The Moral And Religious Origin Of Freemasonry:

lead an anti-social life , to which is given—I do not well know the reason why •—the designation of " savage . " It is indisputable that the human race ought to be considered under two general conditions—the state of nature and the social state ; but we must take good care not to apportion too small a part to the first , because it is distant from us , in order to enrich the other amidst which we live . In investigating

mankind from this double point of view , we must seek to ascertain by what ' revolutions of ideas and circumstances man has passed from one to the other of these two conditions . Those who have pretended , and still pretend , to circumscribe the state of Nature to what is properly called " savage life "—which is not more savage than is Nature herself—have committed , and still commit a very grave mistake , for the true state of Nature could onl y cease when the word " nationality " was for the first time pronounced . It has always been said that societ y derived its origin from the collecting together of many men—yes , origin , for if we would

go up to the beginning of everything , we could onl y stop at God himself . But here the matter bears quite another aspect ; here we have to treat of a material constituted fact , and for myself , I maintain that this fact—this society—had no existence until nationality was established . The primitive assembling together of families formed only a temporary community , which , being liable to be dissolved from one moment to another ,

could not constitute a society . The formation of tribes , although on a grand scale , until the taking possession hy these same tribes of a given region , must naturally undergo the same consequences , because it was constituted according to the same principle as the community of families . The history of the Israelites furnishes us with a proof of this , for that people never . found themselves in their true social condition until they were put in possession of the promised land , and had established a general constitution of state and a'overnment .

The word " Society " only implying an united people , living under the rule of the same institutions , and having each individually the same rights to exercise , and the same duties to fulfil , I have then reason to aver that the social state only commenced when nationalities were constituted . To take a man in a state of nature , bring him into society , give to him b y the knowledge of his duties and of the sacred principles of social order the

means of acquiring the qualities which would befit him to associate with his equals , and lead him to perfection and happiness , here you most certainly behold the intention and the ori gin of the first initiatory ceremony of the primitive schools in which they laboured to mould man for society by teaching him to repress his harmful passions by the exercise of those which are useful .

The writings and monuments which remain to us from antiquity teach that in the first period of known societies some man superior to his fellows turned them from a wandering life and of partial community to adopt the social state . He was at the same time the founder of the religious mysteries , which formed , in his hands , the separation between the sacred and the profane . The same man was the inventor of music—of the harp—the first chant of the divinit

y and the discovery of all the harmonies are attributed to him . Behold , then , the associations of men and the establishment of mysteries forming an identical institution through the cares of a sage—inspired , doubtless , by the Almighty . This institution has maintained itself , and the ceremony which accompanies this admission of men into society became , amongst allcivilised peoples , au act at once political and reli gious . _ But societ y soon degenerated . The need of rendering it perfect made itself felt by those who had preserved the ideas of morality as a fruit of primitive institutions ; the necessity of re-establishing the institution in the