XII INTKODUCTION. 



Let your name be hung. The sfcatutes and concerns of the Hungleague are handed down from 

 man to man, and in the red-flower pavilion you have bound yourself by an oath." 



So we find, with a few exceptions, in the formulary of oath, and in the statutes and laws of 

 this league, a spirit of fraternity, devotion, filiality and piousness, which offers not the least idea 

 of rebellion or murder; and on every page the member of the Hungleague is reminded of the 

 object: //Obey Heaven and act righteously." It is written on the second wall of the lodge, 

 whilst the cosmopolitic spirit of the league is expressed by the words on the fourth wall: //Ex- 

 treme eonversion, which blends with Heaven." 



Fraternal love and faith are also the first masonic duties. A fragment of a harangue to a 



serving brother may serve as an illustration : „ You ought , with immutable 



faith, to be devoted to the lodge and to each member. You have been received into the bond 

 of the brethern as a brother, and have solemnly bound yourself to serve all the brethern, in 

 every case, as a faithful brother. Fulfil inviolably this sacred duty, then you may be sure that 

 v/e will never forget, in word or deed, that you are our brother. From this day forth you 

 belong to us, you are a member of our lodge, and you will be and remain so until your 

 death, whilst you ought to redeem through your whole life the promise just nowgiven, and may 

 not deviate from yourself nor from your word. Not only before the lodge but, especially, be- 

 fore the profane world, you ought to show, by your actions and behaviour, that the first ma- 

 sonic duty, which can, hoAvever, be practised by the meanest mason, is fraternal love and fra- 

 ternal faith " 0) 



So, too, says merzdort?, in his paper //The symbols, history, laws and object of Masonry" 

 (Leipzig, 1836): //Masonry considers every man as a brother, and excludes no one who believes 

 in God, morality and immortality." ( 2 ) 



The so oft repeated //Obey Heaven and act righteously" accords weil with the saying of 

 the Constitution-book of the lodge „ Archimedes" in Altenburg: //Act as a man who is pene- 

 trated with the purest esteem for equity and duty for God and man, should act/'' ( 3 ) 



From this it results clearly, that masonry is, and ought to be, cosmopolitic; and this is also 

 recognised by niasons. This cosmopolitism is expressed in the name of the Chinese league: 

 the character TLung , ( 4 ) composed of loater ( 3 ) and many , ( G ) signifies inunchtion'; and, in a tropi- 

 cal sense, great, extensive, boundless. So it means that the league intends to inundate the 

 world with the blessings of the primary virtues; that every one who intends sincerily the 

 liberation of his fellow creatures from tyranny and immorality, is, in fact, a member of the lea- 

 gue, whose influence, therefore, is immensely great — boundless like an inundation. 



The fundamental principle, or intrinsic virtue of Man is contained in these five words : j^Zl fj|| fl(f| 



^ ^g Humanity, righteousness , propriety, wisdom and faith. Hence it is said that man stands 

 between Heaven and Earth, aud that one and the same principle is common to these three powers. 

 (i) Symb. d. Freim. TI, 261. ( 2 ) Ibid. I, 375. ( 3 ) Ibid. I, 376. 



