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Article A CENTURY OF FREEMASONRY* ← Page 7 of 15 →
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A Century Of Freemasonry*
until 1755 , when it declared itself independent , ancl took the name of Grand Loge de France . No sooner had the new Grancl Master entered on his office , than he Avas assailed on every side with demands for the reformation of Masonry . Any squeamishness that there might have been in addressing the Due D'Antin on the subjectwas quite
, removed now that a new Grancl Master presided over the movements of the society . It is very certain that although the Freemasons of France acknowledged the supremacy of the London Grancl Lodge , they paid A ery little court to it , and did pretty well as they liked . Nor are the points which Avere chiefly complained of devoid of interest at the present moment ,
when the Craft , even in England , is admitting so much that is sad to think upon . * I shall cite , without further preamble , an address which the student will find in the Francmaeonne , published in 1744 : —
" My brethren ! I can no longer conceal from you the grief with which my heart is filled at the contemplation of the system of robbery now degrading Preemasonry . Scarcely has this beneficent star risen above our heads , scarcely have we rejoiced in its penetrating rays , than it begins to darken . With how many stains has it not been soiled since then ! At the very moment when it should shed around it the utmost glory , it suffers , alas ! an eclipse , the end of which I do not so immediately foresee .
Let us speak without metaphor ! It seems as if we were working hand in hand with our enemies for the estrangement of all hearts from us . The profane are rightly angry : 1 st , with our carelessness in the selection of subjects ; 2 nd , with our dishonourable mode of dealing with the initiated ; 3 rd , with ihe expense of our banquets ; 4 th , with the little unity there is between ourselves andthe provincial lodges ; 5 th , and finally , with the shameless deceit of hermaphrodite and secondary Masonry , which will soon
be made the assembling place of crime , and in the ruins of which we are threatening to bury ourselves . " These are the evils with which the public is only too well acquainted . There are others which are not so well known : —¦ " 1 . Those beautiful regulations of England , so calculated to reform us , are never read in the Lodges . Is it perhaps because these regulations are too humiliating for us ?
" 2 . The majority of our brethren know almost nothing of our Art , because it has been neglected to instruct them regarding its tenets . " 3 . The number of Masters is incommensurate with that of the Masons . Several Masters have more than five hundred Masons in their Lodges ; how ivould it be possible for him to assemble them all at one time ? Nine-tenths would have to wait until their turn came , which seldom occurs even every half year . " 4 . Ignorance is so common , that the majority of the Masters ancl Wardens do not know that Masonry consists of seven degrees , *} - and the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Century Of Freemasonry*
until 1755 , when it declared itself independent , ancl took the name of Grand Loge de France . No sooner had the new Grancl Master entered on his office , than he Avas assailed on every side with demands for the reformation of Masonry . Any squeamishness that there might have been in addressing the Due D'Antin on the subjectwas quite
, removed now that a new Grancl Master presided over the movements of the society . It is very certain that although the Freemasons of France acknowledged the supremacy of the London Grancl Lodge , they paid A ery little court to it , and did pretty well as they liked . Nor are the points which Avere chiefly complained of devoid of interest at the present moment ,
when the Craft , even in England , is admitting so much that is sad to think upon . * I shall cite , without further preamble , an address which the student will find in the Francmaeonne , published in 1744 : —
" My brethren ! I can no longer conceal from you the grief with which my heart is filled at the contemplation of the system of robbery now degrading Preemasonry . Scarcely has this beneficent star risen above our heads , scarcely have we rejoiced in its penetrating rays , than it begins to darken . With how many stains has it not been soiled since then ! At the very moment when it should shed around it the utmost glory , it suffers , alas ! an eclipse , the end of which I do not so immediately foresee .
Let us speak without metaphor ! It seems as if we were working hand in hand with our enemies for the estrangement of all hearts from us . The profane are rightly angry : 1 st , with our carelessness in the selection of subjects ; 2 nd , with our dishonourable mode of dealing with the initiated ; 3 rd , with ihe expense of our banquets ; 4 th , with the little unity there is between ourselves andthe provincial lodges ; 5 th , and finally , with the shameless deceit of hermaphrodite and secondary Masonry , which will soon
be made the assembling place of crime , and in the ruins of which we are threatening to bury ourselves . " These are the evils with which the public is only too well acquainted . There are others which are not so well known : —¦ " 1 . Those beautiful regulations of England , so calculated to reform us , are never read in the Lodges . Is it perhaps because these regulations are too humiliating for us ?
" 2 . The majority of our brethren know almost nothing of our Art , because it has been neglected to instruct them regarding its tenets . " 3 . The number of Masters is incommensurate with that of the Masons . Several Masters have more than five hundred Masons in their Lodges ; how ivould it be possible for him to assemble them all at one time ? Nine-tenths would have to wait until their turn came , which seldom occurs even every half year . " 4 . Ignorance is so common , that the majority of the Masters ancl Wardens do not know that Masonry consists of seven degrees , *} - and the