The Heavenly Genius of Masonry

by A.F.A. Woodford, P∴M∴

Masonry (the heavenly genius!) seems now thus to address us:

"The Order I have established in every part of it shows consummate wisdom; founded on moral and social virtue, it is supported by strength; it is adorned by beauty, for everything is found in it that can make society agreeable. In the most striking manner I teach you to act with propriety in every station of life. The tools and implements of architecture, and everything about you, I have contrived to be most expressive symbols to convey to you the strongest moral truths. Let your improvement be proportionable to your instruction. Be not contented with the name only of Freemasons. Invested with my ancient and honourable badge, be masons indeed. Think not that it is to be so to meet together, and to go through the ceremonies which I have appointed; these ceremonies, in such an Order as mine, are necessary, but they are the most immaterial part of it, and there are weightier matters which you must not omit. To be Masons indeed, is to put in practice the lessons of wisdom which I teach you. With reverential gratitude, therefore, cheerfully worship the Eternal Providence; bow down yourselves in filial and submissive obedience to the unerring direction of the Mighty Builder; work by His perfect plans, and your edifices shall be beautiful and everlasting.

"I command you to love your neighbour; stretch forth the hand of relief to him if he be in necessity; if he be in danger, run to his assistance; tell him the truth if he be deceived; if he be unjustly reproached and neglected, comfort his soul, and soothe it to tranquillity. You cannot show your gratitude to your Creator in a more amiable light, than in your mutual regard for each other.

"Taught as you are by me to root out bigotted notions, have charity for the religious sentiments of all mankind; nor think the mercies of the Father of all the families of the earth, of that Being whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, are confined within the narrow limits of any particular sect or religion.

"Pride not yourselves upon your birth—it is of no consequence of what parents any man is born, provided he be a man of merit; nor your honours, they are the objects of envy and impertinence, and must ere long be laid in the dust; nor your riches, they cannot gratify the wants they create; but be meek, and lowly of heart. I reduce all conditions to a pleasing and rational equality; pride was not made for man, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

"I am not gloomy and austere. I am a preacher of morality, but not a gloomy and severe one; for I strive to render it lovely to you by the charms of pleasures which leave no sting behind; by moral music, rational joy, and harmless gaiety. I bid you not to abstain from the pleasures of society, or innocent enjoyments: to abstain from them is to frustrate the intentions of Providence. I enjoin you not to consecrate your hours to solitude. Society is the true sphere of human virtue; and no life can be pleasing to God but what is useful to man. On every festival, in which well-pleased, my sons, I see you assembled to honour me, be happy. Let no pensive look profane the general joy; let sorrow cease; let none be wretched; and let pleasure and her bosom friends, attend this social board. Pleasure is a stranger to every malignant and unsocial passion, and is formed to expand, to exhilarate, to humanize the heart. But he is not to be met with at the table of turbulent festivity; he disclaims all connections with indecency and excess, and declines the society of riot roaring in the jollity of his heart. A sense of the dignity of human nature always accompanies him, and he admits not of anything that degrades it. Temperance and cheerfulness are his bosom friends; and at the social board, where he never refuses his presence, these friends are always placed on his right hand and on his left; during the time he generally addresses himself to cheerfulness, till temperance demands his attention. On your festivals, I say, be happy; but remember now, and always remember, you are Masons, and act in such a manner that the eyes of the censorious, ever fixed upon you, may see nothing in your conduct worthy of reproof; the tongue of the slanderer, always ready to revile you, may be put to silence. Be models of virtue to mankind. Examples profit more than precepts. Lead uncorrupt lives, do the thing which is right and speak the truth from your hearts. Slander not your neighbour, and do no other evil unto him; and let your good actions convince the world of the wisdom and advantages of my institution. The un worthiness of some of those who have been initiated into my Order, but who have not made themselves acquainted with me, and who, because I am a friend to rational gaiety, have ignorantly thought excesses might be indulged in, has been disgraceful to themselves and discreditable to me."

MASONRY is the daughter of Heaven! The Patroness of the liberal arts and sciences, which polish and adorn human nature: thankful ought they to be who have it in their power to embrace her, and happy are those who do. She teaches the way to content, with fervency and zeal unfeigned, as sure of being unchangeable as of ending in felicity.

J.S. Gaudry
Oration before the Lodge of Perfect Friendship
on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, 1768