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Article WHAT IS FREEMASONRY? ← Page 3 of 5 →
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What Is Freemasonry?
beauties of Christianity ; and shewing that charity , lovely in itself , becomes ten times more lovely when displayed ^ teaching of the gospel of our God , as the best test and surest proof of the sincerity of our evangelical profession . The moral teaching of Masonry is added to this social tie . as an additional link to the chain , and so far is it
from our wish to supersede the Divine teaching by any latitudinarianism of of our own , that a pledge is given to every candidate for admission to our mysteries that nothing shall be required of him in Masonry contrary to his religious or to any other duties . Truly , my Brethren , I think that It must be granted that the bigotry which woiild object to such a system , on the ground of its universality , savours far less of the spirit of Christ , which is love , than the order to which the objection is raised .
The second popular objection which Freemasons have to meet is , that Freemasonry is a secret society , and that whatever ought not to be revealed , is wrong . To this I would answer , that if it be not wrong for a body of men to unite for the purpo se of mutual help and support , and for the maintenance of brotherly love , it canndt be wrong to have certain established means of knowing one another , so that perfect strangers from all parts of the world meeting with each other , may , if one should be in sorrow or distress ,
not extend relief with an alien ' s hand , and an alien ' s heart , or perhaps pass by on the other side , but as two fellow countrymen , meeting in a foreign land , and recognizing one another by the sound of the language whieh each learnt upon his mother ' s knee , become no longer strangers , but friends linked to each other by many a fond and heart-warming tie , so two Masons , meeting each other , may be united by all the pledges of common association , common vows , and mutual confidence . Such , and such only , are our
Masonic secrets- —the signs and tokens by which we know each other , the symbolical teaching by which those tokens are explained , and the sanctity of religious reverence which gives dignity to the whole . With these , a Mason , whatever . sun may have risen upon his birth , will find in every people , a language—in every Brother a friend—in every country a home . Our principles are no secret ; brotherly love , relief , and truth , upon which our order is founded , are words which will awaken a responsive thrill in
every true Mason ' s heart . Eeverence to God , and charity to our neighbour , are lessons which every page of the unwritten law , which we are taught to follow , inculcates again and again . But let me not stop here , my Brethren , I would ask those who object to Masonry ^ on the ground of its secrecy , have they ever reflected , ( I would speak with all reverence , and not as comparing human institutions with Divine ) , have they , I say , ever reflected that Christianity itself is a brotherhood , which has an initiation of
its . own ; peculiar privileges of its own ; ay , and secrets of its own , too , incommunicable to those who have not received its light ? Is not our admission into the Christian Church given to us in holy baptism , even as our initiation admits us into Freemasonry ? fe not the same term ( I speak to initiated ears ) "the Receiving of Light" applied to both , and applied in a similar sense ? Is not our admission to baptism , a trust which we have to
use and to make good , before we can be fully entitled to the privileges therein granted to us ? Are not those who are not thus initiated excluded from the privileges of those who have received the admission ? Has not Christianity its secrets , too , which can only be won in the way that holy religion points out to us ? Is not the secret of the Lord with them that fear Him ? What is the meaning of the peace of God which passeth all
understanding , if the faith of Christ has not its secrets incommunicable , save by one only means ? Higher , unspeakably higher , as these secrets are than anything human , does not their very existence prove that it is pos-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
What Is Freemasonry?
beauties of Christianity ; and shewing that charity , lovely in itself , becomes ten times more lovely when displayed ^ teaching of the gospel of our God , as the best test and surest proof of the sincerity of our evangelical profession . The moral teaching of Masonry is added to this social tie . as an additional link to the chain , and so far is it
from our wish to supersede the Divine teaching by any latitudinarianism of of our own , that a pledge is given to every candidate for admission to our mysteries that nothing shall be required of him in Masonry contrary to his religious or to any other duties . Truly , my Brethren , I think that It must be granted that the bigotry which woiild object to such a system , on the ground of its universality , savours far less of the spirit of Christ , which is love , than the order to which the objection is raised .
The second popular objection which Freemasons have to meet is , that Freemasonry is a secret society , and that whatever ought not to be revealed , is wrong . To this I would answer , that if it be not wrong for a body of men to unite for the purpo se of mutual help and support , and for the maintenance of brotherly love , it canndt be wrong to have certain established means of knowing one another , so that perfect strangers from all parts of the world meeting with each other , may , if one should be in sorrow or distress ,
not extend relief with an alien ' s hand , and an alien ' s heart , or perhaps pass by on the other side , but as two fellow countrymen , meeting in a foreign land , and recognizing one another by the sound of the language whieh each learnt upon his mother ' s knee , become no longer strangers , but friends linked to each other by many a fond and heart-warming tie , so two Masons , meeting each other , may be united by all the pledges of common association , common vows , and mutual confidence . Such , and such only , are our
Masonic secrets- —the signs and tokens by which we know each other , the symbolical teaching by which those tokens are explained , and the sanctity of religious reverence which gives dignity to the whole . With these , a Mason , whatever . sun may have risen upon his birth , will find in every people , a language—in every Brother a friend—in every country a home . Our principles are no secret ; brotherly love , relief , and truth , upon which our order is founded , are words which will awaken a responsive thrill in
every true Mason ' s heart . Eeverence to God , and charity to our neighbour , are lessons which every page of the unwritten law , which we are taught to follow , inculcates again and again . But let me not stop here , my Brethren , I would ask those who object to Masonry ^ on the ground of its secrecy , have they ever reflected , ( I would speak with all reverence , and not as comparing human institutions with Divine ) , have they , I say , ever reflected that Christianity itself is a brotherhood , which has an initiation of
its . own ; peculiar privileges of its own ; ay , and secrets of its own , too , incommunicable to those who have not received its light ? Is not our admission into the Christian Church given to us in holy baptism , even as our initiation admits us into Freemasonry ? fe not the same term ( I speak to initiated ears ) "the Receiving of Light" applied to both , and applied in a similar sense ? Is not our admission to baptism , a trust which we have to
use and to make good , before we can be fully entitled to the privileges therein granted to us ? Are not those who are not thus initiated excluded from the privileges of those who have received the admission ? Has not Christianity its secrets , too , which can only be won in the way that holy religion points out to us ? Is not the secret of the Lord with them that fear Him ? What is the meaning of the peace of God which passeth all
understanding , if the faith of Christ has not its secrets incommunicable , save by one only means ? Higher , unspeakably higher , as these secrets are than anything human , does not their very existence prove that it is pos-