Upon the Altar of every Masonic Lodge, supporting the Square and
Compasses, lies the Holy Bible. The old, familiar Book, so beloved
by so many generations, is our Volume of Sacred Law and a Great
Light in Masonry. the Bible opens when the Lodge opens; it closes
when the Lodge closes. No Lodge can transact its own business, much
less initiate candidates into its mysteries, unless the Book of Holy
Law lies open upon its Altar. Thus the Book of the Will of God rules
the Lodge in its labors, as the Sun rules the day, making its work a
worship.
The history of the Bible in the life and symbolism of Masonry is a
story too long to recite here. Nor can any one tell it as we would
like to know it. Just when, where and by whom the teaching and
imagery of the Bible were wrought into Freemasonry, no one can tell.
Anyone can have his theory, but no one can be dogmatic. as the Craft
labored in the service of the Church during the cathedral-building
period, it is not difficult to account for the Biblical coloring of
its thought, even in the days when the Bible was not widely
distributed, and before the discovery of printing. Anyway, we can
take such facts as we are able to find, leaving further research to
learn further truth.
The Bible is mentioned in some of the old Manuscripts of the Craft
long before the revival of Masonry in 1717, as the book upon which
the covenant, or oath, of a Mason was taken; but it is not referred
to as a great Light. For example, in the Harleian Manuscript, dated
about 1600, the obligation of an initiate closes with the words: "So
help me god, and the holy contents of this book." In the old Ritual,
of which a copy from the Royal Library in Berlin is given by Krause,
there is no mention of the Bible as one of the Lights. It was in
England, due largely to the influence of Preston and his fellow
workmen, that the Bible came to its place of honor in the Lodge. At
any rate, in the rituals of about 1760 it is described as one of the
three Great Lights.
No Mason needs to be told what a great place the Bible has in the
Masonry of our day. It is central, sovereign, supreme, a master
light of all our seeing. From the Altar it pours forth upon the
East, the West, and the South its white light of spiritual vision,
moral law, and immortal hope. Almost every name found in our
ceremonies is a Biblical name, and students have traced about
seventy-five references to the Bible in the Ritual of the Craft. But
more important than direct references is the fact that the spirit of
the Bible, its faith, its attitude toward life, pervades Masonry,
like a rhythm or a fragrance. as soon as an initiate enters the
Lodge, he hears the words of the Bible recited as an accompaniment
to his advance toward the light. Upon the Bible every Mason takes
solemn vows of locality, of Chastity and charity, pledging himself
to the practice of the Brotherly Life. Then as he moves forward from
one degree to another, the imagery of the Bible becomes familiar and
eloquent, and its music sings ins way into his heart.
Nor is it strange that it should be so. As faith in God is the
cornerstone of the Craft, so, naturally, the book which tells us the
purest truth about God is its altar light. The Temple of King
Solomon, about which the history, legends, and symbolism of the
Craft are woven, was the tallest temple of the ancient world, not in
the grandeur of its architecture but in the greatest of the truths
for which it stood. In the midst of ignorant idolatries and debasing
superstitions the temple on Mount Moriah stood for the Unity,
Righteousness, and Spirituality of God. Upon no other foundation can
men build with any sense of security and permanence when the winds
blow and the floods descent. But the Bible is not simply a
foundation rock; it is also a quarry in which we find the truths
that make us men. As in the old ages of geology rays of sunlight
were stored up in vast beds of coal, for the uses of man, so in this
old Book the light of moral truth is stored to light the mind and
warm the heart of man.
Alas, there has been more dispute about the Bible than about any
other book, making for schism, dividing men into sects. but Masonry
knows a certain secret, almost too simple to be found out, whereby
it avoids both intolerance and sectarianism. It is essentially
religious, but it is not dogmatic. The fact that the Bible lies open
upon the Altar means that man must have some Divine revelation -
must seek for a light higher than human to guide and govern him. But
it lays down no hard and fast dogma on the subject of revelation. It
attempts no detailed interpretation of the Bible. The great Book
lies open upon its Altar, and is open for all to read, open for each
to interpret for himself. The tie by which or Craft is united is
strong, but it allows the utmost liberty of faith and thought. It
unites men, not upon a creed bristling with debated issues, but upon
the broad, simple truth which underlies all creeds and over-arches
all sects--faith in God, the wise Master Builder, for whom and with
whom man must work.
Herein our gentle Craft is truly wise, and its wisdom was never more
needed than today, when the churches are divided and torn by angry
debate. However religious teachers may differ in their doctrines, in
the Lodge they meet with mutual respect and good will. At the Altar
of Masonry and learn not only toleration but appreciation. In its
air of kindly fellowship, man to man, they discover that the things
they have in common are greater then the things that divide, It is
the glory of Masonry to teach Unity in essentials, Liberty in
details, Charity in all things; and by this sign its spirit must at
last prevail. It is the beautiful secret of Masonry that all just
men, all devout men, all righteous men are everywhere of one
religion, and it seeks to remove the hoodwinks of prejudice and
intolerance so that they may recognize each other and work together
in the doing of good.
Like everything else in Masonry, the Bible, so rich in symbolism, is
itself a symbol - that is, a part taken for the whole. It is a
symbol of the Book of Truth, the Scroll of Faith, the Record of the
Will of God as man has learned it in the midst of the years - the
perpetual revelation of Himself which God has made, and is making,
to mankind in every age and land. thus, by the very honor which
Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every Book of
Faith in which men find help for today and hope for the morrow. For
that reason, in a Lodge consisting entirely of Jews, the Old
Testament alone may be places upon the Altar, and in a Lodge in the
land of Mohammed the Koran may be used. Whether it be the Gospels of
the Christian, the Book of Law of the Hebrew, the Koran of the
Mussulman, or the Vedas of the Hindu, it everywhere Masonically
conveys the same idea - symbolizing the Will of God revealed to man,
taking such faith and vision as he has found into a great fellowship
of the seekers and finders of the truth.
Thus Masonry invites to its Altar men of all faiths, knowing that,
if they use different names for "the Nameless One of an hundred
names," they are yet praying to the one God and Father of all;
knowing, also, that while they read different volumes, they are in
fact reading the same vast Book of the faith of Man as revealed in
the struggle and tragedy of the race in its quest of God. So that,
great and noble as the Bible is, Masonry sees it as a symbol of that
eternal, ever-unfolding Book of the Will of God which Lowell
described in memorable lines:
Slowly the Bible of the race is Writ,
And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone;
Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it,
Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan.
While swings the sea, while mists the mountain shroud,
While thunder's surges burst on cliffs of cloud,
Still at the Prophets' feet the nations sit.
None the less, while we honor every Book of Faith in which have been
recorded the way and will of God, with us the Bible is supreme, at
once the mother-book of our literature and the master-book of the
Lodge. Its truth is inwrought in the fiber of our being, with
whatsoever else of the god and the true which the past has given us.
Its spirit stirs our hearts, like a sweet habit of the blood; its
light follows all our way, showing us the meaning and worth of life.
Its very words have in them memories, echoes and overtones of voices
long since hushed, and its scenery is interwoven with the holiest
associations of our lives. Our fathers and mothers read it, finding
in it their final reasons for living faithfully and nobly, and it is
thus a part of the ritual of the Lodge and the ritual of life.
Every Mason ought not only to honor the Bible as a great Light of
the Craft; he ought to read it, live with it, love it, lay its truth
to heart and learn what it means to be a man. There is something in
the old Book which, if it gets into a man, makes him both gentle and
strong, faithful and free, obedient and tolerant, adding to his
knowledge virtue, patience, temperance, self - control, brotherly
love, and pity. The Bible is as high as the sky and as deep as the
grave; its two great characters are God and the Soul, and the story
of their eternal life together is its everlasting romance. It is the
most human of books, telling us the half-forgotten secrets of our
own hearts, our sins, our sorrow, our doubts, our hopes. It is the
most Divine of books, telling us that God has made us for Himself,
and that our hearts well be restless, unhappy and lonely until we
learn to rest in Him whose will is our peace.
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;and
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do
justly,to love mercy, and to walk humble with thy
God."
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
neighbor as thyself."
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and
the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted by the world."
"For we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens."
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