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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Masonry (Freemasonry) |
 | | While a Mason according to the old Constitution was above all obliged to be true to God and Church, avoiding heresies, his "religious" duties, according to the new type, are essentially reduced to the observation of the "moral law" practically summed up in the rules of "honour and honesty" as to which "all men agree". |
 | | All instructed Masons agree in the objective import of this Masonic principle of "Humanity", according to which belief in dogmas is a matter of secondary importance, or even prejudicial to the law of universal love and tolerance. |
 | | Of the Masonic rule -- brotherly love, relief, and truth -- certainly the two former, especially as understood in the sense of mutual assistance in all the emergencies of life, is for most of the candidates the principal reason for joining. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/09771a.htm (15161 words) |
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