temptation to the greatest enormities, and afford precisely such securities against detection and punishment, as the vilest of men desire. The good can The good can never need such securities, and the bad do not deserve them, nor is it safe for society, that they should have them. If a man is always obliged to act openly, he is strongly induced to act honestly. But give him an opportunity to act secretly, and the security against punishment, which masonry guarantees, with great strength and a dreadful energy, and he will act more agreeably to the selfish propensities of a sinful heart. Continue in existence your society, and many will be disposed to cultivate the bad principles of their nature; abolish it, and they will be disposed to cultivate the better principles. Thieves, robbers, and counterfeiters, do not mature and discuss their plans in open assemblies, but in secret, “neither come they to the light, because their deeds are evil." They may cultivate thefriendships and honor" peculiar to themselves, as masons may cultivate the dispositions peculiar to their unlawful compact, but on the whole, the character is generally impaired, and society is injured.

3. In maintaining your views, you hypocritically say, page 9, "if these secrets injure no one from their very nature, they must be referred to the day when all secrets will be disclosed." But we reply, that such is the nature of your secrets, when joined with the selfish nature of man, that they will be injurious to society. To this rule there may be exceptions, but the rule itself is founded upon the broad and philosophical view of the human character. A dagger, from its very nature, injures no one ; but put daggers into the hands of such men as those with whom you have confided your secrets, and they are dangerous instruments. We do not approve of their being worn, for the purpose of practising upon others who wear Harmless as the instrument of masonry is in itself, good men ought not to wish for it-and bad men do not deserve it. Our safety in lives, character and property, in our prosperous application to business, and in our various privileges, guaranteed to us by the government under which we repose, requires that this instrument be wrested from the hands of bad men and consequently from all-because in constitutional provis

them not.

ions, distinctions are impracticable. As the case now is, with masonic magistrates, jurors, &c. &c. if we must appeal to such a court, with a mason for an antagonist, we go not with equal hopes or privileges for success. We may be wrong in such a manner as to obtain no redress by legal process; because perhaps, we cannot show that these masonic officers have, in a tangible manner, violated the letter of the law, although its spirit has been corruptly disregarded.

We have another remark to make on the manner in which you are disposed to express yourself, concerning these secrets-that "they must be referred to the day when all secrets will be disclosed." What is your meaning here? Is it, that your secrets cannot be known? Deceive not yourself, nor vainly attempt to deceive others -for they are known. Or, do you mean, that if they are known, the public cannot touch them now-that they are not to enjoy the liberty of examining the nature of this extraordinary code, thus thrown out before their gaze Aud if so, by what legitimate authority is this liberty abridged, and this silence of the tongue imposed? In our view, these revelations are things of this world, and men will judge them according to the light which God hath given them.

?

But you proceed page 9, and make the following declaration, in favor of the lawfulness of your society, "that I know nothing in our secrets which appears to one contrary to the word of God or the rights of men-and that I never had the least suspicion that there was any masonic penalty worse than expulsion."

With respect to this first clause, we have already remarked in substance, what we deem sufficient-on the last clause, we say, that such assertions are by no means new things to us, -we have, long since, understood them. We know what is pledged to those who are about to be initiated, when in the preparation room, that nothing is to be imposed which will injure their " religion or their politics." We also understand how masonry is plained" to some candidates, who are horror struck at the oaths; we grant that there is a favorable cominentary on such passages-yet we also understand the cominentary on those same oaths, whenever there is an intended revelation of your secrets-we have the commentary in

ex

the murder of Morgan-it is written in blood. Perhaps you and your conscience rest easy under the one comBut on this point, ment, but we cannot under the other. there is a wide difference of opinion in the interpretation of those tremendous oaths, among your own brethren; the most of them understanding the penalties according to the legitimate construction of language While therefore there is the difference of opinion on this fundamental article, among your brethren, and while you are still disposed to defend masoury in the gross, you cannot expect to feel satisfied with the continued existence of an institution which contains such provisions; for whenever a great occasion arises, the penalties are inflicted by some of your brethren, (the rest standing by,) and if the deed comes to light, nothing is more convenient than for you to say, that those executioners did not properly interpret their obligations, and still you go on and support the institution! An institution from which such outrages will proceed more or less frequently, as naturally as water runs down hill. Where are the men to be found who will support your institution? We reply, that they must never be found among the number of those whom we may in future ordain to the work of the ministry. Now, sir, with all these facts and considerations before you, can intrinsic you not possibly see any thing against the lawfulness" of such secret societies? But such is the strange infatuation of men on some questions and on particular occasions that possibly you will come out again and attempt to say some plausible things in favor of masonry in the gross-that the conduct of a great number of your brethren has fallen below their "avowed principles" and that we here only discover the abused principles of masonry, as in many instances we may notice the abused principles of Christianity-all this may pass off with the negligent and superficial as being very fine; though in our estimation, it is neither s lid nor safe. For you may grace the hilt of the dagger with as many sparkling diamonds as you please, but they do not blunt the point.

But masonry, like the responses of the heathen oracles, is on some points exceedingly indefinite and flexible— with some it is a very mysterious thing indeed, and with

those who look upon it with a stupid and unsuspecting wonder, there is nothing which takes so happily as your fine eulogiums coming from "a full heart." a full heart." It is so ancient, so venerable, such great names on the list of membership-so much like Christianity!! But when we ask, what man has it made wise? what is the answer, but silent confusion? The general rule is this, that could the nature of this mysterious thing be known before hand, wise and good men would not have been juggled into it. On the unsuspecting, it has played off more tricks, and practised more impostures than any thing else excepting the church of Rome. See the simple, the wise and great ones of this world in their passage from one degree to another, hoping to catch something by and by, and sometimes thinking they were close to it-one more stepand then! and what then? why then, all this reminds us of the ludicrous chase of our childhood to catch the rainbow.

We have only to add here to the preceding remarks, on the "intrinsic lawfulness" of your institution, that if you permit the question to be decided by scriptural maxims, the decision will be against you. Every thing which is thus secret, does not meet with the approbation of the New Testament. The principle which induces any company to perpetual secrecy, must be selfish and corruptor it would not have received the direct denunciation of our Lord, who knew what was in man-and therefore renders the true reason for secrecy, when he said “neither come they to the light, because their deeds are evil.” By order of the Consociation,*

JOHN TAYLOR, Moderator.
SILAS PRATT, Clerk.

* Names of members of the Consociation.

Rev. John Taylor, Mendon; Rev. Mr. Jones, Mendon; James Saxton, Mendon; Rev. Wm. P. Kendrick, Shelby, Orleans Co.; Rev. Milton Huxly, Stafford, Genesee, Co.; Rev. Jabez Spicer, N. Penfield, Monroe Co.; Abel C. Ward, Bergen, Genesee Co.; Ezra Coon, Byron, Genesee Co.; Rev. Elihu Mason, Bergen, Genesee Co.; Rev. Herman Halsey, Bergen, Genesee Co.; Dea. Joseph Bloss, Brighton, Monroe Co.; Abijah Gould, Henrietta, Monroe Co.; Theodore Ingersoll, Ogden, Monroe Co.; Rev. E Raymond, N. Bristol, Ontario Co.; Rev. Julius Steel, East Bloom field, Ontario Co.; Rev. John F. Bliss, Gainesville, Genesee Co.

REMARKS ON SECRET SOCIETIES.

Addressed to the Anti-masonic Convention, held at Dedham, Mass. January 1, 1828. By Benjamin Waterhouse, M. D.*

BEING called to the unusual station of presiding over a large, deliberative assembly, the novelty of the situation calls, of course, for your indulgence.

As a retired man, I may not be exactly acquainted with the precise views, and predominant feelings of the numerous delegation here convened. I know, generally, that it has been occasioned by certain alarming events, which have roused the universal attention of one of the largest States in the Union; and that this agitation was excited by deeds of cruelty and bloodshed, instigated, it is said and believed, by a very numerous and growing secret society of active and aspiring men, knit together by solemn vows, and unusual OATHS, with shocking penalties annexed, unknown to our laws, and repugnant to our feelings as men and Christians; and that this serious state of things has called us together, to look into the disorder; and if we cannot at once, devise and apply the remedy, to prevent, at least, its spreading. Let me promise, however, that the task is not an easy one, from the very nature of the disease; it being a pestilence that WALK

ETH IN DARKNESS.”

My observations, at this time, must be of a general complexion, and not of a particular nature. It appears, from the earliest records of mankind, that there has existed in almost every country, little combinations of restless men, like what is now called masonry. In the EIGHTH chapter of the book of Ezekiel, (who lived 590 years before Christ,) you will find mentioned "about five and twenty men,' in a secret recess, "with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east, worshipping the sun."

There was a combination of great influence and celebrity in Greece, that generally met at Athens, denominated

*B. Waterhouse, M. D. formerly Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in Harvard University; and Professor of Natural History in Brown University.