Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Part 52

No wonder the ancient Persians thought that Light and Life were one,--both emanations from the Supreme Deity, the archetype of light. No wonder that in their ignorance they wors.h.i.+pped the Sun. G.o.d breathed into man the spirit of life,--not matter, but an emanation from Himself; not a creature _made_ by Him, nor a distinct existence; but a _Power_, like His own Thought: and light, to those great-souled ancients, also seemed no creature, and no gross material substance, but a pure emanation from the Deity, immortal and indestructible like Himself.

What, indeed, is REALITY? Our dreams are as real, while they last, as the occurrences of the daytime. We see, hear, feel, act, experience pleasure and suffer pain, as vividly and actually in a dream as when awake. The occurrences and transactions of a year are crowded into the limits of a second: and the dream remembered is as real as the past occurrences of life.

The philosophers tell us that we have no cognizance of _substance_ itself, but only of its _attributes_: that when we see that which we call a block of marble, our perceptions give us information only of something extended, solid, colored, heavy, and the like; but not of the very _thing_ itself, to which these attributes belong. And yet the attributes do not exist without the substance. They are not substances, but adjectives. There is no such _thing_ or _existence_ as hardness, weight or color, by itself, detached from any subject, moving first here, then there, and attaching itself to this and to the other subject.

And yet, they say, the attributes are not the subject.

So Thought, Volition, and Perception are not the soul, but its _attributes_; and we have no cognizance of the soul _itself_, but only of _them_, its manifestations. Nor of G.o.d; but only of His Wisdom, Power, Magnificence, Truth, and other attributes.

And yet we know that there is matter, a soul within our body, a G.o.d that lives in the Universe.

Take, then, the attributes of the soul. I am conscious that I exist and am the same identical person that I was twenty years ago. I am conscious that my body is not I,--that if my arms were lopped away, this _person_ that I call ME, would still remain, complete, entire, identical as before. But I cannot ascertain, by the most intense and long-continued reflection, what I am, nor where within my body I reside, nor whether I am a point, or an expanded substance. I have no power to examine and inspect. I exist, will, think, perceive. _That_ I know, and nothing more. I think a n.o.ble and sublime Thought. What is that Thought? It is not Matter, nor Spirit. It is not a Thing; but a _Power_ and _Force_. I make upon a paper certain conventional marks, that _represent_ that Thought. There is no Power or Virtue in the _marks_ I write, but only in the Thought which they tell to others. I die, but the Thought still lives. It is a Power. It acts on men, excites them to enthusiasm, inspires patriotism, governs their conduct, controls their destinies, disposes of life and death. The words I speak are but a certain succession of particular sounds, that by conventional arrangement communicate to others the Immaterial, Intangible, Eternal Thought. The fact that Thought continues to exist an instant, after it makes its appearance in the soul, proves it immortal: for there is nothing conceivable that can destroy it. The spoken words, being mere sounds, may vanish into thin air, and the written ones, mere marks, be burned, erased, destroyed: but the THOUGHT itself lives still, and must live on forever.

A Human Thought, then, is an actual EXISTENCE, and a FORCE and POWER, capable of acting upon and controlling matter as well as mind. Is not the existence of a G.o.d, who is the immaterial soul of the Universe, and whose THOUGHT, embodied or not embodied in His WORD, is an Infinite Power, of Creation and production, destruction and preservation, quite as comprehensible as the existence of a Soul, of a Thought separated from the Soul, of the Power of that Thought to mould the fate and influence the Destinies of Humanity?

And yet we know not when that Thought comes, nor what it is. It is not WE. We do not mould it, shape it, fas.h.i.+on it. It is neither our mechanism nor our invention. It appears spontaneously, flas.h.i.+ng, as it were, into the soul, making that soul the involuntary instrument of its utterance to the world. It comes to us, and seems a stranger to us, seeking a home.

As little can we explain the mighty power of the human WILL. Volition, like Thought, seems spontaneous, an effect without a cause.

Circ.u.mstances _provoke_ it, and serve as its _occasion_, but do not _produce_ it. It springs up in the soul, like Thought, as the waters gush, upward in a spring. Is it the manifestation of the soul, merely making apparent what pa.s.ses _within_ the soul, or an emanation from it, going abroad and acting outwardly, itself a real Existence, as it is an admitted Power? We can but own our ignorance. It is certain that it acts on other souls, controls, directs them, shapes their action, legislates for men and nations: and yet it is not material nor visible; and the laws it writes merely inform one soul of what has pa.s.sed within another.

G.o.d, therefore, is a mystery, only as everything that surrounds us, and as we ourselves, are mysteries. We know that there is and must be a FIRST CAUSE. His attributes, severed from Himself, are unrealities. As color and extension, weight and hardness, do not exist apart from matter as separate existences and substantives, spiritual or immaterial; so the Goodness, Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, and Benevolence of G.o.d are not independent existences, personify them as men may, but _attributes_ of the Deity, the _adjectives_ of One Great Substantive. But we know that He must be Good, True, Wise, Just, Benevolent, Merciful: and in all these, and all His other attributes, Perfect and Infinite; because we are conscious that these are laws imposed on us by the very nature of things, necessary, and without which the Universe would be confusion and the existence of a G.o.d incredible. They are of His _essence_, and necessary, as His existence is.

He is the Living, Thinking, Intelligent SOUL of the Universe, the PERMANENT, the STATIONARY [?st??.. Estos], of Simon Magus, the ONE that always is [To ??, To ON] of Plato, as contradistinguished from the perpetual flux and reflux, or _Genesis_, of _things_.

And, as the Thought of the Soul, emanating _from_ the Soul, becomes audible and visible in Words, so did THE THOUGHT OF G.o.d, springing up within Himself, immortal _as_ Himself, when once conceived,--immortal _before_, because _in_ Himself, utter Itself in THE WORD, its manifestation and mode of communication, and thus create the Material, Mental, Spiritual Universe, which, like Him, never _began_ to exist.

This is the _real_ idea of the Ancient Nations: G.o.d, the Almighty Father, and Source of All; His THOUGHT, _conceiving_ the whole Universe, and _willing_ its creation: His WORD, _uttering_ that THOUGHT, and thus becoming the Creator or Demiourgos, in whom was Life and Light, and that Light the Life of the Universe.

Nor did that Word _cease_ at the single act of Creation; and having set going the great machine, and enacted the laws of its motion and progression, of birth and life, and change and death, cease to exist, or remain thereafter in inert idleness.

FOR THE THOUGHT OF G.o.d LIVES AND IS IMMORTAL. Embodied in the WORD, is not only _created_, but it _preserves_. It conducts and controls the Universe, all spheres, all worlds, all actions of mankind, and of every animate and inanimate creature. It speaks in the soul of every man who lives. The Stars, the Earth, the Trees, the Winds, the universal voice of Nature, tempest, and avalanche, the Sea's roar and the grave voice of the waterfall, the hoa.r.s.e thunder and the low whisper of the brook, the song of birds, the voice of love, the speech of men, all are the alphabet in which it communicates itself to men, and informs them of the will and law of G.o.d, the Soul of the Universe. And thus most truly _did_ "THE WORD BECOME FLESH AND DWELL AMONG MEN."

G.o.d, the unknown FATHER [?at?? ????st??.. Pater Agnostos], known to us only by His Attributes; the ABSOLUTE I AM:... The THOUGHT of G.o.d [??????a. Ennoia], and the WORD [?????.... Logos], Manifestation and expression of the Thought; .... Behold THE TRUE MASONIC TRINITY; the UNIVERSAL SOUL, the THOUGHT _in_ the Soul, the WORD, or Thought expressed; the THREE IN ONE, of a Trinitarian Ecossais.

Here Masonry pauses, and leaves its Initiates to carry out and develop these great Truths in such manner as to each may seem most accordant with reason, philosophy, truth, and his religious faith. It declines to act as Arbiter between them. It looks calmly on, while each multiplies the intermediates between the Deity and Matter, and the personifications of G.o.d's manifestations and attributes, to whatever extent his reason, his conviction, or his fancy dictates.

While the Indian tells us that PARABRAHMA, BRAHM, and PARATMA were the first Triune G.o.d, revealing Himself as BRAHMA, VISHNU, and SIVA, _Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer_;....

The Egyptian, of AMUN-RE, NEITH, and PHTHA, _Creator, Matter, Thought_ or _Light_; the Persian of _his_ Trinity of Three Powers in ORMUZD, Sources of _Light, Fire_, and _Water_; the Buddhists of the G.o.d SAKYA, a Trinity composed of BUDDHA, DHARMA, and SANGA,--_Intelligence, Law_, and _Union_ or _Harmony_; the Chinese Sabeans of _their_ Trinity of _Chang-ti_, the Supreme Sovereign; _Tien_, the Heavens; and _Tao_, the Universal Supreme Reason and Principle of all things; who produced the Unit; that, two; two, three; and three, all that is;....

While the Sclavono-Vend typifies _his_ Trinity by the three heads of the G.o.d _Triglav_; the Ancient Prussian points to _his_ Triune G.o.d, _Perkoun, Pikollos_, and _Potrimpos_, Deities of Light and Thunder, of h.e.l.l and of the Earth; the Ancient Scandinavian to _Odin, Frea_, and _Thor_; and the old Etruscans to TINA, TALNA, and MINERVA, _Strength, Abundance_, and _Wisdom_;....

While Plato tells us of the _Supreme Good_, the _Reason_ or _Intellect_, and the _Soul_ or _Spirit_; and Philo of the _Archetype of Light_, _Wisdom_ [S???a], and the _Word_ [?????]; the Kabalists, of the Triads of the Sephiroth;....

While the disciples of Simon Magus, and the many sects of the Gnostics, confuse us with their _Eons, Emanations, Powers, Wisdom Superior_ and _Inferior, Ialdabaoth, Adam-Kadmon_, even to the three hundred and sixty-five thousand emanations of the Maldates; ....

And while the pious Christian believes that the WORD dwelt in the Mortal Body of Jesus of Nazareth, and suffered upon the Cross; and that the HOLY GHOST was poured out upon the Apostles, and now inspires every truly Christian Soul:....

While all these faiths a.s.sert their claims to the exclusive possession of the Truth. Masonry inculcates its old doctrine, and no more:.... That G.o.d is ONE; that His THOUGHT uttered in His WORD, created the Universe, and preserves it by those Eternal Laws which are the expression of that Thought: that the Soul of Man, breathed into him by G.o.d, is immortal as His Thoughts are; that he is free to do evil or to choose good, responsible for his acts and punishable for his sins: that all evil and wrong and suffering are but temporary, the discords of one great Harmony, and that in His good time they will lead by infinite modulations to the great, harmonic final chord and cadence of Truth, Love, Peace, and Happiness, that will ring forever and ever under the Arches of Heaven, among all the Stars and Worlds, and in all souls of men and Angels.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XXVII.

KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE TEMPLE

This is the first of the really Chivalric Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It occupies this place in the Calendar of the Degrees between the 26th and the last of the Philosophical Degrees, in order, by breaking the continuity of these, to relieve what might otherwise become wearisome; and also to remind you that, while engaged with the speculations and abstractions of philosophy and creeds, the Mason is also to continue engaged in the active duties of this great warfare of life. He is not only a Moralist and Philosopher, but a Soldier, the Successor of those Knights of the Middle Age, who, while they wore the Cross, also wielded the Sword, and were the Soldiers of Honor, Loyalty, and Duty.

Times change, and circ.u.mstances; but Virtue and Duty remain the same.

The Evils to be warred against but take another shape, and are developed in a different form.

There is the same need now of truth and loyalty as in the days of Frederic Barbarossa.

The characters, religious and military, attention to the sick and wounded in the Hospital, and war against the Infidel in the field, are no longer blended; but the same duties, to be performed in another shape, continue to exist and to environ us all.

The innocent virgin is no longer at the mercy of the brutal Baron or licentious man-at-arms; but purity and innocence still need protectors.

War is no longer the apparently natural State of Society; and for most men it is an empty obligation to a.s.sume, that they will not recede before the enemy; but the same high duty and obligation still rest upon all men.

Truth, in act, profession, and opinion, is rarer now than in the days of chivalry. Falsehood has become a current coin, and circulates with a certain degree of respectability; because it has an actual value. It is indeed the great Vice of the Age--it, and its twin-sister, Dishonesty.

Men, for political preferment, profess whatever principles are expedient and profitable. At the bar, in the pulpit, and in the halls of legislation, men argue against their own convictions, and, with what they term _logic_, prove to the satisfaction of others that which they do not themselves believe. Insincerity and duplicity are valuable to their possessors, like estates in stocks, that yield a certain revenue: and it is no longer the _truth_ of an opinion or a principle, but the net _profit_ that may be realized from it, which is the measure of its value.

The Press is the great sower of falsehood. To slander a political antagonist, to misrepresent all that he says, and, if that be impossible, to invent for him what he does _not_ say; to put in circulation whatever baseless calumnies against him are necessary to defeat him,--these are habits so common as to have ceased to excite notice or comment, much less surprise or disgust.

There was a time when a Knight would die rather than utter a lie, or break his Knightly word. The Knight Commander of the Temple revives the old Knightly spirit; and devotes himself to the old Knightly wors.h.i.+p of Truth. No profession of an opinion not his own, for expediency's sake or profit, or through fear of the world's disfavor; no slander of even an enemy; no coloring or perversion of the sayings or acts of other men; no insincere speech and argument for any purpose, or under any pretext, must soil his fair escutcheon. Out of the Chapter, as well as in it, he must speak the Truth, and _all_ the Truth, no more and no less; or else speak not at all.

To purity and innocence everywhere, the Knight Commander owes protection, as of old; against bold violence, or those, more guilty than murderers, who by art and treachery seek to slay the soul; and against that want and dest.i.tution that drive too many to sell their honor and innocence for food.

In no age of the world has man had better opportunity than now to display those lofty virtues and that n.o.ble heroism that so distinguished the three great military and religious Orders, in their youth, before they became corrupt and vitiated by prosperity and power.

When a fearful epidemic ravages a city, and death is inhaled with the air men breathe; when the living scarcely suffice to bury the dead,--most men flee in abject terror, to return and live, respectable and influential, when the danger has pa.s.sed away. But the old Knightly spirit of devotion and disinterestedness and contempt of death still lives, and is not extinct in the human heart. Everywhere a few are found to stand firmly and unflinchingly at their posts, to front and defy the danger, not for money, or to be honored for it, or to protect their own household; but from mere humanity, and to obey the unerring dictates of duty. They nurse the sick, breathing the pestilential atmosphere of the hospital. They explore the abodes of want and misery. With the gentleness of woman, they soften the pains of the dying, and feed the lamp of life in the convalescent. They perform the last sad offices to the dead; and they seek no other reward than the approval of their own consciences.

These are the true Knights of the present age: these, and the captain who remains at his post on board his shattered s.h.i.+p until the last boat, loaded to the water's edge with pa.s.sengers and crew, has parted from her side; and then goes calmly down with her into the mysterious depths of the ocean:--the pilot who stands at the wheel while the swift flames eddy round him and scorch away his life:--the fireman who ascends the blazing walls, and plunges amid the flames to save the property or lives of those who have upon him no claim by tie of blood, or friends.h.i.+p, or even of ordinary acquaintance:--these, and others like these:--all men, who, set at the post of duty, stand there manfully; to die, if need be, but not to desert their post: for these, too, are sworn not to recede before the enemy.

To the performance of duties and of acts of heroism like these, you have devoted yourself, my Brother, by becoming a Knight Commander of the Temple. Soldier of the Truth and of Loyalty! Protector of Purity and Innocence! Defier of Plague and Pestilence! Nurser of the Sick and Burier of the Dead! Knight, preferring Death to abandonment of the Post of Duty! Welcome to the bosom of this Order!

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XXVIII.

KNIGHT OF THE SUN, OR PRINCE ADEPT.