of the vulgar and profane, that have for so long a
time ill-treated her, until Truth was obliged to depart
the earth, and now can hardly trace any of her footsteps.
But she always appears in her greatest glory, without
disguise, to the true, good, and honest Free Masons;
that is to say, to the zealous extirpators of superstition
and lies. I hope, my dear brother, you will be
one of her intimate favorites. The proofs that
you have given, assure me of everything I have to expect
of your zeal; for as nothing now can be more a secret
among us, I shall order brother Truth, that he will
instruct you what you are to do in order to come to
true happiness.” After this discourse of
Father Adam, the candidate is unveiled and shown the
form of the Lodge or Council, without explaining any
part thereof. Brother Truth then proceeds thus:
“My dear brother, by my mouth, holy truth speaketh
to you, but before she can manifest herself to you,
she requires of you proofs in which she is satisfied
in your entrance into the Masonic order. She has
appeared to you in many things which you could not
have apprehended or comprehended without her assistance;
but now you have the happiness to arrive at the brilliant
day, nothing can be a secret to you. Learn, then,
the moral use that is made of the three first parts
of the furniture, which you knew after you was received
an Entered Apprentice Mason, viz.: Bible,
Compass and Square. By the Bible you are to understand
that it is the only law you ought to follow. It
is that which Adam received at his creation, and which
the Almighty engraved in his heart. This law
is called natural law, and shows positively that there
is but one God, and to adore him only without any
subdivision or interpolation. The Compass gives
you the faculty of judging for yourself, that whatever
God has created, is well, and he is the sovereign
author of every thing. Existing in himself, nothing
is either good or evil; because we understand by this
expression, an action done which is excellent in itself,
is relative, and submits to the human understanding,
or judgment, to know the value and price of such action;
and that God, with whom every thing is possible, communicates
nothing of his will, but such as his great goodness
pleases; and every thing in the universe is governed
as he has decreed it, with justice, being able to
compare it with the attributes of the Divinity.
I equally say, that in himself there is no evil; because
he has made every thing with exactness, and that every
thing exists according to his will; consequently,
as it ought to be. This distance between good
and evil with the Divinity, cannot be more justly and
clearly compared than by a circle formed with a compass.
From the points being reunited there is formed an
entire circumference; and when any point in particular
equally approaches or equally separates from its point,
it is only a faint resemblance of the distance between
good and evil, which we compare by the points of a
compass forming a circle, which circle when completed
is God.