PERSECUTION
No Mason can assume a passive attitude in regard to persecution. Remove
Justice from the Temple of Masonry and you have left only the wreck of a
building. And persecution is never justifiable. Persecution is the weapon
of the brutal individual or mob, used as a screen to obscure their weaknesses.
Speculative Masonry as we think of it since the formation of the Grand
Lodge of England in 1717 set forth in no indefinite language the stand of
Masonry against religious intolerance. No longer was religion to be the
barrier that separated men; that kept men from being brothers. Now, men of
all religions could meet at the altar, which was the "centre of union"
and
each could worship God in his own way. The minor differences in belief were
not as important as the truth of the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of
Man. The universal spirit of man's dependence on man was indefinitely more
important than controversial dogma. Reason ruled over traditional emotions.
Masonry had no new religion to offer. It only prepared anew the ground for
the more abundant growth of truths that have existed since time.
What is the spirit behind the determination of Masons to perpetuate the
principles of Freemasonry? It is a protective spirit. Masonry knows that at
various times in each generation the ugly face of tyranny will show itself
and that the peace-loving will be persecuted. And so Masons are willing to
patiently attend at the Holy Altar of Liberty, and Justice so that these
immortal ideals may live forever in the hearts of men.
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