Albert Pike misquoted

ALBERT PIKE

MORALS AND DOGMA

Albert Pike’s Morals & Dogma (1871) can easily be quoted out of context by anti-masons attempting to prove Freemasonry is satanic, luciferian, pagan or gnostic. Morals & Dogma quotes extensively from the texts of earlier authors. As a poorly organized, unindexed, and unreferenced, study in comparative religion, it is only by carefully noting context that the reader can determine where Pike is voicing an opinion and where he is simply detailing the opinions and beliefs of other writers, other cultures, or other times.

Not content with merely quoting Pike out of context, some anti-masonic writers will either concoct their own "quotes" or resort to the discredited "Lucifer is God" hoax of confessed fraud Léo Taxil.

The following is a short and incomplete selection of current attempts by anti-mason Texxe Marrs, in Circle of Intrigue, Living Truth Ministries, to prove Freemasonry is an evil and pagan religion.

MISINFORMATION

FACT

Logical fallacy
"As Adolf Hitler once taught, such men are not subject to the ordinary morals of inferior civilization. Being gods, they are beyond good and evil. Hitler’s twisted theology led he and his minions to commit the most heinous of crimes, yet they believed themselves to be immune from common standards of decency and righteousness. The SS initiate was said to be 'perfect' in his nobility and racial characteristics,"

"Such unholy concepts are not unknown in Freemasonry, for we read in Albert Pike’s works frequent mention of the 'Lodge of Perfection' Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, p. 31." [p. 221]

There is no mention of a "Lodge of Perfection" on page 31 of Morals & Dogma. Equating an uncited reference to Hitler’s beliefs with a non-existent quote from Albert Pike’s book is a false or spurious correllation fallacy. The Lodge of Perfection confers the 14° of the Scottish Rite which refers to the perfection of God. The phrase "Lodge of Perfection" only appears twice in the book: once on the title page and once on page 855.

Misquote
"His statement came at the very end of his classic book, frequently touted as the 'Bible' of Freemasonry. There, on page 861, Pike discloses the ultimate goal of the international Masonic order and, indeed, of its hidden, overseer group, the Illuminati:

"The Royel Secret, of which you are a Prince, if you are a true adept... is that which the Sohar terms The Mystery of the Balance. It is the Secret of the Universal Equilibrium... Such, my Brother is the true Royal Secret, which makes possible, and shall at length make real, the Holy Empire of true Masonic Brotherhood," [p. 96]

True quote
"Such, my Brother, is the TRUE WORD of a Master Mason; such the true ROYAL SECRET, which makes possible, and shall at length make real, the HOLY EMPIRE of true Masonic Brotherhood. Gloria Dei Est Celare Verbum. Amen,"
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, p. 861.

It is only called the "Bible of Freemasonry" by non-masons.

There is no mention of international Freemasonry or the Illuminati.

Quote out of context
"Every lodge is a temple of religion and its teaching instruct in religion"
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, p. 213

Full quote
Every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion and its teachings are instruction in religion. For here are inculcated disinterestedness, affection, toleration, devolvedness, patriotism, truth, a generous sympathy with those who suffer and mourn, pity for the fallen, mercy for the erring, relief for those in want, Faith, Hope, Charity. Here we meet as brethren to learn to know and love each other. Here we greet each other gladly, are lenient to each other’s faults, regardful of each other’s feelings, ready to relieve each other’s wants," Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, pp. 213-214.

False quote
"Masonry is the sucessor to the Mysteries"
Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma. p. 624.

No such quote on page cited.

Misquote out of context
"Masonry is identical with the Ancient Mysteries"
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, p. 624.

Full quote
"Though Masonry is identical with Ancient Mysteries, it is so in this qualified sense; that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy; the ruins only of their grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social events and political circumstances,"
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, page 624

False quote
The Sun God finally victorious over the Serpent,
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, page 496:

No such quote on page cited.

Misquote
"we reproduce the speculations of the Philosophers, the Kabalists, the Mystagogues and the Gnostics"
Albert Pike 329.

Full quote
"We teach the truth of none of the legends we recite. They are to us, but parables and allegories, involving and enveloping Masonic instruction; and vehicles of useful and interesting information. They represent the different phases of the human mind, its efforts and struggles to comprehend nature, God, the government of the Universe, the permitted existence of sorrow and evil. To teach us wisdom, the folly of endeavoring to explain to ourselves, that which we are not capable of understanding, we reproduce the speculations of the Philosophers, the Kabalists, the Mystagogues and the Gnostics."
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma p. 329.

Misquote out of context
"The Sun God rides on the wing horse, but the serpent bites the horse’s heels"
Albert Pike, Morals & Dogma, page 499:

The entire page details a Persian myth regarding the changing of the seasons. It has nothing to do with the serpent of Genesis or Revelation as Marrs claims.

© 1871-2023 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M. Updated: 2006/05/03
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