SEARCHING FOR THE LOST

C. C. Hunt, P.G.H.P.

THE great object of Masonry is sometimes expressed as a search for that which is lost and which by our own endeavors and the assistance of the Master we hope to find. Coincident with this search and an essential element in its success is the erection of the temple of our soul of which the erection of King Solomon's Temple is a symbol and the tools, implements and methods of the operative Mason are symbols of the tools, implements and methods we are to use in the erection of our spiritual temple.

The Entered Apprentice Degree symbolizes the entrance of man into the world where he is to labor in preparing himself for his spiritual temple. He comes from the darkness of the unknown and his first need is for light - moral and intellectual light. He is given as working tools the twenty-four- inch gauge of Time and is instructed in the use of the common gavel of Self-restraint.

The Fellow Craft Degree symbolizes the school room of practical work, in which man is to struggle for the attainment of truth, both intellectual and moral. Here he gets his first intimation of "the great object of Masonic study" the search for Truth, which he later finds is the great secret of Masonry. Here he finds he is traveling upon the level of Time and must learn to use the working tools of rectitude and virtue as represented by the plumb and the square.

As a Master Mason he continues his quest for Divine Truth and is told it can only be acquired by a proper use of the trowel of true friendship with which he is to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection. Here he meets with a great disappointment. Sin has entered in and weakened the structure of his temple, and the great secret he hoped to find has been lost. However, all is not lost. Hope is held out that it may yet be recovered and until that time he is given a working substitute. He is not to give up the search, and the substitute is to be used only until future ages find out the right.

Wonderful teachings are there in the Craft Degrees, but they are incomplete: We must go forward to the Chapter and Council for the complete cycle of Masonic instruction, as taught in "The legend of the Craft" in the Old Charges of Masonry.

It is well known that in all times and places, legends and symbols have been a very effective means of teaching moral lessons and of this means Masonry has made good use. The greatest of these legends deal with the loss of a great blessing to man through sin, a blessing which in future ages will be recovered. A similar story is told in the Great Light of Masonry and Milton tells us that his great epic "Paradise Lost" is about:

...man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us and regain the blissful seat.

Masonry also has its legends which teach similar lessons. Of these legends Companion George W. Warvelle in a report to the Grand Council of Illinois in 1892 said:

Possibly the most profound of all the mysteries of Masonry is the origin of its legendary histories and esoteric liturgies: that truly wonderful system of moral symbolism and allegorical teaching which we now denominate as degrees. We know but little concerning them prior to the last half of the last century, and much of the knowledge that has come down to us from that period is, at best, but fragmentary tradition. The Masonic romancer has indeed essayed to depict in glowing colors the scenes and incidents that have marked the course of Masonry from primeval man to the present time, but under the piercing light of critical inquiry his pictures have dissolved like frost before the morning sun. The legend of the Craft, as preserved in the ancient charges, is probably the only authentic information we now possess which ante-dates the beginning of the year 1700, and this but faintly outlines a very few of the many symbolic allegories that vitalize the esoteric rituals of the Masonry of today. Nor have these remarks special reference to the high grades only; they apply to all alike, for the system of speculative Freemasonry, as now practiced, contemplates a progressive expansion of but one thought, and that is the canctity and preservation of the Holy and Ineffable Name. Towards this pivotal principle gravitate all the degrees of Masonry of all rites and systems, and to the elucidation of the mysteries which encompass the subject are they all devoted. Inseparably connected by continuity of thought and design they bear internal evidence of a common origin, and from the meagre historical data now at our command we are led to infer that they assumed their present shape about the middle of the last century.

At the time of the revival, in 1717, there is every reason to believe that there existed no degrees, as that term is now employed, and that the esoteric ceremonials were of the most simple and informal character. The symbolism was crude and undeveloped and the philosophical teachings scarcely more than a suggestion. The fifty years that next ensued were marked by a restless and ever increasing activity. The schism of 1738 produced a keen rivalry that soon begat competition. The Scottish lodges abandoning their operative character entered the speculative field; Ireland did the same; and soon five grand lodges struggled for supremacy in the British Islands. Then it was that the simple legends that formed the basis of the early ceremonial were eagerly seized upon by the enthusiast, the visionary and not infrequently by the schemer. Allegory and symbol pieced out the fragmentary traditions of the Ancient Craft, and imagination furnished historical data where the facts were wanting. Beyond the seas rites and systems arose like the exhalations of magic, and the fundamental ideas of primitive Masonry were expanded to the last stage of attenuation through the extended scale of degrees which in many cases were adopted. These years may well be called the period of the Masonic renaissance. A new impulse was imparted to the fraternity by the development and expansion of its old legends; an impulse that in many cases was made to serve the purposes of the charlatan and trickster, but in the end was productive of the highest good, and from the confused and ill-digested mass that marked this epoch has been evolved the great rites that now dominate the Masonic world.

The fact that the germ of all the degrees of the Lodge, Chapter and Council are formed in the Old Charges of Masonry has been generally overlooked by Masonic writers. Anderson page 111 in the second or 1738 edition of his "Book of Constitutions" says that in the year 1719, "at some private lodges several very valuable manuscripts concerning the Fraternity, their lodges, Regulations, Charges, Secrets, and Usages, were too hastily burnt by scrupulous brothers, that these papers might not fall into strange hands." This statement of Anderson has been denied by some writers, but even if true, a large number of such manuscripts have since been discovered so that to a great extent it is possible to reconstruct the so-called "Legend of the Craft" which is probably the origin of our modern ritual. We are told that this "Legend" was read to the candidate as part of his initiation ceremony and the possession of a copy was a necessary part of a lodge's equipment.

This is not the place to discuss the question as to whether originally there was more than one degree. It is sufficient to say that after the formation of the Grand Lodge at London in 1717 and possibly before, there was a tendency to elaborate the initiatory ceremonies and we soon find two and then three degrees mentioned. When we compare the "Old Charges" with the modern ritual we find simple statements in the former have developed into an elaborate ceremony in the latter, while on the other hand extended accounts in the former are entirely omitted or receive but a bare mention in the Ritual of the three Craft Degrees. However, some of these. are elaborated in the so-called "High Degrees" of the Chapter, Council and the Scottish Rite. For instance, in the Old Charges there are accounts of some valuable Masonic secrets which were lost for a time, but were later recovered. The account of the loss appears in the Craft Degrees, but not the recovery. The means by which they were preserved is told in the Old Charges, but not in the present Craft Ritual. The present so-called higher degrees give an account of the means of preservation and the subsequent recovery. The various Masonic Rites have greatly elaborated and modified the statements as given in the Old Charges, but to no greater extent than the Craft Ceremonies elaborate and modify the account of the loss.

I have defined Freemasonry as "an organized society of men symbolically applying the principles of operative Masonry and architecture to the science and art of character building." In making this application there is a legend which in some form appears in all Masonic Rites. This legend has to do with certain secrets of the Craft which were deposited in a place deemed to be secure in order that they might be preserved from an impending catastrophe. The catastrophe came and for a time the secrets were lost, but were later; recovered. The Old Charges read or recited to the Apprentice as part of his initiation ceremony contained this legend in some form and they also appear in both the Scottish and York Rites in this country, but in no one Body of the Rite does it appear in its complete form. In the so-called York or. American Rite, the loss is exemplified in the first degrees, the steps for preservation in the Cryptic and the recovery in the Capitular Degrees. In the Scottish Rate all these elements appear in some form, not once but many times.

The legend of the search for the Holy Grail, best known in connection with King Arthur and his Round Table, is similar in teaching to the search for the Lost Word and it formed the basis for some of the Masonic High Degrees which sprang up in France following Ramsay's oration in 1737. The "Order of the Round Table" gave place about 135? A. D. to the "Order of the Garter" or as it was sometimes called, the "Order of St. George." There were two Masonic degrees of the same name which were conferred in this country in Columbian Council of New York City from 1810 to 1818 A. D. For this reason we believe Capitular and Cryptic Masons will be interested in a short account of these two Orders.

Order of the Round Table

Mackey's Encyclopedia under the heading "Round Table, King Arthur's," says:

The old English legends, derived from the celebrated chronicle of the twelfth century known as the Brut of England, say that the mythical King Arthur, who died in 542, of a wound received in battle, instituted a company of twenty-four, or, according to some, twelve, of his principal knights, bound to appear at his court on certain solemn days, and meet around a circular table, whence they were called Knights of the Round Table. Arthur is said to have been the institutor of those military and religious orders of chivalry which afterward became so common in the Middle Ages. Into the Order which he established none were admitted but those who had given proofs of their valor; and the knights were bound to defend widows, maidens, and children; to relieve the distressed, maintain the Christian religion, contribute to the support of the church, protect pilgrims, advance honor, and suppress vice. They were to administer to the care of soldiers wounded in the service of their country, and bury those who died, to ransom captives, deliver prisoners, and record all noble enterprises for the honor and renown of the noble Order. King Arthur and his knights have been very generally considered by scholars as mythical; notwithstanding that, many yearn ago Whittaker, in his History of Manchester. attempted to establish the fact of his existence, and to separate the true from the fabulous in his history. The legend has been used by some of the fabricators of irregular Degrees in Freemasonry.

"The fabricators of irregular Degrees in Freemasonry" to whom Mackey refers were probably French as there is no indication that any such degrees originated in England and it is possible that Columbian Council adopted one of these degrees. In order to understand the Masonic significance it is necessary to consider the legends to which Mackey refers.

King Arthur was a traditional British King about whom some marvelous tales were told one of which is that at the battle of Mount Badon, 516 A. D., he single-handed vanquished 960 men. The many legends in which he is a central figure were popular all over Europe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says:

That stories of Arthur and his knights had, before this, travelled as far afield as Italy is proved by the Arthurian carvings on the north doorway of Modena Cathedral (early 12th century) and the fact that Signor Rajna has discovered the names of Arthur and Gawain as witnesses to deeds belonging to the first quarter of the 12th century. It is clear from the character of the documents that the persons attesting could not have been born later than 1080, which would argue a popular knowledge of Arthurian tradition in the 11th century.

Merlin, a magician of half demon, half human parentage, is a central figure of many of the Arthurian legends. One of these stories about his revealing the insecure foundations of Vortigern's tower is based on a similar story of the demon Asmodens and King Solomon.

However, the stories which most prominently connect the legends of King Arthur's Court with Freemasonry are those which deal with the search for the Holy Grail. Mackey says on this subject:

Derived, probably, from the old French, sang real, the true blood; although other etymologies have been proposed. The San Graal is represented, in legendary history, as being an emerald dish in which our Lord had partaken of the last supper. Joseph of Arimathea, having further sanctified it by receiving into it the blood issuing from the five wounds, afterward carried it to England. Subsequently, it disappeared in consequence of the sins of the land, and was long lost sight of. When Merlin established the Knights of the Round Table, he told them that the San Graal should be discovered by one of them, but that he only could see it who was without sin. One day, when Arthur wad-holding a high feast with his Knights of the Round Table, the San Graal suddenly appeared to him 'and to all his chivalry, and then as suddenly disappeared. The consequence was that all the knights took upon them a solemn vow to seek the Holy Dish. The Quest of the San Graal became one of the most prominent myths of what has been called the Arthuric Cycle. The old French romance of the Morte d' Arthur, or Death of Arthur, which was Published by Carton in 1485, contains the adventures of Sir Galahad in search of the San Graal.

There are several other romances of which this wonderful vessel, invested with the most marvelous properties, is the subject. The Quest of the San Graal very forcibly reminds us of the Search for the Lost Word. The symbolism is precisely the same — the loss and the recovery being but the lesson of death and eternal life — so that the San Graal in the Arthurian Myth, and the Lost Word in the Masonic Legend, seem to be identical in object and design. Hence it is not surprising that a French writer, De Caumont, should have said (Bulletin Monument, page 129) that "The poets of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, who composed the romances of the Round Table, made Joseph of Arimathea the chief of a military and religious Freemasonry."

The account given in the Encyclopedia Britannica is not written from a Masonic standpoint and therefore the allusions which Masons will recognize are the more striking. We quote as follows:

Grail, The Holy, the famous talisman romance, the object of quest on the part of the knights of the Round Table. It is mainly, if not wholly, known to English readers through the medium of Malory's translation of the French Quete del Saint Graal, where it is the cup or chalice of the Last Supper, in which the blood which flowed from the wounds of the crucified Saviour has been miraculously preserved. Students of the original romances are aware that there is in these texts an extraordinary diversity of statement as to the origin and nature of the Grail, and that it is extremely difficult to determine the precise value of the differing versions.

After briefly citing several versions and refusing to accept the theory of the Christian origin of the legend the writer says:

On the other hand, it is now very generally recognized that the machinery of the earlier romances — the Fisher king, sick, wounded or in extreme old age, whose incapacity entails disastrous consequences upon his land and folk, both alike ceasing to be fruitful; the quester, whose task is to heal the king, and restore fruitfulness to the land — bear a striking resemblance to the cults associated with such deities as Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, the object of which was the renewal of vegetation and the preservation of life. Further, we now know that a certain early Christian sect, the Naassenes, identified the Logos of the Christian worship with these earlier deities, practised a triple initiation into the sources of life, physical and spiritual, and boldly proclaimed themselves to be "alone the true Christians, accomplishing the mystery at the Third Gate:" The evidence for the connection between Christianity and the Attis cult in particular is clear, and have been commented upon by A. B. Cook in the second volume of his monumental work on Zeus. Scholarly opinion is steadily coming round to the view that the only interpretation of the obscurities and apparent contradictions of the Grail story is to regard it as the confused record of a form of worship, semi- Christian, semi-Pagan, at one time practised in these islands, the central object of which was initiation into the sources of life, physical and spiritual. This, and this alone, will account for the diverse forms assumed by the Grail, the symbol of that source. Thus it may be the dish from which the worshippers partook of the communal feast; it may be the cup in juxtaposition with the lance, symbols of the male and female energies, source of physical life, and well known phallic emblems. It may be the "Holy" Grail, source of spiritual life, the form of which is not defined, and which is wrought of no material substance — " 'twas not of wood, nor of any manner of metal, nor was it in any wise of stone, nor of horn, nor of bone"; it is a spiritual object, to be spiritually discerned, but always, and under any form, a source of life. Thus Wolfram's stone, the mere sight of which preserves all inhabitants of the Grail castle, not only in life, but in youth, is what is popularly known as "the philosopher's stone," that stone of the alchemist which was the source of all life. Even the bleeding head of Peredur may be interpreted on the same lines. A passage in the York Breviary, for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, states "Caput Johannis in disco signat Corpus Christi quo pascimur in sancto alteri." When the Grail had once been elevated to the purely Christian orthodox plane, as was done by Borron, and became the source, no longer of physical, but of spiritual life, such a substitution, by one familiar source, or one before him, had introduced the alchemical stone. As the record of the perennial, too often unsuccessful, quest for the source of life, all the puzzling features of the Grail story are capable of satisfactory explanation. There is no other clue to the maze.

Note the reference to initiation into the sources of life and accomplishment of the mysteries at the Third Gate.

While the legends deal with British (not English) heroes, they come principly from French sources, and the Masonic degrees of the Round Table are probably also of French origin.

Order of the Garter

The date of the founding of the Order of the Garter is uncertain. The dates assigned vary from 1344 to 1357, the latter date according to the records of Columbian Council, having been selected by the inventor of the Masonic degree of that name. It superseded the Order of the Round Table in the Fourteenth Century, but Masonic degrees of both Orders were worked contemporaneously in Columbian Council.

The Order of the Round Table consisted of twenty-four knights with the King at their head; the Order of the Garter of twenty-four knights with the king and the Black Prince or twenty-six in all. Possibly this is the origin of the number twenty-seven which could not be increased, the three Grand Masters taking the place of the king, or the king and prince.

In this connection the robes of the Order are of interest to Masons because they were embordered with garters with a star on the left shoulder. The expression "the star and garter" referred to this Order in much the same way as "the square and compasses" refer to the Masonic Order.

There are many stories told as to the origin of the Order of the Garter, the best known being that the Countess of Salisbury dropt her garter while dancing with the king who picked it up. The courtiers passed some indelicate jokes about it and the king angrily said, "Shame to him who evil thinks," and added he would make the garter so glorious that all would desire it. The story has no foundation in fact. According to the American Encyclopedia it had its beginning in a society called "the company of St. George" instituted by King Edward III "with the design of furnishing soldiers of fortune to assist King Edward in asserting his claim to the crown of France." We here have a parallel of the later attempts of the exiled Stuarts to use Masonry as a means of recovering the throne of England, and it is significant that the "Old Pretender" took the name of St. George.

These two old Orders unknown to modern Masons are of interest as having had a connection with Masonry and as illustrating the search for the source of real life and the yielding up of life rather than forfeit integrity.

In our modern Masonic degrees we are told that there was an agreement among our three Most Excellent Grand Masters that the Word would not be communicated until the Temple was completed and then only in the presence of all three. We are also told how the Word was lost, but later recovered because of certain efforts which had been made for its preservation. In all this we find the real symbolism of the York Rite degrees and its relation to the Masonic system of instruction. In the Symbolic Degrees, we have an account of the loss of the Word with a promise of its recovery; in the Chapter we search and find it, while full enlightenment is found only in the explanation of the Cryptic Degrees. In the Lodge we search but do not find; in the Chapter, while engaged in the faithful discharge of our dark task we find it, but do not learn the significance of what we find; while in the Council we learn how the Word was preserved and what it means. In the Royal Degree we learn that whatever may be the uncertainties of life, to the faithful Craftsman the reward is sere; in the Select Degree we are taught that the Word is to be preserved in the Secret Vault of the Soul and we learn why, when not looking for it, but while engaged in the performance of our daily duties we found it; while in the Super-Excellent Degree we find that catastrophe overtakes the unfaithful whether he be prince or pauper, and that without fidelity success is impossible.

Mackey says the Word symbolizes Divine Truth, but we believe it is more than that. It symbolizes all the attributes of Deity, yea even God himself, the knowledge of Whom makes the possessor divine. It is the Word as defined by St. John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "All things were made by him: and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of Men. And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness comprehended it not."

Compare this with another passage of Scripture we as Masons so often hear: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters: And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God." (Jno. 17:3.)

As, at the voice of God, from the formless void came forth light, so from the darkness of an unformed character, at the command of the Master, will emerge the light of truth, by which the Mason may see the way he must go in his search for more light, and the work he must do in the uprearing of his spiritual temple, that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Yet the Word, the complete knowledge of God, can only be his when his temple is completed and he has passed through the gate of death to the place of wages, refreshment and rest. Even then it can only be communicated to him if his temple of the present life has been properly constructed, well proportioned and erected on the eternal foundation of truth and right.

We have been told that the Word could only be communicated in the presence of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, and in the absence of one of these the Word was lost. Here we have a symbol of one of the greatest truths in human life, namely that a partial development is a one sided development and produces a deformed, not a perfect character. The Pillars of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty represent the three phases of a man's character, his intellect, his will and his feeling or sensibilities. The Word symbolizing perfection cannot be attained if Wisdom, Strength and Beauty are not all present and in perfect accord. Though a man may have a will strong enough to resist all inducements to swerve from the course he has marked out and though his finer sensibilities may be fully developed, yet if he have not wisdom to choose the proper course it profiteth him nothing; though he may have the Wisdom of Solomon and lack strength of will he is as a reed shaken by the wind and he can accomplish nothing; and though he may be all wise and have the strength of the Almighty, if he lack the ability to appreciate goodness, beauty, holiness, love, service, in short the enobling qualities of the soul he may become a very devil.

The tragedies of character building center around the men who insist on developing one or two of these phases of character at the expense of the others or the other. The man who takes this course cannot see that by so doing he fails to properly develop the very quality in which he takes so much pride. He is not truly wise who fails to realize that a one sided development is not perfection. He who prides himself on his strength of will may be but a stubborn fool. Even when directed by an intelligent mind he should know that pride of either intellect or will may be a stain on an otherwise lovely character. But the greatest tragedy and the one most frequently experienced is the demand of the Word from the Pillar of Beauty; the demand that life's development shall be through fertile meads and pleasant valleys, that we shall lie on downy beds of ease and that life's harsher and soul strengthening experiences shall pass us by. This experience comes to us in many ways and in various guises. It is seen in the struggle for reputation regardless of character, in the school boy who centers his efforts on getting a passing grade rather than a mastery of his course, in the man who will cheat if he thinks he will not be found out, and in the many ways that we demand that life shall yield to us the things we desire rather than those we need.

Sad indeed is the truth that he who persists in demanding that life shall bring to him only pleasures, by that very course, destroys the only means by which happiness can be attained. He who seeks pleasure alone can never enjoy the pleasures of life. This is well illustrated in George Eliott's novel Romola in which there is a character very loving and very desirous of giving pleasure, but determined to avoid all the disagreeable phases of life. The result was catastrophe and ruin. The closing chapter of this story relates a conversation between that man's little son Lillo and Romola. In response to his question "What am I to be?" Romola replies:

"What should you like to be, Lillo? You might be a scholar. My father was a scholar, you know, and taught me a great deal. That is the reason why I can teach you."

"Yes," said Lillo, rather hesitatingly. "But he is old and blind in the picture. Did he have a great deal of glory?"

"Not much, Lillo. The world was not always very kind to him, and he saw meaner men than himself put into higher places, because they could flatter and say what was false. And then, his dear son thought it right to leave him and become a monk; and after that, my father, being blind and lonely, felt unable to do the things that would have made his learning of greater use to men, so that he might have still lived in his works after he was in his grave."

"I should not like that sort of life," said Lillo. "I should like to be something that would make me a great man, and very happy besides -something that would not hinder me from having a good deal of pleasure."

"That is not easy, my Lillo. It is only a poor sort of happiness that could ever come by caring very much about our own narrow pleasures. We can only have the highest happiness, such as goes along with being a great man, by having wide thoughts, and much feeling for the rest of the world as well as ourselves; and this sort of happiness often brings so much pain with it, that we can only tell it from pain by its being what we would choose before everything else, because our souls see it is good. There are so many things wrong and difficult in the world, that no man can be great — he can hardly keep himself from wickedness — unless he gives up thinking much about pleasure or rewards, and gets strength to endure what is hard and painful. My father had the greatness that belongs to integrity; he chose poverty and obscurity rather than falsehood. And there was Fra Giroloma — you know why I keep tomorrow sacred; he had the greatness which belongs to a life spent in struggling against powerful wrongs, and in trying to raise men to the highest deeds they are capable of. And so, my Lillo, if you mean to act nobly and seek to know the best things God has put within reach of men, you must learn to fix your mind on that end, and not on what will happen to you because of it. And remember, if you were to choose something lower, and make it the rule of your life to seek your own pleasure and escape from what is disagreeable, calamity might come just the same; and it would be calamity falling on a base mind, which is the one form of sorrow that has no balm in it, and that may well make a man say — 'It would have been better for me if I had never been born."'

But it is not only the loss of the Word through the sin of the unfaithful craftsmen, seeking to obtain the Word in illegitimate ways that is symbolized by the Legend of our Secret Vault. It seemed that the Word was lost in the destruction of the Pillar of Beauty, but such loss was only temporary. To him, who feared such a catastrophe would occur, the Master said a way would be provided, and so to the faithful workman seeking the Word in a lawful manner and fearful that death will intervene before it can be imparted, the promise is given that the reward is sure. Death indeed may intervene, since all must die; we may not live to see our temple completed; but if that happens the Word, preserved, through burial in the secret vault of the soul, will in due time be obtained. The strong hand of death can only reduce us to the level of the grave, but the Almighty Master will raise us and exalt us to the companionship of just men made perfect. There the temple will be seen completed; there the scales of doubt and darkness will fall from our eyes; there we shall receive the Word and there we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

In order that it may not be forever lost, the Word is preserved in the ark of God's promises and hidden in the inmost recesses of the heart. As the Psalmist says: "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." That we may know the Word when we find it, we must search the Great Light of Masonry which contains the key to its proper understanding, and then the light will shine, the truth be revealed and though now we know in part, then we shall know even as also we are known.

May the Master's Word be known, may certainty be attained? Yes indeed for thus do we find it written in Masonry's Great Light:

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah — I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, — for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah. (Jer. 31: 31-34.)