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d, One in the soul's perennial Youth, One in the larger thought of God. P/ Truly the human consciousness of fellowship with the Eternal, under whatever name, may well hush all words, still more hush argument and anathema. Possession, not recognition, is the only thing important; and if it is not recognized, the fault must surely be, in large part, our own. Given the one great experience, and before long kindred spirits will join in the _Universal Prayer_ of Alexander Pope, himself a Mason: /P Father of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord! P/ With eloquent unanimity our Masonic thinkers proclaim the unity and love of God--whence their vision of the ultimate unity and love of mankind--to be the great truth of the Masonic philosophy; the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.[178] Amidst polytheisms, dualisms, and endless confusions, they hold it to have been the great mission of Masonry to preserve these precious truths, beside which, in the long result of thought and faith, all else fades and grows dim. Of this there is no doubt; and science has come at last to vindicate this wise insight, by unveiling the unity of the universe with overwhelming emphasis. Unquestionably the universe is an inexhaustible wonder. Still, it is a wonder, not a contradiction, and we can never find its rhythm save in the truth of the unity of all things in God. Other clue there is none. Down to this deep foundation Masonry digs for a basis of its temple, and builds securely. If this be false or unstable, then is /P The pillar'd firmament rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble. P/ Upon the altar of Masonry lies the open Bible which, despite the changes and advances of the ages, remains the greatest Modern Book--the moral manual of civilization.[179] All through its pages, through the smoke of Sinai, through "the forest of the Psalms," through proverbs and parables, along the dreamy ways of prophecy, in gospels and epistles is heard the everlasting truth of one God who is love, and who requires of men that they love one another, do justly, be merciful, keep themselves unspotted by evil, and walk humbly before Him in whose great hand they stand. There we read of the Man of Galilee who taught that, in the far distances of the divine Fatherhood, all men were conceived in love, and so are akin--united in origin, duty, and destiny. Th
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