Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In Turkey, Persia, And Japan.*
FREEMASONRY IN TURKEY , PERSIA , AND JAPAN . *
FROM the date that our ancient and honourable society was instituted until its present arranged form in 1717 , and from thence to the time we are writing , brotherly love has been the foundation upon which the superstructure has been erected , although a portion of the lodges in our Fatherland , and in Sweden , have sought to establish the correctness of the sentence— " that Freemasonry is a Christian society "— " a Christian Order . "
That indefatigable and fundamental investigator , Brother G . Kloss , in his recently published work " Freemasonry in its true meaning , " & c , from authentic and indisputable records , has proved beyond all contradiction , that such assertions are errors ; and we recal that subject only inasmuch as the intelligence that has reached us from non-Christian countries shews that Freemasonry has been implanted , grown , and flourished there ; affording additional proofsif such were desiredthat
, , it is not necessary that the members of our fraternity must be of a particular faith , which would have the effect of limiting the great and important character of our first laws , and prevent the spread of universal charity over the inhabited globe . We condense our preliminary observations to these few words as we do not intend to enter into a controversy upon the subject , and will give the fragment of Freemasonry in Turkey , & c , as it has reached us .
Shortly after the battle of Schumla , in the year 1829 , when the Russians crossed the Balkan , under Diebitsch Sabalkansky , a paragraph appeared in a German newspaper stating that the Russian officers had discovered some appearances of Freemasonry among the Moslems in Adrianople ; nothing more was said , and few believed the extraordinary intelligence . A few years since one of our college friends , after leaving the university , settled as a medical practitioner at Jassy , having become a Freemason previously to his departure . He informed us that Masonry
certainly existed in Turkey , in proof of which he related as follows : — During the first year of his residence at Jassy , in 1827 , he frequently saw a dirty Dervish begging at the corner of a street , who was very liberally relieved ; the alms he received were deposited in a bag carried for the purpose , and , as our friend learnt , were distributed fairly and conscientiously by this Turkish monk among the poor of the town , without reserving any portion for himself , although his dress and appearance
betokened the greatest poverty , miseiy , and distress . Our friend being one day summoned to attend the highest Turkish official in the city , for a disease of the eyes , was not a little astonished to find in the apartment of this dignitary , and distant from him only a few paces , the begging Dervish . The Regent of Moldavia , and the loathsome Dervish were sitting on the same ottoman , a very few feet apart , separated only by a small tableevidently confidentiallknown to each other . On our friend
, y entering , the Dervish at once saluted him as a Mason ; the correctness and distinctness of the signs were so apparent that he acknowledged and replied to them . When the professional part of the visit had ended , the questions and replies of which had been conducted through an interpreter , the begging Dervish joined in the conversation , and requested the interpreter to say that he was acquainted with our friend , and if he
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In Turkey, Persia, And Japan.*
FREEMASONRY IN TURKEY , PERSIA , AND JAPAN . *
FROM the date that our ancient and honourable society was instituted until its present arranged form in 1717 , and from thence to the time we are writing , brotherly love has been the foundation upon which the superstructure has been erected , although a portion of the lodges in our Fatherland , and in Sweden , have sought to establish the correctness of the sentence— " that Freemasonry is a Christian society "— " a Christian Order . "
That indefatigable and fundamental investigator , Brother G . Kloss , in his recently published work " Freemasonry in its true meaning , " & c , from authentic and indisputable records , has proved beyond all contradiction , that such assertions are errors ; and we recal that subject only inasmuch as the intelligence that has reached us from non-Christian countries shews that Freemasonry has been implanted , grown , and flourished there ; affording additional proofsif such were desiredthat
, , it is not necessary that the members of our fraternity must be of a particular faith , which would have the effect of limiting the great and important character of our first laws , and prevent the spread of universal charity over the inhabited globe . We condense our preliminary observations to these few words as we do not intend to enter into a controversy upon the subject , and will give the fragment of Freemasonry in Turkey , & c , as it has reached us .
Shortly after the battle of Schumla , in the year 1829 , when the Russians crossed the Balkan , under Diebitsch Sabalkansky , a paragraph appeared in a German newspaper stating that the Russian officers had discovered some appearances of Freemasonry among the Moslems in Adrianople ; nothing more was said , and few believed the extraordinary intelligence . A few years since one of our college friends , after leaving the university , settled as a medical practitioner at Jassy , having become a Freemason previously to his departure . He informed us that Masonry
certainly existed in Turkey , in proof of which he related as follows : — During the first year of his residence at Jassy , in 1827 , he frequently saw a dirty Dervish begging at the corner of a street , who was very liberally relieved ; the alms he received were deposited in a bag carried for the purpose , and , as our friend learnt , were distributed fairly and conscientiously by this Turkish monk among the poor of the town , without reserving any portion for himself , although his dress and appearance
betokened the greatest poverty , miseiy , and distress . Our friend being one day summoned to attend the highest Turkish official in the city , for a disease of the eyes , was not a little astonished to find in the apartment of this dignitary , and distant from him only a few paces , the begging Dervish . The Regent of Moldavia , and the loathsome Dervish were sitting on the same ottoman , a very few feet apart , separated only by a small tableevidently confidentiallknown to each other . On our friend
, y entering , the Dervish at once saluted him as a Mason ; the correctness and distinctness of the signs were so apparent that he acknowledged and replied to them . When the professional part of the visit had ended , the questions and replies of which had been conducted through an interpreter , the begging Dervish joined in the conversation , and requested the interpreter to say that he was acquainted with our friend , and if he