Nothing in the human story is more striking than the persistent, passionate, profound protest of man against death. Even in the earliest time we see him daring to stand erect at the gates of the grave, disputing its verdict, refusing to let it have the last word, and making an argument on behalf of his soul.
Belief in the immortality of the soul is the basic, fundamental law, the eternal lesson, and the foundation of Freemasonry. To every Freemason, the soul of man is immortal. Whether it came from and will return to God, and what its continued mode of existence hereafter, each judges for himself. Freemasonry was not made to settle it.
Here lies the great secret of Freemasonry — that it makes man aware of that divinity within him, wherefrom his whole life takes its beauty and meaning, and inspires him to follow and obey it. Once a man learns this deep secret, life is new. The Masonic conception of immortality as embodied in our ritual in its beautiful simplicity, hope, and faith, satisfies the instinctive cravings born of something more than merely the dreams of man. As the acacia never yields to the changing seasons, nor gives up its hold on life under the attacks of winter, so the soul never yields to the vicissitudes of mortal life, nor surrenders its existence under the attacks of death.
The Master’s Lecture on Immortality. Evans Lodge №524, Privately Printed 1923