Note 863 — Chapter IV · (continued 2)

Cf. for example, a small volume entitled, Eulogium and Vindication of Masonry. Selected (and Improved) from Various Writers, Philadelphia, 1792. The following excerpt is fairly typical: “There are brethren who, careless of their own reputation, disregard the instinctive lessons of our noble science, and by yielding to vice and intemperance, not only disgrace themselves, but reflect dishonor upon Masonry in general. It is this unfortunate circumstance which has given rise to those severe and unjust reflections, which the prejudiced part of mankind have so illiberally bestowed upon us.” (Ibid., p. 11. Cf. ibid., p. 19.) This representation of the case is fully confirmed by The Freemason’s Monitor; or Illustrations of Masonry: in Two Parts. By a Royal Arch Mason … Albany, 1797, pp. 18 et seq.. The following sermon, delivered by a non-Mason, is also suggestive in this connection: A Discourse delivered in the New Presbyterian Church, New York: Before the Grand Lodge of the State of New York … June 24th, 1795. By Samuel Miller, one of the Ministers of the United Presbyterian Churches in the City of New York, 1795. Miller dwelt at length upon the suspicion and prejudice that existed against the Masons, due, as he argued, to (1) the order’s veil of secrecy, (2) the number of men who have been admitted to membership who were known to be the open enemies of religion and morality and a disgrace to human nature itself, and (3) the “scenes of vanity and folly” and “the froth of nonsense” by which too many Masonic gatherings were characterized. Cf. ibid., pp. 25 et seq. Despite the fact that the sermon was full of frankest criticism, Miller’s composition was ordered printed by the Grand Lodge, doubtless for the principal reason that he had been at pains to distinguish between genuine and spurious Masons. Thaddeus Harris, a prominent Massachusetts Mason, in a sermon preached at the consecration at a lodge at Groton, Mass., Aug. 9, 1797, took account of the same criticism of the order. Cf. also, Bentley’s Diary, vol. i, p. 379. Reference to such Masonic compilations as The Vocal Companion and Masonic Register, Boston, 1802, and The Maryland Ahiman Rezon of Free and Accepted Masons … Baltimore, 1797, will not leave the reader in doubt that a good deal of the poetry and music employed in the lodges was excessively hilarious and coarse.