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Article THE TRUE MASON. Page 1 of 2 →
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The True Mason.
THE TliUE MASON .
An Address by Bro . Albekt Pike ,- delivered before the Grand Lodge of Louisiana . It is the saddest of all sights upon this earthy that of a man lazy and luxurious , or hard and penurious , to whom want appeals in vain , and suffering cries in an unknown tongue . The man whose hasty anger
hurries him into violence or crime , is not half so unworthy to live . This is the faithless steward th at embezzles what is given him in trust for the penniless and impoverished a . mohg his brethren . The true M ^ be , and must have a right to be , content with himself ; and lie can be so only when he lives not for himself alone ., hut for others who need his assistance and have a claim upon his sympathy .
We never know the importance of the act we do . The daughter of Pharaoh little thought what she was doing for the human race , arid the vast , uniniaginable consequences that depend she drew the little child of a Hebrew woman ftoni among the rushes tha ^ grew along the ba , nk of the Nile , and determined to rear it as her own . " I will not acknowledge as an iiiiti ^ who is not disinterested and generous— -not only in acts , hut in his opinions of meiij and his construction of their conduct . " He who is selfish and
grasping , or censorious and ungenerous , will not long remain within the strict limits of honesty and truth , but will shortly commit injustice * He who loves himself too much must needs love others too little ; and lie who is inclined to harsh judgment , will not long delay to give unjust judgmerit , and afterwards , or not at all , hear the case . The worldly , the covetous and the sensual—the man governed by inclination and not by duty—the
unkind , severe , censorious or injurious in the relations or intercourse of life—the unfaithful parent or undutiftil child—the cruel master or faithless servant—the treacherous friend , bad neighbour , or bitter and ungenerous competitor , may wear the white apron of the Mason and rejoice in all the titles of the Order , but he wanders at a great distance from the true Masonic light .
To learn and to do ! This is the soul ' s work here below . The soul grows as truly as an oak grows . As the tree takes the air and the particles that float in the air , the dew and r ^ in , and the food that in the earth lies piled around its roots , and by its mysterious chemistry transmutes them into sap and fibre ., into wood and leaf , and flower and fruit , and taste , and
colour , and perfume—so the soul drinks in knowledge , and by a divine alchemy changes w hat it learns into its own substance , and develops itself from within outwardly , and grows with an inherent force and power like those which lie hid in the small germ of the acorn . Education , instruction and enlightenment are the only certain means by which intolerance and fanaticism can he rendered powerless .
No true Mason scoffs at honest convictions and an ardent zeal in the cause of truth and justice ; hut he absolutely denies the right of any man to assume the prerogative of Deity , and condemn his brother's faith and opinions as heretical and deserving to he punished . Nor does he approve the course of those who endanger the peace of great nations and the solid interests of their own race by indulging in the cheap luxury of a chimerical and visionary philanthropy ; who draw their robes around them
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The True Mason.
THE TliUE MASON .
An Address by Bro . Albekt Pike ,- delivered before the Grand Lodge of Louisiana . It is the saddest of all sights upon this earthy that of a man lazy and luxurious , or hard and penurious , to whom want appeals in vain , and suffering cries in an unknown tongue . The man whose hasty anger
hurries him into violence or crime , is not half so unworthy to live . This is the faithless steward th at embezzles what is given him in trust for the penniless and impoverished a . mohg his brethren . The true M ^ be , and must have a right to be , content with himself ; and lie can be so only when he lives not for himself alone ., hut for others who need his assistance and have a claim upon his sympathy .
We never know the importance of the act we do . The daughter of Pharaoh little thought what she was doing for the human race , arid the vast , uniniaginable consequences that depend she drew the little child of a Hebrew woman ftoni among the rushes tha ^ grew along the ba , nk of the Nile , and determined to rear it as her own . " I will not acknowledge as an iiiiti ^ who is not disinterested and generous— -not only in acts , hut in his opinions of meiij and his construction of their conduct . " He who is selfish and
grasping , or censorious and ungenerous , will not long remain within the strict limits of honesty and truth , but will shortly commit injustice * He who loves himself too much must needs love others too little ; and lie who is inclined to harsh judgment , will not long delay to give unjust judgmerit , and afterwards , or not at all , hear the case . The worldly , the covetous and the sensual—the man governed by inclination and not by duty—the
unkind , severe , censorious or injurious in the relations or intercourse of life—the unfaithful parent or undutiftil child—the cruel master or faithless servant—the treacherous friend , bad neighbour , or bitter and ungenerous competitor , may wear the white apron of the Mason and rejoice in all the titles of the Order , but he wanders at a great distance from the true Masonic light .
To learn and to do ! This is the soul ' s work here below . The soul grows as truly as an oak grows . As the tree takes the air and the particles that float in the air , the dew and r ^ in , and the food that in the earth lies piled around its roots , and by its mysterious chemistry transmutes them into sap and fibre ., into wood and leaf , and flower and fruit , and taste , and
colour , and perfume—so the soul drinks in knowledge , and by a divine alchemy changes w hat it learns into its own substance , and develops itself from within outwardly , and grows with an inherent force and power like those which lie hid in the small germ of the acorn . Education , instruction and enlightenment are the only certain means by which intolerance and fanaticism can he rendered powerless .
No true Mason scoffs at honest convictions and an ardent zeal in the cause of truth and justice ; hut he absolutely denies the right of any man to assume the prerogative of Deity , and condemn his brother's faith and opinions as heretical and deserving to he punished . Nor does he approve the course of those who endanger the peace of great nations and the solid interests of their own race by indulging in the cheap luxury of a chimerical and visionary philanthropy ; who draw their robes around them