scarcely known people and have communicated the rituals that we hold must be inviolate; or that they have issued dispensations to these veiled lodges by which they may work under competent jurisdiction? How much of Masonry do these extra-limital Masons know, and how well do they keep and conceal from the profane their secret arts? If, perchance, they did not receive their Masonry from moderns, where in the annals of antiquity did they discover it?
Such are the questions that are directed to the traveler who has observed the customs of the outer-peoples of the world. In asking such questions the interrogator assumes more than he may rightly do, but then, he only desires a correct impression and the true facts of the case.
What Is Freemasonry?
Let us reflect a little. Let us ask ourselves what Masonry is, for upon our answer to this question depends our interpretation of extra-limital or universal Masonry.
Is Masonry only the operation of a certain ritual; is Masonry only the arbitrary practise of a rite within the walls of a lodge, without relation to conduct in the world of men? Is Masonry in its essence only a material act or a spiritual impulse? If we admit that the essence of Masonry lies in the practise of its moral and philosophical teachings, then we may be prepared to believe that these truths may be clothed in diverse raiment and colored by varied hues, these depending, like the color and fragrance of rose upon the air it breathes, the water it drinks and the soil from which it springs, as well as upon its tetrakinetic impulses. It is not the legend or the allegory that is essential in universal Freemasonry, it is the moral
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