never suffer any religious disputes in our Lodges, and, as Masons,
we only pursue the universal religion, the Religion of Nature.
Worshipers of the God of Mercy, we believe that in every nation,
he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.
All Masons, therefore, whether Christians, Jews, or Mahomedans,
who violate not the rule of right, written by the Almighty upon
the tables of the heart, who_ DO _fear Him, and_ WORK
_righteousness, we are to acknowledge as brethren; and, though we
take different roads, we are not to be angry with, or persecute
each other on that account. We mean to travel to the same place;
we know that the end of our journey is the same; and we
affectionately hope to meet in the Lodge of perfect happiness. How
lovely is an institution fraught with sentiments like these! How
agreeable must it be to Him who is seated on a throne of
Everlasting Mercy, to the God who is no respecter of persons!_

--WM. HUTCHINSON, _The Spirit of Masonry_
#/

CHAPTER II

_The Masonic Philosophy_

"Hast any philosophy in thee, Shepherd?"[173] was the question of
Touchstone in the Shakespeare play; and that is the question we must
always ask ourselves. Long ago Kant said that it is the mission of
philosophy, not to discover truth, but to set it in order, to seek out
the rhythm of things and their reason for being. Beginning in wonder,
it sees the familiar as if it were strange, and its mind is full of
the air that plays round every subject. Spacious, humane, eloquent, it
is "a blend of science, poetry, religion and logic"[174]--a
softening, enlarging, ennobling influence, giving us a wider and
clearer outlook, more air, more room, more light, and more background.

When we look at Masonry in this large and mellow light, it is like a
stately old cathedral, gray with age, rich in associations, its steps
worn by innumerable feet of the living and the dead--not piteous, but
strong and enduring. Entering its doors, we wonder at its lofty
spaces, its windows with the dimness and glory of the Infinite behind
them, the spring of its pillars, the leap of its arches, and its roof
inlaid with stars. Inevitably we ask, whence came this temple of faith
and friendship, and what does it mean--rising lightly as a lyric,
uplifted by the hunger for truth and the love for beauty, and exempt
from the shock of years and the ravages of decay? What faith builded
this home of the