HIS INTELLECTUAL WANTS.-Any means which will make our meetings intellectual, which will make them a source whence the brethren derive valuable instruction, cannot fail to insure that interest we have spoken of as so desirable. Occasional discourses in the Lodge, upon any subject of general interest, by brothers qualified to instruct; readings from some new popular works, in all their variety; familiar discussions of such questions of Literature, Art, Science, as brothers might deem most fitting, would do not a little to create an intellectual and literary taste, to elevate the tone of thinking, and refine the manner of speaking, and thus contribute much to the expansion of the intellectual powers. The secret societies of Antiquity were vast Lyceums, where the most useful and sublime science was taught. Our Order aspires not so high, but still it may do a vast deal for the mental improvement of the brethren. And for these Lectures, Discussions, and Readings, we have abundance of talent in the Order, and in nearly every Lodge.

But it may be asked, where shall we find time for all this? Save it from that which is now wasted to no purpose. There need not be initiations but on every alternate week, and the regular business need not occupy more than an hour each evening; so there is plenty of time for mental improvement. Man's moral wants must also be remembered. is of the highest consequence, if we could see a con

It

tinued interest in our Order, that those who deliver the charges and the lectures, and perform other official duties, be men qualified to do so. It is requisite, at least, that they themselves should apprehend the whole moral significance of our beautiful ritual, that they may be able to make others see and feel it. The whole of our ceremonial is so full of lessons of morality and virtue, that it cannot but create and preserve a deep interest in all who understand it.

But, unfortunately, many see in these matters only a pleasant and innocent mummery, having no idea at all at bottom; and too frequently officers, entirely unprepared for the discharge of their duties, leave no higher impression..

We know that every Mason will go with us when we say that it is of the highest importance to the prosperity of our Association that all the lectures, charges, and instructions, be given in an impressive, solemn, correct, and dignified manner. There is an immense deal in the ritual of the Order which might profitably be discussed and digested among the brethren; and such exercises, we are confident, will create interest and earnestness, for the very reason that they are profitable and instructing.

On a fair examination of our Order, it will be found that it may, in a great variety of ways, be made to contribute much to the general improvement of society and man. In country villages and small cities, the Lodges most usually concentrate all

the energy and talent and worth of the younger portion of community, and we have long thought that these Lodges might adopt such a practice as would enable them to bring all their energy and talent to bear upon the general interests of society, and thus do a service to the world at large. The Lodge might become a kind of Lyceum, and a means of instruction, of intellectual and literary improvement to the brethren. Let each country Lodge, during the winter season, provide a course of lectures upon improving and interesting subjects, to be delivered in the Lodge room, to which the public may be admitted on paying a small fee. This idea is very easily reduced to a practical thing; and it would be attended with four important results. 1st. Brothers would be instructed and improved, and a taste for literature and intellectual enjoyment would be formed among them. 2d. These same advantages would be participated in by those out of the Order, who choose to attend, and curiosity to witness a Lodge room would always insure a full house. 3d. The Order being thus a source of improvement and entertainment to the public, would be reverenced and loved by those who now look upon it with distrust, or speak of it with contempt. 4th. The fourth and last, but yet very important result, would be an increase of the funds of the Lodge, and thus an enlargement of its power to do good. There is scarcely a Lodge in our large villages

which might not in this way add at least one hundred dollars to its funds during the winter.

For ourselves, we are convinced that such an arrangement will be of immeasurable advantage to brethren of the Order. Much time now goes to waste which might be most profitably employed. We commend these considerations to our readers, in the earnest hope that they may speedily be acted upon. We should remember that we have minds to be educated and improved, as well as bodies to be cared for; that we have intellectual wants, which are as urgent in their demands as our physical wants. Let us, therefore, make our Order provide not only for our temporal conveniences, our material advantage, but for our moral and intellectual growth.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Buty of Pious Men to Freemasonry.

THE Society of Freemasons is not a club of reckless, fun-loving men, who repudiate all that is serious, and ridicule all the grace of piety-it is a body of earnest men, intelligent men, good and true men, who love Virtue, reverence Religion, and worship God. And besides, the arrangements of the Order have been adapted with special reference to their religious and moral bearing. The great fact-the sentiment of accountability-which underlies all religions, which may claim to be divine, is the central idea, around which all our ceremonies revolve— the fountain whence all our moral lessons are drawn! There is not a rite in our Order which does not look backward to the Creator, and forward to eternity-which does not forth-shadow some of the profoundest mysteries of the Soul, and contribute directly to man's moral growth.

The moral and religious aspects of the institution should recommend it to the attention and love of all serious-minded men.

But another reason presents itself, still more