deepest obscurity, feeding his mind even with the visions and
imaginations of good deeds and noble actions, than to be placed on the
most splendid throne of the universe, tantalized with a denial of the
practice of all which can make the greatest situation any other than the
greatest curse. And if he has been enabled to lend the slightest step to
any great and laudable designs; if he has had any share in any measure
giving quiet to private property and to private conscience, making
lighter the yoke of poverty and dependence, or relieving deserving men
from oppression; if he has aided in securing to his countrymen that best
possession, peace; if he has joined in reconciling the different
sections of his own country to each other, and the people to the
government of their own creating; and in teaching the citizen to look
for his protection to the laws of his country, and for his comfort to
the good-will of his countrymen; if he has thus taken his part with the
best of men in the best of their actions, he may well shut the book,
even if he might wish to read a page or two more. It is enough for his
measure. He has not lived in vain.
Masonry teaches that all power is delegated for the good, and not for
the injury of the People; and that, when it is perverted from the
original purpose, the compact is broken, and the right ought to be
resumed; that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty which man
owes to himself and to his neighbor, but a duty which he owes to his
God, in asserting and maintaining the rank which He gave him in the
creation. This principle neither the rudeness of ignorance can stifle
nor the enervation of refinement extinguish. It makes it base for a man
to suffer when he ought to act; and, tending to preserve to him the
original destinations of Providence, spurns at the arrogant assumptions
of Tyrants and vindicates the independent quality of the race of which
we are a part.
The wise and well-informed Mason will not fail to be the votary of
Liberty and Justice. He will be ready to exert himself in their defence,
wherever they exist. It cannot be a matter of indifference to him when
his own liberty and that of other men, with whose merits and capacities
he is acquainted, are involved in the event of the struggle to be made;
but his attachment will be to the cause, as the cause of man; and not
merely to the country. Wherever there is a people that understands the
value of political justice, and is prepared to assert it, that is his
country; wherever he can most contribute to the diffusion of these
principles and the real happiness of mankind, that is his country. Nor
does he desire for any country any other benefit than justice.
The true Mason identifies the honor of his country with his own. Nothing
more conduces to the beauty and glory of one's country than the
preservation against all enemies of its civil and religious liberty. The
world will never willingly let die the names of those patriots who in
her different ages have received upon their own breasts the blows aimed
by insolent enemies at the bosom of their country.
But also it conduces, and in no small measure, to the beauty and glory
of one's country, that justice should always be administered there to
all alike, and neither denied, sold, nor delayed to any one; that the
interest of the poor should be looked to, and none starve or be
houseless, or clamor in vain for work; that the child and the feeble
woman should not be overworked, or even the apprentice or slave be
stinted of food or overtasked or mercilessly scourged; and that God's
great laws of mercy, humanity, and compassion should be everywhere
enforced, not only by the statutes, but also by the power of public
opinion. And he who labors, often against reproach and obloquy, and
oftener against indifference and apathy, to bring about that fortunate
condition of things when that great code of divine law shall be
everywhere and punctually obeyed, is no less a patriot than he who bares
his bosom to the hostile steel in the ranks of his country's soldiery.
For fortitude is not only seen resplendent on the field of battle and
amid the clash of arms, but he displays its energy under every
difficulty and against every assailant. He who wars against cruelty,
oppression, and hoary abuses, fights for his country's honor, which
these things soil; and her honor is as important as her existence.
Often, indeed, the warfare against those abuses which disgrace one's
country is quite as hazardous and more discouraging than that against
her enemies in the field; and merits equal, if not greater reward.
For those Greeks and Romans who are the objects of our admiration
employed hardly any other virtue in the extirpation of tyrants, than
that love of liberty, which made them prompt in seizing the sword, and
gave them strength to use it. With facility they accomplish the
undertaking, amid the general shout of praise and joy; nor did they
engage in the attempt so much as an enterprise of perilous and doubtful
issue, as a contest the most glorious in which virtue could be
signalized; which infallibly led to present recompense; which bound
their brows with wreaths of laurel, and consigned their memories to
immortal fame.
But he who assails hoary abuses, regarded perhaps with a superstitious
reverence, and around which old laws stand as ramparts and bastions to
defend them; who denounces acts of cruelty and outrage on humanity which
make every perpetrator thereof his personal enemy, and perhaps make him
looked upon with suspicion by the people among whom he lives, as the
assailant of an established order of things of which he assails only the
abuses, and of laws of which he attacks only the violations,--he can
scarcely look for present recompense, nor that his living brows will be
wreathed with laurel. And if, contending against a dark array of
long-received opinions, superstitions, obloquy, and fears, which most
men dread more than they do an army terrible with banners, the Mason
overcomes, and emerges from the contest victorious; or if he does _not_
conquer, but is borne down and swept away by the mighty current of
prejudice, passion, and interest; in either case, the loftiness of
spirit which he displays merits for him more than a mediocrity of fame.
He has already lived too long who has survived the ruin of his country;
and he who can enjoy life after such an event deserves not to have lived
at all. Nor does he any more deserve to live who looks contentedly upon
abuses that disgrace, and cruelties that dishonor, and scenes of misery
and destitution and brutalization that disfigure his country; or sordid
meanness and ignoble revenges that make her a by-word and a scoff among
all generous nations; and does not endeavor to remedy or prevent either.
Not often is a country at war; nor can every one be allowed the
privilege of offering his heart to the enemy's bullets. But in these
patriotic labors of peace, in preventing, remedying, and reforming
evils, oppressions, wrongs, cruelties, and outrages, every Mason can
unite; and every one can effect something, and share the honor and glory
of the result.
For the cardinal names in the history of the human mind are few and
easily to be counted up; but thousands and tens of thousands spend their
days in the preparations which are to speed the predestined change, in
gathering and amassing the materials which are to kindle and give light
and warmth, when the fire from Heaven shall have descended on them.
Numberless are the sutlers and pioneers, the engineers and artisans, who
attend the march of intellect. Many move forward in detachments, and
level the way over which the chariot is to pass, and cut down the
obstacles that would impede its progress; and these too have their
reward. If they labor diligently and faithfully in their calling, not
only will they enjoy that calm contentment which diligence in the
lowliest task never fails to win; not only will the sweat of their brows
be sweet, and the sweetener of the rest that follows; but, when the
victory is at last achieved, they will come in for a share in the glory;
even as the meanest soldier who fought at Marathon or at King's Mountain
became a sharer in the glory of those saving days; and within his own
household circle, the approbation of which approaches the nearest to
that of an approving conscience, was looked upon as the representative
of all his brother-heroes; and could tell such tales as made the tear
glisten on the cheek of his wife, and lit up his boy's eyes with an
unwonted sparkling eagerness. Or, if he fell in the fight, and his place
by the fireside and at the table at home was thereafter vacant, that
place was sacred; and he was often talked of there in the long winter
evenings; and his family, was deemed fortunate in the neighborhood,
because it had had a hero in it, who had fallen in defence of his
country.
Remember that life's length is not measured by its hours and days, but
by that which we have done therein for our country and kind. A useless
life is short, if it last a century; but that of Alexander was long as
the life of the oak, though he died at thirty-five. We may do much in a
few years, and we may do nothing in a lifetime. If we but eat and drink
and sleep, and let everything go on around us as it pleases; or if we
live but to amass wealth or gain office or wear titles, we might as well
not have lived at all; nor have we any right to expect immortality.
Forget not, therefore, to what you have devoted yourself in this Degree:
defend weakness against strength, the friendless against the great, the
oppressed against the oppressor! Be ever vigilant and watchful of the
interests and honor of your country! and may the Grand Architect of the
Universe give you that strength and wisdom which shall enable you well
and faithfully to perform these high duties!
[Illustration]
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X.
ILLUSTRIOUS ELECT OF THE FIFTEEN.
[Elu of the Fifteen.]
This Degree is devoted to the same objects as those of the Elu of Nine;
and also to the cause of Toleration and Liberality against Fanaticism
and Persecution, political and religious; and to that of Education,
Instruction, and Enlightenment against Error, Barbarism, and Ignorance.
To these objects you have irrevocably and forever devoted your hand,
your heart, and your intellect; and whenever in your presence a Chapter
of this Degree is opened, you will be most solemnly reminded of your
vows here taken at the altar.
Toleration, holding that every other man has the same right to his
opinion and faith that we have to ours; and liberality, holding that as
no human being can with certainty say, in the clash and conflict of
hostile faiths and creeds, what is truth, or that _he_ is _surely_ in
possession of it, so every one should feel that it is quite possible
that another equally honest and sincere with himself, and yet holding
the contrary opinion, may himself be in possession of the truth, and
that whatever one firmly and conscientiously believes, _is_ truth, _to
him_--these are the mortal enemies of that fanaticism which persecutes
for opinion's sake, and initiates crusades against whatever it, in its
imaginary holiness, deems to be contrary to the law of God or verity of
dogma. And education, instruction, and enlightenment are the most
certain means by which fanaticism and intolerance can be rendered
powerless.
No true Mason scoffs at honest convictions and an ardent zeal in the
cause of what one believes to be truth and justice. But he does
absolutely deny the right of any man to assume the prerogative of Deity,
and condemn another's faith and opinions as deserving to be punished
because heretical. Nor does he approve the course of those who endanger
the peace and quiet of great nations, and the best interest of their own
race by indulging in a chimerical and visionary philanthropy--a luxury
which chiefly consists in drawing their robes around them to avoid
contact with their fellows, and proclaiming themselves holier than they.
For he knows that such follies are often more calamitous than the
ambition of kings; and that intolerance and bigotry have been infinitely
greater curses to mankind than ignorance and error. Better _any_ error
than persecution! Better _any_ opinion than the thumb-screw, the rack,
and the stake! And he knows also how unspeakably absurd it is, for a
creature to whom himself and everything around him are mysteries, to
torture and slay others, because they cannot think as he does in regard
to the profoundest of those mysteries, to understand which is utterly
beyond the comprehension of either the persecutor or the persecuted.
Masonry is not a religion. He who makes of it a religious belief,
falsifies and denaturalizes it. The Brahmin, the Jew, the Mahometan, the
Catholic, the Protestant, each professing his peculiar religion,
sanctioned by the laws, by time, and by climate, must needs retain it,
and cannot have two religions; for the social and sacred laws adapted to
the usages, manners, and prejudices of particular countries, are the
work of men.
But Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the cardinal
tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are the foundation
of all religions. All that ever existed have had a basis of truth; and
all have overlaid that truth with errors. The primitive truths taught by
the Redeemer were sooner corrupted, and intermingled and alloyed with
fictions than when taught to the first of our race. Masonry is the
universal morality which is suitable to the inhabitants of every clime,
to the man of every creed. It has taught no doctrines, except those
truths that tend directly to the well-being of man; and those who have
attempted to direct it toward useless vengeance, political ends, and
Jesuitism, have merely perverted it to purposes foreign to its pure
spirit and real nature.
Mankind outgrows the sacrifices and the mythologies of the childhood of
the world. Yet it is easy for human indolence to linger near these
helps, and refuse to pass further on. So the unadventurous Nomad in the
Tartarian wild keeps his flock in the same close-cropped circle where
they first learned to browse, while the progressive man roves ever forth
"to fresh fields and pastures new."
The latter is the true Mason; and the best and indeed the only good
Mason is he who with the power of business does the work of life; the
upright mechanic, merchant, or farmer, the man with the power of
thought, of justice, or of love, he whose whole life is one great act of
performance of Masonic duty. The natural use of the strength of a strong
man or the wisdom of a wise one, is to do the _work_ of a strong man or
a wise one. The natural work of Masonry is practical life; the use of
all the faculties in their proper spheres, and for their natural
function. Love of Truth, justice, and generosity as attributes of God,
must appear in a life marked by these qualities; that is the only
effectual ordinance of Masonry. A profession of one's convictions,
joining the Order, assuming the obligations, assisting at the
ceremonies, are of the same value in science as in Masonry; the natural
form of Masonry is goodness, morality, living a true, just,
affectionate, self-faithful life, from the motive of a good man. It is
loyal obedience to God's law.
The good Mason does the good thing which comes in his way, and because
it comes in his way; from a love of duty, and not merely because a law,
enacted by man or God, commands his _will_ to do it. He is true to his
mind, his conscience, heart, and soul, and feels small temptation to do
to others what he would not wish to receive from them. He will deny
himself for the sake of his brother near at hand. His _desire_ attracts
in the line of his _duty_, both being in conjunction. Not in vain does
the poor or the oppressed look up to him. You find such men in all
Christian sects, Protestant and Catholic, in all the great religious
parties of the civilized world, among Buddhists, Mahometans, and Jews.
They are kind fathers, generous citizens, unimpeachable in their
business, beautiful in their daily lives. You see their Masonry in their
work and in their play. It appears in all the forms of their activity,
individual, domestic, social, ecclesiastical, or political. True Masonry
within must be morality without. It must become _eminent_ morality,
which is philanthropy. The true Mason loves not only his kindred and his
country, but all mankind; not only the good, but also the evil, among
his brethren. He has more goodness than the channels of his daily life
will hold. It runs over the banks, to water and to feed a thousand
thirsty plants. Not content with the duty that lies along his track, he
goes out to seek it; not only _willing_, he has a salient _longing_ to
do good, to spread his truth, his justice, his generosity, his Masonry
over all the world. His daily life is a profession of his Masonry,
published in perpetual good-will to men. He _can_ not be a persecutor.
Not more naturally does the beaver build or the mocking-bird sing his
own wild, gushing melody, than the true Mason lives in this beautiful
outward life. So from the perennial spring swells forth the stream, to
quicken the meadow with new access of green, and perfect beauty bursting
into bloom. Thus Masonry does the work it was meant to do. The Mason
does not sigh and weep, and make grimaces. He lives right on. If his
life is, as whose is not, marked with errors, and with sins, he ploughs
over the barren spot with his remorse, sows with new seed, and the old
desert blossoms like a rose. He is not confined to set forms of thought,
of action, or of feeling. He accepts what his mind regards as true, what
his conscience decides is right, what his heart deems generous and
noble; and all else he puts far from him. Though the ancient and the
honorable of the Earth bid him bow down to them, his stubborn knees bend
only at the bidding of his manly soul. His Masonry is his freedom before
God, not his bondage unto men. His mind acts after the universal law of
the intellect, his conscience according to the universal moral law, his
affections and his soul after the universal law of each, and so he is
strong with the strength of God, in this four-fold way communicating
with Him.
The old theologies, the philosophies of religion of ancient times, will
not suffice us now. The duties of life are to be done; we are to do
them, consciously obedient to the law of God, not atheistically, loving
only our selfish gain. There are sins of trade to be corrected.
Everywhere morality and philanthropy are needed. There are errors to be
made way with, and their place supplied with new truths, radiant with
the glories of Heaven. There are great wrongs and evils, in Church and
State, in domestic, social, and public life, to be righted and outgrown.
Masonry cannot in our age forsake the broad way of life. She must
journey on in the open street, appear in the crowded square, and teach
men by her deeds, her life more eloquent than any lips.
This Degree is chiefly devoted to TOLERATION; and it inculcates in the
strongest manner that great leading idea of the Ancient Art, that a
belief in the one True God, and a moral and virtuous life, constitute
the only religious requisites needed to enable a man to be a Mason.
Masonry has ever the most vivid remembrance of the terrible and
artificial torments that were used to put down new forms of religion or
extinguish the old. It sees with the eye of memory the ruthless
extermination of all the people of all sexes and ages, because it was
their misfortune not to know the God of the Hebrews, or to worship Him
under the wrong name, by the savage troops of Moses and Joshua. It sees
the thumb-screws and the racks, the whip, the gallows, and the stake,
the victims of Diocletian and Alva, the miserable Covenanters, the
Non-Conformists, Servetus burned, and the unoffending Quaker hung. It
sees Cranmer hold his arm, now no longer erring, in the flame until the
hand drops off in the consuming heat. It sees the persecutions of Peter
and Paul, the martyrdom of Stephen, the trials of Ignatius, Polycarp,
Justin, and Irenaeus; and then in turn the sufferings of the wretched
Pagans under the Christian Emperors, as of the Papists in Ireland and
under Elizabeth and the bloated Henry. The Roman Virgin naked before the
hungry lions; young Margaret Graham tied to a stake at low-water mark,
and there left to drown, singing hymns to God until the savage waters
broke over her head; and all that in all ages have suffered by hunger
and nakedness, peril and prison, the rack, the stake, and the sword,--it
sees them all, and shudders at the long roll of human atrocities. And it
sees also the oppression still practised in the name of religion--men
shot in a Christian jail in Christian Italy for reading the Christian
Bible; in almost every Christian State, laws forbidding freedom of
speech on matters relating to Christianity; and the gallows reaching its
arm over the pulpit.
The fires of Moloch in Syria, the harsh mutilations in the name of
Astarte, Cybele, Jehovah; the barbarities of imperial Pagan Torturers;
the still grosser torments which Roman-Gothic Christians in Italy and
Spain heaped on their brother-men; the fiendish cruelties to which
Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland,
America, have been witnesses, are none too powerful to warn man of the
unspeakable evils which follow from mistakes and errors in the matter of
religion, and especially from investing the God of Love with the cruel
and vindictive passions of erring humanity, and making blood to have a
sweet savor in his nostrils, and groans of agony to be delicious to his
ears.
Man never had the right to usurp the unexercised prerogative of God, and
condemn and punish another for his belief. Born in a Protestant land, we
are of that faith. If we had opened our eyes to the light under the
shadows of St. Peter's at Rome, we should have been devout Catholics;
born in the Jewish quarter of Aleppo, we should have contemned Christ as
an imposter; in Constantinople, we should have cried "_Allah il Allah_,
God is great and Mahomet is his prophet!" Birth, place, and education
give us our faith. Few believe in any religion because they have
examined the evidences of its authenticity, and made up a formal
judgment, upon weighing the testimony. Not one man in ten thousand knows
anything about the _proofs_ of his faith. We believe what we are taught;
and those are most fanatical who know least of the evidences on which
their creed is based. Facts and testimony are not, except in very rare
instances, the ground-work of faith. It is an imperative law of God's
Economy, unyielding and inflexible as Himself, that man shall accept
without question the belief of those among whom he is born and reared;
the faith so made a part of his nature resists all evidence to the
contrary; and he will disbelieve even the evidence of his own senses,
rather than yield up the religious belief which has grown up in him,
flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.
What is truth to _me_ is not truth to _another_. The same arguments and
evidences that convince one mind make no impression on another. This
difference is in men at their birth. No man is entitled positively to
assert that _he_ is right, where other men, equally intelligent and
equally well-informed, hold directly the opposite opinion. Each thinks
it impossible for the other to be sincere, and each, as to that, is
equally in error. "_What is truth_?" was a profound question, the most
suggestive one ever put to man. Many beliefs of former and present times
seem incomprehensible. They startle us with a new glimpse into the human
soul, that mysterious thing, more mysterious the more we note its
workings. Here is a man superior to myself in intellect and learning;
and yet he sincerely believes what seems to me too absurd to merit
confutation; and I cannot conceive, and sincerely do not believe, that
he is both sane and honest. _And yet he is both_. His reason is as
perfect as mine, and he is as honest as I.