Brotherhood.

A brotherhood is a fraternity or close association or fellowship, usually with mutual ties or obligations of aid, assistance, or encouragement. The early Chr*stians, in contradistinction to practically all prior r*ligions, except a few, such as the Essenes, called themselves a brotherhood, in compliance with Chr*st’s command, ”Love ye one another.” The name, brotherhood, was later adopted by gilds, professions, monastic orders, and other societies of less closely knit character. The principal tenets of Freemasonry are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, thus, indicating the interrelation of brotherhood and mutual aid. The Prestonian lecture of the First Degree states: ”By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family,--the high and the low, the rich and the poor,--who, as created by one almighty parent, and inhabitants of the same planet, are to aid, support and protect each other. On this principle Masonry unites men of every country, sect and opinion; and causes true friendship to exist among those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.”