Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

PRETENSIONS OF FREE MASONRY. 37
" Christiana, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans stand,
" One blended throng, one undistinguished band."
I shall not press this point now, but in due time. Men in
this Christian land are not made better by their attendance
upon the institutions of Free Masonry; and half the time,
devoted in the lodges and in the lectures to senseless forms
and ceremonies, if once devoted to the lectures, to the emblems,
and to the heaven-born doctrines of Christianity,
would leave them but little relish for the table which the
lodges spread; and so, also, the time spent in the lodges,
and in the vain repetitions of the order, neither fit the
mind, nor leave it room or relish for the simple and unadorned
truths of the Gospel.
Nay, more. Men, taught by the books of Masonry that
this and that wonder were wrought by Heaven for Free
Masonry; and that the Most High did interest himself upon
several occasions, personally, and often by his acknowledged
servants, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles,
to ordain, preserve, and enlarge the Masonic institution
; and finding Free Masonry itself to be emptiness and
vanity, are foiced to regard all religious truth with less respect
and confidence. In this light I cannot but consider
the great pretensions of the institution, as a contempt upon
the Most High, and upon his chosen servants; for, if the
choicest men of the antediluvian world, Adam, and Enoch,
and Noah; and the holiest, the wisest, and the greatest
men since the flood, Moses, and Solomon, and John Baptist,
together with the most beloved Evangelist, were interested
in empty Free Masonry as the institution represents
them, they must fail to be regarded in their teachings in the
holy scriptures, with that entire respect and reverence*
which is their due.
I have it in my mind, that there are in the lodges clergymen
of every denomination, and of pure character;* this may
* No exception nnleas in favour of the Quakers, who, refusing an oath,
are refused by the laws of Free Masonry.