Teach the Young Mason.

When a brother is initiated into Freemasonry he should not be allowed to wander onward alone, but should be figuratively taken by the hand and instructed in the wondrous mysteries of the royal art. Too many Masters of lodges after they give a man a degree allow him to find out for himself any further information he may desire, or satisfy themselves with simply teaching him to answer a series of "set questions," and allow him to suppose—This is Masonry.

Now, we hold this is altogether wrong. The Entered Apprentice should be instructed in the principles of our fraternity, and its true character should be explained to him. By this means the neophyte is interested in the proceedings of the lodge, and instead of becoming a drone, as so many do in the Masonic hive, matures into an incessant worker.

If Freemasonry only consisted of degreeism, as so many think, then indeed we could allow our younger brethren to wade through the series as quickly or as slowly as they pleased, but the Freemasonry of the ninteenth century is something more than formalism and ceremonialism—it is the sister and hand-maid of religion, it is the living example of the purest system of practical morality that ever was known on earth, it is a philosophy that draws the mind of man to God, and a science that teaches man to study the wondrous attributes of the Fountain of Life and Light. This is what we have to teach the young Mason.

Now, when we contemplate these things, how important it is that we should only select fit and proper material for the Temple of the Lord, and when once selected, how equally requisite is it that the mind should be trained to grasp the great truths that, like the priceless diamond, lie deep and low beneath the surface of the order.

We are in search of more light from the day of our initiation till the hour of our death. Freemasonry is a study that no man yet or ever can fully master, because the science only ends with the grave, and the proof of its theophilosophy can only be discovered "beyond the river." God said "Let there be light," but the light he gave was only the reflection of his countenance, and so it is with the moral truths, the light of Freemasonry, it is only the reflected light of the glorious light of the hereafter.

This is the Freemasonry we have to teach our younger brethren. Train them, of course, in the work of the lodge, explain to them our hidden mysteries, but above all things make them thoroughly understand that Masonry is practical and requires something more than a parrot-like exactness of ritual. We want men in the fraternity page 16 who really appreciate the wondrous attributes of the Deity, and who can perceive in every pebble on the sea shore, every grain of wheat, every flower that blooms, every reptile that crawls and fish that swims, every bird that flies and animal that breathes, the wondrous handiwork of the Creator—a Creator above sect and creed, a God not made by man, but a God of Gods, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.