The laws of a moral society are there to protect man’s inalienable, God-given rights. If we are going to live in such a society and partake in all the qualities that it has to offer us then we too must also live within the laws governing such a society.
The administration of such laws is a very sacred duty and the commitment to justice by its administration is the very foundation for a government of free people. Furthermore, those given the job of determining whether a just society’s laws have been broken must act impartially, without prejudice, uprightly, with patients and charity.
I fully believe in the adage by Hermes from the Emerald Tablet, “What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like that which is above. To make the miracle of the one thing.” We are a reflection of God and the wrong done to another is a wrong done to us all and an affront to the nature of God. The laws and justice against such a wrongdoing are given to us by God in order to better live within the laws enacted by Him as the creator and legislator of the universe.
“Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6)
The most obvious and grave injustice is the taking of the life of another human being. Given that we are a reflection of God when the unjust murders another human being it is a murder of a creation that is most like God—and the most loved by God, and is therefore an attack upon God Himself.
In masonry we seek the most effective method of enforcing just laws and the prevention of wrong and or injustice. I believe that we find this justice in temperance between the egocentric and the altruistic. Just as an unjust man will find his ruin in a just society so to will a just government find itself when a corrupt hierarchy overseeing its administration.
Socrates contends, and I agree, that justice is the principal virtue of the human soul. Justice serves as one of the four columns of the cardinal virtues of mankind, (justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude) and is very closely linked to the practice of charity. Justice then connects the human experience with others regardless of status, color, creed, wealth or standing. Therefore, Justice is fundamental to virtue because it regulates our understanding of man and his reflection of the divine spirit of God.
I find that there is no better curriculum with regard to the importance of Justice and its influence upon our country, city and neighborhood than Freemasonry. We as masons must seek daily a way to hold these lessons dear and articulate them well within the lodge so that we may carry these sacred lessons home to bear fruit within our own communities.
Larry Roberts 32° KCCH, Portland Valley Treasurer. Member of Modesto Lodge 206, Esoterika Lodge 227 and Research Lodge #198.