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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 7 of 9 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
I will now say a few words on the manner in which I am handled on the account of my book . The Reviewer takes up the old Masonic song , in immediately proceeding to charge me with " perjury ; " and thus does this hireling of Satan , the Accuser , hope , by vilifying his opponent , to obtain an unholy support to his cause . It was not necessary , unless stimulated by indomitable malice , to speak of my conscientious proceedings in this matter at all ; for of three Reviews I have seen that are adverse to my views on Freemasonry ( not to speak of those that are favourable ) , two of them , viz .,
the " Church and State Gazette" of 15 th June , 1849 , and the " English Review" December , 1849 , give me credit for sincerity of purpose , and religious " earnestness " and yet find a place for the expression of their own opinions . The wicked observations of the third , the " Athenseum , " Mr . Moore has brought forward . I begin to think it was infra dig . to have taken any notice of Mr . Moore's diatribe on this subject , and shall avoid the rock in the present instance . I cannot resist , however , giving the following quotation from the " Christian Remembrancer , " above alluded to , p . 37 : — " Once they erred ; that is , in takins an oath , like Herod , in the
dark , not knowing whither that oath might lead them . As such an oath is required at initiation , it is impossible for a thoughtful Christian to join the body : and if any of its members become thoughtful afterwards , may it not be a question whether it is right to give even nominal countenance to such a society ? ' Once a Mason , always a Mason , ' is , of course , a monstrous sentence . " To this last question I have answered for myself that it is not right . Ever since the days of Locke , who first noticed it , the " reputation of the Order
" is a matter of infinite concern to Masons ; to speak , lightly of it is to touch the apple of their eye;—and why ? because the Institution is holy ! Hence , he who charges them with deistical principles is fit only for the kennel . Listen to what this insolent Reviewer can write of the Dean of Exeter , or of Mr . Hartwell Home , ( for it is difficult to know to which of these worthies he refers ) . " Since the days of John Pym to the present time , insufferable bigotry and astounding ignorance have always gone handin-hand . " Verily , this fellow's Masonry has not yet taught him to respect his betters .
On the principles and practices of the Order , so far as the Reviewer describes them , I shall do little more than observe , that they are thoroughly adverse to the spirit , and to the interests of Christianity . For instance , he says , " no sane man would maintain that a Christian is precluded from using the Lord's Prayer , because a Jew used it with him . " I , for one am of the insane who would not use it with him ; the reason being , that when thus jointly used , there would be a quibble in the meaning of the first two words , and a thread of duplicity and false pretence would permeate every clause .
I am astounded at the gross ignorance of this Freemason , in saying , that not every response of the Litany is offered in the name of the Intercessor . And if , here and there in our services , a prayer does not terminate , as he says with the mention of Christ's name , are we not still entitled to say that the whole service is replete with Him;—that His spirit breathes in it , and vivifies it , though the name may not occur at every point ; just as , in a summer's day , even the shade is warm ? Such occasional variations from an almost universal practice are no more to be consideredthan is the occasional
, direction of the F . uhrie to the Minister "to stand , " when enunciating a common Prayer . And I confess I am not Theologian enough to say why this is . But the prayers of Masons—as the Reviewer acknowledges , p . 135—are " not Christian , " they are " therefore" when coming from Christians , Antichristian ;—for , not to uphold Christ , is to oppose Him . The spirit of the Order is best elicited , perhaps , in the following words of the Review : " The name of the Saviour does not occur , because
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
I will now say a few words on the manner in which I am handled on the account of my book . The Reviewer takes up the old Masonic song , in immediately proceeding to charge me with " perjury ; " and thus does this hireling of Satan , the Accuser , hope , by vilifying his opponent , to obtain an unholy support to his cause . It was not necessary , unless stimulated by indomitable malice , to speak of my conscientious proceedings in this matter at all ; for of three Reviews I have seen that are adverse to my views on Freemasonry ( not to speak of those that are favourable ) , two of them , viz .,
the " Church and State Gazette" of 15 th June , 1849 , and the " English Review" December , 1849 , give me credit for sincerity of purpose , and religious " earnestness " and yet find a place for the expression of their own opinions . The wicked observations of the third , the " Athenseum , " Mr . Moore has brought forward . I begin to think it was infra dig . to have taken any notice of Mr . Moore's diatribe on this subject , and shall avoid the rock in the present instance . I cannot resist , however , giving the following quotation from the " Christian Remembrancer , " above alluded to , p . 37 : — " Once they erred ; that is , in takins an oath , like Herod , in the
dark , not knowing whither that oath might lead them . As such an oath is required at initiation , it is impossible for a thoughtful Christian to join the body : and if any of its members become thoughtful afterwards , may it not be a question whether it is right to give even nominal countenance to such a society ? ' Once a Mason , always a Mason , ' is , of course , a monstrous sentence . " To this last question I have answered for myself that it is not right . Ever since the days of Locke , who first noticed it , the " reputation of the Order
" is a matter of infinite concern to Masons ; to speak , lightly of it is to touch the apple of their eye;—and why ? because the Institution is holy ! Hence , he who charges them with deistical principles is fit only for the kennel . Listen to what this insolent Reviewer can write of the Dean of Exeter , or of Mr . Hartwell Home , ( for it is difficult to know to which of these worthies he refers ) . " Since the days of John Pym to the present time , insufferable bigotry and astounding ignorance have always gone handin-hand . " Verily , this fellow's Masonry has not yet taught him to respect his betters .
On the principles and practices of the Order , so far as the Reviewer describes them , I shall do little more than observe , that they are thoroughly adverse to the spirit , and to the interests of Christianity . For instance , he says , " no sane man would maintain that a Christian is precluded from using the Lord's Prayer , because a Jew used it with him . " I , for one am of the insane who would not use it with him ; the reason being , that when thus jointly used , there would be a quibble in the meaning of the first two words , and a thread of duplicity and false pretence would permeate every clause .
I am astounded at the gross ignorance of this Freemason , in saying , that not every response of the Litany is offered in the name of the Intercessor . And if , here and there in our services , a prayer does not terminate , as he says with the mention of Christ's name , are we not still entitled to say that the whole service is replete with Him;—that His spirit breathes in it , and vivifies it , though the name may not occur at every point ; just as , in a summer's day , even the shade is warm ? Such occasional variations from an almost universal practice are no more to be consideredthan is the occasional
, direction of the F . uhrie to the Minister "to stand , " when enunciating a common Prayer . And I confess I am not Theologian enough to say why this is . But the prayers of Masons—as the Reviewer acknowledges , p . 135—are " not Christian , " they are " therefore" when coming from Christians , Antichristian ;—for , not to uphold Christ , is to oppose Him . The spirit of the Order is best elicited , perhaps , in the following words of the Review : " The name of the Saviour does not occur , because