-
Articles/Ads
Article FREEMASONRY AND THE PRESS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry And The Press.
mig ht have extended itself to see that there never was any such assertion made by country members as the absurdity he chooses , without any authority ,, to attribute to them ; and he mig ht also have answered himself by the latter part of his own sentence , in which he
asserts " men laughed at everything , and believed nothing , " for , because in Freemasonry there was not , and is not , anything to laugh at , but much to admire , and as it inculcates a belief , founded upon the Holy Scrip tures , so it " ' attracted the general favour under
G-eorge I . " Faith , which had been pretty well abandoned , was again about to lift up her head , and "Faith , Hope , and Charity , " are , and always ivere , the three principal staves of the Masonic ladder . Hence the hold Freemasonry took on the public mind at the time of the
revival in 1717 . We pass over the sneer about rituals in MS ., or print , because ive are not inclined to enlighten the darkness of the writer in The Aliiciwurii by stating their value . If he believes he can pass a " tiler" with such knowledge
as he possesses , let him try—our readers can vouch for the result . But hush ! tread softly ! Thc Athenantmi-i a literary
journal . It talks of the Abbe Barruel , and Professor Sobison [ ivho it calls Bobwson ] as if the books published by them were not identically one and the same ! Professor Sobison was the translator of Barruel , and his work was published in Edinburgh , where he held his professorship , and not in America , as this learned bibliopole
asserts . The writer boasts , in another place , that"Wc betray no secrets by ivhat ive have advanced . The entire matter has been more or less familiar from the days when Samuel Pritchnrd published his 3 Iasonry Tiisgccted , for which he got such rough usage , clown to the prescm period ,
when this Lexicon- of Frec . iHiso . iry explains what might be unintelligible to the uninitiated , as well as to the initiated , who arc by no means so-. vise and knowing as they " sometimes look . " This , of course , he could not do , —for his own peculiar reason , vi :-:., being "by no means so wise and knowing as he loots . "
But after g iving us the edifying knowledge which he has , about Professor Bobisou , and expecting to be listened to as an authority , there comes the following -. — "Masonicliterature in England has not been distinguished by much brilliancy . It has had its mild Magazine , and boasts of a few so-so sermonsand half-a-dozen
wonvery , derfully bad songs . Masonic poetry , indeed , is execrable . " What , it may be asked , can such a correct author know of Masonic literature , or its brilliancy ? What , indeed , can The Atlienceum know of brilliancy , seeino-. ' ' o that , of all the twaddle that issues from the press , The
Jjhenwum twaddle is the most senile ! The attack on this MAGAZIXE is so unimportant , and the utility of our labours so well known to the Craft , that it requires no comment from us . But when this literary organ states that- Masonry has but half-a-dozen wonderfully had songs , we take leave to dispute the accuracy of the statement . We can show more than
one thousand songs , and would refer the Midas-eared critic to one"Adieu , a warm heart fond , adieu !" by a poet , Brother Eobert Burns , as a specimen of " execrable Masonic poetry . "
The Saturday Review article is of a different character . There , is , as must be supposed , the usual smartness of its peculiar tone , but it is not wilfully offensive against the Craft . It quizzes , like a gentleman and scholar , Bro . Donald Campbell's editing , but there is no malice , and it bears internal evidence of being written by a friendly hand . The article concludes thus : —
" These specimens will probably be thought enough without enlightening our readers with the definitions of Transient Candidates and Sublime Knights Elected . It is wonderful how much our mystngogues tell us . We have long Eitnals given for the Consecration of Lodges and the Installation of Ofiice-Bcarers . But of the kernel of the ivhole matter ive are left ignorant . As to the final causes of Lodges and
Office-Bearers , we know as little as when ive began . The whole thing is enough to set one thinking . AVhat does it all mean ? Is there anything in it or nothing ? Here is an elaborate system claiming a vast antiquity , and spread at this moment over a large part of the world . When we are told that the principles of Masonry are coeval with the creation , that Masonry received its present organisation at
the building of Solomon ' s Temple , that it has something to do with the mysteries of India , Egypt , and Greece , that mediaeval chivalry is not- indeed identical with it , but derived from it , aud finally , that Masonry is derived from in . crovpcwiu , we at once see that the writers are talking nonsense . But what strikes ono is the solemnity of the nonsense . It looks very much as if the talkers of the nonsense really believed
it . Of course nothing is more common than the poiver of creating a science about nothing , and believing in it as a real science—a gift displayed in its perfection by heralds and by some classes of lawyers . But Freemasonry seems to go beyond this . It is hardly possible to believe that so very extensive a society can be associated absolutely for no purpose whatever ,- and yet it is difficult to understand what rational purpose can be served by such au organisation . It is not a religious sect ; it is not a political party . It is not strictly a secret society , for , though it professes to nossess
secrets , it blazons forth its existence and many of its ceremonies before the eyes of all men . Its religious position again is very curious . We gather that it requires from its members no more definite creed than a profession of theism . The Mason maybe a Jew ; he may not be an atheist ; wo suppose he may be a Deist or a Mahometan . It has Chaplains , it opens its meetings with prayer , it sings the
Psalms of David , and reads lessons from the historical books of thc Old Testament . The ivhole system seems to imply a belief iu these books . JNbthing more thoroughly pervades the whole tiling than the mystieisiug and symbolising of Old Testament names , objects , and persons . But there is a significant omission of everything distinctively Christian . It is not for us to explain this . We
simply remark it . "Again , we suppose tho question ivill make Freemasons very indignant , but wo cannot help asking , what is the relation between Masonry and other societies , less di < niified doubtless , but which to the uninitiated present the same appearance of elaborate and meaningless mysticism ? What are Odd Fellows and Foresters ? What * are the "Welsh
Ivorites ? - What are thoso Druids of tho city of Oxford who every year make Mr . Cardwoll come and talk to them after dinner ? Aro all these spurious initiations of Freemasonry , or what ? Of course ive , who do not know what Freemasonry itself is , cannot pretend tot-ell . "We said ive ivould not criticise , and we will not . We , therefore , simply ask , in all humility , how ( p . . 31 ) Charles XII ., King of Sweden , could have 'instituted nu order of knighthood in 1811 ?'" Contrasting this last extract with the Atlisnmum , how
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry And The Press.
mig ht have extended itself to see that there never was any such assertion made by country members as the absurdity he chooses , without any authority ,, to attribute to them ; and he mig ht also have answered himself by the latter part of his own sentence , in which he
asserts " men laughed at everything , and believed nothing , " for , because in Freemasonry there was not , and is not , anything to laugh at , but much to admire , and as it inculcates a belief , founded upon the Holy Scrip tures , so it " ' attracted the general favour under
G-eorge I . " Faith , which had been pretty well abandoned , was again about to lift up her head , and "Faith , Hope , and Charity , " are , and always ivere , the three principal staves of the Masonic ladder . Hence the hold Freemasonry took on the public mind at the time of the
revival in 1717 . We pass over the sneer about rituals in MS ., or print , because ive are not inclined to enlighten the darkness of the writer in The Aliiciwurii by stating their value . If he believes he can pass a " tiler" with such knowledge
as he possesses , let him try—our readers can vouch for the result . But hush ! tread softly ! Thc Athenantmi-i a literary
journal . It talks of the Abbe Barruel , and Professor Sobison [ ivho it calls Bobwson ] as if the books published by them were not identically one and the same ! Professor Sobison was the translator of Barruel , and his work was published in Edinburgh , where he held his professorship , and not in America , as this learned bibliopole
asserts . The writer boasts , in another place , that"Wc betray no secrets by ivhat ive have advanced . The entire matter has been more or less familiar from the days when Samuel Pritchnrd published his 3 Iasonry Tiisgccted , for which he got such rough usage , clown to the prescm period ,
when this Lexicon- of Frec . iHiso . iry explains what might be unintelligible to the uninitiated , as well as to the initiated , who arc by no means so-. vise and knowing as they " sometimes look . " This , of course , he could not do , —for his own peculiar reason , vi :-:., being "by no means so wise and knowing as he loots . "
But after g iving us the edifying knowledge which he has , about Professor Bobisou , and expecting to be listened to as an authority , there comes the following -. — "Masonicliterature in England has not been distinguished by much brilliancy . It has had its mild Magazine , and boasts of a few so-so sermonsand half-a-dozen
wonvery , derfully bad songs . Masonic poetry , indeed , is execrable . " What , it may be asked , can such a correct author know of Masonic literature , or its brilliancy ? What , indeed , can The Atlienceum know of brilliancy , seeino-. ' ' o that , of all the twaddle that issues from the press , The
Jjhenwum twaddle is the most senile ! The attack on this MAGAZIXE is so unimportant , and the utility of our labours so well known to the Craft , that it requires no comment from us . But when this literary organ states that- Masonry has but half-a-dozen wonderfully had songs , we take leave to dispute the accuracy of the statement . We can show more than
one thousand songs , and would refer the Midas-eared critic to one"Adieu , a warm heart fond , adieu !" by a poet , Brother Eobert Burns , as a specimen of " execrable Masonic poetry . "
The Saturday Review article is of a different character . There , is , as must be supposed , the usual smartness of its peculiar tone , but it is not wilfully offensive against the Craft . It quizzes , like a gentleman and scholar , Bro . Donald Campbell's editing , but there is no malice , and it bears internal evidence of being written by a friendly hand . The article concludes thus : —
" These specimens will probably be thought enough without enlightening our readers with the definitions of Transient Candidates and Sublime Knights Elected . It is wonderful how much our mystngogues tell us . We have long Eitnals given for the Consecration of Lodges and the Installation of Ofiice-Bcarers . But of the kernel of the ivhole matter ive are left ignorant . As to the final causes of Lodges and
Office-Bearers , we know as little as when ive began . The whole thing is enough to set one thinking . AVhat does it all mean ? Is there anything in it or nothing ? Here is an elaborate system claiming a vast antiquity , and spread at this moment over a large part of the world . When we are told that the principles of Masonry are coeval with the creation , that Masonry received its present organisation at
the building of Solomon ' s Temple , that it has something to do with the mysteries of India , Egypt , and Greece , that mediaeval chivalry is not- indeed identical with it , but derived from it , aud finally , that Masonry is derived from in . crovpcwiu , we at once see that the writers are talking nonsense . But what strikes ono is the solemnity of the nonsense . It looks very much as if the talkers of the nonsense really believed
it . Of course nothing is more common than the poiver of creating a science about nothing , and believing in it as a real science—a gift displayed in its perfection by heralds and by some classes of lawyers . But Freemasonry seems to go beyond this . It is hardly possible to believe that so very extensive a society can be associated absolutely for no purpose whatever ,- and yet it is difficult to understand what rational purpose can be served by such au organisation . It is not a religious sect ; it is not a political party . It is not strictly a secret society , for , though it professes to nossess
secrets , it blazons forth its existence and many of its ceremonies before the eyes of all men . Its religious position again is very curious . We gather that it requires from its members no more definite creed than a profession of theism . The Mason maybe a Jew ; he may not be an atheist ; wo suppose he may be a Deist or a Mahometan . It has Chaplains , it opens its meetings with prayer , it sings the
Psalms of David , and reads lessons from the historical books of thc Old Testament . The ivhole system seems to imply a belief iu these books . JNbthing more thoroughly pervades the whole tiling than the mystieisiug and symbolising of Old Testament names , objects , and persons . But there is a significant omission of everything distinctively Christian . It is not for us to explain this . We
simply remark it . "Again , we suppose tho question ivill make Freemasons very indignant , but wo cannot help asking , what is the relation between Masonry and other societies , less di < niified doubtless , but which to the uninitiated present the same appearance of elaborate and meaningless mysticism ? What are Odd Fellows and Foresters ? What * are the "Welsh
Ivorites ? - What are thoso Druids of tho city of Oxford who every year make Mr . Cardwoll come and talk to them after dinner ? Aro all these spurious initiations of Freemasonry , or what ? Of course ive , who do not know what Freemasonry itself is , cannot pretend tot-ell . "We said ive ivould not criticise , and we will not . We , therefore , simply ask , in all humility , how ( p . . 31 ) Charles XII ., King of Sweden , could have 'instituted nu order of knighthood in 1811 ?'" Contrasting this last extract with the Atlisnmum , how