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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 6 of 9 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
respect . Now if this gathering of Masons took place on the occasion at so retired a spot as Miinston , I may well be excused for inferring , that it was absolutely impossible , morally speaking , that the funeral could have taken place privately ( i . e . without the attendance of any Masons , as such ) in n place like Exeter , without there being some very particular and mysterious cause . It is remarkable that , not until quite lately , did I take notice of this correction ; and consequently , have not had till now the advantage of it . I will only add that these premises have been viewed b y friends whom I have consulted , precisely in the same light as I have viewed them in .
I take no blame to myself , therefore , for the conclusion I adopted . But am I equally blameless in having acted upon it , without any previous en . deavour to find out the truth ? Certainly not . This was an ill-judged proceeding ; and was running a risk—particularly as regards the feelings of others—that I ought to have avoided . I am glad of the opportunity of repeating this much . The reason of my haste ( I do not mention it as a sufficient one , but it is very intelligible ) was the feeling that a " Reply " to an article in a paper ought to be immediate , and that
postponement is fatal to its value ; and I had no time for informing myself by letter . Now this , Sir , is the entire of the story ; and all that has been superadded about " waiting to publish till the decline of the Doctor's faculties , " " pour , ing vinegar into wounds , " " garbling quotations , " & c , & c , is mere makeweight , mere sound and fury . It seems to me probable , from certain indignant expressions of the Revieweras likewise of Mr . Moorein his first letterthat too exclusive
, , , a meaning , in their reference to the late D . P . G . M ., has been given to certain words of mine , wherein I speak of the futility of earthly hopes and friendship . Is it supposed that these words have respect solely to Dr . Carwithen ; and that the charge they contain is directed against him alone ? This were a great mistake . Undoubtedly they contain an "imputation ;" hut an imputation applicable to him as one of a body , all of whom are . as I conceive , amenable to the same , and equally affected by the charge , the charge of making it the great end of their spiritual efforts to cement earthly
friendship , instead of promoting the true worship of God . The words of my letter are , " when earthly hopes were on the wane , the futility of earthly friendship made apparent , and the soul unable any longer to derive warmth from the sparks itself had kindled ; and they may be considered a short epitome of the argument I have held in pp . 129-30 of my book from whence I take the following extracts ( alluding to the Masonic " Charge concerning Religion " ) : — " ' Whereby , ' i . e ., by means of this measure affecting our religion as Masons , ' Masonry becomes the centre of ( religious ) union , and the of true friendshi
means conciliating p . ' Thus , from shutting up the truth from those who have been accustomed to walk by it , and by diverting those from its pursuit by their profane example , who have hitherto walked in darkness , thereby ridding themselves of all obstacles in the way of an instantaneous union , —to do what ? to promote the glory of the Most High ? to humble the souls of ' the brethren' in repentance ? No , but ' to conciliate true friendship among all parties . ' Thus is the friendship of the world , which God has declared to be ' enmity' against Himself , the avowed of this Masonic
object Charge . " — " What , then , is Masonry , but that ancient spirit of heathenism , which could regard friendship as the summum-bonum of its aspirations ! " While upon this subject , let me earnestly recommend to your readers to peruse the remarks on this Masonic " Charge concerning Religion , " to he found in the " Christian Remembrancer" for July , 1847 , — the more interesting as being written by a gentleman of known talent and piety , who lately belonged to Exeter ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
respect . Now if this gathering of Masons took place on the occasion at so retired a spot as Miinston , I may well be excused for inferring , that it was absolutely impossible , morally speaking , that the funeral could have taken place privately ( i . e . without the attendance of any Masons , as such ) in n place like Exeter , without there being some very particular and mysterious cause . It is remarkable that , not until quite lately , did I take notice of this correction ; and consequently , have not had till now the advantage of it . I will only add that these premises have been viewed b y friends whom I have consulted , precisely in the same light as I have viewed them in .
I take no blame to myself , therefore , for the conclusion I adopted . But am I equally blameless in having acted upon it , without any previous en . deavour to find out the truth ? Certainly not . This was an ill-judged proceeding ; and was running a risk—particularly as regards the feelings of others—that I ought to have avoided . I am glad of the opportunity of repeating this much . The reason of my haste ( I do not mention it as a sufficient one , but it is very intelligible ) was the feeling that a " Reply " to an article in a paper ought to be immediate , and that
postponement is fatal to its value ; and I had no time for informing myself by letter . Now this , Sir , is the entire of the story ; and all that has been superadded about " waiting to publish till the decline of the Doctor's faculties , " " pour , ing vinegar into wounds , " " garbling quotations , " & c , & c , is mere makeweight , mere sound and fury . It seems to me probable , from certain indignant expressions of the Revieweras likewise of Mr . Moorein his first letterthat too exclusive
, , , a meaning , in their reference to the late D . P . G . M ., has been given to certain words of mine , wherein I speak of the futility of earthly hopes and friendship . Is it supposed that these words have respect solely to Dr . Carwithen ; and that the charge they contain is directed against him alone ? This were a great mistake . Undoubtedly they contain an "imputation ;" hut an imputation applicable to him as one of a body , all of whom are . as I conceive , amenable to the same , and equally affected by the charge , the charge of making it the great end of their spiritual efforts to cement earthly
friendship , instead of promoting the true worship of God . The words of my letter are , " when earthly hopes were on the wane , the futility of earthly friendship made apparent , and the soul unable any longer to derive warmth from the sparks itself had kindled ; and they may be considered a short epitome of the argument I have held in pp . 129-30 of my book from whence I take the following extracts ( alluding to the Masonic " Charge concerning Religion " ) : — " ' Whereby , ' i . e ., by means of this measure affecting our religion as Masons , ' Masonry becomes the centre of ( religious ) union , and the of true friendshi
means conciliating p . ' Thus , from shutting up the truth from those who have been accustomed to walk by it , and by diverting those from its pursuit by their profane example , who have hitherto walked in darkness , thereby ridding themselves of all obstacles in the way of an instantaneous union , —to do what ? to promote the glory of the Most High ? to humble the souls of ' the brethren' in repentance ? No , but ' to conciliate true friendship among all parties . ' Thus is the friendship of the world , which God has declared to be ' enmity' against Himself , the avowed of this Masonic
object Charge . " — " What , then , is Masonry , but that ancient spirit of heathenism , which could regard friendship as the summum-bonum of its aspirations ! " While upon this subject , let me earnestly recommend to your readers to peruse the remarks on this Masonic " Charge concerning Religion , " to he found in the " Christian Remembrancer" for July , 1847 , — the more interesting as being written by a gentleman of known talent and piety , who lately belonged to Exeter ,