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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW. ← Page 10 of 10
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
around them , shall not reach them , or that their voices shall not reach the world . As in all cases the agent perishes when its work has been done , so secrecy has ceased to be necessary just when it has ceased to be possible , and when the desire for it is no longer the badge of good intentions .
" To be secret once was impliedly to be good , for might was against right , power was opposed to the advancement of men ; to be secret now , is impliedly to be bad , for those who plot and scheme to hold the people in ignorance and enmity , do so in dark corners and out-of-the-way holes , because they know that an overwhelming power is against them . Human nature is as it was and ever shall be ; circumstances have changed , but the characteristics of the mind of man are as immutable as the solid globe on which we stand ; the desire to act unseen marks
, the same feeling as it ever did—the feeling of being weak . Then , pride and lust and ambition and false glory , stalked forth at noon-day , for power made them indifferent of notice , defiant of remark—now , they crouch unseen . Then , charity and brotherhood , liberty and knowledge , sneaked aside to avoid the gaze of suspicion and the blow of powernow , they exult in the light and their strength , set wrong at nought , and laugh tyranny to scorn . Let those who are amonMasons averse
g to publicity , apply to themselves the lesson which history presents to them—let them know that to shrink from publicity is to confess themselves weak , and yield a tacit acquiescence to the presumption that they are wrong—that to set themselves fairly fortb in the eyes of all men , is to avow their strength , and show their consciousness that they are right—let them say not only ' union is strength , ' but candour is the
result of the consciousness of both strength and right . But though perfect secrecy is impossible , partial secrecy is not only attainable , but ' unavoidable . If they seek to hide both their good and their evil , the chances , as has been often shown , ate , that the seeker will discover the latter , and miss some portion of the former . If the mystery-seekers are deaf to the voice , of reason aud experience , and turn aside from the promptings of principle , perhaps they will listen more readily to the accents of that vul semi-virtue ' expediency . ' They lain of
gar comp ' false and garbled reports ; ' the inference is , that if the reports were true and ungarbled , they would hold their peace . Their remedy is obvious ; false and garbled reports arise from their own system , they are the offspring of partial mystery and fear of privilege , they are dangerous because they contain some portion of truth . Need we point out the antidote ? True and ample reports would set all ri ght—they would be the avowed productions of responsible and authorized men—they
would put the press at one with the Order , the Order at one with the world—they would spread the words of peace and good-will , and extend and strengthen the bonds of union—they would support the ri gbt and defeat the wrong ; but they would kill that incubus to the strong , that protection to the weak—* privilege . ' Let the ' privilege seekers' make up what minds they have and come to a decision . "
THE PERFECT FREEDOM OF MASONRY . —ATe have not space to dwell on the resolution of Grand Lodge to act in conformity of the laws of the realm , by abolition of certain words in the initiation of persons of colour , and must refer them to our own report . TUB NEW PURCHASE of additional premises having received confirmation , we shall defer any remarks , for the present .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
around them , shall not reach them , or that their voices shall not reach the world . As in all cases the agent perishes when its work has been done , so secrecy has ceased to be necessary just when it has ceased to be possible , and when the desire for it is no longer the badge of good intentions .
" To be secret once was impliedly to be good , for might was against right , power was opposed to the advancement of men ; to be secret now , is impliedly to be bad , for those who plot and scheme to hold the people in ignorance and enmity , do so in dark corners and out-of-the-way holes , because they know that an overwhelming power is against them . Human nature is as it was and ever shall be ; circumstances have changed , but the characteristics of the mind of man are as immutable as the solid globe on which we stand ; the desire to act unseen marks
, the same feeling as it ever did—the feeling of being weak . Then , pride and lust and ambition and false glory , stalked forth at noon-day , for power made them indifferent of notice , defiant of remark—now , they crouch unseen . Then , charity and brotherhood , liberty and knowledge , sneaked aside to avoid the gaze of suspicion and the blow of powernow , they exult in the light and their strength , set wrong at nought , and laugh tyranny to scorn . Let those who are amonMasons averse
g to publicity , apply to themselves the lesson which history presents to them—let them know that to shrink from publicity is to confess themselves weak , and yield a tacit acquiescence to the presumption that they are wrong—that to set themselves fairly fortb in the eyes of all men , is to avow their strength , and show their consciousness that they are right—let them say not only ' union is strength , ' but candour is the
result of the consciousness of both strength and right . But though perfect secrecy is impossible , partial secrecy is not only attainable , but ' unavoidable . If they seek to hide both their good and their evil , the chances , as has been often shown , ate , that the seeker will discover the latter , and miss some portion of the former . If the mystery-seekers are deaf to the voice , of reason aud experience , and turn aside from the promptings of principle , perhaps they will listen more readily to the accents of that vul semi-virtue ' expediency . ' They lain of
gar comp ' false and garbled reports ; ' the inference is , that if the reports were true and ungarbled , they would hold their peace . Their remedy is obvious ; false and garbled reports arise from their own system , they are the offspring of partial mystery and fear of privilege , they are dangerous because they contain some portion of truth . Need we point out the antidote ? True and ample reports would set all ri ght—they would be the avowed productions of responsible and authorized men—they
would put the press at one with the Order , the Order at one with the world—they would spread the words of peace and good-will , and extend and strengthen the bonds of union—they would support the ri gbt and defeat the wrong ; but they would kill that incubus to the strong , that protection to the weak—* privilege . ' Let the ' privilege seekers' make up what minds they have and come to a decision . "
THE PERFECT FREEDOM OF MASONRY . —ATe have not space to dwell on the resolution of Grand Lodge to act in conformity of the laws of the realm , by abolition of certain words in the initiation of persons of colour , and must refer them to our own report . TUB NEW PURCHASE of additional premises having received confirmation , we shall defer any remarks , for the present .