Masonic Author: Albert Pike (12/29/1809 - 4/2/1891)
"Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry"
prepared for the
Supreme Council of the Thirty Third Degree
for the
Southern Jurisdiction of the United States:
Charleston, 1871. (861 pages)
Note: Page numbers noted in parentheses.
"His standing as a Masonic author and historian,
and withal as a poet, was most distinguished, and his untiring zeal was
without a parallel."
Mackey,
Albert G. "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry". Revised by Robert I.
Clegg. Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing, 1966, p. 774.
"For, contrary to the impression
Masons have had, Pike's time, thought, and writing were not absorbed
by the Fraternity."
Haywood,
H.L. "Supplement to Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry". Richmond,
Virginia: Macoy Publishing, 1966, p. 1334.
The teachings of these Readings
are not sacramental, so far as they go beyond the realm of Morality into
those of other domains of Thought and Truth. Every one is entirely free
to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue
or unsound. Of course, the ancient theosophic and philosophic speculations
are not embodied as part of the doctrines of the Rite. (p.iv)
The obligation of the candidate is
always to be taken on the sacred book or books of his religion, that he
may deem it more solemn and binding; and
therefore it was that you were
asked of what religion you were. We have no other concern with your religious
creed. (p. 11)
Truths are the springs from which duty
flows; and it is but a few hundred years since a new Truth began to be
distinctly seen; that man is supreme over institutions, and not they over
him. (p. 23)
The rule may be regarded as universal,
that, where there is a choice to be made, a Mason will give his vote and
influence, in politics and business, to the less qualified profane in preference
to the better qualified Mason. (p. 36)
It means this, -- that all truths are
Truths of Period and not truths for eternity; that whatever great fact
has had strength and vitality enough to make itself real, whether of religion,
morals, government, or of whatever else, and to find place in this world,
has been a truth for the time, and as good as men were capable of receiving.
(p. 37)
Always, also, it remains true, that
it is more noble to forgive than to take revenge; and that, in general,
we ought too much to despise those who wrong us, to feel the emotion of
anger, or to desire revenge. (p. 76)
The true name for Satan, the Kabalists
say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god, but the
negation of God. The Devil is the personification of Atheism or Idolatry.
For the Initiates, this is not a Person, but a Force, created for good
but which may serve for evil. It is the instrument of Liberty or Free Will.
(p. 102)
There is no sight under the sun more
pitiful and ludicrous at once, than the spectacle of the Prestons and the
Webbs, not to mention the later incarnations of Dullness and Commonplace,
undertaking to "explain" the old symbols of Masonry, and adding
to and "improving" them, or inventing new ones. (p. 105)
Learn, that you may be enabled to do
good; and do so because it is right, finding in the act itself ample reward
and recompense. (p. 109)
A Freemason, therefore, should be a
man of honor and of conscience, preferring his duty to everything beside,
even to his life; independent in his opinions, and of good morals, submissive
to the laws, devoted to humanity, to his country, to his family; kind and
indulgent to his brethren, friend of all virtuous men, and ready to assist
his fellows by all means in his power. (p. 113)
It is not the mission of Masonry to
engage in plots and conspiracies against the civil government. It is not
the fanatical propagandist of any creed or theory; nor does it proclaim
itself the enemy of kings. It is the apostle of liberty, equality, and
fraternity; but it is no more the high-priest of republicanism than of
constitutional monarchy. (p. 153)
Masonry teaches that all power is delegated
for the good, and not for the injury of the People; and that, when it is
perverted from the original purpose, the compact is broken, and the right
ought to be resumed; that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty
which man owes to himself and to his neighbor, but a duty which he owes
to his God, in asserting and maintaining the rank which He gave him in
the creation. (p. 155)
Masonry is not a religion. He who makes
of it a religious belief, falsifies and denaturalizes it. (p. 161)
No man, it holds, has any right in
any way to interfere with the religious belief of another. To that great
Judge, Masonry refers the matter; and opening wide its portals, it invites
to enter there and live in peace and harmony, the Protestant, the Catholic,
the Jew, the Moslem; every man who will lead a truly virtuous and moral
life, love his brethren, minister to the sick and distressed, and believe
in the One, All-Powerful, All-Wise, everywhere-Present God, Architect,
Creator and Preserver of all things.... (p. 167)
The great distinguishing characteristic
of a Mason is a sympathy with his kind, He recognizes in the human race
one great family, all connected with himself by those invisible links,
and that mighty network of circumstance, forged and woven by God. (p. 176)
Masonry will do all in its power, by
direct exertion and co-operation, to improve and inform as well as to protect
the people; to better their physical condition, revive their miseries,
supply their wants, and minister to their necessities.
(p. 180)
Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of
religion and its teachings are instructions in religion. For here are inculcated
disinterestedness, affection, toleration, devotedness, patriotism, truth,
a generous sympathy with those who suffer and mourn, pity for the fallen,
mercy for the erring, relief for those in want, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
(p. 213)
The practical object of Masonry is
the physical and moral amelioration and the intellectual and spiritual
improvement of individuals and society. (p. 218)
Masonry represents the Good Principle
and constantly wars against the evil one,... at everlasting and deadly
feud with the demons of ignorance, brutality, baseness, falsehood, slavishness
of soul, intolerance, superstition, tyranny, meanness, the insolence of
wealth, and bigotry. (p. 221)
We no longer expect to rebuild the
Temple at Jerusalem. To us it has become but a symbol. To us the whole
world is GodÍs Temple, as is every upright heart.
(p. 241)
Paul, in the 4th chapter of his Epistle
to the Galatians, speaking of the simplest facts of the Old Testament,
asserts that they are an allegory. In the 3rd chapter of the second letter
to the Corinthians, he declares himself a minister of the New Testament,
appointed by God; "Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter
killith." Origen and St. Gregory held that the Gospels were not to
be taken in their literal sense; and Athanasius admonishes us that ñShould
we understand sacred writ according to the letter, we should fall into
the most enormous blasphemies. (p. 266)
That God is One, immutable, unchangeable,
infinitely just and good; that Light will finally overcome Darkness, --
Good conquer Evil, and Truth be victor over Error; -- these, rejecting
all the wild and useless speculations of the Zend-Avesta, the Kabalah,
the Gnostics. and the Schools, are the religion and Philosophy of Masonry.
(p. 275)
No one Mason has the right to measure
for another, within the walls of a Masonic Temple, the degree of veneration
which he shall feel for any Reformer or the Founder of any Religion. We
teach a belief in no particular creed, as we teach unbelief in none. (p.
308)
The true Mason labors for the benefit
of those who are to come after him, and for the advancement and improvement
of his race.
We teach the truth of none of the legends
we recite. They are to us but parables and allegories, involving and enveloping
Masonic instruction; and
vehicles of useful and interesting
information. (p. 329)
We do not undervalue the importance
of any Truth. We utter no word that can be deemed irreverent by any of
any faith. Masonry, of no one age, belongs to all time; of no one religion,
it finds its great truths in all. (p. 524)
Thus Masonry disbelieves no truth,
and teaches unbelief in no creed, except so far as such creed may lower
its lofty estimate of the Diety, degrade Him to the level of the passions
of humanity, deny the high destiny of man, impugn the goodness and benevolence
of the Supreme God, strike at those great columns of Masonry, Faith, Hope,
and Charity, or inculcate immorality, and disregard of the active duties
of the Order. (p. 525)
There is no pretense to infallibility
in Masonry. It is not for us to dictate to any man what he shall believe.
(p. 642)
Masonry propagates no creed except
its own most simple and Sublime One; that universal religion, taught by
Nature and by Reason. It reiterates the precepts of morality of all religions.
It venerates the character and commends the teachings of the great and
good of all ages and of all countries. It extracts the good and not the
evil, the truth, and not the error, from all creeds; and acknowledges that
there is much that is good and true in all. (p. 718)
We must do justice to all, and demand
it of all; it is a universal human debt, a universal human claim. (p. 833)
And this Equilibrium teaches us, above
all, to reverence ourselves as immortal souls, and to have respect and
charity for others, who are even such as we are, partakers with us of the
Divine Nature, lighted by a ray of the Divine intelligence, struggling,
like us, toward the light; capable, like us, of progress upward toward
toward perfection, and deserving to be loved and pitied, but never to be
hated or despised; to be aided and encouraged in this life-struggle, and
not to be abandoned nor left to wander in the darkness alone, still less
to be trampled upon in our efforts to ascend. (p. 861)