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

antiquity. But do not be deceived. If you will examine the subject for yourselves,
you will find that modern Freemasonry is entirely another thing from that from
which it claims to be descended. And when you hear ministers, or orators, on any
occasion, claiming for Speculative Freemasonry--which is the only form in which
it now exists--a great antiquity, let it be settled, I pray you, in your minds, that
such claims are utterly false; and that those who make them are either grossly
ignorant or intensely dishonest. King Solomon a stone mason! Hiram a Grand
Master of a Grand Lodge of stone masons! Those men uniting in a lodge with a
company of stone masons! Does any one really believe the silly tale?
How long shall the intelligent of this generation be insulted by having this
pretended antiquity of Freemasonry paraded before the public? Do not intelligent
Freemasons blush to hear their orators on public occasions, and even ministers of
the Gospel in their Masonic sermons, flaunt the silly falsehoods of the great
antiquity of Freemasonry before the public, and claim that Enoch, Zerubbabel,
Solomon, the St. Johns, and all the ancient worthies, were Freemasons!
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BOASTED
BENEVOLENCE OF MASONS A
SHAM.
The law of God requires universal benevolence, supreme love to God, and equal
love to our neighbor--that is, to all mankind.
This the Gospel also requires, and this is deniable. But does Masonry inculcate
this morality? and is this Masonic benevolence?
By no means. Masonic oaths require partial benevolence; or strictly, they require
no benevolence at all. For real benevolence is universal in its own nature. It is
good-willing; that is, it consists in willing the well-being or good of universal
being--and that for its own sake, and not because the good belongs to this or that
particular individual.
In other words, true benevolence is necessarily impartial. But Masonic oaths not
only do not require impartial and universal benevolence, but they require the
exact opposite of this. The law and Gospel of God allow and require us to
discriminate in our doing good between the holy and the wicked.
They require us to do good, as we have opportunity, to all men, but especially to
the household of faith. But the Masonic oaths make no such discriminations as
this, nor do they allow it. These oaths require Masons to discriminate between
Masons and those that are not Masons; giving the preference to Masons, even if
they are not Christians, rather than to Christians if they are not Masons.