1,3སར་6རr5,7Y;

A DEFENCE of MASONRY, publifh'd A. D. 1730. Occafion'd by a. Pamphlet call'd Mafonry Difjected.

A

CHAP. I. MONG the extraordinary Discoveries of the prefent Age, nothing has been received with more Delight and Exultation, than a few Sheets, written, it feems, without Partiality, call'd Mafonry Diffected. The Grand Secret, which has long withstood the Batteries of Temptation, that neither Money, the Mafter Key of the Heart, nor good Liquor, that unlocks the very Soul, nor Hunger, that breaks through Stone-Walls, nor Thirst, a fore Evil to a Working Majon, could bring to Light; has at laft been difgorged upon Oath, to the great Ealement of a tender Stomach, the eternal Scandal of the Fraternity, and the Good of the Publick never to be forgotten! The Defign was no lefs then to disburthen a loaded Confcience, to acquaint the World, That never did fo ridiculous an Imposition appear among Mankind; and to prevent fo many innocent Perfons being drawn into fo pernicious a Society!

What could induce the Diffector to take that Oath, or the Magiftrate to admit it, fhall not at this Time be decided.

However, I must give the World Joy of fo notable a Difcovery, fo honourable, fo circumftantiated! a mighty Expectation was raifed, and, without Doubt, is wonderfully gratified by this Course of Anatomy. It must be this, it can be nothing else: It is as we always fuppofed, a whimsical Cheat fupported by great Names to feduce Fools, who, once gull'd out of their Money, keep the Fraud fecret to draw in others.

I confess, I cannot come into this Method of Arguing; nor is it, in my Opinion, a fair Way of treating a Society, to run implicitly with the Cry, without examining whether thefe Reproaches are founded upon any Thing in the Myfiery (as now reprefented) either vicked or ridiculous. For that ftupid Imputation of drawing in Fools for the Sake of their Money, can have no Weight in the prefent Cafe; fince the Fraternity, as it now ftands, confifts principally of Members of great Honour and Distinction, much fuperior to Views fo fordid and ungenerous.

For once then, let this Diffection contain all the Secrets of FREE MASONRY; admit that every Word of it is genuine and literally true, and that the whole Scheme confifts of no more nor no lefs: Yet under all thefe Conceffions, under all the Difadvantages and Prejudices whatever, I cannot but ftill believe, there have been Impofitions upon Mankind more ridiculous, and that many have been drawn into a Society more pernicious.

I would

I would not be thought agitated upon this Occafion, as if I were any Way con cern'd whether this Diffection be true or falfe? or whether the Credit of Free Mafonry be affected by it or not? These Confiderations can give me no Trouble. My Defign is to addrefs to the fenfible and ferious Part of Mankind, by making a few impartial Remarks upon this Diffection, without contending for the Reputation of Mafonry on the one Hand, or reflecting upon the Diffector on the other.

CHAP. II. Diffection. It has been a Matter of Admiration, that fo many Perfons of great Piety, ftrict Confcience and unfpotted Character, fhould lay themselves under fo folemn an Obligation, under Penalties fo terrible and aftonishing, upon a Subject fo trifling and infignificant.

HE formidable Objection which has given Offence to the

T better Part of Men, is the Copy of the Oath as it lies in the

To obviate this Objection, I obferve; that the End, the Moral and Purport of MASONRY, as defcribed in the Diffection, is to fubdue our Paffions, not to do our own Will; to make a daily Progress in a laudable Art; to promote Morality, Charity, good Fellowship, good Nature and Humanity. This appears to be the Subftance, let the Form or Vehicle be ever fo unaccountable.

As for the Terms relating to Architecture, Geometry and Mathematicks, that are difperfed throughout the Diffection, it would be ftrange if a Society of fuch a Denomination, could fubfift wholly without them; tho' they feem (to me at least) to be rather Technical and Formal (yet deliver'd perhaps by long Tradition) than ef fentially attached to the Grand DESIGN.

Now where is the Impiety, where the Immorality, or Folly, for a Number of Men to form themselves into a Society, whofe main End is to improve in commendable Skill and Knowledge, and to promote univerfal Beneficence and the focial Virtues of human Life, under the folemn Obligation of an Oath? And This, in what Form, under what fecret Restrictions, and with what innocent Ceremonies They think proper?

This Liberty all Incorporate Societies enjoy without Impeachment or Reflection: An Apprentice is bound to keep the Secrets of his Mafer, a Freeman is obliged to confult the Intereft of his Company, and not to proftitute in common the Myfteries of his Trade: Secret Committees and Privy Councils are folemnly enjoin'd not to publish abroad their Debates and Resolutions. There appears to be fomething like Mafonry (as the Diffector describes it) in all regular Societies of whatever Denomination: They are All held together by a Sort of Cement, by Bonds and Laws that are peculiar to each of them, from the Higheft to the little Clubs and Nightly Meetings of a private Neighbourhood. There are Oaths adminifter'd, and fometimes folemn Obligations to Secrecy: There are a MASTER, two Wardens, and a Number of Afiftants, to make what the Diffector may call (if he pleafes) a Perfect Lodge in the City-Companies. There is the Degree of Enter'd Prentices, Mafter of his Trade, or Fellow Craft, and Mafter, or the Mafter of the Company. There are Conflitutions and Orders, and a fucceffive, a gradual Enjoyment of Offices, according to the several Rules and Limitations of Admission.

But it is reply'd, that the general Design of Mafonry may be commendable, or at leaft innocent, and yet be carried on to the fame Advantage without the Solemnity. of an Oath, especially preffed under fuch dreadful Penalties.

In anfwer, I obferve, that the Question is not whether the Purpofe of Masonry may as well be ferved without an Oath? But whether an Oath, in the prefent Cafe, be lawful, and may be taken with a good Confcience? And to folve this Difficulty I fhall introduce the Opinion of Bishop SANDERSON, the most judicious Cafuift that ever treated upon the Subject of Oaths; who fays, When a Thing is not by any Precept or Interdict, Divine or Human, fo determin'd; but every Man, pro hic & nunc, may at his Choice do or not do, as he fees expedient; Let him do what he will, he funneth not, 1 Cor. vii. 36. As if Caius fhould fwear to fell his Land to Titius, or to lend him an hundred Crowns: The Anfwer is brief, an Oath in this Cafe is both lawful and binding.

De Obligatione Juramenti Prælect. 3, Sect. 15.

Now I would know what Precept, Divine or Human, has any way determin'd upon the Contents of the Diffection? And whether the general Design of Masonry, as there laid down, is not at least of equal Benefit and Importance to the Publick, with the lending of an hundred Crowns to a private Man? The Anfwers to these Queftions are obvious, and the Confequence is equally plain, that an Oath upon the Subject of Mafonry is at least juftifiable and lawful.

As for the Terror of the Penalty, the World, upon that Occafion, is commonly mistaken; for the Solemnity of the Oath does not in the leaft add to the Obligation; or, in other Words, the Oath is equally binding without any Penalty at all. The fame Cafuift has this Expreffion: A Solemn Oath of itself, and in its own NaPrælect. 5. Sect. 12 ture, is not more obligatory than a Simple One; because the Obligation of an Oath arifeth precisely from This, that God is invoked, as a Witness and Revenger, no lefs in a Simple Oath than in the folemn and corporal; for the Invocation is made precifely by the Pronunciation of the Words (which is the fame both in the fimple and folemn) and not by any corporal Motion or concomitant Sign, in which the Solemnity of the Oath confifts.

I write to intelligent Readers, and therefore this Citation wants not to be explain'd.

But further, if the Oath in the Diffection be taken by all Mafons upon their Admiffion, no Member of the Fraternity, upon any Pretence whatsoever, dares violate the Obligation of it, without incurring the Guilt of Perjury; even fuppofing that Masonry were more trifling and indifferent, than in the Diffection it may appear to be. And therefore if the Conduct of the Diffector has ftagger'd the Conscience of any one of the Brotherhood, concerning the Obfervation of that Oath; and has induced him to trifle and play with the Force of it, I hope he will defift betimes, left he becomes actually forfworn.

Prælect. 4. Sect. 11. This Cafe is thus determin'd by the fame Cafuift, A Voluntary Oath is the more binding for being Voluntary; because there is no firaiter Obgation than that which we take willingly upon ourselves. And in another Place Prælect. 3. Sect. 15 the Cafuift is more particular, Where a Matter is so trivial

that

that it is not worth the Deliberation of a wife Man, nor matters a Straw whether it be done or not done; as to reach up a Chip or to rub one's Beard; or for the Slightness of the Matter is not much to be efteem'd; as to give a Boy an Apple, or to lend a Pin; an Oath is binding in a Matter of the leaft Moment: Because weighty and trivial Things have a like Respect unto Truth and Falfhood; And farther, because every. Party fwearing is bound to perform all he promised as far as he is able, and as far as it is lawful: But to give an Apple to a Boy is both poffible and lawful; he is bound therefore to perform it, he ought to fulfil his Oath,

CHAP. III.

H

AVING taken off the Weight of the great Objection, the Defign of this Chapter is to remove an Imputation, which has been often urged with great Confidence, viz. The Principles and the whole Frame of Free Mafonry is fo very weak and ridiculous, that it reflects upon Men of the leaft Understanding to be concern'd in it! And now, fay the merry Gentlemen, it appears evidently to be fo by the Diffection, which difcovers nothing but an unintelligible Heap of Stuff and Jargon, without common Senfe or Connection.

I confefs I am of another Opinion; tho' the Scheme of Majonry, as reveal'd by the Diffector, feems liable to Exceptions: Nor is it fo clear to me as to be fully understood at firft View, by attending only to the literal Construction of the Words: And for aught I know, the Syftem, as taught in the regular Lodges, may have fome Redundancies or Defects, occafion'd by the Ignorance or Indolence of the old Members. And indeed, confidering through what Obfcurity and Darknefs the Mystery has been deliver'd down; the many Centuries it has furvived; the many Countries and Languages, and Sets and Parties it has run through; we are rather to wonder it ever arriv'd to the present Age, without more Imperfection. In short, I am apt to think that MASONRY (as it is now explain'd) has in fome Circumftances declined from its original Purity! It has run long in muddy Streams, and as it were, under Ground: But notwithstanding the great Ruft it may have contracted, and the forbidding Light it is placed in by the Diffector, there is (if I judge right) much of the old Fabrick ftill remaining; the effential Pillars of the Building may be difcover'd through the Rubbish, tho' the Superftructure be over-run with Mofs and Ivy, and the Stones, by Length of Time, be disjointed. And therefore, as the Bufto of an old HERO is of great Value among the Curious, tho' it has loft an Eye, the Nose, or the Right Hand; fo MASONRY with all its Blemishes and Misfortunes, instead of appearing ridiculous, ought (in my humble Opinion) to be receiv'd with fome Candour and Efteem, from a Veneration to its Antiquity.

I was exceedingly pleas'd to find the Diffector lay the Original Scene of Mafonry in the EAST, a Country always famous for Symbolical Learning fupported by Secrecy; I could not avoid immediately thinking of the old EGYPTIANS, who conceal'd the chief Myfteries of their Religion under Signs and Symbols, call'd Hieroglyphics: and fo great was their Regard for Silence and Secrecy, that they

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had