The Mysteries of All Nations

"Freemasonry is not, as some authors seem to think, a scion snatched with a violent hand from the ancient mysteries; but, in reality, the original institution from which all the mysteries were derived; because, from their agreement in certain essential points which could only be obtained from a system of purity and truth, we derive ample testimony to establish the fact, that the mysteries of all nations were originally the same, and diversified only by the accidental circumstances of local situation and political economy."

George Oliver, Signs and Symbols Explained; 12 Lectures

Light vs. Darkness

"Masonry is a march and a struggle towards the Light. For the individual as well as the nation, Light is Virtue, Manliness, Intelligence, Liberty. Tyranny over the soul or body, is darkness."

Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma

Constant Felicity

"Masons in particular, as the elect of God, should put on bowels of compassion; your addition of wisdom, both scientific and Divine, which you receive in your lectures should make you apt to teach. The humble condition, both of property and dress; of penury and want, in which you was received into the Lodge; should make you at all times sensible of the distresses of poverty, and all you can spare from the call of nature, and the due care of your families, should only remain in your possessions, as a ready sacrifice to the necessities of an unfortunate, a distressed Brother. Let the distressed cottage feel the warmth of your Masonic zeal; and if possible, exceed even the unabating ardour of Christian charity. At your approach, let the orphan cease to weep; and in the sound of your voice, let the widow forget her sorrow. Let your amiable presence at home be the constant felicity of your family. Let the sincerity of your piety and devotion be a song of praise in the church.  Let the integrity and affability of your conduct in the world, be the subject of conversation to all those with whom you travel through life; and charity and benevolence the armorial bearings of your masonic honours."

Jethro Inwood, Sermons

Bowels of Compassion

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 3:17

The Eternal Wisdom

"And even such details as the construction of the kalendar, or the reckoning of the years, become irradiated with a sudden glow when we recognize as those long-departed students gazed silently and persistently into Nature's infinite Book of secrecy, their vision pierced beyond the veil of sense; and that for every festival and every cycle, the outward aspect of the earth and heaven imaged to their mind some interior and eternal truth.  And that interest quickens with an ever-growing freshness as we pass from the celebration and ceremonies of their common life to the deeper doctrine of the Hidden God, and the Instruction of the Postulant in the secrets of the Eternal Wisdom."

Walter Marsham Adams, The Book of the Master

Moses in Egypt

"Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was initiated in all the knowledge of the WISEMEN of that nation, by whom the learning of antiquity had been retained and held sacred; wrapped up from the eye of the wicked and vulgar, in symbols and hieroglyphics, and communicated to men of their own order only, with care, secrecy, and circumspection. - This secrecy is not in any wise to be wondered at, when we consider the persecution which would have followed a faith unacceptable to the ignorance of the nations who were enveloped in superstition and bigotry; and more particularly, as these sages were in possession of that valuable knowledge of the powers of nature, of the qualities of matter, and properties of things, so dangerous to be communicated to wicked and ignorant men, from whose malevolence the most horrid offences might be derived: of which we may judge by the extraordinary and astonishing performances even of those impious and unenlightened men, who contended with MOSES, in the miracles he performed, under the immediate impression and influence of the Deity."

William Hutchinson, The Spirit of Masonry in Elucidatory Lectures 
Lecture One: The Design
Photo Source: all-history.org

Indiscretion

"The best institutions may be brought into contempt by the indiscretion of those who form them."

William Preston, Illustrations of Masonry

Do not slander your brother

"Value then the reputation of your brother as you would your own; his disgrace, especially in the relation of it, will always be a part of your own; and if he deserves not your love and complacency, at least he has a demand upon your pity and commiseration."

Jethro Inwood, Sermon Preached at Gravesend on the Celebration of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1793.

A Series of Stories

"Experiencing the world as a series of stories helps create a sense of context.  It is comforting and orienting. It helps smooth out obstacles and impediments by recasting them as bumps along the way to some better place - or at least an end to the journey. As long as there's enough momentum, enough forward pull, and enough dramatic tension, we can suspend our disbelief enough to stay in the story."

Douglas Rushkoff, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now

Storytelling

"Storytelling became an acknowledged cultural value in itself. In front of millions of rapt television viewers, mythologist Joseph Campbell taught PBS's Bill Moyers how stories provide the fundamental architecture for human civilization. These broadcasts on The Power of Myth inspired filmakers, admen, and management theorists alike to incorporate the tenets of good storytelling into their most basic frameworks.  Even brain scientists came to agree that narrativity amounted to an essential component of cognitive organization."

Douglas Rushkoff, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now

We are all yet students

"You may sound the Atlantic, until you can display on paper a chart of its entire basin; but who has found and mapped out all the bottom of Masonry? On her sea we are all yet students."

Excerpt from "Oration by the Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer on the Relationship Between Masonry & Christianity" 1862.

Photo: AnglicanHistory.org

He that hath ears...

As Masonry stands before a man, full of deep meanings, full not merely of moral precepts but of revelations of sublimest truths--the mysteries of time, God, and eternity--she accompanies, as it were, all her teachings with these unanxious words: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Excerpt from "Oration by the Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer on the Relationship Between Masonry & Christianity" 1862.

Photo: anglicanhistory.org

St. John the Divine Cathedral