Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

ANCIENT TUBS MASONRY IS BTEISM. 213
is half cured, when well defined. Free Masonry is defining
herself in a way not to be, mistaken; and if any, looking
«t the number of her lodges, fear for the moral health of
our country, it is well to be on the alert, using gentle Remedies,
and, by no means, harsh or violent medicine?,
which inevitably weaken the body,. Gentle measures will
most certainly withdraw, in a very few years, all the Valuable
supporters of Free Masonry from her ranks in thfc
country; while abuse for tfie things of which they are ignorant,
will only exasperate, and throw men obstinately
into her citadeL She is not to be feared, whose grand
master, without disparagement, fell under the stroke of a
two foot ride, a square, and a mallet, presenting, O Free
Masonry, an example of " virtue, fortitude, and integrity,
seldom equalled, and newer excelled in the history of man,"
No, she is not to be feared; she is a coward, that seeks
the cover of the night, and the help of falsehood, to screen
herself from the certain fate to which truth and the light
will one day doom her. Mark her through a few periods:
" In this treatise we shall be as circumspect as possible, in
order, that if it should fall into the hands of way profane
(L e. uninitiated,) he could use it only to be convinced, thai
our sqmptuous repasts «re not the object of our assemblies,
but they have an aim useful, lofty, and divine* We are
obliged to warn our brethren, that in speaking of the tenets
of the Egyptians, of their mysteries, or of those of Mofees,
of Zoroaster, of Jesus Christ, it is not at all our purpose to
give our own opinion, or that of our order. Every brother
knows, that he ought indiscriminately to take to his bosom
every honest citizen, every friend of his country, and of the
laws, of whatever religion he may be, having admitted a
universal toleration in the mode of worship; and we have
been compelled sometimes to enter upon the discussion of
these tenets and mysteries, in order to illustrate the ancient
doctrines of our faith. 11 —(Esprit du Dogme, p. lo.)
In the first period she gives the reader a high idea of the
useful and divine association, and in the next, intimates