Importance Of The First Degree.

IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE .

WERE I asked to decide as to whicb one of the several Masonic degrees was the most important , as to which one calls for the most careful explanation at the hands of the Worshipful Master , I would answer at once " The Entered Apprentice . " It is true that this degree does not usually receive much consideration , the trend of interest setting fairly towards the

Master ' s degree . In many excellent Lodges the E . A . lecture is ordinarily postponed to a more convenient season , which lags behind the awakening zeal of the young Brother until the pressure of circumstances and his natural desire for more light compel him to deem it of little importance . Anciently , we are informed , it was customary for the newly-made Brother to

abide for a period within the walls of the Entered Apprentice Lodge , there to be instructed in the first principles of correct Masonic life and conduct . He was nofc permitted to advance until he had given satisfactory evidence of his knowledge , not only of what pertained , per se , to the first degree , and differentiated it from the other symbolic degrees , but also and particularly of what its real significance was .

Not the veiled mysteries of the other degrees were at this time made manifest to him , but he was instructed in such manner as to prepare him for a logical and beautiful unfolding of the lessons partly given and partly hinted at upon his first journey towards the East . The fallow ground of his understanding was jploughed , harrowed and sowed , and he was given to

believe that thorns and thistles would not spring up from the good wheat committed to the fostering care of our Mother Earth . He could confidently expect a harvest commensurate with the quality of the seed , for it is quality that counts , after all . He sought admission to the Lodge in order to learn , and his faltering steps under guidance of a true and trusty friend upon

whose fidelity he might with confidence rely , were directed towards a goal he could indeed but dimly discern , but of whose existence he was inwardly conscious , because it must of necessity lie before him . If he reflected upon the matter at all , and if he was qualified to become a good Mason , he must

have thought deeply ; he would have known that within the husk of ceremonial and ritual lay the ripened grain of Masonic truth , and that beyond the symbols of Square and Compasses stretched the great realms of knowledge whose metes and bounds are measured and circumscribed by these Masonic implements .

The very questions wifch which he was plied must have aroused within his soul the most profound inquiries of time and eternity , and have brought him face to face with the great mysteries of here and the hereafter . In the whole course of his subsequent Masonic life no more fitting opportunity could arise for impressing upon him the true meaning of

Masonry . This could be done without m the least trenching upon the domain of the other degrees , and without plunging him into the deep waters of interpretation . He could be given to know that Masonry is the oldest form of natural religion , that its foundation stone is a living faith in God , and that it has no secrets except from those who scoff at its teachings . As

an Entered Apprentice he could be taught that there is an ever-living , selfexistent God , that man is nofc only responsible to Him , but conscious of that responsibility , that man is a free agent wilfully choosing good or evil , that God is his friend and guide , and that a virtuous , well ordered life merits and will receive the approbation of the Almighty .

These are but few of the lessons that can be derived in the most logical manner , from the very first section of the degree . One does not have to wait for the gradual unfolding of the symbolic degrees before he can appreciate the true meaning of Masonry ; it stares him in the face before ever he stands as a corner-storie to sustain the weight of the explanations and admonitions of the Fellow Craft and Master Mason degree .

No part of Masonry is more replete with suggestions as to the highest type of religion , fuller of help in the everyday affairs of everyday life , more simple or more beautiful than the First degree . It is , perhaps , more ancient than any of the others , and comes nearer the primitive type . Its philosophy is broader , its philanthropy more intense , its essence more spiritual and heavenly that anything that follows it .

The full-blown rose that has opened its glowing heart to the warm kiss of June may be more attractive to the casual observer , but the unfolding bud which hath within its emerald walls the promise and potency of fragrance and beauty , which half conceals and half reveals the glorious handiwork of nature , is possessed of a double attractiveness—what it is and what it will be .

It is thus with the Entered Apprentice degree , and the more one reflects upon Masonry and its relations to God and man , the more will it appear that the first steps are the most important . Brethren , let us study the first degree more , without neglecting the others . It is a vast storehouse of Masonic lore , hard to get at , but satisfying to the soul when once possessed . —W . B . P ., in " Masonic Guide . "

Masonic Courtesy.

MASONIC COURTESY .

THE Mason should always be a gentleman . He is instructed in a code of morals that outwardly gives affabilities and virtues in various forms of obligations . In the Lodge and out of it the Mason finds himself solicited by influences which tend to make him peaceable , refined , and sincere , as they likewise remind him of what his attentions and courtesies should be in his relations with other persons . Sir Phillip Sydney gave a correct definition of

Masonic Courtesy.

the true gentleman when he said it was he who possessed " lofty thoughts and a gentle heart . " It is nofc so much the observance of technical rules thafc makes the man a gentleman , as it is the possession of sound principles in the mind and generous affections in the heart . Then , naturally , life will be consecrated to noble tendencies and characterised by abundant acts of

goodness towards his fellow man . There are men , even members of the community , who feign to despise manners . They pretend to believe thafc ifc is immaterial whether they conduct themselves as a clown or as a gentleman . They are harsh , perhaps impolite , and at least rude in their intercourse with others . They do nofc consider the delicateness of other people , and appear to

become proud of their open mouthed criticism of persons and events . They trample social rules , and praise themselves for being strong , independent individuals of action , and not fettered by social laws and customs . They do not think it necessary that they should be considered amiable , as they imagine that this would disclose debility . Can these be good representatives

of the institution ? Absolutely , they may have intrinsic virtues that compensate for their negligence of the precepts of good rearing , and which lead their friends to forget their apparent harshness ; but they will nofc be proficient in the delicate affability which Masonry undertakes to inculcate , and under all conception it would be better that they should try to invest

themselves with those manners of good education . Nevertheless , to be a gentleman something more is required than the observance of social formula , and the cultivation of refined customs . As we have already indicated , a true gentleman should possess a benevolent and affable soul , and from thence all other qualities will emanate . Comparatively , the practice of courtesy will be

very easy for he who possesses a kind and fraternal spirit , and Masonry endeavours to inspire that spirit . It endeavours to square the rugged angularities of human nature , to harmonise men , and make them generous and useful , and in this manner gentlemanly and radiant in their conduct through life . Thus in their language , their walk and procedure , they will be

civil , and will acquire the art of living in society : and wherever they may go they will dispense sweetness and light , and not on account of this will they in any way lose their personality or be made timid or restrained with regard to their opinions and judgments . A man can be firm and resolute in his convictions , and his fealty to that which is just never be dismayed ; always

be decided and intrepid , and with all this he can be courteous , pleasing and kind in his social intercourse . This world would be a little less hard and a little brighter if in it there were more consideration for human sensibility and more circumspection in the general conduct in life . —Translated from the Spanish , for " The Tyler , " by Bro . Eli Broad .

The Temple Of Masonry.

THE TEMPLE OF MASONRY .

MASONRY , whatever the origin , has built itself a temple into the history and chief works of mankind . Its high regard for human rights , its fealty to true government , its loyalty to the golden rule of doing to others as you would have others do to you ; its ideal of fraternity have given to it width and altitude in the movements of civilisation . It has been the constant advocate of science , the promoter of knowledge , the teacher of the wise and

pure laws of living , and so it has become a large and integral portion of the best governments . Its spread has been as the spread of man on islands and continents . For the better growth of its commonwealths of Lodges and Chapters , it may , it is true , have been confined to special places , but its finer essence , its atmosphere of Brotherly love , has not been confined , but , like the

air that breathes from the north and south , the east and west , breathes upon and touches all . Its dominion is in the great moral nature , and , therefore , among the changes of empires or the noiseless march of time , it cannot be changed like outward dominions . Its government may be assailed and has been assailed , but cannot be permanently overturned by any human revolutions ;

its truths if not victorious m one place move calmly on to achieve victories in other places . The principles which sustain it have been fountains pouring forth waters to refresh the disciples who tended the fires on the altars of the past , and still pour forth waters to refresh the thirsting lip and the yearning heart of those who wait upon its altars in the present . For , as a power in history , a society

for mankind , amid difficulties and fche barbarity of persecution , it has been unbroken in its course through the centuries . As such a society , with such a power , it has , as by the working of a natural law , achieved a character of its own , and a speech of its own , and that speech uttering itself in special sign , in dramatic form , in the rich vesture with which ifc clothes its truths , is under .

stood by all the congregations of its temple . A light in darkness , it has enlightened times when knowledge was hidden from view , and even religion clouded by ignorance , and has moved on as through the firmament whioh overarches man ' s labours , like electric fires which flash now and then into a supreme brightness , but , unlike electric fires , ifc flashes and never dies . — J . Byron Murray , in " New York Tribune . "

Ad01204

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