How To Overcome Apathy.

initiated , not infrequently members say : " If I had known that was the man I would nofc have voted for him . " Does an addition of that kind add to tho strength of the Lodge ?

Does it add to the glory of Masonry ? You must—I must —answer both questions in the negative . This practice , if pursued , will turn the bands , stronger than triple steel , which bind this Order together , to a rope of sand .

Are you a man of family ? Havo you a marriageable son or daughter ? If a daughter , aud some ono seeks her hand , what do you do ? Do you not find out thoroughly ¦ what manner of man he is ? Who his family are ; how he was raised—who are his associates ? Is he sound , bodily

aud mentally ? What kind of an education has he ? What are his religious principles ? What is his moral standing ? Is he an honourable man every way ? What are his business capacities ? What is his ability to take care of your daughter ? Is it probable he can appreciate her in her

youth , aud love and cherish her in her old days ? Will he be always true and stedfast in his promises to love , cherish and protect her ? Is he is of such a temperament and disposition that thoy will be likely to agree ? Is ho a man you would he willing to adopt and cherish as your

son ? If he does not fulfil all those requisites , yoa decline his offer . If these precautions are adopted before you accept a son-in-law , why should you not bo equally careful

about permitting a man to become a member of that other family—your Lodge—whose members are bound to you , and you to them , by ties which are next in rank to those of flesh and blood ?

It is frequently an argument for admission , " He is a rich man and will pay his dues promptly . " The man who only pays his dues , and does nothing more to advance tho Order , is a positive detriment instead of an advantage . The prosperity of the Order depends far more upon the

example of its members than tbe prompt payment of the paltry sum necessary to defray its expenses . This Order can only advance by having on its rolls those alone who preach and practise its precepts in their daily lives . Men who in the Lodge laud all its doctrines , and outside

forget them , are like the church members who , ou Sunday , repeat the Ton Commandments with zealous joy , aud on the week clays pave their way to prosperity and pleasure by trampling them under foot . The one retards the cause of Masonry , and the other brings religion into contempt .

What is the chief cause , you ask , which has brought this condition of things about ? The answer appears plain to me . Because we have of late years been drifting away from the ideas and principles npon which this Order was founded . The sages who created tho Institution had an

object to accomplish . It was the moral and social good of mankind . They had pursued the same line of thought as the Athenian philosopher . They realised that the greatest study of mankind is man . They had mastered the subject and concluded the only true way to advance mankind was to cultivate and enlarsre his moral and social nature .

They collected and formulated a system of ethics and morals , the grandest the world has ever produced . Of what use was the system which defined man ' s duty in respect fco himself and the rights of others ? Of what avail rules of right conduct and guides for private and

social duties , unless there were subjects to act upon ? They would alone be idle theories , mere abstract propositions , and their worth or use as undemonstrable as the proposition of astronomers of the present dav , as to

whether or nofc any of the brilliant spheres which surround us are , or are not , inhabited . So they came to the conclusion to found an Order with a social system for a basis , and their principles of ethics and morals as the rule and guide of conduct .

When the old patriarchal system came into existence , it had not any human design about it , as we understand that term—it came naturally into being by tho force of circumstances . Tho man who founded a family was tho head of it . There were no laws or rules for his

guidancehe made his own . In the slow course of time families increased and became clans and tribes , and clans and tribes increased and became nations . The family rules gradually enlarged to suit the necessities of tho occasion , and became systems of laws . Bnt , as the families grew to tribus , and

tribes to nations , the ties of affinity became weaker and weaker , and men became strangers to each other . The bonds of kindred , affection and association , which made them respect the rights of relations and friends , disappeared * , they were only held iu restraint by fche culd rules of law ; iho rules of morals and ctkic-s wero pushed aside , To

How To Overcome Apathy.

correct this was the object of the founders of our Order , Their aim was to create a tie as strong , if not stronger , than that of blood and kin , and make it in all respects its

equivalent , and as lasting , no matter how large the Order , or where it spread , and add to it , with renewed force and vigor , the ameliorating and elevating influences pf the moral and social relations .

Was it possible to make a bond as strong as that of blood and kin ? What is popularly known as the bond of blood and kin is a mere idea . When you analyze the relation which most strongly binds mon together , you find it arises because they are congenial in disposition , have a

common purpose in life , have grown up in constant association , have received their thoughts , ideas and education from a common source , breathed tbo samo air , enjoyed the same pleasures , and wept over the same

sorrows . And so , from day fco day , from year to year , their thoughts , feelings and sentiments have gradually grown , mingled and intertwined together . When thoy look back in lifo , every page , whether bright or dark , is filled with the familiar form of their associate . Each has

become insensibly interested in everything affecting the other ; hears with satisfaction of his success , listens with pleasure to his praise , feels sad afc his sorrows , and , when he is traduced , rushes with indignation to his defence .

Example after example shows you can take two boys or girls of even disposition , bring them up together as constant associates , and thoy will bo bound as firmly to each other through life as if tho ties of blood and kin existed .

The founders of our Order fully appreciated that a common purpose to observe , a similarity of disposition and constant association , were what principally created lasting friendships ; and upon friendship , as the main foundation-stone , must the Order they contemplated be

founded . And so , what I may call a family society , wifch the Master as fche representative of the father and bead , was organised Into its circle none but congenial spirits were permitted to enter . They brought men together whose interests in life were , as nearly as possible , mutual ;

whose society was pleasant to each other , and who , from frequent intercourse , from interchange of views and sentiments , from a fostering of social relations , gradually grew to like and respect each other , and feel a common interest in each other ' s welfare . As in a family , at the

dinner-table , the questions of interest to the little community were talked over , and plans were laid for the future , so around the social board iu the Lodge-room , in close commune , they discussed the matters of interest to the Society , the prospects of each member and his hopes

for the future . They all understand that nothing so rapidly draws men together as to sit down at the social board and have a friendly chat . There , in an hour or so , men get better acquainted with each other than they possibly conld in the cold , worldly intercourse of the year ;

and so in the Lodge-room , every meeting was a little social festival which made its members nearer and dearer to each other . They carefully provided officers charged with the duty of furnishing refreshments to the brethren . The novitiate , who was entering its portals , had the formal

part of each degree conferred upon him in ceremonious style ; then the Lodgo was called from labour to refreshment , which call was nofc an ideality , but a reality . Around tho family table , while mingling with the members of the Lodge in social accord and partaking of its repast , he had

explained and illustrated to him , in a pleasant and intelligent way , the mysteries of the degree he was receiving ; and there he drank in , in a lasting and agreeable manner , the theories and ideas which were to guide him in his future life . ( These olden explanations have in the Lodge-room of to-day

crystallised down to what we call lectures and charges . ) He became immediately on friendly terms with all the members and they wifch him , and the foundation was laid

between them for an enduring friendship . Under this system the Order grew rapidly and spread over the earth . Its teachingd were illustrated in the daily conduct of ita members .

In England , I am informed by a bright and intelligent member of one of the wealthiest Lodges in London , this plan of Lodga proceeding is still practised . They meet

bufc once a month ; at every meeting there is a banquet prepared by the Stewards , which office , by the way , was principally created for that purpose . When fche Lodge is called from labour to refreshment ib is nofc an idle ceremony , but means what ia announced . Tlio members sit around tha