Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

76 SECRET SOCIETIESand thou shalt find in us nothing but faithful subjects, everdevoted to thy august person ! "460. The Freemasonry of the Present in Italy.-Very littleneed, or can, be said as regards the active proceedings ofItalian masonic lodges of the present day, though they havebeen reconstituted and united under one or two heads . Buttheir programme deserves attention, as pointing out thosereforms, needed not only in Italy, but everywhere whereFreemasonry exists . The declared object, then, of ItalianFreemasonry is, the highest development of universal philanthropy; the independence and unity of single nations, andfraternity among each other ; the toleration of every religion,and absolute equality of worship ; the moral and materialprogress of the masses.' It moreover declares itself independentof every government, affirming that Italian Freemasonrywill not recognise any other sovereign power on earth butright reason and universal conscience . It further declares-and this deserves particular attention-that Freemasonryis not to consist in a mysterious symbolism, vain ceremonies,or indefinite aspirations, which cover the Order with ridicule .Again, Masonry being universal, essentially human, it doesnot occupy itself with forms of government, nor with transitoryquestions, but with such as are permanent and general .In social reforms abstract theories, founded on mysticalaspirations, are to be avoided . The duty of labour beingthe most essential in civil society, Freemasonry is opposedto idleness. Religious questions are beyond the pale of Freemasonry. Human conscience is in itself inviolable ; it has noconcern with any positive religion, but represents religionitself in its essence . Devoted to the principle of fraternity,it preaches universal toleration ; comprehends in its ritualmany of the symbols of various religions, as in its syncretismit chooses the purest truths . Its creed consists in the worshipof the Divine, whose highest conception, withdrawn fromevery priestly speculation, is that of the Great Architect ofthe Universe ; and in faith in humanity, the sole interpreterof the Divine in the world . As to extrinsic modes of worship,Freemasonry neither imposes nor recommends any,leaving to every one his free choice, until the day, perhapsnot far distant, when all men will be capable of worshippingthe Infinite in spirit and in truth, without intermediariesand outward forms . And whilst man in his secret relationsto the Infinite fecundates the religious thought, he in hisrelations to the Universe fecundates the scientific thought.Science is truth, and the most ancient cultus of Freemasonry .