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Article OF THE SOCIETY OF FREEMASSONS. ← Page 6 of 6
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Of The Society Of Freemassons.
eyes in the conduct of many of those persons who called themselves Freemasons in this very country . Their society was nothing but a sort of chimera ; their combination was only founded on certain ridiculous ceremonies , which meant nothing , and led to nothing . " In England there mi ght he some reality in this association ; but certainl y in our provinces the assemblies which these worthies held had no other aim
but eating , drinking , smoking , and mutual entertainment , as is done in a public house , and the obligation which they took to reveal nothing of that which passed in privacy among themselves rested upon nothing , since they did nothing but that which they could do anywhere . This has been established on evidence by all the inquiries which have been made , even by the authorit y of the magistrate .
" Nevertheless the greater part of these kind of brethren regard the edict against their assembling with the same feelings as a sect looks upon the suppression of its public worship . Some glorify themselves in suffering persecution for a matter so sacred and so important such as Freemasonry is . Nearly all say that they are ready to suffer martyrdom rather than reveal the secrets they had promised to keep . We see them exposing
themselves with gaiety of heart to punishment , by holding assemblies in the Dunes and elsewhere . Others , more prudent , go outside the boundaries of the province to have the consolation of drinking and smoking in company with certain brethren with the required ceremonies . And more than this , we see proselytes whopass over the sea to be initiated in England , and then return to be able to participate in this country and the pretended persecution . In factwe
re-, may mark in all such persons all the symptoms of a real fanaticism . " The people , on its side , has taken up another bias . Seeing that the magistrates raged against assemblies of which no one knew the object , it has imagined that things took place among them worthy of the fire .
" Thus the Freemasons have another kind of persecution to suffer on the part of the populace ; and , to disinculpate themselves of the most dreadful crimes , they have been obliged themselves to publish to-day that the Sovereign power has condemned their assemblages solely on account of suspecting them of caballing against the government in favour of the Prince of Orange . Wishing to give the air of mystery where there ought not to be any , they are
compelled now to declare themselves suspected of one crime , to clear themselves of a greater one . "We have followed in respect to the subject of Freemasonry the accounts of it which have appeared to us the least doubtful , without pretending to have unveiled its mysteries . The public is enli ghtened about it by several writings , and even by a comedy , —by everything , in fact , that has been tried to gain the result , without being able to assure ourselves that we have succeeded . "
Without noticing the hostile criticism of the last writer , I may observe that the Abbe Mascrier ' s remarks previously have this value for us to-day , that they were written twenty-four years only after the revival of 1717 , and present certain " points " for the Masonic student to note and consider .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Of The Society Of Freemassons.
eyes in the conduct of many of those persons who called themselves Freemasons in this very country . Their society was nothing but a sort of chimera ; their combination was only founded on certain ridiculous ceremonies , which meant nothing , and led to nothing . " In England there mi ght he some reality in this association ; but certainl y in our provinces the assemblies which these worthies held had no other aim
but eating , drinking , smoking , and mutual entertainment , as is done in a public house , and the obligation which they took to reveal nothing of that which passed in privacy among themselves rested upon nothing , since they did nothing but that which they could do anywhere . This has been established on evidence by all the inquiries which have been made , even by the authorit y of the magistrate .
" Nevertheless the greater part of these kind of brethren regard the edict against their assembling with the same feelings as a sect looks upon the suppression of its public worship . Some glorify themselves in suffering persecution for a matter so sacred and so important such as Freemasonry is . Nearly all say that they are ready to suffer martyrdom rather than reveal the secrets they had promised to keep . We see them exposing
themselves with gaiety of heart to punishment , by holding assemblies in the Dunes and elsewhere . Others , more prudent , go outside the boundaries of the province to have the consolation of drinking and smoking in company with certain brethren with the required ceremonies . And more than this , we see proselytes whopass over the sea to be initiated in England , and then return to be able to participate in this country and the pretended persecution . In factwe
re-, may mark in all such persons all the symptoms of a real fanaticism . " The people , on its side , has taken up another bias . Seeing that the magistrates raged against assemblies of which no one knew the object , it has imagined that things took place among them worthy of the fire .
" Thus the Freemasons have another kind of persecution to suffer on the part of the populace ; and , to disinculpate themselves of the most dreadful crimes , they have been obliged themselves to publish to-day that the Sovereign power has condemned their assemblages solely on account of suspecting them of caballing against the government in favour of the Prince of Orange . Wishing to give the air of mystery where there ought not to be any , they are
compelled now to declare themselves suspected of one crime , to clear themselves of a greater one . "We have followed in respect to the subject of Freemasonry the accounts of it which have appeared to us the least doubtful , without pretending to have unveiled its mysteries . The public is enli ghtened about it by several writings , and even by a comedy , —by everything , in fact , that has been tried to gain the result , without being able to assure ourselves that we have succeeded . "
Without noticing the hostile criticism of the last writer , I may observe that the Abbe Mascrier ' s remarks previously have this value for us to-day , that they were written twenty-four years only after the revival of 1717 , and present certain " points " for the Masonic student to note and consider .