We no longer expect to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. To us it has become but a symbol. To us the whole world is Gods Temple, as is every upright heart.
Paul, in the 4th chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians, speaking of the simplest facts of the Old Testament, asserts that they are an allegory. In the 3rd chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians, he declares himself a minister of the New Testament, appointed by God; "Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killith." Origen and St. Gregory held that the Gospels were not to be taken in their literal sense; and Athanasius admonishes us that "Should we understand sacred writ according to the letter, we should fall into the most enormous blasphemies."
That God is One, immutable, unchangeable, infinitely just and good; that Light will finally overcome Darkness, -- Good conquer Evil, and Truth be victor over Error; -- these, rejecting all the wild and useless speculations of the Zend-Avesta, the Kabalah, the Gnostics. and the Schools, are the religion and Philosophy of Masonry.
No one Mason has the right to measure for another, within the walls of a Masonic Temple, the degree of veneration which he shall feel for any Reformer or the Founder of any Religion. We teach a belief in no particular creed, as we teach unbelief in none.
The true Mason labors for the benefit of those who are to come after him, and for the advancement and improvement of his race.
We teach the truth of none of the legends we recite. They are to us but parables and allegories, involving and enveloping Masonic instruction; and vehicles of useful and interesting information.
We do not undervalue the importance of any Truth. We utter no word that can be deemed irreverent by any of any faith. Masonry, of no one age, belongs to all time; of no one religion, it finds its great truths in all.
