-
Articles/Ads
Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON. ← Page 10 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
thren . His wisdom is contained in the work , Theolosophia Practica , holding fast and striving or combating for the Holy Faith to the Era , & c . & c , in seven parts , of which a new edition was published at Berlin in 1768 .
Glaube , Liebe , Hoffen . Faith , Love , Hop ' .. —Every Freemason must strive to be perfect in these three points . Without that rational faith that speaks to the heart , no man can he a true Freemason ; without all-minding love he cannot fill the position in which he is placed in tlle world with satisfaction to himself ; and without hope he cannot calmly look death in the face . Gleicheit . Equality . —In no society is this more practised than in the Order of Freemasonsfor we are all brethrenand it is said that
, , amongst brethren there must be the most perfect equality . But this word may be misunderstood : we are not all equal in the Lodge , inasmuch as some are appointed to rule and govern , so it is the duty of others cheerfully ancl promptly to obey , and all are equally eligible to be elected to those offices , having first duly performed our duties as private members , and thns enabled ourselves to fill them with credit to ourselves and satisfaction to the Craft . We are not all equal by creation
with respect to our mental faculties , and more especially we are not all equal in the labour which we have , or ought to have , bestowed upon , cultivating those mental faculties to the utmost possible extent . But we ought all of us to be equally zealous in the discharge of our duties as . pieii and masons , and should all prove ourselves to he perfectly equal in the zeal of our fraternal affection to each other . Being coVered in the lodge is an unimportant or an insignificant equality , if it iS not understood as symbolical of equal zeal ancl of equal love . * To
be equal t 6 each other in Brotherly love , is the principal thing which blight ' to be understood in our equality . We dare not for one moment , lose sight of the rank or station which each individual Brother fills hi society , yet there maybe at the same time a pelfect equality amongst men of the most opposite social ranks in the desire to promote every use-, fill work ; and this equality will produce the most beneficial effect upon , the human heart . Any Mason who would dare to attempt , among the Brethrento claim tlle precedence which his conventional position'in
, , society may give him , would disgrace the philosophy of the order , and ' by so doing lay a sacriligious hand upon that sacred bond hy which we are indissolubly united to each other . For this reason , whenever we are unfortunately compelled , by adverse circumstances , to appear as . a stranger towards any of the Brethren , and to make him feel the Weight of any prophane or worldly 2 « 'ecedence , it can only be Maspnically justified by the force of the circumstances themselves , and if prolonged for
a moment beyond the limits which those circumstances require , it then degenerates into an unmasonic crime deserving the severest punish- hieht . Masonic equality cannot be assumed and laid down at the caprice of individuals , or it becomes nothing more than a miserable mockery . ' , Gnqstikei : Gnostics . —There were false teachers in the first century 6 f tlie Christian era , so called from the Greek word Gnosis ( knowledge ) , because they boasted that they had a deep knowledge and insight into
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
thren . His wisdom is contained in the work , Theolosophia Practica , holding fast and striving or combating for the Holy Faith to the Era , & c . & c , in seven parts , of which a new edition was published at Berlin in 1768 .
Glaube , Liebe , Hoffen . Faith , Love , Hop ' .. —Every Freemason must strive to be perfect in these three points . Without that rational faith that speaks to the heart , no man can he a true Freemason ; without all-minding love he cannot fill the position in which he is placed in tlle world with satisfaction to himself ; and without hope he cannot calmly look death in the face . Gleicheit . Equality . —In no society is this more practised than in the Order of Freemasonsfor we are all brethrenand it is said that
, , amongst brethren there must be the most perfect equality . But this word may be misunderstood : we are not all equal in the Lodge , inasmuch as some are appointed to rule and govern , so it is the duty of others cheerfully ancl promptly to obey , and all are equally eligible to be elected to those offices , having first duly performed our duties as private members , and thns enabled ourselves to fill them with credit to ourselves and satisfaction to the Craft . We are not all equal by creation
with respect to our mental faculties , and more especially we are not all equal in the labour which we have , or ought to have , bestowed upon , cultivating those mental faculties to the utmost possible extent . But we ought all of us to be equally zealous in the discharge of our duties as . pieii and masons , and should all prove ourselves to he perfectly equal in the zeal of our fraternal affection to each other . Being coVered in the lodge is an unimportant or an insignificant equality , if it iS not understood as symbolical of equal zeal ancl of equal love . * To
be equal t 6 each other in Brotherly love , is the principal thing which blight ' to be understood in our equality . We dare not for one moment , lose sight of the rank or station which each individual Brother fills hi society , yet there maybe at the same time a pelfect equality amongst men of the most opposite social ranks in the desire to promote every use-, fill work ; and this equality will produce the most beneficial effect upon , the human heart . Any Mason who would dare to attempt , among the Brethrento claim tlle precedence which his conventional position'in
, , society may give him , would disgrace the philosophy of the order , and ' by so doing lay a sacriligious hand upon that sacred bond hy which we are indissolubly united to each other . For this reason , whenever we are unfortunately compelled , by adverse circumstances , to appear as . a stranger towards any of the Brethren , and to make him feel the Weight of any prophane or worldly 2 « 'ecedence , it can only be Maspnically justified by the force of the circumstances themselves , and if prolonged for
a moment beyond the limits which those circumstances require , it then degenerates into an unmasonic crime deserving the severest punish- hieht . Masonic equality cannot be assumed and laid down at the caprice of individuals , or it becomes nothing more than a miserable mockery . ' , Gnqstikei : Gnostics . —There were false teachers in the first century 6 f tlie Christian era , so called from the Greek word Gnosis ( knowledge ) , because they boasted that they had a deep knowledge and insight into