The qualifications necessary to form a worthy member of our order, are, a wise philanthropy, pure morality, inviolable secrecy, and a taste for the polite arts. Lycurgus, Solon, Numa, and all other political legislators, could not make their establishments durable: how wise soever their laws might have been, they could not extend them into every country, and every age. As these laws had in view only victories and conquests, military violence, and the elevation of one people above another, they could not become universal, nor agree with the taste, the genius, and the interests of every nation: philanthropy was not their basis. The love of country, badly understood, and carried to an excess, often destroyed, in those warlike republics, the love of humanity in general. Men are not essentially distinguished by the difference of the languages they speak, the dresses they wear, or the dignities with which they are invested; the whole world is but one great republic, of which every nation is a family, and every particular person a child: to revive and spread abroad those ancient maxims drawn from the nature of man, is one of the ends of our establishment. We wish to unite all men of an agreeable humour, and enlightened understanding, not only by the love of the polite arts, but still more by the great principles of virtue; and from such a union, the interest of the fraternity becomes that of all mankind; from such, every nation may draw solid knowledge, and all the subjects of different kingdoms may conspire without jealousy, live without discord, and mutually love one another without renouncing their country. Masonry instructs us in our duty to the supreme architect of the universe-to our neighbours, and ourselves. It instructs us to be peaceable subjects to the civil powers, and never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the well-being of the nation. It teaches truth. peace, and concord: it bids us open our ears to the cries of the unfortunate, and to extend our hands to them with the cup of consolation. It unites men of all nations in one affectionate band of brotherhood. It shews us we are all upon a level, and that merit is the only just distinction. It orders us to live within compass, and always to act upon the square with the world, and with one another. It is not gloomy, but cheerful; it forbids intemperance, but encourages rational mirth and innocent pleasure; in short, it is a superstructure fixed with solid firmness on the broad basis of moral and social virtue. Sound morality is the second disposition required in our society. Let a man's religion, or mode of it, be what it will, we do not exclude him from the benefits and advantages of our order, provided he believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth, and practises the sacred duties of morality. We are directed to expand our hearts with the most generous sentiments, to root out bigotry, and stop the cruel hand of persecution. We are bid to unite with virtuous men of the most distant countries and opposite opinions; to unite with them in the firm and pleasing bond of fraternal love; to regard them with the truest affection: come, then, ye virtuous men of all nations, ye faithful followers of virtue of every faith and every clime; come to us, and we will, with a brother's arms, receive you. You worship the universal Lord of nature, the bounteous giver of all good, in the way you think most pleasing to him; you practice every duty of morality, and he does not reject you; and shall we? no! come to us, and find your friends, your brethren. must such principles endear our order to every liberal and benevolent mind; how universally useful do they make it; for a mason, amongst men of every nation, may find a friend, a home in every climate. How As a severe, cruel, gloomy, and unsociable philosophy disgusts men with virtue, we are desirous of rendering it amiable, by the ailurements of innocent pleasures, agreeable music, pure joy, and rational gaiety. Our sentiments are not what the profane world, and ignorant vulgar imagine them to be: all the vices of the heart are banished from them, as well as irreligious and libertinism, excess, and debauchery. Here the love of all good designs is strengthened: Here, "Friendship on wing etherial flying round, Scorning each frantic zealot, bigot tool, She stamps on mason's breasts her golden rule." We banish from our lodges every dispute which may tend to alter the tranquility of the mind, and gentleness of the manners; or to destroy those sentiments of friendship, and that perfect harmony to be found only in the retrenching all indecent excesses, and discordant passions. The obligations, brother, that the order lays upon you, are, to protect your brethren by your authority-to enlighten them by your understanding-to edify them by your virtuesto sacrifice every personal resentment, and diligently to seek for every thing which will best contribute to the peace, concord, and credit of the society. How is it that I have neglected to mention to you the necessity of assisting your brethren in their distresses? This is the first of all your obligations; let your heart, therefore, be always ready to commisserate distress-your hand ever open to relieve it: drop balm upon the wounds affliction has made, and bind up the hearts which sorrow has broken; and thus experience the exalted happiness of communicating happiness to others. We have secrets amongst us; some of them have been entrusted to you: these compose a language sometimes mute, and sometimes very eloquent, to be communicated at the greatest distance, and to know our brethren by, let their country or their language be what it will. What has scarcely happened to any other society, has happened to ours. Our lodges have been established in, and are now spread over, all polite nations; and yet, amongst so great a multitude of men, no brother has ever yet betrayed our secrets: dispositions the most volatile, the most indiscreet, and the least trained up to secresy, learn this great science as soon as they enter amongst us. So great an empire over the mind has the idea of brotherly union! This inviolable secresy powerfully contributes to link together the subjects of different kingdoms, and to facilitate, and render mutual between them, the communication of benefits. We have many examples of it in the annals of our order: brethren travelling over the various nations of Europe, and finding themselves distressed, have made themselves known to our lodges, and immediately have they received all necessary assistance. We are connected by solemn promises; if any one should fail in the solemn promises which connect us, you know, brethren, that there is no greater punishment than the remorse of conscience, the infamy of perfidy, and the exclusion from our society. The famous feasts of Ceres at Eleusis, of Isis in Egypt, of Minerva at Athens, of Urania amongst the Phoenicians, and of Diana in Scythia, had some relation to our solemnities: Mysteries were celebrated in them, in which many ves tiges of the ancient religion of Noah and the patriarchs, are to be met with: they finished by repasts and libations, but without the excesses, debaucheries, and intemperance, which the Pagans by degrees fell into. The source of all these infamies, was the admission of persons of both sexes to their nocturnal assemblies, contrary to their primitive institution. It is to prevent such abuses, that women are excluded from our order. It is not that we do not pay a natural and due regard to that most beauteous part of the creation, or that we are unjust enough to look upon them as incapable of secresy; but, because their presence might insensibly alter the purity of our maxims, and our manners; we are afraid (nor groundless are our fears) that love would enter with them, and draw us to his flowery tempting paths, where jealousy too often would diffuse his venom through our hearts, and, from affectionate brethren, transform us into implacable rivals. The fourth qualification necessary to enter into our order, is a taste for useful sciences, and liberal arts of every kind: these improve the heart as much as the understanding; moderate the selfish affections; sweeten and harmonize the temper, and better fit men for social happiness; that happiness which free-masonry most zealously endeavours to promote. The name of free-mason ought not, then, to be taken in a literal, gross, and material sense, as if we were simple workmen in stone and marble. We do not consecrate our talents and our riches to the construction of external temples, but enlighten, edify, and protect the living temples of the Most High. Thus, brother, have I given you some account of masonry, and the qualifications necessary to make a worthy member of it; by which you see it is not a ridiculous and trifling, but a very serious and important institution-an institution founded on the most exalted principles of moral and social virtue. May you, brother, and may all of us, ever keep in view its noble and real design, and catch the spirit of it. May it be our glory to practice the duties it prescribes. Moral architects as we are, may we build temples for every virtue; prisons and dungeons for vice, indecency, and immorality. May we be disposed to every humane and friendly office, ever ready to pour wine and oil into the wounds of our distressed brethren, and gently bind them up, ('tis one of the principal ends of our institution) so that when those who speak evil or lightly of us, behold our conduct, and see by our means, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the sick sus tained and cherished-shall see our light so usefully shinetheir evil speaking may be silenced, their foolish prejudices removed, and they may be convinced that masonry is a useful and venerable structure, supported by the great and everlasting pillars of wisdom, strength and beauty. ADDRESSES, TO BE ADDED OCCASIONALLY TO THE USUAL CHARGES. At the Initiation of a Clergyman. You, brother, are a preacher of that religion, of which the distinguishing characteristics are universal benevolence and unbounded charity. You cannot, therefore, but be fond of the order, and zealous for the interests of free-masonry, which, in the strongest manner, inculcates the same charity and benevolence, and which, like that religion, encourages every moral and social virtue; which introduces peace and good will among mankind, and is the centre of union to those who otherwise might have remained at a perpetual distance. So that whoever is warmed with the spirit of christianity, must esteem, must love free-masonry. Such is the nature of our institution, that, in all our lodges, union is cemented by sincere attachment, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown, and pleasure is reciprocally communicated, by the cheerful observance of every obliging office. Virtue, the grand object in view, luminous as the meridian sun, shines refulgent on the mind; enlivens the heart, and converts cool approbation into warm sympathy and cordial affection. Though every man, who carefully listens to the dictates of reason, may arrive at a clear persuasion of the beauty and necessity of virtue, both public and private, yet it is a full recommendation of a society to have these pursuits continually in view, as the sole objects of their association: and these are the laudable bonds which unite us in one indissoluble fraternity, At the Initiation of a Foreigner. You, brother, the native and subject of another kingdom, by entering into our order, have connected yourself, by sacred and affectionate ties, with thousands of masons in this and other countries. Ever recollect that the order you have entered into, bids you always to look upon the world as one great republic, of which every nation is a family, and every particular person a child.. When, therefore, you are return. |