Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

124 ORIGIN OF FREE MASONRY.
tects," who wished to have dispensed with wearing aprons;
but he is not destitute of great merit as a pretender. I find
the " New Monitor" indebted to him for the passage quoted;
" The very enemies of Free Masonry, must own, that it is
the most renowned society that ever was, is now, or perhaps
ever will be, upon earth, as the following true description
will clearly show:
" Hail mighty ART—gracious gift of heaven,
" To aid mankind by our Creator given:
" Twas you alone which gave the ark its form,
" That saved the faithful from the impending storm," &c.
True as Free Masonry.
The lines are too wretched to be endured, and yet the
sentiment deserves notice, especially as, in conclusion, he
adds, " But methinks I hear some say, if Free Masonry be
such, the brotherhood are the happiest men living;" and he
would have us conclude that they are.
u A heavenly ark, to show God saved the lives
" Of Masons foftf, likewise their happy wives."
(Noah and his family.)
" Such are the blessings of each time and season,
" Which God has promised to the master Mason.*
At the end of these profane lines, he has the following:
" None but strangers to the craft, and ungenerous enemies
to good society, will doubt the veracity of what is here inserted
concerning Free Masonry." But let not the reader
be out of conceit of this Ahiman Rezon; it is one of the least
offensive, on the whole, of any masonic treatise I have read,
and gives the following—
* Masonic poets have followed the opinion of an ancient Jesuit, who says,
Que la Sorbone n'a point de jurisdiction sur le Parnasse; et que les ezreurs
de ce pays la ne sont sujettes, ni aux Censures, ni a rinquisition. " As if
men ware forbidden to be impious and blasphemous in prose only."—Pat'
chats Lettres Provinciate, p. 221.