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CEREM0N7 OF BAPTISM.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE HALL OR LODGE.
557
The arrangement of the hall is brilliant, hung with garlandj
and strewed with flowers.
CEREMONIAL.
"When the spectators have taken their seats, the Lodge ia
opened in the degree of Entered Apprentice or Perfection, in a
room adjacent to the hall, and proceeds thither in procession, the
members and visiting brethren together, and in due order.
Instead of opening in E. A, the Lodge will be opened in the
degree of Perfection.
The procession will be formed in the following order
1. Captain of Guard.
2. Members by two's.
3. Officers in reverse order of rank.
4 Celebrant.
5. Sovereign Grand Inspectors General.
Every member in the procession must be in regalia.
On entering the Lodge, the procession will proceed up the mid
die aisle, and then file right and left to their seats. The organ
will play a march, until all are seated.
The greatest decorum will be observed.
Then the Master • which is answered by each of the Wardens in
tnrn, rises and says:
W. M. The solemnity which calls us to meet together to-day
is one which most eminently accords with the purposes and
Bpirit of our institution.
It is not a mere idle and showy ceremonial, designed to obtrude
ourselves upon the notice of the world, or to give an empty title
to those wbo are as yet too young to appreciate and understand.
Masonic Baptism was instituted far more for the parents than for
the children, while it affords each father an occasion for renewing
his own obligations. He, also, by concurring in an act wbich
impresses upon bis child of his own sex. in advance, the charac-
ter of Mason, and which gives it, of either sex, a right to the pro-
tection and careful guardianship of the Lodge, obliges himself of
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