OPENING OF THE LODGE. All rites and ceremonies should have for their aim the instruction and improvement of those concerned. They should be simple in character, adapted to the purposes designed, and easy of performance; they should be performed with earnestness, precision, cor rectness, and in proper time. The ceremony of opening a Lodge is important, instructive and impressive. To conduct this ceremony with propriety ought to be the peculiar study of all Masons, especially of those who have the honor to preside in our assemblies. To those who are thus dignified, every eye is directed for regularity of conduct and behavior; and from them other brethren, less informed, may naturally expect to derive instruction. From a share in this cere mony no Mason is exempted; it is a general concern, is which all must assist. This is the first request of the Master, and the prelude to business. Precisely at the appointed time, the presiding officer should take the chair, and give the proper signal, then every officer should repair to his proper station, and the brethren appropriately clothe themselves and take their seats. Punctuality in this matter is of the highest importance. Our first care is directed to the external avenues of the Lodge; and the officers, whose province it is to discharge that duty, are required to execute the trust with fidelity. "In the ancient mysteries (those sacred rites which have furnished so many models fox Masonic symbolism), the opening ceremonies were of the most solemn and impressive character. The sacred herald
commenced the initiatory ceremonies by the solemn for mula: 'Depart hence, ye profane !' to which was added a proclamation which forbade the use of any language that might be deemed of an unfavorable character to the ap proaching rites." At the opening of the Lodge two purposes are effected; the Master is reminded of the dignity of his character and position, and the brethren of the respect and veneration due to him in their sundry stations. Thew- are not, however, the only advantages resulting from a due observance of the ceremony; a reverential awe for the Deity is inculcated, and the eye is fixed on that object from whose radiant beam alone light can be derived. Hence, in this ceremony, we are taught to adore the Great Architect of the universe, and to supplicate that the labors then begun may be continued in peace and closed in harmony. A Lodge must always be opened on the third degree, and in due form, for the transaction of any business, except for initiating and passing a candidate into the mysteries of the first and second degrees. The first business after opening, if it be a regular communication, is the reading of the minutes of the previous communication, for the information of the brethren. The transactions of the evening should always be read before the Lodge is closed, that the brethren may know that they have been properly recorded, and then duly approved.