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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 7 of 34 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
direct a negative as the rules of courtesy will allow . We disclaim altogether any dogmatic teaching . If , on the other hand , he means that in all the addresses to the Deity the name of our Saviour is omitted , —this is perfectly true ; and for the reason before stated , that Jews and others would not join in them . But we apprehend that no sane man would
maintain that a Christian was precluded from using the Lord's Prayer , because a Jew used it with him ; neither do we give up one iota of our faith . We meet for certain purposes ; the Christian is known to be such , and glories in his creed ; the Jew , the same : but , by agreement , no topic is introduced which might cause an ill-feeling , or mar the
object of the society . If we , as Christians , were supposed to give up our exclusive belief , or if any thing in the prayers went to call in question , even in the slightest degree , the doctrine of the Redemption , then it would of course be impossible for Christians to meet in such an assembly ; but such is far from the case ; it is perfectly understood that we are united for certain objects , and that each may and does maintain inviolate whatever he believes to be the truth . It was , of course , found necessary , in a
society the avowed objects of which are the promotion of morality , brotherly love , and mutual relief , that theve should be some form of prayer to Heaven , in which supplication might be made for the Divine blessing on the meeting and its objects . This is the sole subject of the prayers , which are as short aud concise as may be . The name of the
Saviour does not occur , because Masonry , having existed under the Jewish law , and before the revelation of Christianity , the prayers still preserve the phraseology of the first dispensation , and to introduce that name would be to introduce a change which would and must sever from us all those whom the Order embraced before the new covenant . It is
asserted by Major Trevilian , that no Christian ought to join the Order uuless that concession is made . We beg to deny that position in toto . In the first place , the burden of proof lies upon him that no prayer coming from Christian lips will be received in Heaven unless ended with the Saviour ' s name . We cannot find any warrant for it in
Scripturenay more , we have already adduced evidence to show that such a position is untenable . It is hinted that no Mason is really a Christian ; we believe and hope that few are in such an advanced state as Mr . Trevilian , for he seems to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
direct a negative as the rules of courtesy will allow . We disclaim altogether any dogmatic teaching . If , on the other hand , he means that in all the addresses to the Deity the name of our Saviour is omitted , —this is perfectly true ; and for the reason before stated , that Jews and others would not join in them . But we apprehend that no sane man would
maintain that a Christian was precluded from using the Lord's Prayer , because a Jew used it with him ; neither do we give up one iota of our faith . We meet for certain purposes ; the Christian is known to be such , and glories in his creed ; the Jew , the same : but , by agreement , no topic is introduced which might cause an ill-feeling , or mar the
object of the society . If we , as Christians , were supposed to give up our exclusive belief , or if any thing in the prayers went to call in question , even in the slightest degree , the doctrine of the Redemption , then it would of course be impossible for Christians to meet in such an assembly ; but such is far from the case ; it is perfectly understood that we are united for certain objects , and that each may and does maintain inviolate whatever he believes to be the truth . It was , of course , found necessary , in a
society the avowed objects of which are the promotion of morality , brotherly love , and mutual relief , that theve should be some form of prayer to Heaven , in which supplication might be made for the Divine blessing on the meeting and its objects . This is the sole subject of the prayers , which are as short aud concise as may be . The name of the
Saviour does not occur , because Masonry , having existed under the Jewish law , and before the revelation of Christianity , the prayers still preserve the phraseology of the first dispensation , and to introduce that name would be to introduce a change which would and must sever from us all those whom the Order embraced before the new covenant . It is
asserted by Major Trevilian , that no Christian ought to join the Order uuless that concession is made . We beg to deny that position in toto . In the first place , the burden of proof lies upon him that no prayer coming from Christian lips will be received in Heaven unless ended with the Saviour ' s name . We cannot find any warrant for it in
Scripturenay more , we have already adduced evidence to show that such a position is untenable . It is hinted that no Mason is really a Christian ; we believe and hope that few are in such an advanced state as Mr . Trevilian , for he seems to