Part 20 (1/2)
[Perfect Elu.]
It is for each individual Mason to discover the secret of Masonry, by reflection upon its symbols and a wise consideration and a.n.a.lysis of what is said and done in the work. Masonry does not _inculcate_ her truths. She states them, once and briefly; or hints them, perhaps, darkly; or interposes a cloud between them and eyes that would be dazzled by them. ”_Seek_, and ye shall _find_,” knowledge and the truth.
The practical object of Masonry is the physical and moral amelioration and the intellectual and spiritual improvement of individuals and society. Neither can be effected, except by the dissemination of truth.
It is falsehood in doctrines and fallacy in principles, to which most of the miseries of men and the misfortunes of nations are owing. Public opinion is rarely right on any point; and there are and always will be important truths to be subst.i.tuted in that opinion in the place of many errors and absurd and injurious prejudices. There are few truths that public opinion has not at some time hated and persecuted as heresies, and few errors that have not at some time seemed to it truths radiant from the immediate presence of G.o.d. There are moral maladies, also, of man and society, the treatment of which requires not only boldness, but also, and more, prudence and discretion; since they are more the fruit of false and pernicious doctrines, moral, political, and religious, than of vicious inclinations.
Much of the Masonic secret manifests itself, without revealing it, to him who even partially comprehends all the Decrees in proportion as he receives them; and particularly to those who advance to the highest Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. That Rite raises a corner of the veil, even in the degree of Apprentice; for it there declares that Masonry is a _wors.h.i.+p_.
Masonry labors to improve the social order by enlightening men's minds, warming their hearts with the love of the good, inspiring them with the great principle of human fraternity, and requiring of its disciples that their language and actions shall conform to that principle, that they shall enlighten each other, control their pa.s.sions, abhor vice, and pity the vicious man as one afflicted with a deplorable malady.
It is the universal, eternal, immutable religion, such as G.o.d planted it in the heart of universal humanity. No creed has ever been long-lived that was not built on this foundation. It is the base, and they are the superstructure. ”Pure religion and undefiled before G.o.d and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” ”Is not _this_ the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” The ministers of this religion are all Masons who comprehend it and are devoted to it; its sacrifices to G.o.d are good works, the sacrifices of the base and disorderly pa.s.sions, the offering up of self-interest on the altar of humanity, and perpetual efforts to attain to all the moral perfection of which man is capable.
To make honor and duty the steady beacon-lights that shall guide your life-vessel over the stormy seas of time; to do that which it is right to do, not because it will insure you success, or bring with it a reward, or gain the applause of men, or be ”the best policy,” more prudent or more advisable; but because it is right, and therefore _ought_ to be done; to war incessantly against error, intolerance, ignorance, and vice, and yet to pity those who err, to be tolerant even of intolerance, to teach the ignorant, and labor to reclaim the vicious, are some of the duties of a Mason.
A good Mason is one that can look upon death, and see its face the same countenance with which he hears its story; that ”I endure all the labors”
of his life with his soul supporting his body, that can equally despise riches when he hath them and when he hath them not; that is, not sadder if they are in his neighbor's exchequer, nor more lifted up if they s.h.i.+ne around about his own walls; one that is not moved with good fortune coming to him, nor going from him; that can look upon another man's lands with equanimity and pleasure, as if they were his own; and yet look upon his own, and use them too, just as if they were another man's; that neither spends his goods prodigally and foolishly, nor yet keeps them avariciously and like a miser; that weighs not benefits by weight and number, but by the mind and circ.u.mstances of him who confers them; that never thinks his charity expensive, if a worthy person be the receiver; that does nothing for opinion's sake, but everything for conscience, being as careful of his thoughts as of his acting in markets and theatres, and in as much awe of himself as of a whole a.s.sembly; that is, bountiful and cheerful to his friends, and charitable and apt to forgive his enemies; that loves his country, consults its honor, and obeys its laws, and desires and endeavors nothing more than that he may do his duty and honor G.o.d. And such a Mason may reckon his life to be the life of a man, and compute his months, not by the course of the sun, but by the zodiac and circle of his virtues.
The whole world is, but one republic, of which each nation is a family, and every individual a child. Masonry, not in anywise derogating from the differing duties which the diversity of states requires, tends to create a new people, which, composed of men of many nations and tongues, shall all be bound together by the bonds of science, morality, and virtue.
Essentially philanthropic, philosophical, and progressive, it has for the basis of its dogma a firm belief in the existence of G.o.d and his providence, and of the immortality of the soul; for its object, the dissemination of moral, political, philosophical, and religious truth, and the practice of all the virtues. In every age, its device has been, ”Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” with const.i.tutional government, _law, order, discipline_, and _subordination_ to legitimate authority--_government_ and not _anarchy_.
But it is neither a political party nor a religious sect. It embraces all parties and all sects, to form from among them all a vast fraternal a.s.sociation. It recognizes the dignity of human nature, and man's right to such freedom as he is fitted for; and it knows nothing that should place one man below another, except ignorance, debas.e.m.e.nt, and crime, and the necessity of subordination to lawful will and authority.
It is philanthropic; for it recognizes the great truth that all men are of the same origin, have common interests, and should co-operate together to the same end.
Therefore it teaches its members to love one another, to give to each other mutual a.s.sistance and support in all the circ.u.mstances of life, to share each other's pains and sorrows, as well as their joys and pleasures; to guard the reputations, respect the opinions, and be perfectly tolerant of the errors, of each other, in matters of faith and beliefs.
It is philosophical, because it teaches the great Truths concerning the nature and existence of one Supreme Deity, and the existence and immortality of the soul. It revives the Academy of Plato, and the wise teachings of Socrates. It reiterates the maxims of Pythagoras, Confucius, and Zoroaster, and reverentially enforces the sublime lessons of Him who died upon the Cross.
The ancients thought that universal humanity acted under the influence of two opposing Principles, the Good and the Evil: of which the Good urged men toward Truth, Independence, and Devotedness; and the Evil toward Falsehood, Servility, and Selfishness. Masonry represents the Good Principle and constantly wars against the evil one. It is the Hercules, the Osiris, the Apollo, the Mithras, and the Ormuzd, at everlasting and deadly feud with the demons of ignorance, brutality, baseness, falsehood, slavishness of soul, intolerance, superst.i.tion, tyranny, meanness, the insolence of wealth, and bigotry.
When despotism and superst.i.tion, twin-powers of evil and darkness, reigned everywhere and seemed invincible and immortal, it invented, to avoid persecution, the mysteries, that is to say, the allegory, the symbol, and the emblem, and transmitted its doctrines by the secret mode of initiation. Now, retaining its ancient symbols, and in part its ancient ceremonies, it displays in every civilized country its banner, on which in letters of living light its great principles are written; and it smiles at the puny efforts of kings and popes to crush it out by excommunication and interdiction.
Man's views in regard to G.o.d, will contain only so much positive truth as the human mind is capable of receiving; whether that truth is attained by the exercise of reason, or communicated by revelation. It must necessarily be both limited and alloyed, to bring it within the competence of finite human intelligence. Being finite, we can form no correct or adequate idea of the Infinite; being material, we can form no clear conception of the Spiritual. We do believe in and know the infinity of s.p.a.ce and Time, and the spirituality of the Soul; but the _idea_ of that infinity and spirituality eludes us. Even Omnipotence cannot infuse infinite conceptions into finite minds; nor can G.o.d, without first entirely changing the conditions of our being, pour a complete and full knowledge of His own nature and attributes into the narrow capacity of a human soul. Human intelligence could not grasp it, nor human language express it. The visible is, necessarily, the measure of the invisible.
The consciousness of the individual reveals _itself_ alone. His knowledge cannot pa.s.s beyond the limits of his own being. His conceptions of other things and other beings _are only his conceptions_.
They are not those things or beings themselves. The living principle of a living Universe must be INFINITE; while all _our_ ideas and conceptions are _finite_, and applicable only to finite beings.
The Deity is thus not an object of _knowledge_, but of _faith_; not to be approached by the _understanding_, but by the _moral sense_; not to be _conceived_, but to be _felt_. All attempts to embrace the Infinite in the conception of the Finite are, and must be only accommodations to the frailty of man. Shrouded from human comprehension in an obscurity from which a chastened imagination is awed back, and Thought retreats in conscious weakness, the Divine Nature is a theme on which man is little ent.i.tled to dogmatize. Here the philosophic Intellect becomes most painfully aware of its own insufficiency.
And yet it is here that man most dogmatizes, cla.s.sifies and describes G.o.d's attributes, makes out his map of G.o.d's nature, and his inventory of G.o.d's qualities, feelings, impulses, and pa.s.sions; and then hangs and burns his brother, who, as dogmatically as he, makes out a different map and inventory. The common understanding has no humility. _Its_ G.o.d is an _incarnate_ Divinity. Imperfection imposes its own limitations on the Illimitable, and clothes the Inconceivable Spirit of the Universe in forms that come within the grasp of the senses and the intellect, and are derived from that infinite and imperfect nature which is but G.o.d's creation.
We are all of us, though not all equally, mistaken. The cherished dogmas of each of us are not, as we fondly suppose, the pure truth of G.o.d; but simply our own special form of error, our guesses at truth, the refracted and fragmentary rays of light that have fallen upon our own minds. Our little systems have their day, and cease to be; they are but broken lights of G.o.d; and He is more than they. Perfect truth is not attainable anywhere. We style this Degree that of Perfection; and yet what it teaches is imperfect and defective. Yet we are not to relax in the pursuit of truth, nor contentedly acquiesce in error. It is our duty always to press forward in the search; for though absolute truth is unattainable, yet the amount of error in our views is capable of progressive and perpetual diminution; and thus Masonry is a continual struggle toward the light.
All errors are not equally innocuous. That which is most injurious is to entertain unworthy conceptions of the nature and attributes of G.o.d; and it is this that Masonry symbolizes by ignorance of the True Word. The true word of a Mason is, not the entire, perfect, absolute truth in regard to G.o.d; but the highest and n.o.blest conception of Him that our minds are capable of forming; and this _word_ is Ineffable, because one man cannot communicate to another his own conception of Deity; since every man's conception of G.o.d must be proportioned to his mental cultivation, and intellectual powers, and moral excellence. G.o.d is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself.
For every man's conception of G.o.d must vary with his mental cultivation and mental powers. If any one contents himself with any _lower_ image than his intellect is capable of grasping, then he contents himself with that which is false _to him_, as well as false _in fact_. If lower than he can reach, he must needs _feel_ it to be false. And if we, of the nineteenth century after Christ, adopt the conceptions of the nineteenth century before Him; if _our_ conceptions of G.o.d are those of the ignorant, narrow-minded, and vindictive Israelite; then we think worse of G.o.d, and have a lower, meaner, and more limited view of His nature, than the faculties which He has bestowed are capable of grasping. The highest view we can form is nearest to the truth. If we acquiesce in any lower one, we acquiesce in an untruth. We feel that it is an affront and an indignity to Him, to conceive of Him as cruel, short-sighted, capricious and unjust; as a jealous, an angry, a vindictive Being.
When we examine our conceptions of His character, if we can conceive of a loftier, n.o.bler, higher, more beneficent, glorious, and magnificent character, then this latter is to us the true conception of Deity; _for nothing can be imagined more excellent than He_.