Theophilanthropy : A ( Masonic ) Plan for Deist Worship
distinguish these atoms known as men be not the signals for hate and for persecution ; that those who light candles in broad daylight to worship you tolerate those who are content with the light of your sun ; that those who cover their dress in white cloth to show that we must love you not hate those who say the same thing under a coat of black wool ; that it be the same to adore you in a dialect formed from an ancient language or in a dialect more modern ; that those whose dress is colored red or purple , and who rule over a little parcel of a little heap of the mud of this world , and who possess a few round pieces of a certain metal , enjoy without pride that which they call grandeur and wealth , and that the others watch them without envy , for you know that in these vanities there is nothing to envy , nor to be proud of .
Let all men remember that they are brothers ! Let them hold in horror tyranny exercised over souls , as they hold in contempt the banditry that seizes by force the fruits of peaceful labor and industry ! If the scourges of war are inevitable , let us not hate one another in the bosom of peace , and let us use the brief moment of our existence to praise in a thousand different languages , from Siam to California , your kindness which has given us this moment . that you have established in your wisdom and that you maintain with your providence , and I submit myself forever to this universal order .
I do not ask you for the power to do good . For you have given me this power and , along with it , conscience to love good , reason to understand it , and liberty to choose it . I would not then have any excuse if I were to do evil . I make before you the commitment to use my freedom only in order to do good , no matter what attractions evil might seem to offer .
I will never address indiscreet prayers to you . You know the creatures that have come from your hand , their needs no more escape your eyes than do their most secret thoughts . I pray only that you redress the mistakes of the world and my own mistakes , for almost all the evils that afflict men come from their mistakes .
Full of confidence in your justice and in your kindness , I resign myself to whatever comes , my sole wish being that your will be done .
Appendix 2
The invocation of the Father of Nature is the principal prayer of the Theophilanthropists 31 :
Father of nature , I bless your kindnesses and I thank you for your gifts .
I admire the beautiful order of things
31
Manuel des Théophilanthropes …, op . cit ., pp . 29-31 .
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