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creet. Remember that around this altar you have promised to befriend and relieve every brother who shall need your assistance. You have promised, in the most friendly manner, to remind him of his errors and to aid his reformation. These generous principles are to extend further: Every human being has a claim upon your kind offices. Do good unto all. Recommend it more especially to the "household of the faithful." Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind; live in peace; and may the God of Love and Peace delight to dwell with and bless you. Amen!

Response: So mote it be!

Benediction

May the blessing of Heaven rest upon us and all regular Masons! May brotherly love

prevail and every moral and social virtue cement us. Amen!

Response: So mote it be!

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[Every candidate should, in the ante-room before preparation, be required to answer affirmatively, in the presence of the Senior Deacon and the Stewards, the following questions, to be propounded to him by the Secretary or Senior Deacon.]

1. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that, unbiased by the improper solicitation of friends and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself as a candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry?

2. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you are prompted to solicit the privileges of Freemasonry by a favorable opinion conceived of the institution, a desire for knowledge and a sincere wish to be serviceable to your fellow creatures?

3. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you will cheerfully comply with all the ancient usages and established customs of the fraternity?

4. Do you believe in the existence of one supreme and everlasting God, in some revelation of His will, and in the immortality of the soul?

[First impressions are supremely important. The Master should thoroughly know this degree and do his best work in impressing the candidate with the beauty and sacredness of Masonry on this, his first vision of Light. No jesting or frivolous conversation should occur in the preparation. All that is said and done should impress the candidate with the seriousness of the step he is about to take.]

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Let no man enter upon any great or important undertaking without first invoking the aid of Deity.

Prayer

Vouchsafe thine aid, Almighty Father of the Universe, to this our present convention; and grant that this candidate for Masonry may dedicate and devote his life to thy service and become a true and faithful brother among us. Endue him with a competency of thy divine wisdom, that by the secrets of our art he may be better enabled to display the beauties of holiness to the honor of thy holy name. Amen! 3

Response: So mote it be!

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"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

"It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

"As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion:

3 In no part of the exoteric ritual is there such unbroken uniformity in all the manuals, English, Canadian and American, as in this prayer.

for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore."

[Or the following ode may be sung or chanted:] Tune, any S. M.

Behold! how pleasant and how good,
For brethren such as we,

Of the "Accepted" brotherhood,
To dwell in unity!

'Tis like the oil on Aaron's head,
Which to his feet distills;

Like Hermon's dew so richly shed
On Zion's sacred hills.

For there the Lord of light and love,
A blessing sent with power;

Oh, may we all this blessing prove,
E'en life for evermore.

On Friendship's altar rising here,
Our hands now plighted be,

To live in love with hearts sincere,
In peace and unity.

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"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light."

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The three Great Lights of Masonry are the Holy Bible, Square and Compasses. The Holy Bible is given us as a rule and guide of our faith and practice; the Square, to square our actions by; and the Compasses, to cir

* Called in the English and Canadian monitors, "Volume of the Sacred Law."

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