When we…knock at the portals of the Temple to be initiated into the mysteries of Masonry…three reassuring words are dinned into our ears: Science, Virtue, and Labor...
”Science?” You may ask, what science is found in the Masonic Temple? Science might have taken refuge in it during barbarous epochs in order to erect the sublime architectural monuments of the past centuries, just as the fine arts did in the quiet peaceful cloisters of the monasteries, but today science is free, open to all…Science is free as the light which is its inspiration! Masonry has been its wet nurse, has guarded it like a sacred flame while the storm raged, and when calmness returned, it surrendered it to the world to illumine it with its rays!...
“Virtue, Virtue! You are nothing but a name!” said Cato nineteen centuries ago…let us see what we understand by virtue, because it embodies an idea which is on the lips of everyone and on which not all peoples are agreed.
To the Chinese, virtue is respect for the elders…To the Indian it is…considering a saint one who can remain in a fixed posture for months…To the Persians it is purity of life…To the Hebrews it consists of fear of Jehova…To the Greeks virtue consists of stoicism…and for this reason the Spartan consecrated to it all his dearest sentiments…To the Buddhists it is kindness and love for one’s fellowmen. On the other hand, to Rome virtue is integrity…to die for the laws, the name, and the glory of Rome. Christianity, the essence and sum total of all religions, reflected in her virtues all the merits of the others and sanctified humility, stoicism, purity, adding to these, like a true Oriental, charity – a virtue that later Mohammedanism elevated to a sublime height.
In the world of professional stage magic, few names resonate with such acclaim as:
