Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

MASONIC OATH. 145
single mind partial, I do not solely rely upon it, but upon
the saving clause, that the oath is administered with the
express declaration precedent, that it is not to bind the candidate
in any thing affecting his religion^ or his duty to his
country; both religion and duty to my country constrain
me to use all honourable means for exposing to view the
egregious perversions of Free Masonry.
44 Ask you what provocation I have had ? —
u The strong antipathy of good to bad.
, u When truth or virtue an affront endures,
u The affront is mine, my friends, and should be yours;
tt Mine, as a foe to every false pretence,
" Who think a coxcomb's honour like his sense;
u Mine, as a friend to every worthy mind,
" And mine, as man who feel for all mankind."
I cannot help it; the commencement of this work is
more respectful to Free Masonry; then I did not know her
so well; thought possibly she might have body enough to
cast a shadow, and treated her according to what she
might be> entitled to some measure of respect; but further
investigations, prosecuted now to the summit of the lodges,
in company with the reader, warrant a style of expression,
which, at first, might fairly be accounted dedamatoiy. To
prove her shameless, and to treat her with personal respect,
would not suit the integrity of character aimed at in this
treatise.
19
*