand for Master at the next election ; but as the bishop has consented to admit you into holy orders at Christmas , you entertain serious misgivings , after reading Trevilian ' s book which you enclose , whether as a clergyman you isah conscientiously continue to associate with the Brethren in a Mason ' s Lodge , and you state the following plausible reasons as the grounds of your dubitation : —
I . You gather from several existing documents , if I understand your epistle rightly , that at the union in 1813 an arrangement was agreed to by the "U nited Grand Lodge for the purpose of excluding all open professions of Christianity from the Order , lest it should be
considered sectarian ; that the G . A . O . T . U ., who is so fre quently invoked during the Lodge ceremonies , does hot refer to the second person in the Trinity but the first ; and that ah reference to the religion Jesus is pronounced by authority to be at variance with historical truth , although it is a well known & ct that the primitive lectures explained the Gr . A . O . T . IT . to be Him that was placed on the topraost pinnacle of the temple , " which could not by any possibility bear a reference to any but Jesus Christ . This you tell me is your first stumbling block ; and you quote the Athanasian Creed to show that , if the attribute of deity belongs to the first person in the Trinity , it must also belong to the second- —for
that profession of faith plainly teaches that ¦ " the Father is God , the Son is God , and the Holy Ghost is God ; and yet there are not threie Gods , but one God . " And hence you fancy that the only alternative at your command is , either to renounce your creed or abandon Freemasonry , because they teach different and irreconcileable doctrines , and you produce the following published statements in proof of your allegations : —
2 . In a manifesto , which , as you affirm , was officially forwarded to the Grand Lodge at Berlin , in 1846 , by the Grand Secretary , you find the following passage : — " The Grand Lodge of England , by the earliest history and tradition , has always declared and observed the universality of Freemasons , making no distinction or exclusion on the score of religious faith , a matter in which she never inquires beyond
the point in which all men agree . It is for this reason that she does not sanction or recognize meetings which in some places are holdenassemblies of particular religionists . With these the Grand Lodge does not interfere , but she strictly guards , by her laws and her practice , against the introduction into her Lodges of any emblems or decorations which are indicative of peculiar creeds , deeming them liable to be taken as offensive demonstrations , at variance with the true spirit of Freemasonry . This universality the Grand Lodges of England have always upheld . " In this manifesto you suppose the doctrine to be distinctly affirmed that universality is the most essential characteristic in Masonry , to