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Article ANCIENT WRITERS AND MODERN PRACTICES. ← Page 2 of 9 →
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Ancient Writers And Modern Practices.
Antichristians generally , and ( according to undoubted historic documents , in the early days of these Orders , Roman Catholics ) were excluded from the society . " Whatever may have been , the
case in years by-gone , it is now certain , and undoubtedly was also the fact at the date of this article ( 1824 ) , that any one , no matter what his religious or political opinions , provided he were honest , moral , and respectable in character , was admissible into the Order . He then indulges in a little mysogynical sally , and explains very
lucidly the reasons for which women are excluded . " The absurd spirit of curiosity , talkativeness , and levity * " he says , " which distinguishes that unhappy (?) sex , were obviously incompatible with the grave purposes of Rosicrucians and Free-Masons , " No , no , ladies . ! : the Free-Masons' song says , and say s
truly"No mortal can more the ladies adore Than a Free and an Accepted Mason "— - and if we do not admit you to our Order , it is at least not for these reasons . As to children and persons under full age , the reasons for
their exclusion , as also for those who are not free agents , are obvious enough ; while as regards our Hebrew and Roman Catholic Brethren , it is a well-known fact , a boast indeed of our Order , that they , if good men and true , are as highly esteemed as any others of its members .
Thirdly , we find " the Orders make pretensions to mysteries — " this striving after hidden knowledge . " Now , we do not strive after hidden knowledge . We commend to our candidates the study of God ' s revealed word , and we urge upon them the prosecution of " such of the liberal arts and sciences as may lie within the compass of their attainments ; " but what this " hidden knowledge" may mean
we are at a loss to conceive . The study of astrology is not in vogue among us ; table-turning forms no part of our creed ; and though it has been said that the Rosicrucians of old were dabblers in alchemy , and knew how to convert valueless substances into gold , yet we are not aware that these are their pursuits now , nor if they were are we connected with them . Well do we remember the words of a worthy Past Master who prudently checked our own enthusiasm a little previous to our initiation . " I think , Sir , " he said , " from what I know
of you , that you will take pleasure in Free-Masonry , and will probably take up the study of it vigorously when your enthusiasm has somewhat cooled ; but if you expect that , by becoming a Free-Mason , you will become possessed of some tremendous secret , which will render you superior to the rest of mankind , you will find yourself grievously
mistaken . " Does this look like making pretensions to mysteries . We are not aware that Free-Masons have any secrets , or affect to have any , beyond those signs , words , & c , by which they are known to one another ; and they , although undoubtedly almost the only perfect secrets which have manv owners , are , we hesitate not to say , of the
most simple and unmysterious nature . Meantime , however , continues our author , no government can complain of this exclusion
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Writers And Modern Practices.
Antichristians generally , and ( according to undoubted historic documents , in the early days of these Orders , Roman Catholics ) were excluded from the society . " Whatever may have been , the
case in years by-gone , it is now certain , and undoubtedly was also the fact at the date of this article ( 1824 ) , that any one , no matter what his religious or political opinions , provided he were honest , moral , and respectable in character , was admissible into the Order . He then indulges in a little mysogynical sally , and explains very
lucidly the reasons for which women are excluded . " The absurd spirit of curiosity , talkativeness , and levity * " he says , " which distinguishes that unhappy (?) sex , were obviously incompatible with the grave purposes of Rosicrucians and Free-Masons , " No , no , ladies . ! : the Free-Masons' song says , and say s
truly"No mortal can more the ladies adore Than a Free and an Accepted Mason "— - and if we do not admit you to our Order , it is at least not for these reasons . As to children and persons under full age , the reasons for
their exclusion , as also for those who are not free agents , are obvious enough ; while as regards our Hebrew and Roman Catholic Brethren , it is a well-known fact , a boast indeed of our Order , that they , if good men and true , are as highly esteemed as any others of its members .
Thirdly , we find " the Orders make pretensions to mysteries — " this striving after hidden knowledge . " Now , we do not strive after hidden knowledge . We commend to our candidates the study of God ' s revealed word , and we urge upon them the prosecution of " such of the liberal arts and sciences as may lie within the compass of their attainments ; " but what this " hidden knowledge" may mean
we are at a loss to conceive . The study of astrology is not in vogue among us ; table-turning forms no part of our creed ; and though it has been said that the Rosicrucians of old were dabblers in alchemy , and knew how to convert valueless substances into gold , yet we are not aware that these are their pursuits now , nor if they were are we connected with them . Well do we remember the words of a worthy Past Master who prudently checked our own enthusiasm a little previous to our initiation . " I think , Sir , " he said , " from what I know
of you , that you will take pleasure in Free-Masonry , and will probably take up the study of it vigorously when your enthusiasm has somewhat cooled ; but if you expect that , by becoming a Free-Mason , you will become possessed of some tremendous secret , which will render you superior to the rest of mankind , you will find yourself grievously
mistaken . " Does this look like making pretensions to mysteries . We are not aware that Free-Masons have any secrets , or affect to have any , beyond those signs , words , & c , by which they are known to one another ; and they , although undoubtedly almost the only perfect secrets which have manv owners , are , we hesitate not to say , of the
most simple and unmysterious nature . Meantime , however , continues our author , no government can complain of this exclusion