Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Foreign.
flection inspires me with feelings of unspeakable pride and satisfactionfor , though fully convinced of your kind partiality at all times , I am also persuaded , that you would not have conferred this distinction upon me , if you had not thought I had studied to deserve it . Permit me then , my Brethren , to remark , that it is offerings like these that reflect lustre on both those who give , and those who receive—and
they act as powerful incentives to emulation , in the breast of every Member of our Order ; but it has a higher , a holier object—it is calculated to afford a practical commentary 0 : 1 the elementary principles of our Masonic Fraternity , by demonstrating that brotherly-love , untainted by envy or jealousy , can do even more than justice to the objects of its regard . It is a task , very difficult indeed , for any man , or Mason , to divest himself of the infirmities or weakness of our nature .
Every one of us , I may venture to say , is more or less ambitious , or desirous of excelling in some particular object or pursuit . For my own part , I am constrained to confess , that I have been ambitious and industrious to acquire your good opinion and regard , and to promote , support , and uphold the success and respectability of the Caledonia Lodge , as far as my individual exertions , with your assistance , could conduce to that object . That success has crowned our effortscannot
, be better attested , than by the fact , that since the constitution and erection of the Lodge , on the 4 th of April 1828 , upwards often years , a great number of Brethren have been initiated therein , and many others have been admitted as Members thereof , and those , too , from amongst the most respectable in the community . During all that period , I have the pride and satisfaction to say , 1 have presided over
the Lodge , —having been appointed first Master by the Charter , and , subsequently , elected to that office on no less than ten successive occasions ;—and to this fact , of my having officiated so long , as Master of this Lodge , I have every reason to attribute ( and I do so with pride and sincerity ) , my late honorable advancement in the Order ; and to the good opinion I have the happiness to enjoy of the respectable part of this community , so often and openly expressed and repeated b y
you , I may , in some measure , perhaps , be indebted for the late honorable distinction conferred upon me by the Representative of my Sovereign . Greatly , then , as I esteem this very valuable and handsome present , for its intrinsic worth , it would be holding it as nothing , did I not consider it to convey to me those sentiments of respect and esteem from the Members of the Lodge , which I shall ever prize , to the latest period of my life . I esteem the kind regard of my worthy Brethren
above all , —because , it must be considered as an emanation from hearts in which neither envy nor dissimulation can find a place , and a sure and certain indication of true and sincere Masonic feeling , characterized by brotherly-love and esteem , reciprocity and truth . I am proud , indeed , to say , that I consider it my good fortune to have presided so many years , as I have done , over the Caledonia Lodge , and to have filled that exalted stationI may almost sayb
, , y the unanimous vote of my Brethren ; and when I undertook the important office , I , from that moment , resolved to endeavour , with the able assistance of the other Office-Bearers and Members , to discharge the duties thereof with sincerity , fervency , and zeal , and with a most strict observance of the rites and ceremonies of Ancient Masonry , to which I was enjoined , by the most Worshipful Grand Lodge , from whom we hold our Charter , and whose supremacy , alone , and no other , weacknow-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Foreign.
flection inspires me with feelings of unspeakable pride and satisfactionfor , though fully convinced of your kind partiality at all times , I am also persuaded , that you would not have conferred this distinction upon me , if you had not thought I had studied to deserve it . Permit me then , my Brethren , to remark , that it is offerings like these that reflect lustre on both those who give , and those who receive—and
they act as powerful incentives to emulation , in the breast of every Member of our Order ; but it has a higher , a holier object—it is calculated to afford a practical commentary 0 : 1 the elementary principles of our Masonic Fraternity , by demonstrating that brotherly-love , untainted by envy or jealousy , can do even more than justice to the objects of its regard . It is a task , very difficult indeed , for any man , or Mason , to divest himself of the infirmities or weakness of our nature .
Every one of us , I may venture to say , is more or less ambitious , or desirous of excelling in some particular object or pursuit . For my own part , I am constrained to confess , that I have been ambitious and industrious to acquire your good opinion and regard , and to promote , support , and uphold the success and respectability of the Caledonia Lodge , as far as my individual exertions , with your assistance , could conduce to that object . That success has crowned our effortscannot
, be better attested , than by the fact , that since the constitution and erection of the Lodge , on the 4 th of April 1828 , upwards often years , a great number of Brethren have been initiated therein , and many others have been admitted as Members thereof , and those , too , from amongst the most respectable in the community . During all that period , I have the pride and satisfaction to say , 1 have presided over
the Lodge , —having been appointed first Master by the Charter , and , subsequently , elected to that office on no less than ten successive occasions ;—and to this fact , of my having officiated so long , as Master of this Lodge , I have every reason to attribute ( and I do so with pride and sincerity ) , my late honorable advancement in the Order ; and to the good opinion I have the happiness to enjoy of the respectable part of this community , so often and openly expressed and repeated b y
you , I may , in some measure , perhaps , be indebted for the late honorable distinction conferred upon me by the Representative of my Sovereign . Greatly , then , as I esteem this very valuable and handsome present , for its intrinsic worth , it would be holding it as nothing , did I not consider it to convey to me those sentiments of respect and esteem from the Members of the Lodge , which I shall ever prize , to the latest period of my life . I esteem the kind regard of my worthy Brethren
above all , —because , it must be considered as an emanation from hearts in which neither envy nor dissimulation can find a place , and a sure and certain indication of true and sincere Masonic feeling , characterized by brotherly-love and esteem , reciprocity and truth . I am proud , indeed , to say , that I consider it my good fortune to have presided so many years , as I have done , over the Caledonia Lodge , and to have filled that exalted stationI may almost sayb
, , y the unanimous vote of my Brethren ; and when I undertook the important office , I , from that moment , resolved to endeavour , with the able assistance of the other Office-Bearers and Members , to discharge the duties thereof with sincerity , fervency , and zeal , and with a most strict observance of the rites and ceremonies of Ancient Masonry , to which I was enjoined , by the most Worshipful Grand Lodge , from whom we hold our Charter , and whose supremacy , alone , and no other , weacknow-