"this nether empire," "to prevent the living from entering the infernal regions, and the dead from escaping." "Cerberus hæc ingens latratu regna trifauci Eneid, vi. 417. A fit guardian of fit place. Every degree has its oath, and each concludes with a penalty horrid in the extreme. A dread of the light, whatever else, is plainly shadowed forth in this anxious care to close every avenue to the dark vault of the lodge. Cacus had not more bolts, and locks, and levers, to his secret mansion, than Masonry has to hers. I shall not push them back, not turn a key, not slip a bolt; there is a way to her dwelling very like that by which Hercules came upon the thief of his heifers; he overturned the mountain beneath which the rogue had his dwelling; and "The court of Cacus stands revealed to sight, “The cavern glares with new admitted light.”*—Dryden. Masonry, covered with a mountain of pretensions, and having for her dwelling a secret lodge, with only one avenue, guarded by imprecating sprites, of whom harpies and gorgons are not unsuitable emblems, rejoices in her security, and glories in her strength. Though a mortal may evade her wiles, and find an open entrance; though he may, fearless of the consequences, give a key to every lock, and set the door open wide for those who will to enter, she still sits a queen in the darkness; her throne is unshaken ; her canopy of pretensions defends her. It is that canopy which this work is intended to overthrow. "Et Caci detecta apparuit ingens Eneid, viii. 241. "Trepi dentque immisso lumine manes." The tenant trembles at the entering light. Volumes of dark smoke she may vomit forth to the admiration of her trembling adherents; ay, she may quote the bricks of ancient Babylon in proof of her antiquity, and recite "the mystic chronicles of moss covered walls," in "the universal language of Masons," to the delight of her doubting followers; but all to no purpose. Her hour has come; the shafts of ridicule are pointed at her life; the bow is drawn by indignation at her violence and pride; the spear of truth is raised; and die she must, to pass through another metempsychosis. Her spirit will seek a new form to deceive mankind; Free Masonry can serve for its covering no longer. It can be no breach of duty to expose the empty assertions of Masonry by a slight use of the means which her votaries freely use for her praise. Mr. Webb, for the glory of Masonry, recites fifteen pages of traditions belonging to the sublime degrees, more extravagant, and not less absurd, than that of the master's degree. Did he trifle with his oath? I hope not; then much less have I. Messrs. Hardie, Hutchinson, Town, Preston, Dermott, Smith, &c. &c. have, each and all, taken greater liberties with the traditions of the craft, than the writer; add to these the Book of Constitutions. Have they mocked their oath? or have they liberty, seeing they use it "for her profit and praise," and the writer none, seeing he speaks the truth to her shame? Their transgression shall not be my justification; I do not name it as such, but only to silence the captious. They considered, as I do, that the secrets of Masonry are her signs, words, and tokens; these the oath regards, and no The common language of Masons in conversation upon the subject of Masonry, is proof that this is the opinion of the fraternity in respect to the application of the oaths. And, if this interpretation should seem to a more. single mind partial, I do not solely rely upon it, but upon the saving clause, that the oath is administered with the express declaration precedent, that it is not to bind the candidate in any thing affecting his religion, or his duty to his country; both religion and duty to my country constrain me to use all honourable means for exposing to view the egregious perversions of Free Masonry. "Ask you what provocation I have had?- "The affront is mine, my friends, and should be yours; "Mine, as a foe to every false pretence, "Who think a coxcomb's honour like his sense; "Mine, as a friend to every worthy mind, "And mine, as man who feel for all mankind." I cannot help it; the commencement of this work is more respectful to Free Masonry; then I did not know her so well; thought possibly she might have body enough to cast a shadow, and treated her according to what she might be, entitled to some measure of respect; but further investigations, prosecuted now to the summit of the lodges, in company with the reader, warrant a style of expression, which, at first, might fairly be accounted declamatory. To prove her shameless, and to treat her with personal respect, would not suit the integrity of character aimed at in this treatise. CHAPTER XXIV. Containing a Sketch of the great delusions which have prevailed in different ages of the world; and answering the question, how could Free Masonry be endured so long? “He taketh the cypress and the oak; he burneth part thereof in the fire; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire; and the residue thereof he maketh a God, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God.”—Isaiah. ONE difficulty remains to perplex the reader, viz. “If this is Free Masonry, how has it been endured so long?" A hard question, which admits of an answer. But suppose it do not admit of an answer? Is it, therefore, to overset a series of well established facts? Because we can not tell how the Franklin rod attracts the lightning, shall we doubt its attractive power? The fact is established, be the explanation what it may. Again, the question may admit of an answer, and yet through infirmity, the writer may fail to give it. The planets cease not to run their several circuits, though Des Cartes' theory of their motions was never satisfactory, and is now quite exploded. Should I fail, then, in an attempt to answer this question, the facts stated with respect to it remain unabated; and should the following argument seem as hypothetical as Des Cartes' theory, the planets are not more true to the sun, than the facts of this treatise are to Free Masonry. "How then has it been endured so long?" Men have been ever fond of strange things. A glance at their follies will show that Free Masonry is not the most incredible fault of which they have been guilty. Begin ning the answer where Masonry is said to have begun, in the garden of Eden, the first man, Adam, lured by the false hope of exaltation, fell into disobedience and the snare of death; then the old world became entirely corrupted, and was in consequence destroyed by the flood: next, the sons of Noah, while he yet lived, madly raised the tower of Babel: afterward, the Egyptians, the wisest people of their age, who raised monuments of art, that the puny moderns, with their best efforts, have not the means to take down, became the most superstitious people on earth: "they lost Pelusium, the key of Egypt," by the stratagem of Cambyses, "who placed in the front of his army a great number of cats, dogs, sheep, and other animals, which were regarded as sacred by the Egyptians, and then attacked the city by storm. "The garrison, not daring either to fling a dart, or shoot an arrow, for fear of hitting some of these animals, Cambyses became master of the place without opposition." [Rollin, vol. i. p. 365.] If the Egyptians were not so wise and learned as the moderns, neither is Free Masonry so contemptible as their superstition. "It is astonishing to see a nation which boasted its superiority above all others with regard to wisdom and learning, thus blindly abandon itself to the most gross and ridiculous superstition. Indeed, to read of animals, and vile insects, honoured with religious worship, placed in temples, and maintained with great care at an extravagant expense; to read that those who murdered them were punished with death, and that these animals were embalmed, and solemnly deposited in tombs, assigned them by the public; to learn that this extravagance was carried to such a pitch, that leeks and onions were acknowledged as deities, were invoked in necessity, and depended upon for succour and protection; are absurdities which we, at this distance of time, can scarcely believe; and yet they have the evidence of all antiquity." [Rollin, vol. i. p. 116.] This superstition is a matter of historical fact: how could |