Page 25 - Nov Dec 2022 MFMW.indd

It is this personal desire to be good that
invokes virtue in a continual warfare
against vice. There is no silence, no
position of rest, except in the cowardly
surrender of all that is manly, good
and true. It is this desire for happiness,
this longing for a beautiful life, that
plunges human nature into the sea of
unrest.
Human nature is ever seeking a higher
plane of existence.
Nature itself has made it delightful to
man to be good, and not so happy to
him who is not wholly so.
It remains, even after the moral life
has been wrecked upon the shoals of
vice, sometimes to re-assert itself in
the stings and pangs of self-accusing
conscience.
Š‘ ™‘—Ž† ‘– ”‡Œ‘‹ ‡ ™‹–Š ‹‡ơƒ„Ž‡
Œ‘› ‹ˆ Š‡ ‘—Ž† –Š‹• ‘‡– •Šƒ‡ ‘ơ
–Š‡ ‹Ƥ”‹–‹‡• ‘ˆ Š‹• ƒ–—”‡ ƒ† ”‹•‡
at once to the true dignity of ideal
manhood, erect and proud in the
consciousness of perfect purity and
uprightness of character?
Ideal manhood is the goal of
Freemasonry.
It is the star of our hope, the beacon
light upon the shore, to the mariner
Mason tossed hither and thither upon
the ocean of life.
But while the principles of our
Institution are founded upon the
immutable moral law, and the
aspirations of our natures reach out
toward this grand ideality of perfect
manhood, our philosophy and history
teach us that we have a rough and
rugged road to travel, beset with many
–”‹ƒŽ• ƒ† †‹ƥ —Ž–‹‡•ǡ ƒ† ‡š’‡”‹‡ ‡
and observation have shown us that
many go faint and weary by the way.
Recognizing, as Freemasonry does,
–Š‡ ƒ–—”ƒŽ ‹Ƥ”‹–‹‡• ‘ˆ ƒ ƒ† –Š‡
mutual dependence of one upon the
other, through the varying vicissitudes
‘ˆ Ž‹ˆ‡ǡ ˆ‘” ƒŽŽ –Š‡ ‹† ‘ƥ ‡•ǡ ™Š‹ Š
justice and mercy, require its members
aid, sustain and uplift each other
by their mutual pursuit of this ideal
manhood.
In this pursuit by Freemasons, nothing
should distract their attention from
the common goal.
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The sordid passions of unworthy For this reason, Freemasonry creates
ambition, hatred and revenge, should a secret, sacred and holy friendship
Ƥ† ‘ ’Žƒ ‡ ˆ‘” ‡š‹•–‡ ‡ ‘” ‰”‘™–Š ‹ of its own, controlled and directed by
‘—” ”†‡”Ǥ ƒ•‘‹ •‘‹Ž •Š‘—Ž† ƒơ‘”† the moral law, which is written on the
no fertility for such passions; they are tablets of eternity. In Freemasonry,
–Š‡ ‰”‡ƒ–‡•– ‹Ƥ”‹–‹‡• ‘ˆ ‘—” ƒ–—”‡Ǥ friendship is worldwide. It knows no
nationality, no clime, no creed, no
Freemasonry, recognizing this fact, profession and no belief, except in
has, by most impressive symbolic ‘†ǡ ƒ† –Š‡ ‹‘”–ƒŽ‹–› ‘ˆ –Š‡ •‘—ŽǤ
lessons, taught the Mason to keep
his passions within due bounds. This Cicero, in speaking of friendship, said,
lesson does not mean that the passions “What can be more delightful than to
are to be destroyed, because they are have one to whom you can speak on all
as essential to human happiness as the subjects, just as to yourself.”
nerves, veins, and arteries are essential
to life. How aptly this language describes
Masonic intercourse!
As has been beautifully said,
“The passions are the gales that swell Man naturally longs for a closer union
our mental bark as it sails over the with his fellow than that which could
•‡ƒ ‘ˆ Ž‹ˆ‡Ǥ ‹‡ –Š‡ ™‹† ‹–•‡Žˆǡ –Š‡› be called ordinary and creates a more
are engines of high importance and permanent identity of interest and a
mighty power.” more intense reciprocation of feeling.
Kept within due bounds, they are the Temperance, fortitude, prudence and
fountains of benevolence, the springs justice, these principles should ever he
of joy and life, “left loose and at kept in view in the daily transactions of
random, they distract and ruin us.” life.
It is this injunction concerning the They lead to happiness and usefulness,
control of the passions and the unity here & now, and to a bright immortality
of Masonic aspiration, which keeps hereafter.
discord out of the beautiful Temple of
Masonry. No man can lay up a store of happiness
and utility here or hereafter without
Here, then, is the strength of our adhering to these principles. It is for
Fraternity. these reasons that Freemasonry has
Šƒ† •— Š ƒ ‡š–‡†‡† ‹ƪ—‡ ‡ ‹ –Š‡
The man who enters the portals of world. It must necessarily have had a
the Masonic Temple, has a right to ™‘†‡”ˆ—Ž ‡ơ‡ – —’‘ –Š‡ ‘”‰ƒ‹œƒ–‹‘
expect that he is seeking a place where and reformation of society. Born in the
he will be free from the dissensions past, when caste and rank marked the
and the struggles of life, begotten divisions among men, its work was to
by uncontrolled passions. Here let cause them to meet upon the common
Š‹ Ƥ† –Šƒ– ˆ”‡‡†‘ǡ „‡‡ƒ–Š –Š‡ level of true manhood and to eradicate
shelter of an Institution that has been from their hearts the warring, envy,
the shadow of rest to many of earth’s jealousy and strife of creed and clan.
noblest minds.
But we should all have more Masonic
‡”‡ Ž‡– Š‹ Ƥ† ƒ Š‘‡ ˆ‘” –Š‡ •‘—Ž education; Its cardinal principals, in
free from the factious opposition of all their bearings, should be better
the world, where no contention should understood and more thoroughly
exist, “but rather a nobler emulation of impressed. In order to properly
who best can work and best agree.” appreciate our noble Institution,
and to awaken within ourselves that
It is thus that men are brought enthusiasm it deserves, there must
together by Freemasonry, into the be thorough education, not only in its
closest and holiest bonds of friendship ritual, but in its philosophy and history.
– a friendship stripped of the false
‘˜‡”‹‰• ‘ˆ ƪƒ––‡”›ǡ †‹•”‘„‡† ‘ˆ –Š‡ Someone has said that Masonic
cloak of hypocrisy. intelligence is the key to the prosperity
Wealth, station, and rank yet rule the and perpetuity of Freemasonry. It has
world. also been said by another, that,
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