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

The old charges state, that "a Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey
the
moral law." It is scarcely necessary to say, that the phrase, "moral
law,"
is a technical expression of theology, and refers to the Ten
Commandments,
which are so called, because they define the regulations necessary for
the
government of the morals and manners of men. The habitual violation of
any
one of these commands would seem, according to the spirit of the
Ancient
Constitutions, to disqualify a candidate for Masonry.
The same charges go on to say, in relation to the religious character
of a
Mason, that he should not be "a stupid atheist, nor an irreligious
libertine." A denier of the existence of a Supreme Architect of the
Universe cannot, of course, be obligated as a Mason, and, accordingly,
there is no landmark more certain than that which excludes every
atheist
from the Order.
The word "libertine" has, at this day, a meaning very different from
what
it bore when the old charges were compiled. It then signified what we
now
call a "free-thinker," or disbeliever in the divine revelation of the
Scriptures. This rule would therefore greatly abridge the universality
and
tolerance of the Institution, were it not for the following qualifying
clause in the same instrument:--
"Though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of
the
religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet it is now
thought
more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men
agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be
good men and true, or men of honor and honesty, by whatever
denominations
or persuasions they may be distinguished."
The construction now given universally to the religious qualification
of a
candidate, is simply that he shall have a belief in the existence and
superintending control of a Supreme Being.
These old charges from which we derive the whole of our doctrine as to
the
moral qualifications of a candidate, further prescribe as to the
political
relations of a Mason, that he is to be "a peaceable subject to the
civil
powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in