The Preparation.

system teaches certain laws for the guidance of man in his social relations , and each has the same ultimate hope of the future life expressed throughout . The darkness of the

uninitiated is to the system of Masonry what the ignorance of spiritual life is to the unregenerate man , but that darkness does not mean to the Mason the same state of moral

degradation which thereligious bigot ascribes to the man who has not his light or who shares not his belief . Masonry concedes the fact that worth not only may , but does , exist beyond the limits of the Craft , but it claims as a fact that its

teachings make men better men by means enforced through the recognition of the Supreme Being as the One God ; enforced by the performance of man's dnty to man , and by appealing to reason and honour .

The Symbol of Restraint is , of all the symbols of the initiation ceremony the one which probably affords the candidate the most comprehensive idea of the teaching underlying the system of Masonry . The bondage of

ignorance and the disabilities which exist therewith are restraints in the social existence , accepting the subject as passive , although it is when in the active mood that the reason for the preparation becomes most apparent and the operation of the Charge most effectual .

The reasons for the charges upon Fidelity and Sincerity are so self-evident that they must be accepted without hesitation as absolute necessities in the interest of social wellbeing . The candidate ' s obligation is brought forward

in the reason given for the Charge on Fidelity ; the reason for the charge upon Sincerity is an implied rather than a clearly defined one , so far as the future career is concerned . The power of Sincerity as an element of peace is presented

m a twofold character , each affording evidence that our principles cannot countenance strife , and the value of the Charge derives its confirmation from the harmony ancl brotherly feeling which our Lodge meetings exhibit .

The humility of man in the presence of the Almighty is presented as another condition of existence , and displays to the candidate the necessity of avoiding the errors of pride and arrogance .

To this point six conditions of his existence as a member of the human family are presented for the candidate ' s consideration , and from this point his Masonic career may be said to start .

In the seventh clause we have presented an example of Democracy , most perfect in conception and complete in its operations . The equality of mankind and the brotherhood of the human race is nowhere else more beautifully

defined or more practically demonstrated than in the principles and practice of Freemasonry . The Masonic Lodge is the home of Democracy , as the principles of Masonry are the foundations of it . Masonry cannot become

operative without presenting us with Democracy in its abstract form . Every true Mason must be a true Democrat , and his Lodge the home of his Democracy . The fact that the hour finds the man , is applicable to every class of

society , to every nation , and to every combination of circumstances , but there is under the system of Masonry a greater number of men ready and capable of adapting themselves to the exigencies of the hour than under perhaps any other

system in existence . There is little difficulty in arriving at the reasons why such is the case ; they are self-evident to Masons , and those reasons are in themselves so excellent

that as they become better understood , the higher will be the position of the Order in the estimation of men whose opinion is worthy of consideration .

The democracy of politics as we understand the word now-a-days must not be confounded with the democracy of Freemasonry , no two quantities can be more diametrically opposed to each other . The modern democracy of politics

has become a howling assertion of self by unscrupulous demagogues—an outrage upon all the laws of decency and the license of speech . Masonic democracy is honour to worth , and so long as Masonry endures its democracy will be preserved in the abstract .

It is necessary again to recur to the terms of the obligation taken upon initiation to appreciate the abstract democracy which it embodies . The obligation itself , as an

obligation , does not express any principle of democratic tendency ; we have to look to the terms of it , and then consider what the active operation of these terms will produce . The outcome of a true and active

operation is not really m itself so qnantitivo as qualitative , nor does it present itself as a positive factor , it is the results of it which are the expression and the evidence of the involved democratic element . Nowhere

The Preparation.

can a man s true worth find room for fuller scope than within the lines of Freemasonry ; nor can there be any truer convincing ground of individual excellence than the floor of the Masonic Lodge . The educating influence of Masonry cannot be over estimated—the honours won in the Masonic

arena stamp the individual excellence of both worth and intellect—indeed among men they may pass as hall-marks of character tested ancl approved under the stringent laws of a government absolutely democratic in principle ancl practice .

The last symbol—that which ratifies the obligation and completes the contract , as between candidate and Freemasonry , has an importance which goes far beyond the mere contract itself . Life , the whole individual career , is

typified , ancl m rendering an account "we render it as an abstract entity , a token of fulfilled duty to God and man , the price at which Masonic knowledge has been purchased . The education of a Mason cannot be completed without a

careful study of the duties the lectures enforce , but if for no other reason the lectures should be studied that tbe beauty of their diction be appreciated and their poetry understood .

Knowledge is power , and the power of knowledge will find so true a recognition among his brethren that his pleasure will prove the profit of Masonry to the Mason . —Sydney Freemason .

Visit Your Masonic Homes.

VISIT YOUR MASONIC HOMES .

IN generalizing upon Masonic duties and neglects , a Brother classes , strikingly , among the latter , " neg « , lecting to visit our Masonic Homes . " This gives rise to ' pregnant thonght , upon which an essay , a lecture , a book

might be written . To visit our homes , m the general sense , is a duty inherent in the noblest manhood , in the foremost filial reverence , in the highest human love . The prodigal son was welcomed back and forgiven for all his

grievous faults , and his example made a parable in Holy Writ for our admonition and guidance—because his thoughts , his recollections , his affections , his fullest awakened love , turned his step backward toward the home

he had regarded as without attractions when he turned his face toward the shallow vanities , the uncertain and evanes-. cent pleasures and gauds of the special world of vice and dissipation . The lesson of his foregiveness and restoration

to happiness is none the less pertinent , because suffering and selfishness directed his thoughts back to home . The fact that he returned was accepted as an evidence of repentance worthy the forgiveness he received . Oceans

may separate the exile from his home , but distance only increases his longing to return . The man whose dearest worldly interests lead him far from his early home , and compel him to form almost inseparable connections from

which have grown the highest prosperity and the noblest friendships , seizes upon reluctant time , and tears himself from all of these to return to the scenes of his youth and the surroundings of his earliest manhood .

If a Mason has not at some time loved his Masonic home —his Lodge or his Chapter , or both—if he has not formed cherished , fraternal associations , and had awakened in

newly-fonnd places in his heart the purest of social and brotherly sentiments , he has not fulfilled the promise implied when he placed his maturedly-considered petition in the hands of his friends or his Brother .

How , then , can he forget all these r If he does this for a time , and no sentiment of awakened affection leads him , prodigal-like , to return to the scenes of his former love , some lingering sense of duty should turn his steps to the

well-remembered halls ; some freshly-considered sentiment of the heart , some timely admonition of the mind , springing from an appreciation of the general proprieties to be observed by every one according to his surroundings and the

obligations he owes to his fellows , more especially to his friends , should move him as with an irresistible force , to visit , again and again , his Lodge , his Brethren , his Chapter , his Companions .

0 , luke-warm Mason ! give these thoughts an occasional place in your mind ; do not drive them away when they come ; for come they will if yoa are a good and a true man .

Renew your once happy associations ! Restore your once cherished friendships ! Call back yonr sacred sentiments in behalf of the universal Brotherhood of man . —Comp .-Thos , B , Long , of Indiana . - - .