Freemasonry teaches the universal principle of unselfish friendship and promotes those moral precepts which are in keeping with all great faiths. In pursuing this doctrine, the following, though not exclusive, is considered to be basic:

• Mankind was created by one God.

• This one God is the author of all life.

• God's existence it revealed to man through faith and the Book of Holy Scriptures.

• The Book of Holy Scriptures is the Ultimate Authority or Great Light of Freemasonry.

• The soul of man is immortal.

• Man's commitment to Divine Providence determines his destiny.

• Man's reverence for God is best exemplified by his actions toward his fellow man.

• Considering the universality of Freemasonry, its teachings cannot be defined in any single statement or established profile. The following is considered to be representative of its fundamental precepts and constitutes basic:

     Man's first duty is to love and revere God, implore His aid in all laudable undertakings, and seek His guidance through prayer, embrace and practice the tenets of religion, extend charity and sympathy to all mankind, shield and support the widow and orphan, defend virtue, respect the aged, honor the bonds of friendship, protect the helpless, lift up the oppressed, comfort the downcast, restore dignity to the rejected, respect the laws of government, promote morality, and add to the common stock of knowledge and understanding.

E. Dean Osborne 33°