Assured that whatever follies or Impru-
dendes may have injured our credit as men^
and that whatever vices have wounded our
charader as cbrtJUansy it never juftified the
former nor allowed the latter> let us excul-
pate our inititution; and frankly declare
that our errors and crimes are from another
fource, the weaknefs and depravity of human
pature, the incitements to evil and the cor-
ruptions of the world, to which all alike are
expofed.
A DISTINCTION muft bc made between
what is attributive to Free Mafonry, and what
is not ; between what is Mdthin its influence,
and what is beyond its fphere* For though
we may fafely declare that it b impradicable
to afcend into thefe regions without improve-
ment of the heart and enlargement of the un-
derflanding, and without carrying along with



US into the %orld we are obliged to aft
in, fomething to purify out cohdoft and
meliorate our condition : yet we do not
pretend that Free Mafonry was inftituted for
the ezprefi purpofes of teadKng morals*
And though all its rites, ceremonies and
charges, imply the neceffity and expreis the
importance of piety and "nrtue, and with im-
preflive folemnity inculcate their obfenr-
ance ; yet it neVer profefled to be a fubfiitute
for natural or I'evealed religion, nor to pre-
Icribe the faith, regulate the confcience, or
control the judgment of any. It has*
enough liberality to allow each man to be

4

^' free,'* but fo much refhraint as to prevent
him from uling his liberty for ^^ a doak of
liccntioufhefs.''

We are the more particular in making
this difcrimination, becaufe fome late writers
have fuggefted that Mafonry profefTes to
fuperfede all reli^ons, and to introduce a
moral code of its own in their flead.
