Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

what heart does not ache? When he is hungry, do we not convey him food? Do we not clothe him when he is naked? Do we not fly to his relief when he is in trouble? Thus we evince the propriety of the title we assume, and demonstrate to the world, that the term or endearing name of Brother among Masons is not nominal.

If these acts are not sufficient to recommend so great and generous a plan, such a wise and good Society, happy in themselves, and equally happy in the possession of every social virtue, nothing which is truly good can prevail. The man who resists arguments drawn from such topics, must be callous to every noble principle, and lost to all sense of honor.

Nevertheless, though the fairest and the best ideas may be thus imprinted in the mind, there are brethren who, careless of their own reputation, disregard the instructive lessons of our noble science, and, by yielding to vice and intemperance, not only disgrace themselves, but reflect dishonour on Masonry in general. It is this unfortunate circumstance which has given rise to those severe and unjust reflections, which the prejudiced part of mankind have so liberally bestowed on us. But let these apostate brethren know, and let it be proclaimed to the world at large, that they are unworthy of the trust, and that whatever name or designation they assume, they are in reality no Masons. It is as possible for a mouse to move a mountain, or a man to calm the boisterous ocean, as it is for a principled Mason to commit a dishonourable action: Masonry consist in virtuous improvement, in cheerful and innocent pastime, and not in lewd debauchery or unguarded excess.

But though unhappy brethren thus transgress, no wise man will draw any argument from thence against the society, or urge it as an objection against the institution. If the wicked lives of men were admitted as an argument, the religion which they profess, with all its divine beauties, would be exposed to censure. Let us, therefore, endeavour

strenuously to support the dignity of our characters, and by reforming the abuses which have crept in among us, display Masonry in its primitive lustre, and convince mankind that the source from which it flows is truly divine.

It is this conduct which can alone retrieve the ancient glory of the craft. Our good and generous actions must distinguish our titles to the privileges of Masonry, and the regularity of our behaviour display their influence and utility. Thus the world will admire our sanctity of manners, and effectually reconcile our uniform conduct with the incomparable tenets we profess and admire.

By

As our order is founded upon harmony, and subsists by regularity and proportion, so our passions ought to be properly restrained, and be ever subservient to the dictates of right reason. As the delicate pleasures of friendship harmonize our minds, and exclude rancour, malice, or ill-nature, so we ought to live like brethren bound by the same tie, always cultivating fraternal affection, and reconciling ourselves to the practice of those duties, which are the basis on which the structure we erect must be supported. improving our minds in the principles of morality and vir tue, we enlarge our understandings, and more effectually answer the great ends of our existence. Such as violate our laws, or infringe our good order, we mark with a peculiar odium; and if our mild endeavours to reform their lives should not answer the good purposes intended, we expel them our assemblies as unfit members of the society. Rich and poor receive equal justice. As an instance of the evenhanded justice of the order, I have selected the following expulsions which took place a few years ago.*

* Governor Van Teylingen, a Past Grand Steward, expelled the Society in 1792, for crimes of the most abominable nature. Joseph Baylis, expelled in 1775, for an attempt to commit a detestable or unnatural kind of crime. William Brand, expelled in 1774, for injuring

This is the practice which should universally prevail among Masons. Our outward conduct being directed by our inward principles, we should be equally careful to avoid censure and reproach. Useful knowledge ought to be the great object of our desire, for the ways of wisdom are beautiful, and lead to pleasure. We ought to search into nature, as the advantages accruing from so agreeable a study will amply compensate our unwearied assiduity. Knowledge must be attained by degrees, and is not every where to be found. Wisdom seeks the secret shade, the lonely cell designed for contemplation; there enthroned, she sits delivering her sacred oracles; there let us seek her and pursue the real bliss, for though the passage be difficult, the farther we trace it the easier it will become.

If we remain united, our Society must flourish; let us then promote the useful arts, and by that means mark our distinction and superiority; let us cultivate the social virtues, and improve in all that is good and amiable; let the Genius of Masonry preside, and under her sovereign sway let us endeavour to act with becoming dignity.

I flatter myself that I have convinced my readers that Free Masonry is undoubtedly an institution of the most beneficial and amiable nature, since its professed design is the extension and confirmation of mutual happiness, by the most perfect and effectual method: the practice of every moral and social virtue. It is a salutary institution, wherein bad men, if they chance, as they ought not on any consideration to be admitted, are most generally restrained in their moral retrogradation, or down hill progress in vice; whilst the good are taught, and excited to aspire at higher degrees of virtue and perfection. A good man and a good Mason

a girl of fourteen years of age, the said girl being under his care as a scholar. Others have been expelled for acting in a Masonic character contrary to the established laws of the Society.

are synonymous terms; since a good man must necessarily make a good Mason, and a good Mason can never be a bad man: and, as the better men are the more they love each other, and on the contrary, the more they love each other they become more perfect Masons.

Those who have the honour and happiness of being regular members of this most excellent Society, are strictly bound to practice its duties and precepts. Foremost in the rank of our duties stands our obligation to obey the laws of the great giver of all good gifts and graces, to conform to his will, and to conduct ourselves as under the inspection of his all seeing eye; for as in him we live, move, and have our being, partake of his goodness and depend on his favours, so whatever we think, speak, or do, ought all to be subservient, and capable of being referred to his glory.

This primary and fundamental duty of obedience to the Supreme Being, from whence, as from their fountain, all other duties with respect to ourselves and our neighbours flow, is evidently taught by reason, confirmed by revelation, and enforced by Free Masonry. Subordinate and consequent to this our grand obligation, is the important and indispensable duty of brotherly love, which delights in, and ought always to demonstrate itself in, real acts of genuine beneficence.

Free Masonry has not only united its worthy members and genuine sons in the most indissoluble bands of confidence, concord, and amity: it has even caused Religion to shine forth with renewed lustre, and introduced its spirit, which the royal craft has strongly imbibed in every nation and persuasion wherein it has gained admittance; and it produces the most benevolent and charitable set of men, in proportion to its number, of any Society whatever throughout the known world. Thus inestimable is Free Masonry for its manifold and most useful qualities. It super-eminently excels all other arts by the bright rays of truth which

[ocr errors]

it sheds on the minds of its faithful votaries, illuminating their understanding with the beams of a more resplendent light than is to be derived from the assemblage of all other arts whatsoever, of which the new initiated brother begins to participate when he is girded with the emblem of innocence, more ancient than the tower of Babel, and far more honourable than the imperial dignity. As it excels all other arts in its vast and admirable extent, so it far surpasses them in its pleasing and effectual modes of communicating its instructions. But of this the enlightened brother alone can form a judgment, or make the comparison. Those who have happily made the experiment, are convinced of its transcendent excellence in this particular. The unenlightened by Masonry, can only form vague and uncertain conjectures of the utility of the royal craft, or of the modes of initiation into its various degrees, or of the subsequent, different, delightful, and beneficial instructions respectively communicated.

As we ought to be irreproachable in our own demeanour, so we ought to be careful that our candidates for Free Masonry have the requisite qualifications, which indispensably ought to be a good reputation, an honest method of living, sound morals, and a competent understanding.

No member, who has the honor of the Society, or even his own, sincerely at heart, will presume to nominate any that are not possessed of these valuable qualities. In that case it would be incumbent upon every worthy brother to give a negative, and reprobate such indecorous conduct.

It is to be supposed, at least amongst Masons, that as enlightened members of so noble a Society, we have more just, sublime, and comprehensive ideas, with respect to virtue, decorum, and dignity of human nature, than the generality of the misled mass of mankind. It is to be apprehended that we grant admission to none but men of principle, of virtue, honour, and integrity, lest the ancient

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »