Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/840

 MASONRY 784 SIASONBY

and to this paramount and omnipotent necessity all deserved, for even at the height of their literary (ani^

minor considerations ought to yield; dissensions and not they, but common swindlers, Uke Johnson, Cagii-

disunion, in presence of this enemy of the human race ostro. etc., were the centres round which the Masonic

are criminar'. "There must be no unvielding, im- world gravitated. All the superior men belongmi

compromising insistence upon particular opinions, to Freemasomy: Fichte, Fessler, Krause, SchrOda,

theories, preiudices, professions: but, on the con- Mossdorf, Schiffman, Findel, etc., so far as they strove

trary, mutual concessions and harmonious co-opera- to purge lodge life from humbug, were treated igno-

tion". ''The Freemasonry of the world will rejoice miniously by the bulk of the average Masons and even

to see accomplished and consummated the Unity of b^ lodge authorities. Men of similar turn of mind are

the Italian Freemasonry " (Official Bulletin, Septem- stigmatized by English and American Masonic devo-

ber, 1S87, 173 sqq.). Important Masonic journals, tees as "materialists'' and "iconoclasts" (Chr., 1885,

for instance, "The American Tyler-Keystone" (Ann I, 85; 1900. II, 71). But true it is that the lodges

Arbor), openly patronize the efforts of the French work silently and effectually for the propagation sAd

Grand Onent Party. "The absolute oneness of the application of "unsectarian" Masomc principles m

Craft", says the Past Grand Master Clifford P. Mao- human society and Ufe. The Masonic mftgayiT^fff

Calla (Pennsylvania), "is a glorious thought." abound in passages to this effect. Thus Bro. .'. Rich-

" Neither boundaries of States nor vast oceans sepa- ardson of Tennessee avers: "Freemasonry does its

rate the Masonic Fraternity. Everywhere it is one." work silently, but it is the work of a deep river, that

"There is no imiversal church, no imiversal body of silently pushes on towards the ocean, etc." (Chr..

politic; but there is an universal Fraternity, that Free- 1889. 1, 308) . " The abandonment of old themes ana

masonry;andevery Brother who is a worthy member, the formation of new ones", explained Grand High

may feel proud of it" (Chr., 1906, II, 132). Owing to Priest, J. W. Taylor (Georgia), 'Nlo not always arise

thesoUdarity existing between all Masomc bodies and from the immediately perceptible cause wmch the

individual Masons, they are all jointly responsible for world assigns, but are the culmination of prindpfeB

the evil doings of their fellow-members. which have been working in the minds of men for

Representative Masons, however, extol the pre- many years, until at last the proper time and projpi- tended salutary influence of their order on human cul- tious surroundings kindle the latent truth into ufe. ture and progress. "Masonry", says Frater, Grand and, as the light of reason flows from mind to mind Orator, Washmgton, "is the shrine of grand thoughts, and the unity of purpose from heart to heart, enthus- of beautiful sentiments, the seminary for the improve- ing all with a mighty common cause and moving na- ment of the moral and the mental standard of its mem- tions as one man to the accomplishment of great ends, bers. As a storehouse of morality it rains benign On this principle does the Institution of Freemasonnr influence on the mind and heart" (Chr., 1897, II, 148). diffuse its influence to the world of mankind. It "Modern Freemasonry", according to other Masons, works quietly and secretly, but penetrates through all " is a social and moral reformer" (Chr., 1888, II, 99J. the interstices of society m its many relations, and the "No one", says the "Keystone" of Chicago, " has esti- recipients of its many favors are awed by its grand mated or can estimate the far reaching character of achievements, but cannot tell whence it came " (Chr., the influence of Masonry in the world. It by no 1897, II, 303). The "Voice" (Chicago) writes: means is limited to the bodies of the Craft. Every " Never before m the history of ages has Freemasonry initiate is a light bearer, a center of light " (Chr., 1889. occupied so important a position, as at the present II, 146). "In Germany as in the United States ana time. Never was its influence so marked, its mem- Great Britain those who have been leaders of men in bership so extensive, its teaching so revered." "There intellectual, moral and social life, have been Free- are more Masons outside the great Brotherhood than masons. Eminent examples in the past are the Broth- within it." Throu^ its " pure morality " with which ers .*. Fichte, Herder, Wieland, Lessing, Goethe, pure Freemasonry is synonomous, it " influences soci- Greatest of them all was I. W. von Goethe. Well may ety^ and, unperceived, sows the seed that brings forth we be proud of such a man" (" Keystone ", quoted in fruit in wholesome laws and righteous enactments. It Chr., 1887, II, 355), etc. German Masons (see Boos, upholds the right, relieves the distressed, defends the 304-63) claim for Freemasonnr a considerable part in weak and raises the fallen (of course, all understood the splendid development of German literature in the in the masonic sense above explained). So, silently eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These claims, but surely and continuedly, it builds into tiie great however, when critically examined, prove to be either fabric of human society" (Chr. 1889, II, 257 sq.). ^oundless or exaggerated. EngUsn Freemasonry, be- The real force of Freemasonry in its outer work is ing then at a low intellectual and moral level and re- indeed, that there are more Masons and oftentimes trograding towards orthodoxy, was not qualified to be better qualified for the performance of Masonic work, the originator or a leading factor in the freethinking outside the brotherhood than within it. Freema- " Culture of Enlightenment." German Masonry, then sonry itself in Europe and in America founds societies dominated by the Swedish system and the Strict Ob- and institutions of similar form and scope for all servance and intellectually and morally degenerated, classes of society and infuses into them its spirit, as Masonic historians themselves avow, was in no bet- Thus according to Gould (Concise History, 2) Flee- ter plight. In truth the leading literary men of the masoniy since about 1750 "has exercised a remark- epoch, Lessin^, Goethe, Herder, etc. were cruelly dis- able influence over all other oath-boimd societies", abused and disappointed by what they saw and ex- The same is stated by Bro .*. L. Blanc, Deschamps, etc. perienced in their lodge life [Gruber (6), 141-236]. for Germany and other countries. In the Um'ted Lessing spoke with contempt of the lodge life; States, according to the "Cyclopedia of Fraternities", Goethe characterized the Masonic associations and there exist more than 600 secret societies, working doings as "fools and rogues"; Herder wrote, 9 Janu- more or less imder the veil of forms patterned on ary. 1786, to the celebrated philologist Bro.'. Heyne; Masonic symbolism and for the larger part notably in- "I Dear a deadly hatred to all secret societies and, as a fluenced by Freemasonry, so that every third male result of my experience, both within their innermost adult in the United States is a member of one or more circles and outside, I wish them all to the devil. For of such secret societies. " Freemasonry ", says the persistent domineering intrigues and the spirit of " Cyclopedia ", p. v, " of course, is shown to be the cabal creep beneath the cover " (Boos, 326) . mother-Fratermty in fact as well as in name." " Few

Freemasonry, far from contributing to the literary who are well informed on the subject, will deny that

greatness of these or other leading men, profited by the masonic Fraternity is directly or indirectly the

the external splendour which their membership re- parent organization of all modern secret societies,

fleeted on it. But the advantage was by no means good, bad and indifferent" (ibid., p^ xv).