f widely
divergent creeds, it is clear that however much mysticism has been
identified with special spheres of religious thought and activity, it is
independent of all.

But while Masonry would appear to regard the evolution of our physical,
intellectual, and moral nature as the best preparation for that larger
existence which is included in its central doctrine, and would thus work
inward from without, mysticism deems that the evolution of the spiritual
man and the production of a human spirit at one with the divine,
constitute the missing condition requisite for the reconstruction of
humanity, and would thus work outward from within. Neither Mason nor
Mystic, however, can ignore either method. The one supplements the
other; and seeing that the processes of mysticism are distinct from what
is still a subject of derision under the name of transcendental
phenomena, as they are wholly philosophical and interior, not to be
appreciated by the senses, a secret experience within the depths and
heights of our spiritual being, an institution which believes in God and
immortality, and by the fact of immortality in the subsistence of an
intimate relation between the spirit and God, will not look suspiciously
on mysticism when it comes to understand it better.

I have spoken of Masonic symbolism, and the method of instruction in
Masonry is identical with that of mysticism; both systems are "veiled in
allegory and illustrated by symbolism." The significance of this
correspondence would not be measurably weakened were there no similarity
in the typology, no trace of mystic influence in Masonic rite and
legend. But there is a resemblance, and the types are often identical,
though the accredited interpretation varies. Masonry, as a fact,
interprets the types which belong to our own science according to the
criterion of ethics, and thus provides a prolegomena to Mysticism, as
ethics are a necessary introduction to the inner science of the soul.
There is naturally a minor body of conventional typology which is
tolerably exclusive to the craft, but the grand and universal emblems,
characteristic of symbolical Masonry as distinct from the operative
art--these are our own emblems. The All-Seeing Eye, the Burning Star,
the Rough and Perfect Ashlar, the Point within a Circle, the Pentalpha,
the Seal of Solomon, the Cubic Stone--all these belong to the most lofty
and arcane order of occult symbolism, but in mystic science they
illumine more