More than a few of the traders and agents who exploited the Indians were Masons. This gives us no moral right to condemn current Masons for anything other than their own sins. When men are found guilty and convicted, they may or may not face a physical prison, but they most certainly face an inner prison. Their conscience convicts them first of all, and their conscience imprisons them in the barless but far stronger prison of guilt. At the least, they seek to put godly men on the defensive, trying to vindicate their innocence rather than to do their work.
Guilt is the enemy of freedom.
It disturbs rest and sleep, and it hinders our work and functioning. Most important, it is a precondition for the enslavement of a people. If we are Christians, we should feel guilty. If we have had a good education, shame on us. Politics has become the art of creating and manipulating guilt in order to increase the powers of the state.