And, at page 56:
“The first stage, the first conception of what Masonry involves, is concerned merely with the surface-value of the doctrine... Beyond this stage the vast majority of Masons, it is feared, never passes. This is the stage of knowledge in which the Craft is regarded as a social, semi-public, semi-secret community to which it is agreeable and advantageous to belong for sociable or even for ulterior purposes; in which the goal of the Masons’ ambition is to attain office and high preferment and to wear a breastful of decorations; in which he takes a literal, superficial and historic view of the subject matter of the doctrine....”
Then Wilmshurst challenges each Mason to go further into the true and more significant reasons behind the Masonic doctrine, and he asks the question at hand—what is Masonry?
“To some extent I endeavoured to formulate that answer upon a previous occasion, but whilst I then entered rather into the details and minutiae of the Craft system and symbols, I will treat the ‘Subject now upon broader lines and deal with Masonry in its wider and more philosophic aspect. I said upon that occasion—and I must repeat it now—that in its broad and more vital doctrine Masonry was essentially a philosophic and religious system expressed in dramatic ceremonial. It is a system intended to supply answers to the three great questions that press so inexorably upon the attention of every thoughtful man and that are the subject around which all religions and all philosophies move: What am I? Whence come I? Whither go I? It is a truism to say that in our quieter and more serious moments we all feel the need of some reliable answer to these questions. Light upon them is ‘the predominant wish of our hearts’; and upon such light as we can obtain, whether from Masonry or elsewhere, depends our philosophy of life and the rule of conduct by which we regulate our life. In a larger sense, then, than our conventional limited one, the Masonic candidate is presumed to enter the Order in search of light upon these problems; light that he is presumed not to have succeeded in finding elsewhere.”
Could there be a clearer statement on the purpose of Freemasonry and its philosophy? Masonry is a religion! It presupposes that a man is lost and undone before he enters the Order. He is then brought into the light of wisdom through what is termed “initiation.” This means that once he is initiated into the Order he has figuratively died to his old self and resurrected into a new life of perfection in Masonry. He is reborn! That experience is what the Masons obtained from the Instituted Mysteries.
So that there will be no question as to the validity of what I have just concluded, let me quote from Wilmshurst once again at page 60:
“What is the motive and reason for the existence of a Masonic Order and of many other Orders of Initiation, both past and present? Why should they exist at all? I might reduce the matter to the compass of a small and personal point by asking why have you come to hear this lecture, and why should I have been striving for many years to acquire the information that enables me to give it—if it be not the fact—as indeed it is, that every man in his reflective moments realizes the sense of some element of his own being having become lost; that he is conscious, if he be honest with himself, of the sense of moral imperfection, of ignorance, of restricted knowledge about himself and his surroundings; that he is aware, in short, of some radical deficiency in his constitution, which, were it but found and made good, would satisfy this craving for information, for completeness and imperfection, would ‘lead him from darkness to light,’ and would put him beyond ignorance and beyond the touch of the many ills that flesh is heir to. The point is too obvious to need pressing further, and the answer to it is to be found by a reference to a great doctrine that forms the philosophical basis of all systems of religion, and all the great systems of the Mysteries and of Initiation of antiquity, viz., that which is popularly known as the Fall of Man.”
And on page 64:
“I have already said that Masonry is a modern perpetuation of great systems of initiation that have existed for the spiritual instruction of men in all parts of the world since the beginning of time. The reason for their existence has been the obvious one, resulting from the cardinal truth already alluded to, that man in his present natural state is inherently and radically imperfect; that sooner or later he becomes conscious of a sense of loss and deprivation and feels an imperative need of learning how to repair that loss. The great world-religions have been ordained to teach in their respective manners the same truths as the Mystery systems have taught.
“...Whether in ancient India, Egypt, Greece, Italy or Mexico, or among the Druids of Europe, temples of initiation have ever existed for those who felt the inward call to come apart from the multitude and to dedicate themselves to a long discipline of body and mind with a view to acquiring the secret knowledge and developing the spiritual faculties by means of experimental processes of initiation of which our present ceremonies are the faint echo.”
Masonry is a religion, and by their standards, one of the world’s great religions. Repairing the loss caused by the “Fall of Man” is its quest. They believe that man can repair the breach himself by following the teachings and precepts of Masonry. They believe that Masonry can lead him from darkness to light. They care not that you are Christian, Jew, Hindu, Mormon or Moslem. The reason becomes obvious. They seek to convert you to Masonry. Now, what kind of religion is our next discussion and the revelations contain herein should alarm the Church of Jesus Christ as well as enlighten it as to the enemy within.
Chapter 10: Masonry as a Religion
Webster defines religion as (a) any system of belief, worship, conduct, etc., often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy; as, the Christian religion, the Buddhist religion, etc.; (b) loosely, any system of beliefs, practices, ethical values, etc., resembling, suggestive of, or likened to such a system; as, humanism is his religion.
We already know that Masonry has a philosophy, and that it meets the definition of the term “religion” through its system of beliefs and code of conduct. This is true independent of Wilmshurst’s claim that it is indeed a religion as the previous chapter discloses. But, I wish to go further than the mere fact that Masonry fits the description of a religion. I intend to reveal certain teachings, rituals and observances that the Church is unaware of as much so as the ordinary local Mason is. Again, what I am revealing is found in the Mason’s catechism and is not given to me from someone or authority that hates or attacks the Masons.
Pre-Existence
The fundamental doctrine of the Mysteries was that of Preexistence. By “pre-existence” I mean that man existed prior to his birth in a high spiritual state. The soul comes down, so to speak, not in virtue of obedience or in view of a mission, but as a penalty imposed on trespass because of the Adamic sin, or Fall of Man. This belief is under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of England which is in authority over the Masonic Order in the United States. This doctrine is found in the Freemason’s Encyclopaedia, Volume II, pages 291 and 292, and reads as follows:
“Whether it passes into expression or is only implied, the fundamental doctrine of the Mysteries is that of Preexistence. I am speaking of those that matter, and some insolent inventions of modern times are of course excluded. The reference, moreover, is to those which can be classed as Rites and present a complete pageant within the measures of their particular symbolism. Pre-existence in the Greater Mysteries did not connote reincarnation... It connoted the high spiritual estate which goes before and comes after the manifestation of mortal life. Those who are acquainted with some at least of the several Orders which—at the present day—continue to dispense initiation in secret places will know that this doctrine still prevails among several. I allude to mystical fraternities. Speaking quite broadly, the picture which is presented to the Candidate is the successive Grades of his progress is the operation of that universal law by which he was brought originally into natural life and by which—under the providence of a peculiar guidance—he is taught how he must reascend and in fine go back whence he came. The condition of illumi
nation is the turning of will by a voluntary act of obedience in the directions indicated, and this corresponds symbolically with the imputed position of a Candidate for participation in the light of this mortal world, when he comes down, ‘ex hypothesi,’ by a voluntary act, to put on mortality and assume its law of obedience. But the root of correspondence is in antithesis, for the Instituted Mysteries deals with the quest of going back, while the cosmic event is that of coming forth.
“Fall of Man. There is, however, an alternative of the legend, which involves variations in the Mysteries by which it is recognized. In this the soul comes down, not in virtue of obedience or in view of a mission but as a penalty imposed on trespass. The Myth of Eden is a characteristic Legend of Pre-existence, and it must be observed in this connection that so long as we elect to regard the Holy Royal Arch as a completion of the Third Degree, it follows that Craft Masonry—under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of England—teaches Pre-existence, since it insists on the Fall of Man.”
If Masonry is nothing more than an elementary code of ethics, or a quasi-social organization, as some are led to believe, then why is there a doctrine concerning the pre-existence of man taught? Or, does the local Mason understand that the Order is under a greater authority than just the local ruling staff? I believe that he is not aware of either, although he has taken an unbreakable oath to uphold both.
Resurrection and Rebirth
The Masons teach that unless a man “be born again” he shall not enter the “Secret Kingdom of the Rites.” That phrase should be familiar to the Christian Mason, although it is distorted to a great degree, as the reply that Jesus made to Nicodemus when Jesus was asked, “What must I do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?” The actual reply was simple. He told the religious leader that he must be born again (John 3:3). The Masons, however, give credit to the Instituted Mysteries for this experience, which they term “Initiation.”
“There is one form of Sacramentalism which characterizes the highest Orders of Initiation, and is found—at least as an implicit—in all their Grades. It is usually overlooked because it is easy to miss the great things unless they are in patent evidence and are written—so to speak—in the starry heavens. It is comprised in the simple statement that all true initiation is concerned with communicating, by the mediation of symbols, a new life, the pageant of an inward generation. It proclaims, in other words, to every Candidate that ‘except a man be born again’ he shall not enter—that is, essentially and truly—into the Secret Kingdom of the Rites. There are, of course, lesser Orders; Assemblies and Cofraternities which, having little or no inheritance from the past, are neither built upon nor offer any trace of that sacramental life which is understood in the—idea of rebirth. But it is met with—by implication—or otherwise under many conditions; and among all the Holy Houses which can be held to count as such there is scarcely one where we shall not find it enshrined, sometimes visibly on the surface, sometimes far below the common plummet of the interpretation of symbols. It is not by this alone, but it is by this above all that all are interconnected, as by one root belonging to a great tree of concealed life and brotherhood.
“It is this which makes Masonry a mirror not only of all the Instituted Mysteries which went before it but of some which once subsisted concurrently, and also the elder sister of a few that are still among us—less obvious than she but less unconscious of the surface of their proper geniture and pedigree. It is the consideration of this thesis that the depth and height of the Masonic Message to Humanity finds a natural utterance and can hence be put forth most simply. It is by no means the only witness here and now among us; could I speak of all—but some of them are in a sacred cloud of hiddenness—it might not prove the greatest of all, but it is of all most obvious, the nearest at our doors and the most universally diffused. It can stand as a pattern or illustration at large of the others, for which it testifies as well as for itself, and hence for the present purpose it can be held to include them.
“Symbolism of Rebirth—In the light of that experience which is brought away from the chief Degrees of Masonry, let us consider therefore the idea of Rebirth. Those who have failed to gather fruit of knowledge concerning it within the circles of initiation will remember at least the words of him—a great Apostle and Master—who has told us that we do not put into the earth that which will come forth out of earth, but that we sow something which is natural to reap what is spiritual in a due season. It follows also from St. Paul that we sow what is dead, but that we look for something which is alive, and will indeed live forever. Now, certain Schools of Symbolism and several Secret Orders teach, and have long taught, that a sacred and highly symbolic object—which varies in each Cofraternity—once entered into the region of death, with sacramental accessories in the Legends of certain Rites, whereby the conditions of death and even of corruption are made indubitable; but that something issued forth subsequently and is found to be alive. It is not exactly the same, for even in the symbolic order a substitution has occurred, and this is really a vital point of the Mystery... but the Candidate at a memorable moment in Masonic Ritual is raised, and it is not in his own power... The Candidate passes also through a figurative death, and the only kind of resurrection which is possible to him at the epoch ensues thereafter” (A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Volume II, pages 331-333).
And then on page 479 of the same Volume (and just over the portrait of Osiris) is the following statement which should horrify the Christian Mason:
“Let us realize on our own part, as heirs of the Greater Mysteries and sons of their Doctrine, that the Vatican is not the Church; that Latin Catholicism is the witness of a living tradition which does not differ from our own; and that both are rooted in experience. The doctrine is always ‘that God is and that He recompenses those who seek Him out.’ This search is the quest of Masonry; it leads through a new birth, new life, figurative death and mystical resurrection into an eternal union. We have found the memorials of this quest in Masonry; but it has also been found by the Catholic saints of God from time immemorial in Christ. The Vatican can rave and fulminate; all its thunders notwithstanding, true Masonry remains a Church of God and one at the roots as such with the Catholic and Christian Church.”
Without question Masonry promises or offers the hope of resurrection and salvation through its doctrine alone. There is no requirement of Jesus Christ being the one that saves, and the cross of calvary is of no consequence whatsoever. The born-again experience is attained upon the completion of the third degree (Master Mason). It is at this time that the Candidate passes through figurative death into a mystical resurrection which leads him, if he stays true to his calling in Masonry, into a perfect eternal union with God. This is probably true, if the god is Osiris, otherwise, he dies in the eternal flames of the lake of fire that God has prepared for Satan and his angels.
The deadly sting of this doctrine which has a minimum of 10,000,000 members in the United States alone, is that it lulls Masons into a false sense of security when the question of his salvation arises. In other words, while the preacher is urging repentance and the necessity to make and accept Jesus as the Lord of their lives, the Mason sits there and is not moved by such rigid pleas, because he has been taught and has accepted the Masonic teaching that Masonry alone can save him. Moreover, he has been taught that men of all religions, such as Buddhists, Hindus, Moonies, and Moslems will and can attain eternal union with God through Masonry under a teaching and doctrine of “toleration,” which I will discuss at more lengths in a later portion of this work.
So, preacher, when you ask a man if he has been born again, or is saved, you may not be talking about the same thing that your Masonic members are thinking. They are under another gospel of salvation that has its roots in the land of Egypt. They are “heirs of the Greater Mysteries and sons of their doctrine,” and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is just another Mystery, and another example of “initiation,” resurrection and rebirth on the same level as that of Dionysus, Bacchu
s, Osiris, Mithra, etc., etc. But, remember, their answer to your question will be “Yes!”
Masonic Baptism
At the turn of the eighteenth century the Masons adopted two Rites of baptism. One was known as the “Rite of Masonic Baptism” and the other as the “Reception of a Louveteau or Lewis.” Both were available to the children of Masons. The former to children of both sexes, while the latter was confined to males only. The Freemason’s Encyclopaedia, Volume II, at pages 38 and 39, explains these two rites in detail. They are mentioned here only for the purpose of discussing the ingredients of a “religion.” Baptism seems to me to be a major part. The stated purpose of the baptism was to prepare the children for a future Masonic initiation. Until then it gave them the protection of the Lodge.
The Gods of the Lodge Page 12