Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

FUTILITY OF MODERN FREEMASONRYrenewed, for not even the Masonic marriages, introduced byFrench lodges, will perpetuate its existence . I have before meaccounts of two such marriages, performed without the usualecclesiastic or civil ceremonies, the one in the lodge LaFrance Maconnique in Paris in 1,887, and the other in alodge at Toulouse, in the same year, as also of two others,celebrated in Paris, in 1882, when M . Elys6,e Reclus, a Freemason,and one of the five well-known Anarchist brothers,gave away two of his daughters to two brothers, at a dinnerheld in a private house, simply declaring the two couplesby that mere declaration to be married . But the ladies donot approve of these hole-and-corner espousals .499. Masonic Opinions of Masonry.-Masons have beenvery indignant with me for making these statements ; buthonest members of the craft know, and occasionally admit,that I am right. In 1798 a Mason wrote in the MonthlyMagazine, "The landlord (who is always a brother) promotesharmony, as it is called, by providing choice suppersand good liquors, the effects of which are late hours and inebriety; and thus are made up two-thirds of modern lodges ."And again : " Hogarth was a member of the fraternity, andactually served the office of Grand Steward in 1735,yet in his picture of ` Night,' one of the most conspicuousfigures is that of a master of a lodge led home drunk by thetyler." The too facile admission of worthless members isregretted by the same writer, as it is by modern Masons (e .g.Freemason, 26th June 1 8 75) .Brother John Yarker in his "Notes on the Scientific andReligious Mysteries of Antiquity" (Hogg, 1872), a zealousMason, says : "As the masonic fraternity is now governed,the craft is fast becoming the paradise of the bon vivant, ofthe `charitable' hypocrite, who . . . decorates his breastwith the `charity jewel' ; . . . the manufacturer of paltrymasonic tinsel ; the rascally merchant who swindles in hundredsand even thousands, by appealing to the tender consciencesof those few who do regard their O . B.'s, and theMasonic `Emperors' and other charlatans, who make poweror money out of the aristocratic pretensions which they havetacked on to our institution, ad captandum vulgus." ThisI think is enough to show that my censures are well founded .500 . Masonic Literature .-It is almost absurd to talk ofmasonic literature ; it scarcely exists. Except the workswritten by Oliver, Mackey, Findel, and Ragon, there isscarcely anything worth reading about Freemasonry, ofwhich a Freemason is the author . The countless lecturesby brethren, with a few exceptions, consist of mere truismsio9