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SYMBOLISM OF THE DEGREE.

f he first degree is intended as a representation of youth, and the second of manhood, the third, or Master Mason, is emblematic of old age, with its trials, its sufferings, and its final termination in death. The time for toiling is now over; the opportunity to learn has passed away; the spiritual temple that we all have been striving to erect in our hearts is now nearly completed, and the wearied workman awaits only the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to call him from the labors of earth to the eternal refreshments of heaven. Hence, this is by far the most solemn and impressive of the degrees of Masonry; and it has, in consequence of the profound truths which it inculcates, been distinguished by the craft as the sublime degree. As an Entered Apprentice, the Mason was taught those elementary instructions which were to fit him for further advancement in his profession, just as the youth is supplied with that rudimentary education which is to prepare him