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Article ON FREEMASONRY, ← Page 5 of 5
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On Freemasonry,
text of scripture i" their mouths , they denounce and persecute all who will not embrace their peculiar tenets ; and because they cannot consign the bodies of their victims to the stake , they plunge their souls into everlasting burnings . Truly does the letter-writer say , " men shall he lovers of their own selves ; and the climax is , having- a form of godliness , hut denying the power thereof ; towards this worst of all forms of evil everything is now rapidly tending . So that at the end of the age , when the Lord Jesus shall
come back again to this world , instead of finding man improved , the word of God declares that as it was in the days of Noe , so shall it be in the days ofthe Son of Man . " * Mr . E . C . Pryer appears to have altogether lost sight of the fact , although it is somewhat important , that our fraternity have the advantage of the gospel in addition to the moral teaching ofthe Order , and therefore they are rather in a better situation than their less fortunate neighbours , who have not been enlightened by the bright rays of Freemasonry . But , he continues , "
Freemasonry , or any other system of morality , will never purge the conscience from guilt , neither can it serve as a stepping-stone to Christ . " "i Now I would calmly suggest to the writer ' s consideration , in all the meekness of Christian charity , whether he does not think that whoever anathematizes Freemasonry for being a teacher of morality , by the same act condemns his Saviour , " crucifies him afresh , awl puts him to an open shame -, " % for he was the greatest teacher of morality ( he world ever hiew , and he taught little else from the beginning of his ministry to its final consummation on the cross ?
I take leave of this simple-minded man more in sorrow than in anger , because I think him well-intentioned , but " righteous overmuch . " § And as I am writing for the benefit of a religious professor , 1 have authenticated all my authorities by their appropriate reference . I am , sir , yours , & c . Coins INDICIUM . We have little to add after this lucid exposition ; for we are not inclined to be wrathful against our adversaries , although they malign us in every possible shape—even accusing us of Rosicrucianism and witchcraft . We
advocate Freemasonry on principle , because we think no human institution is at all comparable with it ; and for this reason we insert the above letter in its vindication . We are enemies to sophistry in all its forms , and shall never be backward in using our influence to drag it forth , and hold it up to public scorn ; aud we cannot but think that if we had declined to expose the fallacies of Mr . B . C . Fryer ' s production , it would have been a moral breach of faith to our readers . The writer of the article in our Review , which has excited his professed sympathis so excellent a Mason and so good a man
y , , so amiable in all the relations of life , as to require no commendation from us . The article itself is sound , learned , and illustrative ; and the author , we have reason to know , merits and receives the gratitude of the fraternity . We are not hypercritical , as a reference to our volumes will fully testify ; nor , like a venerable cotemporary , who is old enough to know better , do we mislead our readers by fabricating dates , garbling extracts , or misrepresenting facts , for the purpose of barking down an author with whom we are displeased , by charging him with inaccuracy , and ruining the sale of his work .
We deal with things and not with persons . If we believe a book to be worthless , we will honestly give our reasons for it ; for we scorn to he guilty of the sin of using a mendacious criticism , as an instrument to gratify a malignant feeling , even against our bitterest enemy . Our readers have seen Mr . E . C . Fryer ' s distorted view of the effects of Freemasonry ; they shall now see what our friend the doc-tor says about ita divine of forty years standing , who hay bestowed more than ordinary pains to ascertain , what Freemasonry really is . " Look then on this picture—and on this . "—ED . F . Q . R .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry,
text of scripture i" their mouths , they denounce and persecute all who will not embrace their peculiar tenets ; and because they cannot consign the bodies of their victims to the stake , they plunge their souls into everlasting burnings . Truly does the letter-writer say , " men shall he lovers of their own selves ; and the climax is , having- a form of godliness , hut denying the power thereof ; towards this worst of all forms of evil everything is now rapidly tending . So that at the end of the age , when the Lord Jesus shall
come back again to this world , instead of finding man improved , the word of God declares that as it was in the days of Noe , so shall it be in the days ofthe Son of Man . " * Mr . E . C . Pryer appears to have altogether lost sight of the fact , although it is somewhat important , that our fraternity have the advantage of the gospel in addition to the moral teaching ofthe Order , and therefore they are rather in a better situation than their less fortunate neighbours , who have not been enlightened by the bright rays of Freemasonry . But , he continues , "
Freemasonry , or any other system of morality , will never purge the conscience from guilt , neither can it serve as a stepping-stone to Christ . " "i Now I would calmly suggest to the writer ' s consideration , in all the meekness of Christian charity , whether he does not think that whoever anathematizes Freemasonry for being a teacher of morality , by the same act condemns his Saviour , " crucifies him afresh , awl puts him to an open shame -, " % for he was the greatest teacher of morality ( he world ever hiew , and he taught little else from the beginning of his ministry to its final consummation on the cross ?
I take leave of this simple-minded man more in sorrow than in anger , because I think him well-intentioned , but " righteous overmuch . " § And as I am writing for the benefit of a religious professor , 1 have authenticated all my authorities by their appropriate reference . I am , sir , yours , & c . Coins INDICIUM . We have little to add after this lucid exposition ; for we are not inclined to be wrathful against our adversaries , although they malign us in every possible shape—even accusing us of Rosicrucianism and witchcraft . We
advocate Freemasonry on principle , because we think no human institution is at all comparable with it ; and for this reason we insert the above letter in its vindication . We are enemies to sophistry in all its forms , and shall never be backward in using our influence to drag it forth , and hold it up to public scorn ; aud we cannot but think that if we had declined to expose the fallacies of Mr . B . C . Fryer ' s production , it would have been a moral breach of faith to our readers . The writer of the article in our Review , which has excited his professed sympathis so excellent a Mason and so good a man
y , , so amiable in all the relations of life , as to require no commendation from us . The article itself is sound , learned , and illustrative ; and the author , we have reason to know , merits and receives the gratitude of the fraternity . We are not hypercritical , as a reference to our volumes will fully testify ; nor , like a venerable cotemporary , who is old enough to know better , do we mislead our readers by fabricating dates , garbling extracts , or misrepresenting facts , for the purpose of barking down an author with whom we are displeased , by charging him with inaccuracy , and ruining the sale of his work .
We deal with things and not with persons . If we believe a book to be worthless , we will honestly give our reasons for it ; for we scorn to he guilty of the sin of using a mendacious criticism , as an instrument to gratify a malignant feeling , even against our bitterest enemy . Our readers have seen Mr . E . C . Fryer ' s distorted view of the effects of Freemasonry ; they shall now see what our friend the doc-tor says about ita divine of forty years standing , who hay bestowed more than ordinary pains to ascertain , what Freemasonry really is . " Look then on this picture—and on this . "—ED . F . Q . R .