Consecrations.

CONSECRATIONS .

RADNOR LODGE .

TFmE consecration of the Eadnor Lodge , No . 2587 , was JL performed with full and perfect ritual in the Lodge Boom , at the Masonic Hall , Folkestone , on the 11 th inst ., by Earl Amherst Provincial Grand Master of Kent , assisted by Brother E . Letchworth Grand Secretary of England , and a large numbei of Proviucial Grand Officers .

The Lodge Eoom is admirably adapted for so impressive a ceremony , and comfortably accommodated the 161 Brethren present . An excellent choir , consisting of Brothers 0 . E . Perry , W , Francis , the Eev . E . V . Bryan , the Eev . C . F . Snaith , E . Pepper ,

Chaffer , F . Franklin , and Couchman , who rendered the anthems and hymns in excellent style , tended to heighten the interest in the ceremony . For some time past Bros . Col . W . K . Westropp ,

the Eev . J . E . Player , Col . Hamilton , E . T . Ward , and Dr . De Butts , with others , have been working strenuously in order thai the beautiful ceremony might pass off in a satisfactory manner , and judging from tbe result they must feel highly gratified .

The ceremony was fixed for 2-15 p . m ., and shortly after thai time a procession , headed by the Prov . Grand Sword Bearer , Brother E . Hire , consisting of the Prov . Grand Master of Wilts Lord Eadnor , the Grand Secretary of England Bro . Letchworth , and the Provincial Grand Officers of Kent , entered the Lodge

Eoom . After the Prov . Grand Master had taken the chair , he honoured Bro . Saunders W . M . of Temple Lodge , by appointing him hia Junior Warden for the day . The Prov . G . Master oi Kent ( Earl Amherst ) , the Prov . G . Master of Wilts ( Lord Eadnor ) , and Bro . E . Letchworth were then formally saluted by the Brethren .

Brother the Eev . J . E . Player Chaplain gave the following Oration on the nature and principles of tbe Institution : —It has been the custom , from time immemorial , that on such an occasion as this a few words should be spoken on the nature and principles of our Institution . My object , therefore , in addressing

you on this eventful day , is to lay before you as clearly , and , having regard to the shortness of the time at my disposal as concisely as I can , the nature and purposes of Freemasonry ; nor , in fulfilling this object , do I consider that it is necessary I should go very far outside the limits of that instruction which you have

all received at the various stages of your career as Masons . In the earlier stages of that career you were told that Freemasonry is a system of morality . But as there is no form of religious worship which does not inculcate its system of morality , so can there be no system of morality which is not deeply imbued with

the spirit of religion . It is impossible for anyone to be religiously good who is not at the same time a man of exemplary morals , and the converse proposition is equally true that it is impossible for anyone to be morally good in himself and towards his fellow men without being actuated by a sense of true religion .

Hence it is that a man who does not believe in the existence oi a Supreme Being is ineligible to be received into our Society . Such a man , if indeed there be such a one , which may well be doubted , would be unable to put in practice those principles oi morality which it is the purpose of Freemasonry to instil into

our minds . It would be an absurdity for the Master of one ol our Lodges to recommend to the serious consideration of one who haa no faith in God the Sacred Volume of the Law , which is the basis of our Masonic Faith , and by the help of which , we are told , we shall be taught the important duties we owe to God ,

to our neighbour , and to ourselves . But because I tell you , as many others before me in the position I now occupy have told you , that Freemasonry is a system of morality , and that it is impossible for morality to be void of all sense of religion , we must not commit the serious error of imagining that

Freemasonry is a religion , or that it was ever intended to be a substitute for religion . Freemasonry is the handmaid of religion , but it is not a religion in itself , neither is it possible , as I have endeavoured to show you , for anyone to be really and truly a Freemason who is not deeply imbued with the spirit of religion .

In the words of our well beloved Deputy Provincial Grand Master , whom may God speedily restore and long preserve to us , " Freemasonry is not religion , but it is the next best thing to it . " Freemasonry is not religion , but it is religious , and the great text book of the Institution is the Holy Bible .

Having described to you the nature of Freemasonry , let me enter upon the second part of my duty , that of explaining to you the purposes for which Freemasonry , in its present speculative form , was established . You are ali aware , indeed the evidence

of the fact is before you at this very moment , that the Volume ol the Sacred Law , which as I have said is the basis of our whole system , and which was recommended to your most serious consideration immediately after your initiation into oui mysteries , occupies the most prominent place in all our Lodges

Consecrations.

That Sacred Volume is the inspired Word of Him whom we all speak of with awe and reverence as the Architect and Supreme Euler of the Universe . But ifc is not always the same sacred volume which occupies this place of honour . In Lodges composed of Christian members , who profess Christianity , it is

the Holy Bible , aud comprises both the old and new Testaments . But in Hebrew Lodges it would be the Old Testament only ; in Lodges of Mohammedans the Koran ; and in those whose members are attached to other faiths , the sacred writings of their religion . But what becomes of the claim which Freemasonry

has justly advanced of being a universal system in the face of that material , I will go further still , and say , those fundamental differences of opinion among its members ? The answer to this question is immediate and clear . Eeligion is the basis on which Freemasonry is established , but it is religion without the

slightest trace of sectarianism . But the principles of morality , which are contained in every form of religious cult , are the same . I have said that a man who does not believe in God cannot be a Mason , but Masonry takes no heed of the particular form which that belief may assume . The principles of morality are the

same in all cults . The Mohammedan and the Brahmin , equally with the Jew and the Christian , know well that his duty to God consists in never mentioning His name but with that awe and reverence which are due from the creature to the Creator ; in imploring His aid on all their lawful undertakings , and in looking

up to Him , in every emergency , for comfort and support . They know , all of them , equally well , that the duty they owe to their neighbour is to act with him on the square , to render him every kind of office which justice and mercy may require , to relieve his necessities and sooth his afflictions ; and , generally , to do unto

him as they would he should do unto them in similar circumstances . All of them know equally well that their duty to themselves consists in adopting such a prudent and well regulated course of discipline as may conduce to the preservation of their corporeal and mental faculties in their fullest energy ,

to the end that they may be the better enabled to exert those talents with which God has blessed them , as well to His glory as to the welfare of their fellow creatures . They , all of them , are equally well aware that it is their duty to be exemplary in the discharge of their civil responsibilities , and to

cultivate the practice of every domestic as well as public virtue . All of them alike recognise that it is their duty to be influenced by the dictates of Prudence , Temperance , Fortitude and Justice ,

and above all that , Charity , without which , though they might possess all knowledge and all faith , and though they might bestow all their goods to feed the poor , it would profit tham nothing , in the sight of their Creator .

In fine , Freemasonry is that code or system of morals without which no form of religion ia perfect , while its purposes are to instil into the minds of those who truly and voluntarily enrol themselves under its banner to fulfil those duties , and to cultivate the knowledge of those virtues , which are possessed in

common by all religious faiths ; and my earnest hope and prayer is that those who have united to found the Lodge which is shortly about to be dedicated to God ' s service , as well as those whom they may hereafter admit into its fellowship , shall so order their lives , both in private and in public , as to be an honour to

the Society of which they are , or shall be in time to come , members . May the blessing of the Great Architect of the Universe rest upon you all , may the richest Benediction of the Eternal Father attend the work which has been so

auspiciously begun here to-day , and may He , the Most High , grant to each one of us and to all our Brethren , wherever they may be , a further mark of His most gracious favour at the last .

A beautiful and appropriate anthem , specially composed for the occasion by Brother Eev . E . V . Eustace Bryan , was exquisitely sung by the choir , he playing the accompaniment .

After the consecration had been completed , the Grand Secretary installed Bro . Lord Eadnor as the first Master of the Eadnor Lodge , and the newly-installed W . M . appointed and invested the Officers .

A number of Brethren were proposed as Joining Members , and there were four candidates proposed for initiation , after which the Lodge was closed . At 5-15 the Brethren assembled at the Pavilion Hotel , to

partake of the sumptuous banquet which had been prepared by Brother Spurgen , and for which his hotel is so eminently distinguished . Upwards of eighty Brethren attended , under the presidency of Lord Radnor .

At the conclusion of the repast the Worshipful Master proposed the Queen and the Craft , after which the toast of the M . W . the Grand Master H . E . H . the Prince of Wales was duly honoured .

The nexfc toasfc , which was proposed by Earl Amherst , was the M . W . Pro G . M ., the Deputy and the rest of the Grand Officers present and past . This was responded to by Brother E . Letchworth , who , after thanking the company on behalf of those Brethren whose names