Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

OF FREE MASONRY. 300
which is to be destroyed to recover the word, or the true
doctrine, is the religion of Christ, founded on revelation.
This word, in its full extent, is liberty and equality, to be
established by the total • overthrow of the altar and the
throne.
u Such are the incipient degrees, the process, and the
whole system of Masonry; it is thus that the sect, by its
gradual explanation of its two-fold principle of liberty and
equality, of its allegory of the founder of Masonry to be
revenged, of the word to be recovered, leading the adepts
from secret to secret, at length initiates them into the whole
Jacobinical code of the revolution.
14 We are not to lose sight of the extreme care with
which the adept is questioned on all that he has seen be*
fore, whenever he is initiated to a new degrefc, lest he should
overlook the intimate connexion subsisting between each;
and thus, in the first degrees, liberty and equality are given
to him as the secret, while the complete explanation and
application of them form the mysteries of the last.
44 The more frightful these hidden mysteries of the lodges
shall appear to the historian, the more strenuously it becomes
his duty to insist on the numbers of honest Masons,
who never partook of these horrid mysteries. Nothing is
more easy than to be duped in Masonry. Such may have
been the lot of those who only seek to make acquaintance
in the lodges, or to pass their leisure hours with men apparently
intimate at first sight. It is true, that this intimacy
seldom extends beyond the walls of the lodge; but the
days of their meeting are often days of festivity. These
repasts are certainly heightened by the temporary equality,
which adds much to the mirth of the meeting; and all
cares subside for ihe day.
u What has been said of certain assemblies where decency
was not respected, is most certainly the invention of
calumny. The extreme order and morality of these meetings,
has often proved a snare to captivate those who are
to be caught with outward appearances; and Cagliostrols