An Ennobling Science
The Masonic
Craftsman 1938
Freemasonry
has its bitter enemies and its doubting
despisers.
There are some who have formed the opinion
that it was
created as a substitute for religion, whereas it
is only the
handmaid to her fair graces. Others presume
the labours
of Masons are trifling, absurd mysteries, or
profane
mummeries; whereas there is no subject existing
within the
range and grasp of the human intellect into
which the
science of Freemasonry does not enter in the
pursuit of
wisdom and knowledge. Some ridicule the
secrets of
Freemasons, declaring them to be either
hurtful to
society or wrong in themselves, whereas those
secrets are
bonds of their mutual fidelity by which they
pledge
themselves to “trace wisdom and follow virtue.”
Time was
when the members of the Craft were
denounced
as dangerous, and every man of eminence
known to be
a Mason was called upon to renounce his
connection
with other social activities. But in the face of
all
opposition the fraternity remained calm, and the sun of
Masonry has
dispersed the clouds which darkened her
sky so
long.
Without
territorial possessions, without any other coercing
power titan
that of morality and virtue, Freemasonry has
survived
the wreck of mighty empires, and resisted the
destroying
hand of time. No other institution can be
compared
with it. Every other society sinks into
insignificance when placed by the side of Masonry.
Christianity alone excepted. Like Gray’s virtuous peasant,
Freemasonry
keeps the noiseless tenor of its way, and
rejoices in
the unsullied happiness of doing good.
When did
Freemasonry first begin to exist, and why has
the
institution been thus preserved? Masons’ work began
with the
creation. To understand the measures of weight
and light
and sound - to unravel, seize upon, and
comprehend
those unchanging laws by which the earth,
the sun,
the moon, the planets, are sustained in space to
follow up
the changes of seasons, and in every step of
the
investigation, as the intellect climbed from lofty truths
to truths
still more lofty, to pause in profound admiration,
to feel the
Creator close to the creature, and to adore -
this was
the first aim of Masonry, this its task, ever fresh,
never ended
- a science teeming with new results and
adding
incentive after incentive to praise and glorify
T.G.A.O.T.U. Freemasonry has been preserved because
it
instructs its members to worship their Almighty Maker,
to honour
and obey the sovereign of the country, to be
peaceful in
their stations, diligent in their callings, honest
in their
dealings, respectful towards their superiors, gentle
and
condescending to their inferiors, merciful towards
their
enemies, kind and obliging in all the duties of their
common
life. Such is the institution which has been
preserved
to the world, unlimited in its numbers, and
scattered
over every land and kingdom.
The work of
the fraternity today is to be true to the original
character
of the order; to continue to follow the God of
nature
through all the wonderful variety of His works: and
to keep the
silence and observe the sacred rules imposed
upon the
Craft. It might be said by some scoffer if
Masonry be
such a pure and ennobling science, should
not all
Masons be wise, and good, and temperate, and
self-denying, full of piety and good words? The answer is
that the
fitness of any system is not to be tried and
condemned
because of unworthiness in some. If any man
has been
led by an impatient curiosity, without higher
motive, to
place unhallowed feet on the tessellated
pavement,
if any has turned the hallowed purposes of
Masonry
into mere convivial meetings, if any has been
content
with merely, acquiring superficial acquaintance
with the
Craft, let not the system itself be charged with
their
perversions, their sins, or their folly: an unworthy
brother
would perhaps have been a worse man if he had
not been a
Mason.