Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-07-03

4
dawn OF science in modern Europe, pre-
scented obstacles to the order, though it
was unable to eradicate the principles
and secrets of the craft. When learning
arose, in those benightod ages, masonry
arose with it. Superstition, the constant
companion of ignorance, although cloth
ed with the power of princes, and aided
by the monkish cunning OF priests, had
not been able to entirely crush the fra
ternlty. In those days of blind zeal and
stupidity, still marks and signs were
visible by which one brother could re-
cognize another.--And even in battle,
the dagger and knife have often been di-
verted from their aim, by the mystic sign
which warned from shedding brothers.
blood. The astonished vanquisher, be-
held in his victim, man bound to him,
| by more than common ties--the bloody
dagger lost It's terrors to the vanquish-
ed, and the cnnquering arm, which
would shortly have committed the crime
of fratricide, is now entwined ipund the
body of a brother Blest art, Which can
turn hatred into friendship--which can
divest war of its savage horrors, and ar
rest the weapon of death, at tie breast
Of the victim.
In every age, free masonry has been
the companion of science, Literature and
liberty. In the despotic and priest-rid-
den governments of Spain, Portugal and
Naples, lodges had been prescribed, and
the inmates of the sanctum Sanctorum
were beheld with a jealous eye of ma
Lightly, by the oppressors oftlle people
the thunder of the Inquisitioh has been
hurled on their devoted head, and hun
dreds of them have become Fictims, in
generated in dungeons and exposed to
the horrors OF an auto de fe. But what
a change has been effected In those
countries, SO long buried in monkish
darkness-so long held under the iron
hands of despots; where the energies of
the mind have been bound with the ada
mantine chains Of superstition, rivetted
on by corrupt priesthood, whose exist
ence depended on the ignorance of the
people; yes, in these nations, SO long a
prey to crime, despotism and woe, the
bright sun of reason has risen with more
than ordinary lustre. 1t is the glorious
harbinger of heavens blessings emerging
from behind dark and dreadful cloud.
The age of Spanish regeneration will be
hailed, to the end oftime, as the grandest
and most astonishing ehoch in the history
of nations. And what has been the con-
sequences of this change from darkness
to iisisia 1'us,erher with sctnce, arfs,
and liberal principles, masonry has made
its way into the heart OF those Kingdoms
a lodge is now no longer viewed as a
cage for the Devil! but as the recepta-
Gle OF brotherly love and affection. A
mason can now walk, unmolested,
through the streets of Madrid, Lisbon,
and Naples, and even approach the bor-
ders of that hot-bed OF superstition,
Rome itself, without danger Of punish
ment for his supposed league with Satan,
or his participation in liberal politics.
Notwithstanding the opposition of ty-
amy and superstition, free masonry has
made its way to the remotest quarters Of
the globe. 1t not unfrequenlly arrests
the tolnahawk of the savage, and miti-
gates the severity Of the Turkish task
master to his slave--the wandering ma
riner, while detained on distant shore,
far from those whom the ties OF consan-
guinity would attach to his interest, finds
in every mason, whom chance may throw
in his way, brother, ready to assist him
in adversely, and ready to tender to him
the nourishing hand of hospitality. The
mystic symbol of masonic signs has Of
ten arrested the fury of the wandering
| Arab, when about to drag his prisoner
to slavery and the bloody Mameluke
has shrunk with horror from the scene,
when he found his sabre was about to
have been plunged into the bosom of a
brother.
Behold, in your imagination, two hos
tile armies arrayed before you--the fire
of vengeance flashing in every eye, and
the image of destruction painted in eve
nv countenance. The work of death be-
gins--man destroys man with the fury
Of demons, without malice Of his own
but merely to crafty the ambition, the
ayarice or the caprices of their rulers
yet when the soldier, stimulated by arti
.icial fury, meets member of his fra
ternity in the field, whom he knows BY
the mystic signs, seen only by the craft
the warmth of his wrath is arrested, OF
averted to other objects. The thoughts
of staining his steel with the blood Of
brother, appals him in an instant, and he
stands petriGed with the idea.
Can an institution be evil whose objcc
is humanity and brotherly love CaI
any harm arise from a society whose ene
and aim is charity and universal benevo
lence? Is cherishing the stranger, iced