[878] _A Sermon delivered before the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at a Public Installation of Officers of Corinthian Lodge, at Concord, ... June 25, 1798._ By Jedediah Morse, D. D., minister of the congregation in Charlestown (n. d.). [879] _An Oration, delivered before the Right Worshipful Master and Brethren of St. Peter’s Lodge, at the Episcopal Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on the festival of St. John the Baptist; celebrated June 25, 5798._ By Worshipful Brother Charles Jackson, P. M., Newburyport, March, A. L. 5799. [880] _Ibid._, p. 18. [881] _Ibid._, p. 17. [882] _Ibid._, pp. 19 _et seq._ [883] _Ibid._, p. 23. [884] _Cf. supra_, pp. 254 _et seq._ [885] _Massachusetts Mercury_, Aug. 7, 1798. Bartlett was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. [886] _Ibid._ [887] In his address before the Worcester Lodge, June 25, Bentley had gone so far as to designate Morse “a madman” for accepting Robison’s book at its face value. This led to a retort in kind on the part of Morse. Bentley, according to Morse, was incapable of making himself understood; one must always have a commentator in reading him. _Massachusetts Mercury_, Aug. 3, 1798. [888] _Ibid._, Aug. 10, 1798. [889] _Ibid._, Sept. 7, 1798. [890] _Massachusetts Mercury_, Sept. 18, 1798. [891] _Ibid._ [892] The Masons appear to have paid little if any attention to the thanksgiving sermon of November 29, 1798. There was little reason why they should. [893] See _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798. [894] _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798. [895] _Ibid._ [896] _Salem Gazette_, Dec. 25, 1798. [897] Hayden, _Washington and His Masonic Compeers_, p. 176. [898] _Ibid._, pp. 176 _et seq._ [899] The address of the Maryland Grand Lodge was presented early in June, 1798. The President’s response followed in due course. Both documents were freely copied in the newspapers of the day, the New England papers not excepted. _Cf._ for example, the _Salem Gazette_, Aug. 10, 1798. [900] _An Address, delivered in Essex Lodge, Massachusetts, Dec. 27, 5798 (1798), on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, at the induction of officers._ By William Bentley. Essex Lodge was located at Salem, Bentley’s home. The address may be found in the Freemason’s Magazine, February, 1812, pp. 333 _et seq._ Bentley’s further reflections upon President Adams’s unsatisfactory response to the Vermont Grand Lodge led him to make even more pointed observations. Under date of Feb. 4, 1799, he wrote in his diary: “My address to Essex Lodge out of press. Pres. A. talks like a boy about the danger of the institution. Men of sense who ridicule or oppose the Institution are surprised at his simplicity. If he affects to be afraid, he loosens by the pretence because indifferent persons consider it as a weakness & his judgment suffers, so that he gets neither aid nor confidence.” (_Diary_, vol. ii, p. 296.)