MASONS, as one of the first principles, profess Innocence: they put on white apparel as an emblem of that character, which bespeaks purity of soul, guiltlessness, and being harmless.
We have the following passage in the Biographia Ecciesiastica: "The ancients were also wont to put a white garment on the person baptized, to denote his having put off the lusts of the flesh, and his being cleansed from his former sins, and that he had obliged himself to maintain a life of unspotted innocence. Accordingly, the baptized are, both by the Apostle and the Greek fathers, styled f?t???µe???, the enlightened, because they professed to be the children of light, and engaged themselves never to return again to the works of darkness.* This white garment used to be delivered to them with this solemn charge: 'Receive the white and undefiled garment, and produce it without spot before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may obtain eternal life. Amen.' They were wont to wear these white garments for the space of a week after they were baptized, and then put them off and laid them up in the church, that they might be kept as a witness against them if they should violate the baptismal covenant."
(* "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." (Isaiah ix. 2.))
Whilst the apron,* with which we are clothed, indicates a disposition of innocence, and belies not the wearer's heart, let the ignorant deride and scoff on; superior to the ridicule and malice of the wicked, we will enfold ourselves in the garb of our own virtue, and, safe in self-approving conscience, stand unmoved amidst the persecutions of adversity.
(* See the "Signs and Symbols," for a lecture (x.) on the Masonic Apron. -EDITOR.)
The raiment, which truly implies the innocence of the heart, is a badge more honorable than ever was devised by kings. The Roman eagle, with all the orders of knighthood, are inferior: they may be prostituted by the caprice of princes; but innocence is innate, and cannot be adopted.
To be a true Mason is to possess this principle; or the apparel which he wears is an infamy to the apostate, and only shows him forth to shame and contempt.
That innocence should be the professed principle a Mason occasions no astonishment, when we consider that the discovery of the Deity leads us to the knowledge of those maxims wherewith he may be well pleased. The very idea of a God is succeeded with the belief that he can approve of nothing that is evil; and when first our predecessors professed themselves servants of the Architect of the world, as an indispensable duty they professed innocence, and put on white raiment as a type and characteristic of their conviction, and of their being devoted to his will.* The Druids were appareled in white at the time of their sacrifices and solemn offices. The Egyptian priests of Osiris wore snow-white cotton. We do not find that priests of other nations, noted for antiquity, were singular in this, except that in the service of Ceres, under whom was symbolized the gift of Providence in the fruits of the earth, the Grecian priests put on white.
(* King Solomon recommended white garments, as being indicative of mental purity. "Let thy garments be always white," (Eccles. ix. 8.) -EDITOR.)
Every degree of sin strikes the rational mind of man with some feelings of self-condemnation. - Under such conviction, who could call upon or claim the presence of a Divinity, whose demonstration is good works? Hence are men naturally led to conceive that such Divinity will only accept of works of righteousness. Standing forth for the approbation of Heaven, the servants of the first revealed God bound themselves to maxims of purity and virtue; and, as Masons, we regard the principles of those who were the first worshippers of the true God, imitate their apparel, and assume the badge of innocence.
Our jewels or ornaments imply that we try our affections by justice, and our actions by truth, as the square tries the workmanship of the mechanic; that we regard our mortal state, - whether it is dignified by titles or not, whether it be opulent or indigent, - as being of one nature in the beginning, and of one rank in its close. In sensations, passions, and pleasures, in infirmities, maladies, and wants, all mankind are on a parallel. Nature hath given us 110 superiorities: it is wisdom and virtue that constitute superiority. From such maxims we make estimates of our brother, when his calamities call for our council or our aid. The works of charity are from sympathetic feelings, and benevolence acts upon the level. The emblem of these sentiments is another of the jewels of our society.
To walk uprightly before Heaven and before men, neither inclining to the right or to the left, is the duty of a Mason; neither becoming an enthusiast or a persecutor in religion, nor bending towards innovation or infidelity. In civil government, firm in our allegiance, yet stedfast in our laws, liberties, and constitution. In private life, yielding up every selfish propensity, inclining neither to avarice or injustice, to malice or revenge, to envy or contempt with mankind; but, as the builder raises his column by the plane and perpendicular, so should the Mason carry himself towards the world.*
(* Appendix, E.)
To rule our affections by justice and our actions by truth, is to wear a jewel which would ornament the bosom of the highest potentate on earth. - Human nature has her impulses from desires which are often too inordinate: love binds us with prejudices, and resentment burns with fevers; contempt renders us incredulous, and covetousness deprives us of every generous and humane feeling. To steer the bark of life upon the sea of passion, without quitting the course of rectitude, is one of the highest excellencies to which human nature can be brought, aided with all the powers of philosophy and religion.
Yet merely to act with justice and truth, is not all that man should attempt; for even that excellence would be selfishness: that duty is not relative, but merely proper; it is only touching our own character, and doing nothing for our neighbor; for justice is an indispensable duty in each individual. We were not born for ourselves alone, only to shape our course through life in the tracks of tranquility, and solely to study that which should afford peace to the conscience at home; but men were made as mutual aids to each other: no one among us, be he ever so opulent, can subsist without the assistance of his fellow-creatures. Nature's wants are numerous, and our hands are filled with very little of the warfare of necessity: our nakedness must be clothed, our hunger satisfied, our maladies visited. Where shall the proud man toil for sustenance, if he stands unaided by his neighbor? When we look through the varied scene of life, we see our fellow-creatures attacked with innumerable calamities; and, were we without compassion, we should exist without one of the finest feelings of the human heart. To love and to approve, are movements in the soul of man which yield him pleasure; but to pity, gives him heavenly sensations; and to relieve, is divine. Charity thus hath her existence: her rise is from the consciousness of our similarity in nature; the level on which mortality was created in the beginning; its progress is in sympathetic feelings, from the affections of the heart breathing love towards our brother, coupled with the touch of original estimation in our minds, which proves all our species to be brethren of one existence. Its conclusion is, from comparison producing judgment, we weigh the necessities of our suffering fellow-creatures by our natural equality, by compassion, our sympathy, and our own abilities, and dispense our gifts from affection. Pity and pain are sisters by sympathy.
To be an upright man, is to add still greater luster to the Mason's character. To do justice, and to have charity, are excellent steps in human life; but to act uprightly gives a superlative degree of excellence, for in that station we shall become examples in religious, in civil, and in moral conduct. It is not enough that we are neither enthusiasts nor persecutors in religion, neither bending towards innovation or infidelity-not to be in the passive only, but we should appear in the active character; we should be zealous practicers, observers of, and steadfast members in, religious duties. In civil matters, we should not only submit to, but execute the laws of our country; obey all their ordinances, and perform all their precepts; be faithful to the constitution of the realm, and loyal to our king; true soldiers in the defense of our liberty, and of his crown and dignity.* In morality, it requires of us, not only that we should not err, by injuring, betraying, or deceiving, but that we should do good in every capacity in that station of life wherein kind Providence has placed us.**
(* This is a complete refutation of the opinion of Pivati, who averred (according to Laurie, for I have not seen his book,) that Freemasonry was instituted by Oliver Cromwell, for republican purposes; that the level was a symbol of political equality; that its chief design was to build a temple to liberty; to extirpate monarchy, and introduce in its stead a pure democracy. - EDITOR.)
(** Appendix, F.)
By such metes let the Mason be proved, and testify that his emblematical jewels are ensigns only of the inward man; thence he will stand approved before Heaven and before men, purchasing honor to his profession and felicity to the professor.***
(*** Appendix, G.)
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