The Use and Abuse of FreeMasonry Author:George Smith Title: The Use and Abuse of Free-Masonry; a Work of the Greatest Utility to the Bretheren of the Society, to Mankind in General, and to the Ladies in Particular General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Original Publisher: Masonic publishing and manufacturing co Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the o... more »riginal. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ANTIQUITY FREE-MASONRY IN GENERAL. .. the antiquity and great utility of this noble and most praiseworthy society being generally acknowledged in most parts of the habitable world, it would be as absurd to conceive it required new aids for its support, as for him who has the use of sight to demand a proof of the apparent rising and setting of the sun. Nevertheless, I shall lay before my readers some useful strictures on the origin, nature, and design of this most uSeful institution; and, with certainty, though with prudent reserve, confute and avert the many shameful and idle falsehoods which have, for ages past, and at present, been industriously propagated by its enemies, the better to inform the candid and well meaning, who might not know how to investigate the truth, or may want leisure, capacity, and opportunity for that purpose. With this view I have made it my business for many . years to collect a great number of passages from writers eminent for their learning and probity, where I thought they might serve to illustrate my subject. The propriety of such proceeding is too obvious to need any apology. And here permit me to observe, that the brightest titles suffer no diminution of lustre; nay, that nobility itself derives distinction from the support and countenance of an institution so venerable. For if antiquity merits our attention, and demands our reverence, where will ...« less