" [But] the great commandment of Masonry is this:
"A new
commandment give I unto you: that ye love one another!
He that saith he is in
the light, and hateth his brother, remaineth still in the darkness."
" [Such are the moral duties of a Mason.] But it is also the
duty of Masonry to assist in elevating the moral and intellectual level of society; in
coining knowledge, bringing ideas into circulation, and causing the mind of youth to grow; and
in putting, gradually, by the teachings of axioms and the promulgation of positive laws,
the human race in harmony with its destinies.
"To this duty and work the Initiate is apprenticed. He must
not imagine that he can effect nothing, and, therefore, despairing, become inert. It is in
this, as in a man's daily life many great deeds are done in the small struggles of life.
There is, we are told, a determined though unseen bravery, which defends itself, foot
to foot, in the darkness, against the fatal invasion of necessity and of baseness.
There are noble and mysterious triumphs, which no eye sees, which no renown rewards, which
no flourish of trumpets salutes. Life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, poverty,
are battle-fields, which have their heroes, --heroes obscure, but sometimes greater than
those who become illustrious.
"The Mason should struggle in the same manner, and with the
same bravery, against those invasions of necessity and baseness, which come to
nations as well as to men. He should meet them, too, foot to foot, even in the darkness,
and protest against the national wrongs and follies; against usurpation and the first inroads
of that hydra, Tyranny. There is no more sovereign eloquence than the truth in
indignation. It is more difficult for a people to keep than to gain their freedom. The Protests of
Truth are always needed. Continually, the right must protest against the fact. There
is, in fact, Eternity in the Right.
"The Mason should be the Priest and Soldier of that Right. If
his country should be robbed of her liberties, he should still not despair. The protest
of the Right against the Fact persists forever. The robbery of a people never becomes
prescriptive. Reclamation of its rights is barred by no length of time. Warsaw can no more be
Tartar than Venice can be Teutonic. A people may endure military usurpation, and
subjugated States kneel to States and wear the yoke, while under the stress of
necessity; but when the necessity disappears, if the people is fit to be free, the submerged
country will float to the surface and reappear, and Tyranny be adjudged by History to have
murdered its victims.
"Whatever occurs, we should have Faith in the Justice and
overruling Wisdom of God, and Hope for the Future, and Loving kindness for those who
are in error. God makes visible to men His will in events; an obscure text, written
in a mysterious language. Men make their translations of it forthwith, hasty, incorrect,
full of faults, omissions, and misreadings. We see so short a way along the arc of the
great circle! Few minds comprehend the Divine tongue. The most sagacious, the most
calm, the most profound, decipher the hieroglyphs slowly; and when they arrive with
their text, perhaps the need has long gone by; there are already twenty translations in
the public square--the most incorrect being, as of course, the most accepted and
popular. From each translation, a party is born; and from each misreading, a faction. Each
party believes or pretends that it has the only true text, and each faction believes or
pretends that it alone possesses the light. Moreover, factions are blind men, who aim straight,
errors are excellent projectiles, striking skillfully, and with all the violence that springs
from false reasoning, wherever a want of logic in those who defend the right, like a defect
in a cuirass, makes them vulnerable.
"Therefore it is that we shall often be discomfited in
combating error before the people. Antaeus long resisted Hercules; and the heads of the Hydra
grew as fast as they were cut off. It is absurd to say that Error, wounded, writhes in
pain, and dies amid her worshippers. Truth conquers slowly. There is a wondrous
vitality in Error. Truth, indeed, for the most part, shoots over the heads of the masses; or
if an error is prostrated for a moment, it is up again in a moment, and as vigorous as ever.
It will not die when the brains are out, and the most stupid and irrational errors
are the longest-lived.
"Nevertheless, Masonry, which is Morality and Philosophy,
must not cease to do its duty. We never know at what moment success awaits our
efforts--generally when most unexpected--nor with what effect our efforts are or are not
to be attended. Succeed or fail, Masonry must not bow to error, or succumb under
discouragement. There were at Rome a few Carthaginian soldiers, taken prisoners, who
refused to bow to Flaminius, and had a little of Hannibal's magnanimity. Masons should
possess an equal greatness of soul. Masonry should be an energy; finding its aim and
effect in the amelioration of mankind. Socrates should enter into Adam, and produce Marcus
Aurelius, in other words, bring forth from the man of enjoyments, the man of
wisdom. Masonry should not be a mere watch-tower, built upon mystery, from which to
gaze at ease upon the world, with no other result than to be a convenience for
the curious. To hold the full cup of thought to the thirsty lips of men; to
give to all the true ideas of Deity; to harmonize conscience and science, are the province of Philosophy.
Morality is Faith in full bloom.
"Contemplation should lead to action, and the absolute be
practical; the ideal be made air and food and drink to the human mind. Wisdom is a sacred
communion. It is only on that condition that it ceases to be a sterile love of Science,
and becomes the one and supreme method by which to unite Humanity and arouse it to
concerted action. Then Philosophy becomes Religion.
"And Masonry, like History and Philosophy, has eternal
duties-- eternal, and, at the same time, simple--to oppose Caiaphas as Bishop, Draco or
Jefferies as Judge, Trimalcion as Legislator, and Tiberius as Emperor. These are the symbols
of the tyranny that degrades and crushes, and the corruption that defiles and infests. In
the works published for the use of the Craft we are told that the three great tenets of
a Mason's profession, are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. And it is true that a
Brotherly affection and kindness should govern us in all our intercourse and relations with
our brethren; and a generous and liberal philanthropy actuate us in regard to all men. To
relieve the distressed is peculiarly the duty of Masons--a sacred duty, not to be
omitted, neglected, or coldly or inefficiently complied with. It is also most true, that
Truth is a Divine attribute and the foundation of every virtue. To be true, and to seek to find
and learn the Truth, are the great objects of every good Mason."
Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma
