MA.SON'::IJ I1RYHES.
505
nee of tllS.t holy ~ame, which is the most important feature of the system of Mas.:>nry; as the alI-pervad ing symbol of that Divine trut·h which it is the pro fe~sed object of every Mason to discover. Profanity in a Mason, therefore, while it is an insult to the majesty of our Maker, is aIdo an irreverence for ~lle religious design of the Masonic science, and as sucb is a Masonic crime. Universal benevolence, which Bishop Cumberland calls" the prime law of nature," is the necessary result of love of our neighbor. Cruelty to one's in· feriors and dependents, uneharitableness to the poor and needy, and a general misanthropical neglect of our duty as men to our fellow, beings, exhibiting itself in extreme selfishness and indifference to the comfort or happiness of all others, are offences against the moral law, and therefore Masonic crimes. Job, in one of his affecting remonstrances, has beautifully enumerated the vices which flow from a want of sympathy with our fellowoobeings, anyone of which would, if committed by a Mason, be a fit¥ ting cause for the exercise of Masonic discipline. " If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherles8 have not eaten thereof; if I have seen any perish Cor want of clothing, or any poor without a cover.. ing ; if his loins have not blessed me, and he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, then let evil overtake me."· • Job. chap. xul. 16-20.
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