French Masonry.—The Sanctuary Of Memphis.

thee a brother imploring thy help . If he be in want , pour open to him thy resources , and rejoice that in such an emergency thou art able to do so . Thou hast sworn to exercise benevolence and goodwill . to mankind in general . Thou owest this feeling preferably to thy suffering brother Mason . If he he in affliction , console him by all the means which the ingenuous spirit of humanitshall suggest to thee . If he have acted wronglyfar from

abandony , ing or speaking evil of him , approach him with the intelligent light of sympathy , of reason , ancl persuasion . If he be the target of the shafts of calumny , fear not to avow thyself his friend . Be his defender in public , and thou shalt perhaps restore to him the good opinion which had been temporarily estranged and swayed by prejudice . It is good , it is holy , to recall to virtue the man who has made a false step , to raise np him who has fallen ; but

it is almost God-like to be the protector of unacknowledged innocence . If thy heart , ulcerated by true or imaginary wrongs , should nourish hatred against one of thy brethren , instantly dispel that dismal cloud ; and if thy own sense be not virile enough , call upon , an arbiter—demand his fraternal mediation , but never pass the threshold of the Temple before having cast behind thee every feeling of hatred and revenge . In vainwouldst thou invoke

the name of the Eternal that He should inhabit a temple which was not purified by virtue and sanctified by concord ' and brotherly love . Again , I would inculcate—encourage the wavering , fortify the feeble , strengthen the weak ; elicit the virtues of thy brother , so that they may fructify , concurrently with thine own , in the ripening sunli ght of benificence , ancl proceed with increasing benefits to Humanity , so that , after this brief existence will have passed away , thou shalt , with all thy divinely-inspired attributes , at length emerge into the effulgence of that Eternal Day which knows not ni ght nor morrow ( qui ne connait ni nuit ni deinain ) .

In return for the admission into the Masonic Order thou hast divested ¦ thyself of a portion of thy natural liberty . Compl y rigidly with the new . obligations which are now imposed upon thee . General ordinances and statutes govern this ancient ancl venerated Order ; certain rules regulate this lodge . Conform to all respectively . Thou wouldst be a bad brother if thou should misconceive or ignore the subordination requisite in every societyand ours should be compelled to exclude thee from its bosom .

, There is , above all , a law whose scrupulous observance thou hast promised in the presence of God ; and that is to guard the most rigorous secrecy as to our rites , onr ceremonies , our signs , ancl the form and formula } of our association . A wholly free agent , in pronouncing the solemn oath upon the faith of which we have admitted thee , thou canst now not violate it : the

Eternal , whom thou hast invoked as witness , hath ratified it . Fear the penalties attached to perjury . Thou shalt never escape from the inflictions of thy conscience , ancl thou wouldst lose the esteem and confidence of a numerous ancl potent institution , which , in rejecting ancl casting thee out , would denounce thee as devoid of faith and of honour . If these lessons be engraved on thy soul—on a spirit at once docile ancl open to the impressions of virtue—if the salutary maxims which shall mark

the footprint , so to say , of each step which thou shalt take in the Masonic career become thy own principles ancl the invariable rule of thy actions—oh ! brother , what shall be our rejoicing ! Thou shalt accomplish thy sublime destiny ; thou shalt find again and recover that divine resemblance which was the portion of primitive man in that state of innocence which the poets have celebrated under the name of the Golden Age , and the reintegration of

which constitutes the main object of the Masonic initiation : thou shalt become a cherished creation of Heaven . Its faithful benedictions shall cling to thee , and , meriting the glorious title of sage , always free and happy , thou shalt walk this earth on a level with kings—their equal as well as the benefactor of men , and a model for th y brethren .