The Great City Lodge And The Lord Mayor.

THE GREAT CITY LODGE AND THE LORD MAYOR .

OTJR readers will find , in another column , a report of the important ceremonial and banquet of Saturday last , when the Lord Mayor and Mr Alderman and Sheriff Ellis were the guests of the Great City Lodge . Tho gathering was a remarkable one , comprising , as it did , the elite of Masonic society , who were assembled to do honour

to the chief magistrate of the first city in the world . All that art conld do to give due pomp to the proceedings of the evening was done , ancl the officers ably sustained the high reputation which has already been won by tho Lodge .

The ceremonial was absolutely perfect , and the banquet which followed tho business was worthy of the occasion . The Lord Mayor , in response to the toast of his health , took occasion to remark that he himself was under the

influence of a Masonic revival , and that the coming installation of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales would mark a revival in Masonry , the influence of which would bo long and widely felt . Ifc is from this point of view that we venture to regard the meeting of Saturday . It marks , in the most

significant manner , tho fact that Masonry is spreading rapidly iu this country , and that its principles and its practical objects are beginning to be understood and appreciated by those who were once inclined to throw stones at tho Order . Men aro learning that the Fraternity

exists for other purposes than the mere parade of the regalia of office , and that the brethren are men of a stamp who would find little satisfaction in quaint titles and

mystic ceremonial , if those things were not tho mere outward manifestations of the practical good which lies behind them . The City of London , indeed , is so closely connected with the Craft that it is needless to remind her

citizens of the practical value of the great Fraternity , which is " broad based " upon tho princi ples of Charity and Tolei'ation . Very many of its magistrates , and large numbers of the members of the Corporation , are brothers . Its present Town Clerk , Bro . J . B . Monckton , is a

distinguished Mason ; Bro . Horace Jones , the City Architect , is as well versed in the mysteries of the Craft as he is in those of the noble profession of which ho is so eminent a master . At any meeting of the Court of Common Council wo could point out , on the benches of the Council Chamber ,

a score of brothers who have distinguished themselves , either as officers , or as practical workers in connection with the Masonic Charities . The mercantile community generall y is strongly represented in all our chief metropolitan

Lodges , and it would be difficult to pass through Mincing Lane or Lombard Street or any other great centre " where merchants most do congregate , " without meeting men who have handled the gavel of Master ,-or in some less prominent sphere have toiled for the cause . It is fittino" that the

citizens of a city which owes so much to the genius of Wren should thus identify themselves with the Craft he loved so well , and it was not inappropriate that the meeting of Saturday should have been held almost under the shadow of the great Cathedral which stands as an

imperishable monument of his fame . In looking back to the time when St . Paul ' s was slowly rising upon the foundations of the still grander pile which preceded it , Ave cannot but pause to note the changes which have since

passed over the Brotherhood . Freemasonry had been interdicted in the reign 6 f Henry IV ., and from that time until the re-establishmeut of Grand Lodge it held its place by the most feeble tenure . The lamp of truth was no

The Great City Lodge And The Lord Mayor.

doubt kept burning by zealous brothers , but it was not until the beginning of the eighteenth century that the Order was revived . During those eventful three hundred years the old records and constitutions had perished , and

when Wren was initiated , after the cap stone was fixed to his master piece , the Order lacked prestige , and was , to most persons , a new crotchet of a few wild enthusiasts . Since 1717 , with the exception of the schism , the history of

which is familiar to all Masons who are interested in the literature of the Craft , the progress of the Order has been marked by uninterrupted prosperity . Princes of the Royal blood have not disdained to bear office in a Fraternity

which places the poorest brother upon a footing of perfect equality with the noblest of its members . Through good report and through evil report the Order has steadily made its way . Pedants have sneered at its so-called

pasteboard temples , aud its tinsel insignia . Bigots have fulminated their edicts against its principles , and its secrets have been regarded with dread by the vulgar . But in

spite of all the obstacles which have cumbered the onward march of Freemasonry , we are able , to-day , to chronicle the fact that it now stands before the

world in as proud a position as it held in that remote past , when tho brethren wore the teachers of science and tho arts of construction to the ancient world . In Europe the Order has grown prosperous , in spite of the

frowns of jealous monarchs , and the curses of Popes ; and in America and the Colonies its progress during the last twenty years has been unprecedented . At home the Masonic journalist has to record the increasing wealth of

Grand Lodge , its corresponding" activity m all the works of benevolence , and the high position which it holds , not merely in the estimation of the entire Fraternity , but of the outer world . Craft Masonry , with all its practical

surroundings , has become widely popular , but the speculative aspect of the Order has not been forgotten by those amongst us who are specially qualified to examine the records of the past . At no period of our history , perhaps ,

has greater interest been manifested in researches of a purely literary character , which have for their object the elucidation of the truth with regard to the existence of the Order in remote ages . English Masonry , however , partakes

of the practical character of the people , and we need not note that the speakers of Saturday laid great stress upon the benevolent ancl social aspect of the Fraternity . We are all proud to admit that Masonry can lay claim to

undoubted antiquity , but AVC are prouder still of the great work which has been achieved , iu these latter clays , by the brethren , Avhose chief business it is to relieve the suffering and the distressed . We trust that it Avill be our fortune to

chronicle many more such gatherings as that Avhich marks an epoch in the history of the Great City Lodge . In thus doino" honour to a Mason Avho holds a high office in the

City of London , its members have set an example which may Avell be imitated by the brethren generally . A meeting of this kind tends to foster that noble enthusiasm for th e Craft which has distinguished so inanv worthv workers

in our midst . It has the effect of lifting the veil which commonly covers the practical doings of the Order , and although Masonry needs no advertisement , nnd its disciples seek to make no proselytes , yet it is as well that the light of truth should not always be hidden under a bushel .