Zoroastrianism And Freemasonry.

and felt so delighted to learn therefrom that there existed an earnest advocate of our Order in the Zoroastrian community more than fifty years ago , that I caused the old controversies to be printed in a collected form in a pamphlet in the year 1862 . I have no doubt you will feel

much interested in its perusal . It seems , then , that when English education was so little appreciated as to necessitate it to be gratuitously offered to , and coaxingly thrusted on , the native community , there were only a very few who cared or were

able to draw a distinction of meaning between the two English words Masonry and Missionary ; apparently both sounded alike to their uneducated ears . The latter word was familiar to them long before ; and the former , when it came to be first introduced among them , was naturally , from the similarity of sound , confounded with the latter . Owins- to this

miscomprehension of terms . Freemasonry was proclaimed and denounced to be at once and associated with , and derived from the Christian religion ; and , indeed , an outward colour and semblance was , in their minds , given to that clamour , by it having come to be known that Freemasons of

different castes and creeds were generally expected , disregarding their sectarian prejudices , to dine together on the same board . There was an extraordinary prejudice then against Parsees dining with men of other beliefs ; a man proved to be

guilty of it , was , in fact , socially ostracised . A desire to dine with aliens in religion was seriously taken to amount to a desire to forsake one ' s own religion , and to give preference to a strange one . Happily , howeverwith the spread of education

, , and a better comprehension of the Zoroastrian religion , these prejudices are not now met with , in the intensity of foregone days . Yet one must be very bold to say that they are entirely removed and are now extinct totally . Even at the present

day there are not a few among us who , though they fully appreciate and acknowledge the good to be derived from Freemasonry , and express themselves inclined favourably to it , and who , indeed , from their worth and position , would shed lustre on our Order were they to beloug to it , yet persistently refrain from joining us , on the plea of conscientious scruples which

they say they feel for dining with men of other races and religion . Another objection raised against Freemasonry in the olden days was based upon a misinformation that its votaries , when dead , were subjected to the Masonic funeral rites

services , at the deprivation of their own sectarian ones—an acquiescence in which custom was felt to be fatal to a Zoroastrian entering a Masonic Lodge . But , in truth , leaving aside all the vague denunciations hurled against Freemasonry , let us examine

in earnestness if there is anything in the principles and constitution of that institution which would reasonably prove to be an obstacle to a Zoroastrian fromhelonging to it . The main test of union between

Freemasons of different colours , creeds , and climes , is their common belief in only one true and living God . Belief in one God implies disbelief in many gods . Belief in the true God implies disbelief in the false gods . Belief in the living God implies disbelief in the inert godsin

, idolatry , & c . Believing in only one true and living God , a man of any religion is admissible to be made a Freemason , and , from the moment he is initiated in its

mysteries he is a brother to that extent for all the purposes . of Freemasonry , although he may not be a brother by consanguinity , nationality , or religious profession . No one , however otherwise qualified by his moral worth , can be

accepted in Freemasonry who believes in more than one God or in false gods , or in unliving gods , or in idolatry , & c . But the principal condition above referred to being satisfied , Freemasonry does not care to bind its votaries to any other particular

dogma . Every one of its members is free to worship his only one true and living God , aftei the manner of his people and the injunctions of his religion , and is equally free to believe in any amount of dogmas provided they are not inconsistent

, derogatory , or revolting to a profession of belief in one God . Hence a wider union is attained in Freemasonry , extending to professors of all monotheistic religions on the face of the earth , than is possible to he acquired if restricted exclusively among

members of any one single religion only . Freemasonry on this principle is of the widest extent , exerting its benign influences over the four quarters of the globe .