Page 44 - MML - Journal - Centenary Edition - Vol. 01 / 2023

practice this brotherly love. To God, freemasonry demands reverence to him, beseeching his aid in all lawful undertakings and looking up to him for comfort and support. While religion adopts a theology peculiar to the views of their founders to which their devotees must subscribe, freemasonry only demands from its disciples a recognition of a simple and primitive faith in the deity, a pure trust in him as the author and giver of all good, leaving it to their own conscience to apply this faith in their daily walk of life, thus reserving to itself the sacred mission of propagating the principles and true ideas of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.
The peculiar traditions and doctrines contained in the Masonic Lectures may have remained unexplored for a vast majority of freemasons, but the principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth, and of faith, hope and charity have all been inscribed upon his tracing board in such bright and indelible characters that he cannot remain uninformed of the duties in relation thereto. The true freemason is continually seeking opportunities for the exercise of those virtues which have formed so prominent a part of his masonic education and to reduce them into practice, for with him freemasonry is a living reality and not theory alone. It is in the practice of those virtues that he delights for he has learned that in doing good there is much joy.
Masonic charity is not limited to gifts and contributions of money or other tangible material, although these, when necessary, are right and proper and are included within the term of charity. True charity however extends beyond these, to all the wants of the great brotherhood of mankind. True charity throws around it her broad mantle of brotherly love and affection which infuses whole new life.
Just as the summer sun causes the face of nature to smile, so the drops of genial affection and the rays of brotherly love
beaming from the heart that is prompted by impulses of genuine charity, cause the soul of the recipient to overflow with gratitude and joy. To a straying brother, this charity prompts the true freemason to gently remind him of his faults, to whisper good counsel in his ear and to assist him in his efforts at reformation. This charity bends over the poor fallen brother and lifts him again to his feet, and by gentle affection, endeavors to lead him back to the path of rectitude and self-respect. This charity enters the house of mourning and presents to the saddened heart, the cup of sympathy and affection and pours the oil of consolation into the afflicted bosoms. This is the true charity which every freemason should practice.
Faith, hope, and charity are inseparable. Faith helps us to soar above the transitory things on earth and behold the Great Architect of the Universe as the giver and doer of all good. Hope points out to us a home beyond the tomb. Faith in God and hope in immortality, together engender within our bosom, charity towards all mankind.
In conclusion, my brethren, as we return to our homes to engage in those duties which devolve upon us in our several stations in life, let us ask ourselves, do we attend to our duties as freemasons as we ought, do we live up to the principles of the order that we profess to love and cherish, do we act towards ourselves, our fellowmen and our God as freemasonry has taught us we should. Let us in all our actions, make a constant application of those principles, that others seeing our good work may acknowledge the utility of freemasonry, and draw to the support of our
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A Publication of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103, GLI
Madras Masonic Journal Vol. 01 / 2023 - Centenary Year Edition