THE SHORT TALK BULLETIN |
...The Holy Bible ...
Upon the Altar of every Masonic Lodge, supporting the Square and
Compasses, lies the Holy Bible. The old, familiar Book, so beloved by so many
generations, is our Volume of Sacred Law and a Great Light in Masonry. the Bible
opens when the Lodge opens; it closes when the Lodge closes. No Lodge can
transact its own business, much less initiate candidates into its mysteries,
unless the Book of Holy Law lies open upon its Altar. Thus the Book of the Will
of God rules the Lodge in its labors, as the Sun rules the day, making its work
a worship.
The history of the Bible in the life and symbolism of Masonry is a story too
long to recite here. Nor can any one tell it as we would like to know it. Just
when, where and by whom the teaching and imagery of the Bible were wrought into
Freemasonry, no one can tell. Anyone can have his theory, but no one can be
dogmatic. as the Craft labored in the service of the Church during the
cathedral-building period, it is not difficult to account for the Biblical
coloring of its thought, even in the days when the Bible was not widely
distributed, and before the discovery of printing. Anyway, we can take such
facts as we are able to find, leaving further research to learn further truth.
The Bible is mentioned in some of the old Manuscripts of the Craft long before
the revival of Masonry in 1717, as the book upon which the covenant, or oath, of
a Mason was taken; but it is not referred to as a great Light. For example, in
the Harleian Manuscript, dated about 1600, the obligation of an initiate closes
with the words: "So help me god, and the holy contents of this book." In the old
Ritual, of which a copy from the Royal Library in Berlin is given by Krause,
there is no mention of the Bible as one of the Lights. It was in England, due
largely to the influence of Preston and his fellow workmen, that the Bible came
to its place of honor in the Lodge. At any rate, in the rituals of about 1760 it
is described as one of the three Great Lights.
No Mason needs to be told what a great place the Bible has in the Masonry of our
day. It is central, sovereign, supreme, a master light of all our seeing. From
the Altar it pours forth upon the East, the West, and the South its white light
of spiritual vision, moral law, and immortal hope. Almost every name found in
our ceremonies is a Biblical name, and students have traced about seventy-five
references to the Bible in the Ritual of the Craft. But more important than
direct references is the fact that the spirit of the Bible, its faith, its
attitude toward life, pervades Masonry, like a rhythm or a fragrance. as soon as
an initiate enters the Lodge, he hears the words of the Bible recited as an
accompaniment to his advance toward the light. Upon the Bible every Mason takes
solemn vows of locality, of Chastity and charity, pledging himself to the
practice of the Brotherly Life. Then as he moves forward from one degree to
another, the imagery of the Bible becomes familiar and eloquent, and its music
sings ins way into his heart.
Nor is it strange that it should be so. As faith in God is the cornerstone of
the Craft, so, naturally, the book which tells us the purest truth about God is
its altar light. The Temple of King Solomon, about which the history, legends,
and symbolism of the Craft are woven, was the tallest temple of the ancient
world, not in the grandeur of its architecture but in the greatest of the truths
for which it stood. In the midst of ignorant idolatries and debasing
superstitions the temple on Mount Moriah stood for the Unity, Righteousness, and
Spirituality of God. Upon no other foundation can men build with any sense of
security and permanence when the winds blow and the floods descent. But the
Bible is not simply a foundation rock; it is also a quarry in which we find the
truths that make us men. As in the old ages of geology rays of sunlight were
stored up in vast beds of coal, for the uses of man, so in this old Book the
light of moral truth is stored to light the mind and warm the heart of man.
Alas, there has been more dispute about the Bible than about any other book,
making for schism, dividing men into sects. but Masonry knows a certain secret,
almost too simple to be found out, whereby it avoids both intolerance and
sectarianism. It is essentially religious, but it is not dogmatic. The fact that
the Bible lies open upon the Altar means that man must have some Divine
revelation - must seek for a light higher than human to guide and govern him.
But it lays down no hard and fast dogma on the subject of revelation. It
attempts no detailed interpretation of the Bible. The great Book lies open upon
its Altar, and is open for all to read, open for each to interpret for himself.
The tie by which or Craft is united is strong, but it allows the utmost liberty
of faith and thought. It unites men, not upon a creed bristling with debated
issues, but upon the broad, simple truth which underlies all creeds and
over-arches all sects--faith in God, the wise Master Builder, for whom and with
whom man must work.
Herein our gentle Craft is truly wise, and its wisdom was never more needed than
today, when the churches are divided and torn by angry debate. However religious
teachers may differ in their doctrines, in the Lodge they meet with mutual
respect and good will. At the Altar of Masonry and learn not only toleration but
appreciation. In its air of kindly fellowship, man to man, they discover that
the things they have in common are greater then the things that divide, It is
the glory of Masonry to teach Unity in essentials, Liberty in details, Charity
in all things; and by this sign its spirit must at last prevail. It is the
beautiful secret of Masonry that all just men, all devout men, all righteous men
are everywhere of one religion, and it seeks to remove the hoodwinks of
prejudice and intolerance so that they may recognize each other and work
together in the doing of good.
Like everything else in Masonry, the Bible, so rich in symbolism, is itself a
symbol - that is, a part taken for the whole. It is a symbol of the Book of
Truth, the Scroll of Faith, the Record of the Will of God as man has learned it
in the midst of the years - the perpetual revelation of Himself which God has
made, and is making, to mankind in every age and land. thus, by the very honor
which Masonry pays to the Bible, it teaches us to revere every Book of Faith in
which men find help for today and hope for the morrow. For that reason, in a
Lodge consisting entirely of Jews, the Old Testament alone may be places upon
the Altar, and in a Lodge in the land of Mohammed the Koran may be used. Whether
it be the Gospels of the Christian, the Book of Law of the Hebrew, the Koran of
the Mussulman, or the Vedas of the Hindu, it everywhere Masonically conveys the
same idea - symbolizing the Will of God revealed to man, taking such faith and
vision as he has found into a great fellowship of the seekers and finders of the
truth.
Thus Masonry invites to its Altar men of all faiths, knowing that, if they use
different names for "the Nameless One of an hundred names," they are yet praying
to the one God and Father of all; knowing, also, that while they read different
volumes, they are in fact reading the same vast Book of the faith of Man as
revealed in the struggle and tragedy of the race in its quest of God. So that,
great and noble as the Bible is, Masonry sees it as a symbol of that eternal,
ever-unfolding Book of the Will of God which Lowell described in memorable
lines:
Slowly the Bible of the race is Writ,
And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone;
Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it,
Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan.
While swings the sea, while mists the mountain shroud,
While thunder's surges burst on cliffs of cloud,
Still at the Prophets' feet the nations sit.
None the less, while we honor every Book of Faith in which
have been recorded the way and will of God, with us the Bible is supreme, at
once the mother-book of our literature and the master-book of the Lodge. Its
truth is inwrought in the fiber of our being, with whatsoever else of the god
and the true which the past has given us. Its spirit stirs our hearts, like a
sweet habit of the blood; its light follows all our way, showing us the meaning
and worth of life. Its very words have in them memories, echoes and overtones of
voices long since hushed, and its scenery is interwoven with the holiest
associations of our lives. Our fathers and mothers read it, finding in it their
final reasons for living faithfully and nobly, and it is thus a part of the
ritual of the Lodge and the ritual of life.
Every Mason ought not only to honor the Bible as a great Light of the Craft; he
ought to read it, live with it, love it, lay its truth to heart and learn what
it means to be a man. There is something in the old Book which, if it gets into
a man, makes him both gentle and strong, faithful and free, obedient and
tolerant, adding to his knowledge virtue, patience, temperance, self - control,
brotherly love, and pity. The Bible is as high as the sky and as deep as the
grave; its two great characters are God and the Soul, and the story of their
eternal life together is its everlasting romance. It is the most human of books,
telling us the half-forgotten secrets of our own hearts, our sins, our sorrow,
our doubts, our hopes. It is the most Divine of books, telling us that God has
made us for Himself, and that our hearts well be restless, unhappy and lonely
until we learn to rest in Him whose will is our peace.
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;and
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do
justly,to love mercy, and to walk humble with thy
God."
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
neighbor as thyself."
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and
the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted by the world."
"For we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens."