11

MODERN FREEMASONRY

In the foregoing portion of this book we have followed the history of
Freemasonry in the past and the various interpretations that have been
placed on its rites and ceremonies. The question now arises: what is the
role of Freemasonry to-day?

The fundamental error of most writers on this question, whether Masonic
or anti-Masonic, is to represent all Freemasons as holding a common
belief and animated by a common purpose. Thus on one hand the panegyrics
by Freemasons on their Order as a whole, and on the other hand the
sweeping condemnations of the Order by the Catholic Church, are equally
at fault.

The truth is that Freemasonry in a generic sense is simply a system of
binding men together for any given purpose, since it is obvious that
allegories and symbols, like the _x_ and _y_ of algebra, can be
interpreted in a hundred different manners. Two pillars may be said to
represent strength and stability, or man and woman, or light and
darkness, or any other two things we please. A triangle may signify the
Trinity, or Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, or any other triad. To
say that any of these symbols have an absolute meaning is absurd.

The allegories of Freemasonry are equally capable of various
interpretations. The building of the Temple of Solomon may signify the
progress of any undertaking and Hiram the victim of its opponents. So
also with regard to the "secret tradition" of Freemasonry concerning "a
loss which has befallen humanity"[658] and its ultimate recovery. Any
body of people working for an object may be said to have experienced a
loss and to aim at its recovery.

In the same way the whole organization of Freemasonry, the plan of
admitting candidates to successive degrees of initiation, of binding
them to secrecy by fearful oaths, is one that can be employed for any
purpose, social, political, philanthropic, or religious, for promoting
that which is good or for disseminating that which is evil. It may be
used to defend a throne or to overthrow it, to protect religion or to
destroy it, to maintain law and order or to create anarchy.

Now, there was, as we have seen, from the beginning, besides the written
charges, an _oral tradition_ in Masonry, after the manner of the Cabala,
on which the guidance of the society depended. The true character of any
form of Freemasonry is thus not to be judged only by its printed ritual,
but by the oral instruction of the initiates and th