Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater ...

114 Mystic Masonry.
sible for a Jew or Parsee, Buddhist or Brahmin, to
enter any Lodge without witnessing the profanation
of his sacred altars or contempt for his reHgion, and
the angel hides her face and retreats from altars
already profaned by unbrotherliness. Masonry is
the Universal Religion only because, and only so
long as, it embraces all religions. For this reason,
and this alone, it is universal and eternal. Neither
persecution nor misrepresentation can ever destroy
it. It may find no place in a generation of bigots;
it
may retire for a century; but again comes a Master
Builder with the Key to the "Shut Palace of
the King," throws open the blinds, lets in the light,
kindles anew the fire on the sacred altar, clears
away the rubbish, when behold ! the tesselated pavement
is as bright as when it first came from the quarries
of truth, the jewels are of pure gold and
brighten at the touch, and the great lights are undimmed
and undecayed. "When the candidate is
ready the Master appears." And yet men are so
foolish and so vile as to imagine that they can destroy
this heirloom of the ages; this heritage from
the Immortals ! No age is so dark as to quench entirely
the light of the Lodge; no persecution so
bloody as to blot out its votaries; no anathemas of
Popes so lasting as to count one second on its Dial