ON SPECULATIVE MASONRY, RELATIVE TO ITS ORIGIN, NATURE, AND TENDENCY. A COMPILATION, EMBRACING RECENT AND IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS ON AND EXHIBITING THE VIEWS OF THE MOST DISTIN- GUISHED WRITERS RESPECTING IT. Creightons BY JAMES C. ODIORNE. I spake openly to the world, and in secret have I said nothing. JESUS CHRIST. BOSTON: PERKINS & MARVIN, 114, WASHINGTON ST. PREFACE. THE several documents comprised in the following work have been published at various times, and in different sections of our country. They have principally appeared in the pamphlet form; and wherever circulated have been read with avidity, and have exerted a powerful influence. Those which have been presented to the public only through the medium of newspapers have not received that general circulation and perusal which their value and importance demand, owing to the fact, that those organs of communication are for the most part subjected to masonic influence, and that but few papers are enlisted in the Antimasonic cause. They are here republished, with the hope that they may receive from the public that attention which they merit; and that the influence which they are calculated to exert may be felt, and be widely extended. Collectively, they form a volume which may be of some service to those who have given to the subject on which they treat but little attention, and who have. not informed themselves in relation to the principles of the Masonic Institution, as they have been developed by recent investigations. |