In making a study of Freemasonry with a view to arriving I at a correct estimate of its moral and social worth, the religious element in the society must he taken into account.
The more we come to understand the circumstances and conditions under which the institution was formulated, the more we realize that the men who were concerned in its organization and its future, had in mind the establishment of a society which should be religions in character but free from jealousy, prejudice and intolerance, devoid of superstition and possessing those elements of morality which Cicero characterized as initiating man into a new order of life and foreshadowing immortality.
The one great thing which distinguishes Freemasonry above all other societies is a broad spirit of toleration. The religious wars of the Sixteenth Century. which tore England almost to tatters make our Civil War appear in the light but of a small affray. In those bellicose days it was a dangerous thing to assume any religious belief which was at variance with the dominant party. Changes came so often and resulted in so much friction that the people were at a loss to know with which faction to cast their lot. In 1668 all religious assemblies with locked doors were forbidden. There is no reason to doubt that the intolerant attitude of the religious societies of the Seventeenth Century exerted an influence upon those men who were responsible for the revival of Freemasonry in the year 1717, and led them to place certain limitations upon what should be expected from those who united with the fraternity so far as their religious beliefs were concerned and to make the society or lodge a place where toleration would be recognized.
Hence the founders of Freemasonry eliminated
from the speculative system of the society all references to any
but those fundamental religious principles upon which all men
could agree, namely : the acknowledgment of a supreme ruler of
the universe, subjection to the great law of justice, and the
obligation to love one another in service. They formulated abroad
platform embracing God's fatherhood and man's brotherhood, making
their charity the care of the widow and the fatherless and their
sacred duty, that of keeping themselves unspotted from the world.
In the arrangement of their system the early Masonic fathers took
the Holy Bible as their guide. They did not as is commonly supposed
make the Holy Bible one of the landmarks an act which initiates
the introduction of religious dogmaticism into the society. It
was not until 1769 that the Holy Bible was made a part of the
furniture of every lodge and its place upon the altar, regarded
as necessary to establish Masonic Legitimacy. It was on motion
of Preston in the year above mentioned that the Grand Lodge of
England voted to make the Holy Bible one of the socalled landmarks
of the fraternity.
The form and nature of our ritual as it has passed through the tedious evolution of the years has in a way served to fix in the minds of many Masons the belief that the Bible is a necessary part of the furniture of every Masonic Lodge and that any society or organization of Masons which does not display upon its altar the Holy Bible, must necessarily be considered as spurious and clandestine. The original plan of Freemasonry was intended to give to the world a thoroughly tolerant institution. And the recognized book to be used was to be that volume which was accepted as the basis of the religious belief of the country or nation wherein Masonry might propagate.
It is true that almost every practice Masonry inculcates and every truth it teaches is of scriptural origin. This is largely due to the strange circumstance, that of the chief compilers of the ritual, one was a French Huguenot and the other a Scotch Presbyterian. Recognizing this fact, it can be readily understood why many members of the Craft regard the Fraternity so religiously that they are willing to chance Heaven on their fidelity to its principles.
That the present system of Freemasonry should be spoken of as religious or even imparting religious instruction will perhaps be shocking to many who hold the idea that religion is confined to a particular set of theological dogmas or in other words is sectarian. It is, of course, the privilege of every man to conceive religion as his conscience may dictate and if there are men who accept Freemasonry as their religion and who zealously try to live up to its precepts and who strive to obey its obligation of serving man on earth and God in, the universe then those men should have the right to accept Masonry as the religion to which they can subscribe without being pointed out as moral recluses, whose future happiness is seriously impaired because of their lack of affiliation with some denominational society.
The essentials of religion are not confined
to any one sect or society. In this Twentieth Century no one group
of individuals have a monopoly upon moral and ethical culture.
The times demand that all influences which make for the uplift
of human character must be coordinated. The church is not the
only guardian of the moral virtues. God Almighty never intended
that the teaching of them should be delegated to a special class
of individuals. In this day and age of the world no society or
organization has the prescriptive right to declare an embargo
on matters of this sort.
An eminent writer has said that religion is the Holy Bible, and
that various religious societies have arisen because they have
selected certain portions of this book which were particularly
to their liking and have used them as the basis of their ideas,
beliefs, and practices. But Freemasonry accepts the Bible as a
whole and directs every Mason to make it the rule and guide of
his conduct, leaving him to interpret its injunctions to the best
of his ability. It does not adopt any particular part of the Bible
upon which to found its beliefs, nor does it select any special
section as the basis of its practices. It tells no man how he
should worship God but leaves the method to his own selection.
Masonry was never intended to take the place
of the church in modern society, for it offers no plan of salvation.
It has never said, "Look to me and you shall be saved."
If it be said that Masonry is not Christian, not Jewish, not Mohammedan,
not Methodist, not Presbyterian, not
Unitarian, then it is quite true. But it cannot be said that it
is not religious, for the religious element enters so largely
into it, as to be its most distinguishing characteristic and without
which it would be classified among those secular institutions
which exist merely for the gratification of selfish interests.
When Stephen Girard, a distinguished Mason of Philadelphia, founded Girard College he made it one of the provisions that no minister should ever be permitted to enter its walls. His intentions have been misunderstood and his school charged with infidelity. Such, however, is not the case, for instruction in Girard College is as thoroughly religious as that of any other school of Liberal Arts in the country. It was not religion that Mr. Girard sought to exclude but sectarianism. His desire was to restore the old methods of instruction, which were eminently religious but not partisan.
It is related that during a Knight Templar Conclave in Philadelphia, a Sir Knight desired to visit Girard College. He wore his Templar coat which as is well known, might easily he taken. by a novice for a clerical garment. The guard who met him at the door looked him over and said, "I am very sorry blit you cannot enter here." The Knight Templar was astounded, and said, "the hell I can't."
"Oh," said the guard, as with a profuse apology he flung the door open. He had recognized the pass word.
No little criticism has been directed against Freemasonry because of what has been construed as an attempt by the society to build a religion of its own, wherein the man of Nazareth, the central figure of the great religious denominations of the world has been rejected and in his stead, there has been substituted an imaginary character, known as the widow's son and a worker in brass. But the central character in Freemasonry has never been set up as the way, the truth and the light, but simply as an example of Masonic integrity and character.
Masonry has never claimed to do for men that which the church can do, nor has it ever assumed any of the functions of the church. It deals only with the moral and social features of the individual. It has never sought to make men - better by picturing a celestial paradise, nor by threatening with a literal hell. Those early founders of Freemasonry were in possession of a truth which the world is just beginning to learn and that is that no legislative act, however severe, makes men better. All punishments enacted by man since time began have neither changed nor bettered his nature. The severity of the law may deter, but with the inclination in the heart the man is guilty. The legislative enactment affects the physical and not the moral. Freemasonry has long recognized that no punishment can reach the motive and in the evolution of its system of moral science, it has ever sought to teach men that which is good and to help them to be right in all their relations with mankind.
There never has been any conflict between the church and Freemasonry, nor is there a single principle inculcated by the various Christian societies of the world for which Freemasonry does not contend. Nor does the Church hold out any higher standard of morality and purity than is implied in the fundamental teachings of Masonry, however lax the society may be in maintaining those standards. Freemasonry in a measure is dependent upon the church, for the church accepts man as a fallen being who must be redeemed while Freemasonry takes him only in a high moral state, endowed with capacity for individuality and culture.
Within recent years there has been much agitation concerning the teaching of religion in the public schools. Undoubtedly the responsibility of the church and the home enters into the public school, but how these great problems are to be met is one of those questions which demands the attention of vigorous intellects. That clever diplomat Wu Ting Fang, late Chinese minister to this and other countries, in his book "America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat," asks why we should not teach in public schools the fundamental principals of morality. Among these he enumerates honesty, purity of thought and action, respect for virtue, universal brotherhood, and the Golden Rule, which he naturally words as did Confucious, "Do not unto others, what ye would not that others should do unto you." It is true that pupils who are under conscientious teachers and who study good literature receive religious training, unconsciously. But this distinguished Chinaman has asked for something more. He wants to know why they should not be taught in schools the principals of morality and in so doing, he but expresses the fundamental thing which for two hundred years Freemasonry has been trying to accomplish. At the present time there are strong indications of a tremendous revolution in the moral and religious world, the universal result of which points to the establishment of a religion of humanity. When that time shall come it cannot be doubted that Freemasonry will shine with a lustre undimmed.
The religion of Masonry knows neither creed nor dogma nor sectarianism. Every Lodge is the home of harmony.
Every altar is a sacred anvil on which is tempered the bonds of brotherhood. The Mason is taught to see God in every thing, to behold Him in every page of nature's book, to use reason for his lamp, education for his guide, and humanity as his chief interest. Masonry discards as non essential much of the formality which envelops the old religious ideas, and establishes as its tenets those great truths to which all men can subscribe. What men disagree and are skeptical about is the attitude of God to man, as revealed in dogma based upon the conception of the individual.
Through a remarkable system of allegory
and symbol the fathers in Masonry sought to picture truth and
error, virtue and vise, life and death, and this method of teaching
morality and humanity as well as nobility of character is simply
the result of a long, tedious process of evolution, during whish
man has advanced from a mere brute to the highest product of modern
civilization. Those early founders of Masonry conceived a system
of moral religion at whose shrine all men might worship, the Christian,
the Catholic, the Protestant, the Confusion, the Buddhist, the
Mohammedan, as well as all others who are willing to acknowledge
a supreme being and live a life of moral rectitude. Thus there
has been evolved a religious society, whish has been charitable
enough to recognize good whether it be found in the Bible or the
Koran, or in the Moral Code of those who have sought the higher
things of life.
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