The Yazoo City Whig. [volume] (Yazoo, Miss.) 1844-1851, 1846-08-28

IeTSOuIse WAN man as well as one with |
another, and to demonstrate with those who
wander from the paths Of rectitude, or tres.
pass upon the rules Of morality. In all
ages and all countries, ouI Order has stood |
forth as the champion Of liberty and religion,
wherever she has erected an altar for her
worshiPeIs. She has also dedicated tenn
pie to science and refinement.
1t rs not necessary 10 go back and trace
the progress Of our Older from its establish
ment down TO the present period, or point
out in minutia its deeds and history. Suffice
it to say, that thousands Of years ego the
Egyptian as:rolagers found in our Temple
the secrets of astronomy; and the Chaldean
sheppard in his midnight watch. as he gazed
upward TO the starry heavens, drew from our
oracles the sublime thIuths that there were
words unknown, incalculable and immense,
and that over all presided an unknown and
mysterious, yet Omnipotent power.
Since that time, during succeeding ages,
we behold the Eastern Magi-the devout
Jew-the intellectual and versatile Greek
the proud and naughty Roman bend
ing at its shrine, and burning insence' upon
its affairs.
Emerging from the gloom of middle ages,
we see it the eliminating spirit in the revoIu>
ton that succeeded the rolling onward with.
the tides Of science and civiIization-from
nation to nation-from country to county
lit has crossed the Atlantic and found on
freedoms soil fostering hand and genial
cline. True it is, that storms have howled
around, and at times, we behold it cleaning
like the pale star of morning g 'twixt light
and darkness on the hoIizen's VERGE" yet
the storm has passed away, and again has
) burst forth in renewed strength and beauty.
Protected by the shield Of Omni potence,
3 it has set at defiance the power of despOtism,
/. the Vaccinations of bigotry, and the wiley
i. intrigue of the fawning hypOcrite. 1t has
D been said, that ours is a secret Order, and
that secrecy is disconsonant with innocence
: True it is in part, that we are secre
society-but is secrecy a crime? The Worlt
i itself, the Universe, the God Of eterna
]. truth are surrounded by an impenitrabll
veil that no mortal eye. ever pierced; am
n shall It be denied That these do exist, be
i cause their arcaha are not revealed at GU
o biddingl
y Shall we pronounce them evil because
:. their operations are hiden from our view
e and above all, our comprehension? Again
: who can define? no unfold its constituen
y elements and hiden springs! The earth
10 quake-at whose shock nations tremble, an,
re countries become desolate, has been &C
l. counted for anu its most secret particle
have been revealed and anallized! Tn
I'd tightening that plays in bright yet fearful
I'd beauty amid the storm, has been trace
ne home to the cloud from whence it came
and its minutest principles investigated an
developed; but who has traced home tb
- Iightehings of the mind? Who analizc
those mental earthquakes that have shake
=. the moral world TO its very centre, and di
= fused light and knowledge in the abOdes
ignorance and superstition? And shall Il
- emmenations Of Genius, the music of Il
-. Poets Tyre, the conceptions Of the gifted i
- tellect, the tones Of spirit.stirring eloquenl
be rejected because the source from when'
80 they eminated are hiden from our view al
80 beyond the reach of our intellect.
:. So far from secrecy's being an Objects
to our Order, we claim it as recommend
- ton. 1t is the mystic tie that binds US I
gether in indissolable brotherhood, ptom
ing us to deeds Of virtue and beneyolen,
~ 1t comes and entWines itself around our
l.. ternity, like the refreshing yet inVisi
breeze that at summer noontide fans
pa burning forehead, invigolating the syst
- with its GOODNESS, and gladening our heI
with its freshness and purity.
In this respect, we have the sanction
; Of ages. We challenge any one to point o,
ants single nation or people whose carer
sketched on the page of history am
hren whom there did not exist secret Institute
they To go further, there is not an enligh
for ed government now existing on the 81,
ribu> that does not permit its legislative cOur
need 70 resolve themselves into secret concIa
} hu- Even in our own country, under our
iEdi- Constitution, Congress can close its d
lnted and sit for days-for weeks-for mOntI
re- connecting measures Of vital impOrtanC
q un> seventeen millions of freemen, and sh
Obli> any member Of that body dare ia revea