Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

966
U SPIRIT OP THE DOC TRIM;; OF FUSE MAM)NRY. V
had figured his opinions, and which had a great analogy to
the Persian innovators' doctrine of the Trinity. Plato
supposed three personalities, or forms of the divinity. The
first constituted the Supreme, the second the Logos, or
Word, begotten by the flrst God, the third, the Spirit, or
soul of the world."
" The Trinitarians increased in Judea, and afterward
added to this new dogma the sound doctrine of Jesus
Christ, which was the enemy of every religious dispute."—
(Esprit du Dognte de la F. Maconneri, pp. 85,86.)
She exhibits several pages of her traditionary lore upon
this subject, without making the slightest inference from
any part: " Critics assure us," she says, " that Jesus never
spoke of the doctrine of the Trinity." She would seem
to hide her own modest opinion, and, with a bewitching
timidity, considering the stores of her learning, she only
repeats what the critics say. It is to her usual credit, that
the name she banishes from her devotions, is here quoted
under the authority of the critics, for her own purposes, to
vilify the holy name unto which we are baptized, and sacredly
dedicated.
Whether supporting the doctrine by the aid of the grand
chapter, and the argument of the three pillars, and of the
three lights of a lodge, or opposing it by the pretence of its
Persian original, with some Grecian refinement, her object
is always the same*—to heap up contempt against the
Majesty of heaven; and although the difference in the motives
of her instruments is immense, it is difficult to tell
which serves her best, the profound argument of the pillars,
or the affectedly modest insinuations of Esprit.
These are considerations of awftd import, not suggested
by enemies of Masonry, but by her pupils and friends.
Messrs. Barruel and Robison, whose honourable names
have for thirty years been the standing butt of reproach
and scandal to eke out a masonic oration, never charged
Free Masonry with greater impiety than is claimed for her
by Esprit. We have seen, that her origin, and her morals,