...every Mason should be able to answer with thorough confidence. The initiate is taught that Masonry is a peculiar system of morality, "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," but after committing this definition to memory, in order to pass his examination, it too often happens...

...etically. But when we read in a famous Masonic Handbook of the nineteenth century that "Masonry is a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols" and "by no means a religion" (as John Hamill added in his recent book), this is an official, institutional...