Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
into it see it to be anything else but a pure and transparent gem . "* Such is a detailed account of the far-famed Abracadabra .
It consisted in the secret knowledge of fabricating charms and amulets to preserve health and avert danger , as well as to enable the possessor to foretel future events . This art , how frivolous and unsatisfactory soever it may appear to the improved understanding of the present day , was adapted to the genius of the age in which it prevailed , when the
mysterious facultye of Abrac was considered as the hi g hest attainment of science ancl p hilosophy , and by virtue of this reputation found its way into the Mason ' s Lodge , in compliance with the taste of the times , although we are assured that primitive Freemasonry included no such idle fancies . We cannot , at this distance of time , conjecture to what
extent the facultye of Abrac was carried in the Mason ' s Lodge . It is not denied that most of the philosophers who were secretly or openly addicted to these studies were Masons , including Spoulee , Yeule , William of Wy keham , Wainfleet , Islip , Wolsey , Cromwell , Ralei g h and others ; but how far they constituted a part of legitimate Masonic
business we have no record , that I am acquainted with , except the above manuscrip t , to assist us in forming an op inion . The importance attached to such pursuits would certainly fluctuate in accordance with the general taste ol the age . It is clear , however , that every vestige of thenexistence in Masonry vanished under the superintendence ancl
of Inigo Jones ancl his Wardens , the Earl of Pembroke Nicholas Stone ; for the royal patron's famous essay on diablerie and witchcraft furnished a hint which his officers , whatever their own private opinion mig ht be , would not be able to resistf ; and there is a strong presumption that the manuscripts which the latter unfortunately committed to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
into it see it to be anything else but a pure and transparent gem . "* Such is a detailed account of the far-famed Abracadabra .
It consisted in the secret knowledge of fabricating charms and amulets to preserve health and avert danger , as well as to enable the possessor to foretel future events . This art , how frivolous and unsatisfactory soever it may appear to the improved understanding of the present day , was adapted to the genius of the age in which it prevailed , when the
mysterious facultye of Abrac was considered as the hi g hest attainment of science ancl p hilosophy , and by virtue of this reputation found its way into the Mason ' s Lodge , in compliance with the taste of the times , although we are assured that primitive Freemasonry included no such idle fancies . We cannot , at this distance of time , conjecture to what
extent the facultye of Abrac was carried in the Mason ' s Lodge . It is not denied that most of the philosophers who were secretly or openly addicted to these studies were Masons , including Spoulee , Yeule , William of Wy keham , Wainfleet , Islip , Wolsey , Cromwell , Ralei g h and others ; but how far they constituted a part of legitimate Masonic
business we have no record , that I am acquainted with , except the above manuscrip t , to assist us in forming an op inion . The importance attached to such pursuits would certainly fluctuate in accordance with the general taste ol the age . It is clear , however , that every vestige of thenexistence in Masonry vanished under the superintendence ancl
of Inigo Jones ancl his Wardens , the Earl of Pembroke Nicholas Stone ; for the royal patron's famous essay on diablerie and witchcraft furnished a hint which his officers , whatever their own private opinion mig ht be , would not be able to resistf ; and there is a strong presumption that the manuscripts which the latter unfortunately committed to