The herald., 1896-02-09
MORALITY OF MASONRY
sG>a>aaS$aoaSasosasssooa>3&
BY c. E. J. WHITE

The world OF mankind has for ages been
seeking for that which will tend to elevate
the race and bring "peace on earth and
good will to men, and yet. in this nine-
teenth century, whatever good may have
been performed, we still find that the
image of God is deflled in the human be-
ing. and that sin, sorrow and suffering are
rife in our midst. L. is not in vain that we
ask a cause for the misery that we per-
ceive daily on the right hand aud the left,
that manifest disproportion between those
who suffer and those who enjoy. We can
perceive it all at glance. 1t is to be found
in the absence of kind, loving and broth
erly spirit, III the failing of that generous
sympathy which, once cultivated, would
bind man to man in chains stronger than
"fetters of brass or gates of iron''-in the
want of those genial influences of benevo-
lence and charity, the very pearls lying at
the bottom of life's cup, so sadly neglected
and forgotten by us all.
Religion comes to us with its maXims;
it tells us what we must do, and what we
must leave undone. 1t furnishes us a
bright hope. and trusting faith, and urges
upon all the practice of such virtue as
will secure peace. And yet the religion OF
this world is but field of sectarianism,
where men and women wrangle and dis
pute about matters of opinion, and forget
the weighter points of the law-"justice.
mercy and TRUTH This is so manifest
that the eye of the philanthropist is moist
ened with tears of niournful regret, when
he contemplates the sad havoc which sin
is making in the world. and how feeble his
efforts TO apply the antitode. And yet how
simple the remedy for all the evil that
spreads its baneful influence around us;
how potent the charm by which the un-
bridled passions of misguided or mis-
governed nature may be subdued, and the
family of man brought, if not at once. at
least progressively. into the open sunlight
of peace and joy. We all yearn for that
which will elevate us in the scale of being
for that which Will render us better hus-
bands, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
and which will assist us in improving our
social relations and make earth an Eden.
The remedy for all the sc evils is found
in that beautiful morality so strongly en-
forced by the precepts adopted by the
order of Freemasons. 1t is not pretended
that the system of morality which they
carry out is peculiar. They adopt sys-
tenn, and call it Brotherhood. 1t recog-
nizes God as the Creator and Father, be-
cause I'VE have all one Father, and one
God hath created u.s."
Hence it is right and proper that we
should regard man as our brother and
treat him as such, comfort him in atfiic-
ton, support him in despondency. and
cheer him in gloom; give the sustaining
hand to the widow in her desolation and
succor to the orphan when no sustaining
hand is near them.
Masonry gives this sentiment practical
importance. What the mass of religion
ISL profess, Masonry carries out in those
details, whereby tho idea of brotherhood is
exempified in deeds of sympathy and eX-
tended charity. Masonry excludes none.
Its charity embraces all of every condition,
and this is the beauty and glory of its be-
nevolence. Masonry does not and can not
decry religion. Masonry is religion the
religion of nature and of God, and incul-
Gates all those sublime sentiments which
make religion valuable to man both for
time and eternity. How necessary is it.
then. that every man should be Mason,
because good and true Mason must be an
honest and virtuous man-not profession
ally so, but honest and virtuous in the
practice of all that digniies our nature and
ennObleS man,