Freemasonry And The Fraternity.*

The great extension of this society , the mystery that involves its origin and first developement , the different forms which it has assumed in different countries , in its constitutions as well as in its customs , and many other circumstances render the investigation and a reliable , and in every way satisfactory statement of its history exceedingly difficult , and for the present even impossible .

And no less difficult than its history is the definition of the design and the nature of Freemasonry , without which , however , a true history of such an association is hardly possible .

Freemasonry is described by its disciples as an art , as the royal art . It is to the Masonic association ( the brotherhood ) what religion is to the church , what the root is to the tree , what the essence of a thing is to its appearance . The former is eternal , immutable ; the latter depending on the mutable conditions of time , space , and

persons . "U p to the beginning of the present century scarce any but Germans clearly understood the nature of this bond , and among them Lessing ( Ernst und Falk ) , Herder ( Adrastea ) , Erause and Fessler must be named iu the first place . In the succeeding pages we follow the ideas of a modern Masonic author , the enthusiastic writer of Fedenuber Freimaurerei an

de / cende Mcht-Maurer ( Leipsig , 1860 , 2 nd edition ) , who , with logical consistency , has deduced the nature , the form , and the action of the Masonic bond from the very idea of Freemasonry . First of all he assimilates Freemasonry to inward religiousness , as being a disposition of the heart that manifests itself warmland intenselby devotionBut

y y . devotion , says the author , is not a mere sensation or state of mind , but , at the same time , a substance—a dear sacred property . Devotion , disposition for prayer is a reah Masonic disposition , and that piety which produces such a disposition is Freemasonry itself . Such disposition of mind , however , is no outward act expressed

in words , it is an inward language , an effect of the mind and soul produced on themselves . In the author ' s idea , prayer is a deed , the deed of resignation , of giving oneself up to the Eternal and the Holy . Such piety then as , in whatever degree , belongs to all good men , and to all reliiousand whichthereforeis not restrained b

g , , , y any confessional form ; that piety which , in its perfection , is puffed up by no pride , which opens the soul to every human sympathy and kindness , every divine spark in it to the sacred flame of boundless love , that religion

m general is Freemasonry ; for Freemasonry originally is a condition of the heart or a disposition of the soul , and from this source it proceeds , constituting itself as a society , a precept , a form , and a task . The centre or the soul of man , his real self , the lasting and active principle within -him , the crossing point and first source of his mental and bodilfaculties isaccording to the aforesaid

y , author , the unity of two opposed primitive impulses that in every man blend , contend , and make peace with each other . These are the impulse of self ( selfishness ) and the pious or ideal impulse ( religiousness ) . Words as well as actions must he judged bv these impulses ; the impulse onlfrom which they proceed ives them

y g the stamps of good or bad . Reli giousness in itself is goodness ; for all goodness consists iu the negation of self before an ideal power , which religion calls God . Wickedness or sin , on the contrary , consists in the exclusive dominion of self . Freemasonry , therefore , is that disposition of mind bwhich the good ideal

y or impulse predominates over its counterpart , and this -dominion of the ideal impulse in man , more or less firmly established , is the sole condition required to belong to the Masonic bond .

The purest and most perfect manifestation of the impulse of religiousness , of piety , of goodness , of a godly life , cannot be realised by a single individual , but only by a bond of individuals , founded on the solid ground that all its members agree on this one point ; that they do not seek self , but the imiversal and the ideal , such as

may be given to each of them to view , to comprehend , and to manifest through life ; and that they strive to mortify within themselves , and in others , the impulse of self and the hostile propensity that disperses and isolates , so that the universal and ideal may dominate and become the source whence the individual derive

may blessing and salvation . For the impulse of religiousness also is love , or the instinct of sociability . This impulse and that of self , united , produce a series of associations , from the narrowest to the most comprehensive , the noblest productions of the social life of man . Such are the ties of friendship and lovethe familthe State

, y , , the Church . The most comprehensive , however—the association of associations—must be that which sets no other limits to the tendency towards unity than those absolutely necessary ; and these limits cannot be formed by opinion nor by disposition , manner of feeling , or point of view ; neither can they depend on nation , or

family , or sympathy , but only on the most inward , the impulse itself ; for the impulse only determines the nature of man and his true character . This bond , therefore , excludes not those who think differently , but only those whose intentions and being are different . This bond of bonds , this association of men who feel

united in their endeavours for all that is noble , true , and beautiful , and who love virtue and try to practise it for its own sake , is the Masonic bond . It is the most comprehensive human association , the widest circle that includes all others , and , therefore , the supreme and purest form of social life , there being in reality no other religious or moral association founded on the inward

impulse of the heart as common to all good men . So this bond is the most perfect expression of the effort of uniting the scattered atoms of the divine essence towards reconciliation and love between God and His creatures , as well as the creatures amongst themselves ; and this is , in reality , the historical and ideal justification of its

existence . Thus , this bond reconciles the contrasts existing in human nature and in human history ; thus it gathers in one temple all virtuous men that are dispersed ; thus it comprehends churches and sects as well as individuals belonging to no religious society . But these contrasts are not to be first unreconciled side by side ; all the members of the association are to be

brought together , rn order to exchange their ideas for reciprocal instruction , to smooth off , as it were , what there is rough and hard and hostile betwixt them , so that , in loving communion , they may promote the intended good , till , at last , all contrasts be reconciled and made even in blessed harmony . For best and most excellent is not the thing that is

, but life , growth , and action . Thus our bond is not something ready-made and finished ; it is , on the contrary , a society continually growing and progressing . The ideal which it strives to attain is that state of things in which the will of God is the will of all ; the reunion of man with nature and with God by moral perfection ; this ,

the great end and goal of mankind , is the aim towards which it directs its views . With unwearied hand and always open eye to tend towards this aim , for his own part as well as in communion with his brethren , that is tho task of the Mason . But to attain this spiritual and moral elevation of mankind , the Mason must begin with himself . He must try to know him-