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Article THE LATEST DENUNCIATION OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 3 Article THE LATEST DENUNCIATION OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 3 →
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The Latest Denunciation Of Freemasonry.
THE LATEST DENUNCIATION OF FREEMASONRY .
ACCORDING , to an account published in a comparatively recent number of the Boston Herald , of tho proceedings on the 25 th March of the United States Anti-Masonic Convention , the gentlemen composing that body —both reverend and non-reverend—have been enjoying themselves amazingly at the expense , primarily , we
presume , of our United States brethren , and , in the next place , of all other brethren wheresoever they may be scattered throughout the world . In the most violent and
appalling terms they have been attacking wholesale the tenets , or what they imagine to be such , of our Society , and all other Societies which meet together in private have come in for their share of the denunciation . We have
been at the pains of re-producing the principal resolutions adopted on the occasion referred to , aud , as we are told in the opening remarks of the reporter , that this particular gathering of the so-called "National Christian Association " had a more numerous attendance than that which
preceded it during the forenoon of the same day , we are waiting with some curiosity—though to our shame perhaps bo it said , without the slightest fear and trembling—to hear what , if any , effect has been produced on tbe 600 , 000 brethren who constitute our Fraternity in the land of the
Stars and ( Stripes . We take leave to mention to our readers that this Association is a reality . It has a president , a secretary , an assistant-secretary , and as many as twentytwo vice-presidents , several of these last and the assistantsecretary being described as " reverends . " The account is
wisel y silent as to the number of members whicb , having regard to the circumstance already noted , that the attendance in the afternoon of the day in question was larger than it had been in the morning , may , possibly , amount to as many or twice as many more ; or , it may be , as in the
case of the late Artemns Ward ' s regiment of volunteers , the zeal of all is so nearly equal , that all are commanding officers , the president being nothing more than primus inter - pares , the secretary his alter ego , and the moving spirit of the latter the assistant-secretary . All this ,
however , being mere conjecture , let us turn our attention to the principal resolutions which were discussed and adopted , though , before doing so , ifc is only just we should mention that letters of sympathy are reported to have been read
from Charles Francis Adams , the Rev . J . D . Fulton , and " Wendell Phillips , while the statesman , the Hon . J . G . Blaine , wrote for the purpose of declaring thafc he was not a member of any secret society—a declaration which appears to have been received with much satisfaction and
to have been regarded as though—why we are at a loss to understand—equivalent to an expression of hostility towards Freemason y and all other similar bodies . Having thus given the Association the full benefit of all the strength they are fairly entitled to claim , let ns now take the
principal resolutions and deal with them severally in the order in which they are published . The preamble states thafc secret societies in general , and Freemasonry in particular , " promote class hostility , interfere with justice and elections , restrain free speech , largely control
the press , ensnare the pulpit , excite un-Christian ambition , " and is , in short , utterly subversive of all that just and proper men hold dearest ; and this being so , it is not surprising that tho first resolution agreed to should have contained the proposition that all secret societies " ought to be abated as public nuisances , " and doubtless
The Latest Denunciation Of Freemasonry.
had this so-called Christian Association tho power , we should have been told in the same sentence , " and they aro abated as such accordingly . " It is on record in the history of our country , that when about tho middle of tho seventeenth century , a certain Oliver Cromwell adopted a
resolution to tho effect that the famous Long Parliament , or what remained of it , was a public nuisance , he went down with a company or two of his soldiers , told one of them to take away " that bauble "—the ensign of the House ' s authority—sent the members away , locked the door , put
the key into his pocket , and then went home to dinner at Whitehall . But such an act of summary procedure happens but onco or twice in a nation ' s lifetime , and as the whole of this self-constituted association , even if multiplied a hundredfold , would be incapable of accomplishing the
hundredth part of what one of " Old Noll ' s " Ironsides would have dono offhand , as a kind of stimulant to his next meal , wo do not fancy this denunciation and the accompanying resolution will havo much effect on the fortunes of Freemasonry . Even tho Antediluvian Buffaloes , and the Odd
Fellows , and tho other bodies which are thus denounced , as the Boston Herald puts it , in such " scathing terms , " can afford to smile at such silly objurgations . If it has survived tho anathemas of Popes , cardinals , and bishops , to say nothing of the Anti-Masonic prejudices in
the States of half a century since , it need not fear tbe scathing petulance of this present Association , which in ridiculous arrogance has outdone tho world-famed Tailors of Tooley Street , when they proclaimed themselves the people of England . But though it may seem hardly worth
while to condescend to argument about a self-evident proposition , let us glance cursorily at tho different reasons stated , why , in the opinion of this particular convention , Freemasonry should be abated as a public nuisance . In the first place , in the proper sense of the word , it is not a
secret society at all . Its principles are open to the investigation of all the world ; anybody in this country who is so minded may for the modest sum of eighteen-ponce become the possessor of our Constitutions or laws . There , at all events , ho will find that so far from it being the case that
Freemasonry promotes " class hostility , " its chief aim is to bring all classes together and unite them by the common bond of brotherhood . So far from interfering with " justice and elections , " it studiously omits having anything whatever to do with them . Instead of restraining " free speech , "
it encourages it , though at the same time it never descends to the ignominious license of wholesale condemnation of others . Freemasons , being wise in their generation , remember how little harm was done by the wholesale cursing in the " Jackdaw of Rheims . " They are frequently
assailed , but they content themselves with repelling and showing the injustice of thb assaults They are not desirous of interfering Avith other people , leaving it to them to settle with their conscience whether what they do is just or the reverse . What is meant by " ensnaring tho pulpit "
Ave are at a loss to understand . They do not molest the minister of religion in his sacred calling , nor does ifc ever occur to them to inquire what tenets he may profess ; They are essentially unsectarian , only requring that members of their Society shall acknowledge a Supremo Being .
This , in the opinion of the Anti-Masonic Convention , may tend to destroy Christian fellowship and morality , but if so , the initiative taken by Freemasons in recognising
religious freedom has been followed , in England at all events , by the legislature of the kingdom . It is only about half a century since that the battle of Roman Catholic Emancipation was fought and won , and still moro recently have
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Latest Denunciation Of Freemasonry.
THE LATEST DENUNCIATION OF FREEMASONRY .
ACCORDING , to an account published in a comparatively recent number of the Boston Herald , of tho proceedings on the 25 th March of the United States Anti-Masonic Convention , the gentlemen composing that body —both reverend and non-reverend—have been enjoying themselves amazingly at the expense , primarily , we
presume , of our United States brethren , and , in the next place , of all other brethren wheresoever they may be scattered throughout the world . In the most violent and
appalling terms they have been attacking wholesale the tenets , or what they imagine to be such , of our Society , and all other Societies which meet together in private have come in for their share of the denunciation . We have
been at the pains of re-producing the principal resolutions adopted on the occasion referred to , aud , as we are told in the opening remarks of the reporter , that this particular gathering of the so-called "National Christian Association " had a more numerous attendance than that which
preceded it during the forenoon of the same day , we are waiting with some curiosity—though to our shame perhaps bo it said , without the slightest fear and trembling—to hear what , if any , effect has been produced on tbe 600 , 000 brethren who constitute our Fraternity in the land of the
Stars and ( Stripes . We take leave to mention to our readers that this Association is a reality . It has a president , a secretary , an assistant-secretary , and as many as twentytwo vice-presidents , several of these last and the assistantsecretary being described as " reverends . " The account is
wisel y silent as to the number of members whicb , having regard to the circumstance already noted , that the attendance in the afternoon of the day in question was larger than it had been in the morning , may , possibly , amount to as many or twice as many more ; or , it may be , as in the
case of the late Artemns Ward ' s regiment of volunteers , the zeal of all is so nearly equal , that all are commanding officers , the president being nothing more than primus inter - pares , the secretary his alter ego , and the moving spirit of the latter the assistant-secretary . All this ,
however , being mere conjecture , let us turn our attention to the principal resolutions which were discussed and adopted , though , before doing so , ifc is only just we should mention that letters of sympathy are reported to have been read
from Charles Francis Adams , the Rev . J . D . Fulton , and " Wendell Phillips , while the statesman , the Hon . J . G . Blaine , wrote for the purpose of declaring thafc he was not a member of any secret society—a declaration which appears to have been received with much satisfaction and
to have been regarded as though—why we are at a loss to understand—equivalent to an expression of hostility towards Freemason y and all other similar bodies . Having thus given the Association the full benefit of all the strength they are fairly entitled to claim , let ns now take the
principal resolutions and deal with them severally in the order in which they are published . The preamble states thafc secret societies in general , and Freemasonry in particular , " promote class hostility , interfere with justice and elections , restrain free speech , largely control
the press , ensnare the pulpit , excite un-Christian ambition , " and is , in short , utterly subversive of all that just and proper men hold dearest ; and this being so , it is not surprising that tho first resolution agreed to should have contained the proposition that all secret societies " ought to be abated as public nuisances , " and doubtless
The Latest Denunciation Of Freemasonry.
had this so-called Christian Association tho power , we should have been told in the same sentence , " and they aro abated as such accordingly . " It is on record in the history of our country , that when about tho middle of tho seventeenth century , a certain Oliver Cromwell adopted a
resolution to tho effect that the famous Long Parliament , or what remained of it , was a public nuisance , he went down with a company or two of his soldiers , told one of them to take away " that bauble "—the ensign of the House ' s authority—sent the members away , locked the door , put
the key into his pocket , and then went home to dinner at Whitehall . But such an act of summary procedure happens but onco or twice in a nation ' s lifetime , and as the whole of this self-constituted association , even if multiplied a hundredfold , would be incapable of accomplishing the
hundredth part of what one of " Old Noll ' s " Ironsides would have dono offhand , as a kind of stimulant to his next meal , wo do not fancy this denunciation and the accompanying resolution will havo much effect on the fortunes of Freemasonry . Even tho Antediluvian Buffaloes , and the Odd
Fellows , and tho other bodies which are thus denounced , as the Boston Herald puts it , in such " scathing terms , " can afford to smile at such silly objurgations . If it has survived tho anathemas of Popes , cardinals , and bishops , to say nothing of the Anti-Masonic prejudices in
the States of half a century since , it need not fear tbe scathing petulance of this present Association , which in ridiculous arrogance has outdone tho world-famed Tailors of Tooley Street , when they proclaimed themselves the people of England . But though it may seem hardly worth
while to condescend to argument about a self-evident proposition , let us glance cursorily at tho different reasons stated , why , in the opinion of this particular convention , Freemasonry should be abated as a public nuisance . In the first place , in the proper sense of the word , it is not a
secret society at all . Its principles are open to the investigation of all the world ; anybody in this country who is so minded may for the modest sum of eighteen-ponce become the possessor of our Constitutions or laws . There , at all events , ho will find that so far from it being the case that
Freemasonry promotes " class hostility , " its chief aim is to bring all classes together and unite them by the common bond of brotherhood . So far from interfering with " justice and elections , " it studiously omits having anything whatever to do with them . Instead of restraining " free speech , "
it encourages it , though at the same time it never descends to the ignominious license of wholesale condemnation of others . Freemasons , being wise in their generation , remember how little harm was done by the wholesale cursing in the " Jackdaw of Rheims . " They are frequently
assailed , but they content themselves with repelling and showing the injustice of thb assaults They are not desirous of interfering Avith other people , leaving it to them to settle with their conscience whether what they do is just or the reverse . What is meant by " ensnaring tho pulpit "
Ave are at a loss to understand . They do not molest the minister of religion in his sacred calling , nor does ifc ever occur to them to inquire what tenets he may profess ; They are essentially unsectarian , only requring that members of their Society shall acknowledge a Supremo Being .
This , in the opinion of the Anti-Masonic Convention , may tend to destroy Christian fellowship and morality , but if so , the initiative taken by Freemasons in recognising
religious freedom has been followed , in England at all events , by the legislature of the kingdom . It is only about half a century since that the battle of Roman Catholic Emancipation was fought and won , and still moro recently have