Masonic Ethics.

MASONIC ETHICS .

I HAVE a thought in regard to the genius and chaaeter of Masonry , which I think will be interesting to the brethren . It is that the ethical character of the teachings of Masonry stands nniquo in the moral instruction of mankind . Through the generations of the past you will find that there have been prevalent in the world three

styles of moral instruction . They represent the three great traditions of human experience ; the governmental or royal tradition ; the religious or priestly tradition ; and the industrial or plebeian tradition . In the royal tradition the king represents the whole nation . In him should be

gathered up the worth of the nation represented by him , and ho should disinterestedly direct the whole nation for its best welfare . But the history of mankind shows that his position has been used by the king to pamper himself , sacrificing the people to his selfish good . The ethical

teaching of the royal tradition is the sacrifice of the inferior to the superior . The commands of the king are sustained by the military power . Every deliverance of mankind from the oppressive power of kings has been won by wresting the military power from him , turning it against

him , and putting a substitute in his place . Every step of relief or improvement has been taken in this direction . In the religions tradition the priest appears in the place of the king ; but he represents GOD instead of representing the nation . Now , GOD represents not only the nation , but the whole universe . Therefore His will is absolute law .

But the priest , while he has always pretended to represent GOD , has , as a rule , really represented only himself and his class . He has embodied in his church and creed his own opinions and passions , and then palmed them off as the will of GOD His theory is the sacrifice of the superior

for the inferior , —as GOD died for men . But his practice has been a constant attempt to subordinate the world to the church , the real power in the church being the will of the priest disguised as the will of GOD . His great artifice for sustaining himself has been the indoctrination of the

human mind with superstitions' , —the sacrifice of this world to the next . These two are the great historic systems of ethical teaching . The royal tradition would selfishly subordinate the people to the king , the nation to the throne . The priestly tradition would rear the power of the church

on the sacrifice of the present to the future , earth to heaven . From these two forms of despotism the only escape has been by turning the military force against the king and dethroning him ; or by repudiating the religious creed and substituting another one in its place .

Now we come to the Masonic style of ethics . This represents the tradition of labour , the industrial order . This , in distinction from the kingly and the priestly , is the plebeian tradition of humanity , founded on industry ,

pervaded by faith , and crowned with honour . It is the only organised social institution on earth which really represents in one impartial whole all the classes and all the interests of our race . It neither sacrifices the inferior to the

superior , nor the superior to the inferior , but reconciles all in co-operative union on the basis of universal justice and goodwill . Under this form of moral teaching and practical administration it is clear that there can never possibly be any despotism from which mankind will need to rescue

themselves either by revolt against power or by change of belief . The most gifted and advanced oversee the less gifted and advanced , while all conspire to toil in the great contention as to who can best work and best agree and contribute the richest service to the collective unity . The

essence of Masonic ethics , therefore , is the industrial production and distribution of the goods of life on the pure principles of justice and brotherhood . When this system of moral teaching prevails , the world will be nigh its

redemption . It includes the truths of the other systems without their errors . It is a royalty ; but it is a democratic royalty . It is an equality ; but it is an equality broken into ranks by diversities of gifts and degrees of service . It reconciles kings and priests and workmen .

The king says to his subjects , " Obey me , that you may preserve order and keep yourselves from cutting each others' throats . " But what he really means is , " Obey me , that I may draw a huge revenue from your toil , and enjoy all the luxuries of the earth . "

The priest says to tho laity , " Obey the church , that you may appease the anger of GOD , and save your souls from damnation . " But the practical meaning ^ of his policy is

Masonic Ethics.

" Obey me , that the institution with which my pride and interest are identified may flourish in supreme power . " The Mason says to his brethren , " Obey the order of

nature , the intrinsic requirements of the Architect of the Universe , that we may all live happily in plenty and harmony . " And so far as he is in earnest , and not a mere dilettante , his word and intent , his creed and his deed ,

agree . Let me further illustrate this view by the example of one symbol used in common by all the three ethical systems , though used by each one of them in a very different sense . The symbol to which I allude is the cross .

As employed in the kingly tradition the cross surmounts a globe , and is a token of complete empire . Affixed to the end of a mace , it may be used to strike down the inferior , sacrificing the subject to the master . It is , in the

governmental aspect of it , an expression of the power of the higher over the lower , as shown in the cruelest form of execution . It is reared on the world as an instrument for the destruction of offenders against the majesty of the

sovereign . In the ecclesiastical tradition the cross represents the Supreme Ruler sacrificing Himself for His subjects in the crucifixion . The true inference from this would be , that his representatives should , in kindred self-denial ,

subordinate themselves to their inferiors . But they have perverted it to an opposite purpose , and put the abstract theory of a theological doctrine in place of the practical application of a moral truth . If the priest truly represented GOD , ever stooping to serve those beneath him , his

teachings would be absolutely valid and absolutely irresistible . But , in fact , the cross in his hands is an expression of his power to command the submission of those who see in it the condescending sacrifice of GOD . It expresses not the duty of the priest to sacrifice himself to men , but

their duty to sacrifice themselves to him . The priest uses the cross not like the king to bruise the body , but to crush the mind . The Roman Catholic symbolism of the cross is , that its right limb denotes humility , its left limb chastity , its trunk obedience . Bat there is clearly no such

significance properly belonging to the instrument . If accepted at all , it has to be accepted on the arbitrary authority of the church , bringing all minds abjectly to its footstool . Since no such threefold meaning as obedience , chastity and humility is there , except as wilfully placed there by

the priest , therefore whenever the laity read therein such a purely forced and technical symbolism they submit their natural minds to be trained by the artificial mind of the priest , —which is just what he professionally desires , to keep the world iu leading-strings .

Now , notice the significance of the cross in the industrial tradition of the Masonic Order . In sharp opposition to the Ethics fashioned by the symbolism of political sway and

to the ethics moulded by the symbolism of priestly speculation , the ethics of Masonry are shaped and animated by the symbolism of human industry founded on natural science and reason . As to all the emblems which this

natural morality employs , the meanings inhere directly in the objects , and are to be extracted thence by every untrammelled intelligence . Here the true meaning of the cross is given by geometry and duty . It is the rudest outline of the form of man , and it points in all the six

directions of the creation . The bareness , accordingly , suggests at once the total directions of space . Its head points to the zenith ; its foot , to the nadir ; its back , to the north ; its face , to the south ; its left arm , to the east ; its right arm , to the west . Thus it

explicitly denotes universality . And when the naked wood is changed from cross to crucifix by being loaded with the universal weight of man , it expresses the surrender of individual will to universal law , or the blending

of personal desire with social welfare . Scientifically interpreted , the crucifix is the expression , in human figure , of self-surrender in universality of sympathy , because the attitude of the form there outstretched is the attitude of

unlimited submissiveness and love . He who is in that form or posture is unarmed and helpless . He has his breast open to receive all , his arras spread to embrace all . He commands not ; he threatens not . He assails no one ; he

resists nothing . The cross , then , in its intrinsic meaning , denotes neither authority nor superstition , but personal surrender to universal law and power , that entire harmony which really represents GOD . When we have fliat system of realistic and co-operative ethics , of which the example given , is a specimen , taken