MASON WORK
MASONIC MONTHLY - 1864
THE human species
have tenanted this planet for several thousands of years. For
what purpose has been this long occupancy of the earth? Has this
purpose been accomplished? or does the grand result, as
discernable in our day, exhibit, what may be construed, as being
the accomplished purpose of human existence on this earthly
sphere? These are great and grave questions, and most difficult
to answer, if answerable. If the existence of mankind for
a period so extended has any purpose towards itself as a total,
then that purpose can scarcely yet have been achieved, so the
human mind would reason, for the general condition of our race is
so unequal, so wanting in its approaches to perfection, as to
require many thousands of years, judging from the slow rate of
our past progress, before that end, if it be the end, can be
reached. What has been accomplished by those vast movements
of mankind, some of which history has recorded, others of which
it has entirely passed over, towards solving the problem of
human destiny? The innumerable wars, emigrations and
immigrations, revolutions and reformations, destructions and
reconstructions of races and societies, to what extent have these
aided towards the consummation of Heaven's purpose with us? Who
can give answer to these weighty queries? These questions, or
kindred ones, have occupied the leading minds among men in all
ages, and it will be the destiny of such minds for ages yet to
come, judging from the past, still to ponder these great problems
and find them still unsolved. Then what utility is there or can
there be in raising such questions? We can only answer that the
human mind as constituted inevitably and of some peculiar
necessity propounds these riddles to itself, and it may be that
in seeking to unravel them, it is securing that development of
its faculties which may be a leading if not the main purpose of
its existence. The Sphinx well symbolizes mankind, which is both
riddle and answer combined, for as Shakespeare hath well said,
"the greatest mystery to mankind is man." But what has all
this to do with Freemasonry? Has civilization any higher purpose
than to furnish us with all the modern conveniences of life? - If
it achieves nothing more than this, for ourselves we would prefer
a little of barbarism and its more positive manners. What is the
end and aim of all education ? As to the individual it is to
develop him to the fullest extent in all his faculties, and as to
the race, it is to elevate mankind to its highest attainable
condition short of that perfection, which we do not believe
possible of attainment on earth or in this life. From the
birth of the first pair of human beings until this
present instant, the anxious student has been painfully poring
over problem after problem with but one object, namely, hour to
realize his highest ideal. Every power in church and state,
lawful or unlawful, he has invoked towards this end. Often has he
appealed to the sword, yet the sword has rendered him no
assistance. Philosophy, science, art, religion, every institution
that ever existed has been in turn appealed to with this ever
present purpose in view, and every institution has been weighed
in the balances and pronounced either competent to assist or
found wanting in ability to assist towards this continual
aim. Whatever answer may be given to the questions with which
we started, it does seem to us that the worthiest object which
mankind can seek is its own highest happiness both here and
here-after, and that this is only attainable through the
development of all our faculties both individually and socially
to their fullest extent. Whether or not in following this object
we are in the dark as to the proper purpose of our existence on
earth, as individuals or as a race, here we have an object worth
pursuing; here we have an end in view, however distant, yet worth
living for and striving for. Further, we think it fair to judge
of the value of every human institution, whether in church or
state, by the amount of service it can render to us towards the
promotion of this grand aim. In whatever particular, the church,
the state, the college, the literary society, civilization itself
in any of its departments, fails to help us, or succeeds in
hindering us in our progress, as to that particular, we may
safely and properly pronounce each and all of them defective and
in need of reform and improvement. Among the institutions
which mankind has tried, none has longer been sustained, none has
tested his patience more thoroughly than Freemasonry. More
ancient than the oldest of existing governments, older than the
oldest of churches extant, Freemasonry has maintained its life
among men. By what peculiar property has been secured this
wonderful freedom from that death and decay which has overtaken
and obliterated so many of the institutions of antiquity? Must
there not be in the system of Freemasonry a wonderful adaptation
to the wants of man through all ages and under all circumstances
to secure this unparalleled perpetuation of itself? Through storm
and sunshine, from under the frowns of the mighty, and out of
persecutions as severe as have overtaken any institution, it has
descended to us from the remotest antiquity, and now in this day
it exhibits as much life and vigor, if not greater vitality and
force than ever before in its history. "What has Freemasonry
to do with the great problem of human progress to which we have
alluded? What is a lodge? The ancient charges answer "a lodge is
a place where Masons assemble and work." What is their work?
Whatever tends to benefit mankind, whatever tends to its
elevation, whatever is promotive of human progress in all its
phases, is true Mason's work. - Never in all history has it been
ranged on the side of tyrants against the people, never has it
aided superstition and priestcraft in their warfare against
freedom of thought, but, always allied with the friends
of humanity, ever devoted to the inextinguishable light of truth
and fraternity, it has been one with the life of mankind itself,
and therefore imperishable. "Progress," the poet sings, "is the
rule of all," and if this progress be among the purposes of our
race here below, then is Masonry intimately associated with human
destiny, and has its glorious work in the world. Masonry
has been variously defined as an art and a science, and as a
system of morality veiled in allegory. Masonry is all these,
and more than these. It is one of the worthily working
institutions of the world. It is one of the few institutions
among men which has a work to do, in harmony with that
progressive development of humanity which seems to be the great
purpose of existence, and appears to be becoming more and more
important as one of the instrumentalities by which that
development is being affected. And how does Masonry
accomplish its work? By a process as old as the oldest lodge
Freemasonry is sifting community and selecting such material as
is calculated for the labors of the Craft. This material is then
led through an impressive initiation, passed and raised to the
grade of Master, and, in the language of the Ancient Charge, made
to feel "the benign influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have
done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of
time." Masonry accomplishes its work by taking hold of good men
and making them better, by giving them an ideal and an aspiration
which would lead them ever upward from the lowest, even to the
highest round of that ladder, symbolical of all the virtues,
whose bottom rests on the earth but whose top reacheth unto the
heavens. To the lodges one word in conclusion would we add -
see to it that ye turn out nothing but true
Mason-work. back to top
|
