The Freemason's Creed.

trace to the fountain-head ; but in God as a Living Being , Himself the Love and Light and Truth which radiate from Him , giving witness of Himself in nature and in science , Architect of tho wondrous world in which He lu > s pin eed

His creatures to dwell , Disposer and Supreme _ Inler of all that happens in that world , Leader and Guide of men up the great altar steps which " slope through darkness " to His Throne , Giver of every good giffc man possesses

Inspirer of every true and wise and holy and beneficent thought man has ever reached , Bestower of tho highest graces and virtues of pillar-like strength and wisdom and

beauty , of the ascending rounds of faith and hope and charity , of the pure pendants of temperance , fortitude , prudence and justice—a personal God , an ever-present

Father , who has never ceased to communicate Himself to

the souls of His children , and that whether they have given heedful obedience to such communication or not who comes into direct contact with man in consequence of His own most gracious original endowment of man ' s

nature , and Who is at once imperious in claim to be heard , and tender in response to the higher promptings of man ' s spirit—promptings , dim and shadowy doubtless , all

illexpressed by the stammering utterance of the Finite , trying to express the Infinite—in its struggle to heave the real self to light—but still genuine spiritual promptings : — Which , be they what they may ,

Are yet the fountain-light of all our day , Are yet the Master-light of all onr seeing . This assured belief in God , it seems to me , is the Mason ' Creed , pure and simple . And it is glorious and catholic

( in the true sense of that much-abused word ) , for ifc embraces every soul into whose nostrils have been breathed the spirit of lives , and unites one and all of every age and clime and race to the Living Rock whence all are hewn .

The rest follows from this all-embracing belief . Eliminate this , and there is nothing to follow . Apart from this " man walketh in a vain shadow and disquieteth himself in vain . " Bufc given the good God , as every self-controlled

Mason allows , and given also a bewildered race , which the common sense of every observant man must grant , then the necessity for this good God ' s unveiling of Himself to His creatures thafc they may progressively come to know of

Him is apparent . To God the candidate for Masonic rights and privileges is from the earliest stage of his career directed . As he stands , poor and blind , and anxious , without the door of the Lodge , he is denied entrance until it is

asserted of him that he puts his trust in God ; he himself , on his earliest entrance , makes personal assertion of his entire dependence on God ' s aid—and from that moment

until he rises from the symbolical tomb of transgression as a newly-obligated Master Mason , he is continually and most solemnly , under various titles which are designed to express various sides of the wondrous whole of His infinite

perfection , recalled into the presence of God—and I learn

from tried and trusted brothers who have attained eminences which are unknown to me personally , thafc to what ever height in the Craft perseverance and fortitude may

carry us , such recall to God is at once the encouragement to yet further effort , and the safeguard against self pride and all creaturely presumption .

With a like faithful insistance are we all of us reminded by , those worthy brothers who are elected to rule our Lodges , of God ' s revelation of Himself to man in His

written Word , in that treasury of wisdom to which the consensus of the best and brightest of those who have at all known it has applied the title of "The Book "— "fche

Bible . " At every stage of his career does this book comfort

the aspirant for Masonic culture . On the volume of the Sacred Law are his various vows sealed , in that volume is he charged to find that " unerring standard of truth and justice " whereby to regulate his actions and to estimate

properly his duty to God , ancl to neighbours , and to self ; and I put it to you , my brothers , in no spirit of faultfinding , and in such total absence of any taint of pharisaic pride that I desire that what I shall say shall be held

chiefly to apply to the speaker , I put ifc then to myself first of all and to you , my brothers , whom I desire to help—Are we , as Masons , as careful as we should be to discharge in this respect Masonic duty " with fervency and zeal ?"

Some doubtless are ; some , alas , are not . Let us all strive to do better . For it was , remember , by careful observance and by patient study of signs , tokens , and words , that in

its most pathetic and touching incident our allegory represents us to have obtained such light as we have . Who knows—who shall dare to limit—what reward awaits yet

The Freemason's Creed.

moro careful observance , yet moro diligent study of the " signs , tokens , and words " within our reach in fche Book of Books . Aro we doomed to bo for over obliged fo confess to fruitless search , and to rest content with ' •sub-. tit . uted

secrets ? ' Wo cannot think so . Do we notjsoleninly pray that " the rays of heaven may shed their benign influence over us to enlighten us in the paths of nature and science ?" Doubtless from its material side thafc prayer has been

largely answered , and the very fact that this is thus is earnest to my mind that such prayer will yefc be answered in ifcs fairest outcome—for to know Nature is surely to learn yet more of Nature ' s God , and that is but a halting

and short-sighted science which falls short of Him in whom all things consist , ancl in knowledge of whom stands man ' s eternal life . More and more the great modern school of physical science , which has worked such wonders and

bestowed with stewardly hands such countless blessings is coming , in thafc genuine reverence which sets truth before gain and principle before profit , to find God behind all its searching , to get fuller sight of Him beneath tho manifold

diversity of His revelation of Himself—in the unwritten book of earth , and sky , and sea , iu the living book of man ' s body , soul , and spirit—and fco find strange and expected witness in the written books of the lawgiver , tho psalmist ,

the poet , the historian , the prophet , the evangelist , and apostle , and to discover under successful analysis , and working hypothesis , and hard-wrought theory and daring guesses that the everlasting arms aro evermore outstretched ,

leading on to victory those in whose hearts He has set His truth . Shall Masons , whose creed is summed up in uttor reliance on the One True Living God , lag behind in such a quest as this ? Brothers , I trow not so !

Such is , as I understand it , the Mason ' s Creed . He believes utterly in God as the Great All-Father , and consequently in the brotherhood of man ; he acknowledges duty to his Father and his brothers , and in due discharge

of such duty best learns to respect himself—and ior guidance in discharge of these duties he turns him in patient search to revelation , in all its ways of expression and especially in that Book wherein the wisest may learn fresh wisdom and the simplest find plain direction .

And it is this foundation on truth which gives Freemasonry its life . Apart from this ifc must die . For true religion ( " religion " means " that which binds man to God , " and if Freemasonry serves nofc this end ifc serves no

end ) is not primarily a system of dogmas addressed to the intellect , it is not a ritual , neither is it a collection of precepts enjoined on the will . True religion may be developed ( seeing we men are a race whose learning must be progress

ively acquired ) by reflection and by a process of external training , and therefore dogma , ritual and precept have their due place ; it may act upon all departments of human interest , and even come to include in its sphere the

intellectual and moral science , but primarily it is not theseit resolves itself into a simple but certain conviction of man ' s entire dependence upon God . This is the landmark of our Order , and to preserve this Freemasonry has its own

dogmas , and ritual , and precepts—its own way of teaching —its own reverent and impressive usages and ceremonies . It never ventures to deny that there are other ways of preserving and extending this main truth ; it declines

altogether to depreciate those other ways ; it claims , as I read its claims , no patent for exclusive possession of God ' s light ; it allows men , who honestly deem thai ; in other systems fuller and truer light than the comparative "

darkness visible " of a Master Mason is attainable , to stand in its ranks and to faithfully follow such fuller light , otherwise I should not dare to be among you to-night ; it labours with might and main to preserve inviolate the sure

foundation other than which no man can lay , on whom , the living God , fche Saviour of all men , the hope of the race of man is set . To this end ifc pursues its way iu large-hearted charity and in patient assurance of ultimate attainment , sure that

God knows best how to guide those who long for Him to Himself , sure that nothing can divide us from Him but that selfishness which would exclude our brothers , sure , too , that over all the wisdom which God-directed human

ingenuity and study may attain—beautiful , holy , paerless , and encouraging as ifc may be—must be spoken by the true of hearb who are bound to be humble before the Supreme

in the heaven of heavens , the truly scientific dictum of the great Jew of Tarsus , a Master builder in a nobler temple than that of King Solomon : — " That we know in part and we tell forth in part , but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall pj done away . "