Masonry, varied with the name, so does she change the legend of Hiram to suit her different rituals; (she, who, a few chapters back, admitted no discord in all holy essentials, now speaks of her different rituals ;) and as the Levites chose Hiram for the allegorical being who represents the Grand Architect of Solomon's temple, so, in the choice of Free Masonry, the Lord of Glory is an allegorical being, the builder of his church. It requires no stretch of fancy to find the bearing of this masonic lesson. The legend of Hiram, with its usual explanation, is no more interesting than a bare hook thrown into the water; but if it will catch the hopes of immortal souls, it assumes quite a new aspect. That doctrine which has ever been a stumbling block to the self-righteous, and an offence to the conceitedly wise, may well be supposed to awaken the contempt of Free Masonry. No doubt she regards the sacrifice of the cross with a feeling of inexpressible ridicule; the meekness of the Lamb that was slain, is in her estimate no better than the pusillanimity of Hiram Abiff: that is natural to the pharisee. It is not passing belief that she should mock at the blood which was shed for the remission of sins; that she should celebrate the agony of the Passion without sorrow, and the sacrament of the supper without love; that she should present the grand master, Hiram Abiff, basely dying for the masonic word, as a leer upon him who died upon the cross to save sinners. I do not say she does this; it has been far from me to suspect her of this; indeed a hint of it from any profane, would have sounded like the echo of distant scandal, or appeared like the insinuations of jealousy. But when her followers come before the public in a handsome volume, with indisputable evidence that they are initiated into her mysteries, and declare that Free Masonry does this, it would be blindness not to examine the matter; to inquire, at least, whether Free Masonry is capable of doing this? And, though from her previous character, my reader, we must enter upon this investigation with dark forebodings to Free Masonry, yet we will strive to conduct it without prejudice or partiality. Let justice decide. Her favourite biographers in the English tongue, may be divided into two classes; those who make her spring up with time, or come from the Almighty hand at the beginning ; and those who trace her origin in the odious mysteries of the ancient heathen. Anderson, Preston, and Webb, are leaders of the former class; and Lawrie, Greenleaf, and Cole, are of the latter. Hutchinson ought to be passed by, for he clearly supports both. Let us see if her origin forbid the imputation upon her character made by Esprit. Heaven is a place of truth; and the established reputation of Free Masonry for falsehood, compels us to believe that, if she came from heaven to earth, it was because she was driven out, or had lost all power to deceive there; and, therefore, she would be capable of the profanity attributed to her by Esprit. If she sprung up in the beginning, not coming from heaven; then she would be capable of the blasphemy which her pupil, Esprit, has laid at her door. And her origin, as given either way by the former class, will not deliver her from a righteous condemnation. If she came, with Lawrie and others, from the Eleusinia, the Bacchanalia, and the degrading rites of heathen Rome and Greece, Britain and Gaul, then she may well be thought capable of the deeds credited to her by her own son, Esprit du Dogme. And she cannot be rescued, by the purity of her origin, from the reproach of mocking the King of Kings, in the interpretation of the legend of Hiram, We will see if her well established character forbids our belief of the charge; the known maxims of her life, and rule of her conduct. Her system of morality is founded upon temporal expediency; which is no better foundation than that of the royal arch. Her own example is proof. She is of the highest cast, and therefore a Brahmin in Asia; a great Christian in New-York. In Turkey, she kneels seven times a day, in obedience to the false prophet; and in revolutionary France, kicks up her heels without decency, but with every demonstration of joy, to the cry of "Free! Free! Free! Free from every restraint of religion, and of law; free to follow after reason." This is matter of history; the records of the times show it beyond dispute. Her faithful pupil, Esprit, declares it; and, perhaps, the Mason still refuses to believe this is the Daughter of night; as if one in the intoxication of her cups, could not be the same one who laboured patiently to fill them. Her system of morality has no dependence upon the law of the Eternal, and any independent system is, like Free Masonry, rottenness to the bones. To establish a rule of conforming religious principles according to circumstances ; charging men, as Masonry says she formerly did,* to worship in the mode of the people among whom they reside, is a scheme, worthy of the darkest complexion of Free Masonry, and is proof enough, that if it were her interest to scoff at the sacrifice of the cross, she is capable of the blasphemy attributed to her by Esprit. It only remains to examine the point of interest. All who are guided in their views of interest by bare expediency, are in great danger of mistaking their interest; but views of expediency, founded on the law of God, and having reference to the day which is after death, are well founded; no doubt, to the short sighted, they may sometimes appear mistaken views, but all must acknowledge they have good foundation; they alone have good foundation. But Free Masonry, it has been shown, governs herself by a view to bare expediency, independent of the immutable law of God; bowing here, cringing there, and again, throwing her cap with the madness of a demon, to suit local circumstances; having no respect to consistency of *Book of Constitutions of Massachusetts, p. 34. character, and to the value of plain truth, but solely to her own advantage; (in the words of her Books of Constitutions,) "to her own profit and praise.” Such a moralist, who had contributed an incalculable amount of labour to produce the scenes of the reign of terror, when the Scriptures of heavenly truth, and of glorious promise, were indignantly rejected before the multitude, denounced by the national convention, and burned in the public place by the common executioner, while reason mounted the throne of moral government, and received the homage of laws abolishing the Sabbath day, and the religious rite of marriage, might be pardoned for thinking, in the fulness of her joy, that interest required her to exhibit more completely, the features of a face, which, darkly seen, drew multitudes of admirers. It is the interest of vice, when her pupil has become familiar with one shade of her character, to exhibit a darker.* Free Masonry is a perfect illustration of this truth, while the fact is a perfect illustration of the character of Free Masonry. And it was for her interest, in the progress of vice, to scoff at the name she had always despised. Again; Free Masonry has been proved to have a complexion suited to each of her followers; religious, convivial, and faithless. It is nothing strange if she has acted a part, and now acts a part, in suitable places, to the satisfaction of infidels, as she has done in New-York, to the great praise of her Christian character. No place is more suitable, than the scene of Esprit's labours; and, in view of the pretended origin, the vain morality, and the plain interest of Free Masonry, the reader will conclude, that Esprit spoke truth in testifying to what he considers the "useful, lofty, and divine" object of Free Masonry, representing Immanuel under the allegory of Hiram. "Vice is a monster of so frightful mein CHAPTER XLI. "When frowning death appears, "And points his fatal dart, "Distract the sinner's heart! "The dreadful blow "No arm can stay, "But torn away "He sinks to wo."-Lee. ESPRIT du Dogme de la Franche Maçonnerie teaches, that Free Masonry, in many of her rites and degrees, calls to remembrance what she cannot name without great impiety, and that, in the legend of Hiram, she dares to present the allegory of man's salvation. We have seen that her character does not enable Free Masons to contradict their own brother, and to say, "Esprit has published a scandal upon the sacred order, more hideous than is set forth in the calumniating pages of a Barruel or a Robison." We have seen, that her fabled origin, whether heavenly or Bacchanalian, that her morality and her manners, alike contribute to confirm the truth of Esprit's avowal. There are some other circumstances which go to the same point. We have seen, in the notice of the royal arch emblems, that our lady makes bold with the tabernacle, and its consecrated utensils, with the burning bush, the heavenly manna, the tables of the covenant, &c.; that she sets them out in dumb show as a part of her paraphernalia. We said, without presuming to know how she used them, that they were not honestly in her keeping; and, use them as |