THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

everywhere the same, and unchangeable. If they were not the same in every
country, in every language, and at every time, Masonry would be a perfect babel.
Now degrees may be added ad infinitum, but a Mason of any degree must know
that Masons of the same degree in every place, have taken the same oath that he
has taken, and have taken all the oaths of the previous degrees, just as he has
himself. If this were not true, Masons could not everywhere know with what they
might entrust each other. Suppose, for example, that the obligation to conceal
each other's crimes, and to keep each other's secrets, was not universal and
unchangeable, how would they know with what they might trust each other in
different places? Suppose the obligation to assist each other in getting out of any
difficulty, whether right or wrong, was not uniform and universal, how would
they know what they might demand of, or were under obligation to perform for,
each other? But can not its objectionable points, it may be asked, be dropped out,
and what is valuable preserved? Drop from the obligation, for instance, in any
place, the clause that binds them to keep each other's secrets, murder and treason
excepted, or without exception,--to deliver each other from difficulty, whether
right or wrong, to give each other precedence in business or politics, to give each
other warning of any approaching danger and the like. Now if you drop out any
one of these, at any time or place, you introduce confusion, and Masons could not
understand each other. Furthermore, drop out the most objectionable features of
Masonry, and you have robbed it of its principal value to the membership, you
have annihilated the principal reasons for becoming and for remaining a Mason.
But the changes are manifestly impossible. There is nowhere any authority for
such change; and, as has been stated, the whole fraternity would rebuke any
attempt at such innovation. We may rest assured, therefore, that Freemasonry is
not, and can not be, essentially changed, except by addition. To this point all their
highest authorities bear the fullest testimony. Its very nature forbids essential
innovations at any time or in any place. But should Masons affirm that the
institution is changed, how are we to know what changes have been made? They
are under oath to keep this a profound secret. Suppose they were to affirm that,
since the revelations made by Morgan, Bernard, and others, the institution has
been greatly improved, this is a virtual admission that those books are true, which
they have so often denied. But since they have first denied that those books were
true, and now virtually admit their truth, by claiming that Masonry has been
improved since those books were written, what reason have we to believe them? I
have, in a previous number, shown that it is irrational to believe what Masons
themselves say in respect to their secrets. I do not know that any intelligent and
respectable Freemason pretends that Masonry has been improved. But suppose
they should, how shall we know in what respects it has been improved, that we
may judge for ourselves whether the changes are improvements. If any number of
them were now to affirm that Masonry, as it now exists, is divested of all the
objectionable features that formerly belonged to it, how shall we know whether
this is true? They have always denied that it had any objectionable features; they
have always claimed that it needed no improvement, and their highest authorities
have many times affirmed that all improvement and innovation were impossible.
In view of all the testimony in the case, we have no right to believe that Masonry