Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
that he is cordially welcome to every heart here . A more devoted Mason never belonged to our ancient fraternity than Dr . James Burnes ; and I am sure it is the earnest wish and prayer of all present , that the blessings of health , happiness , and prosperity , may attend him and his family through life ; and at last , that he and they may find a welcome into the Grand Lodge above ! " ( Enthusiastic applause . ) Tune— " Bonnets o' Blue . "
The reply of the RIGHT WORSHIPFUI , was fervid and truthful : — "Next to the approval of my own conscience , the approbation of my Brethren has been alike the encouragement and the reward at wh | ch I have aimed in my Masonic proceedings ; and grateful indeed to me is the meed of praise which your brotherly love has accorded to me on this interesting occasion . Most sincerely , also , do I congratulate myself that I am amongst you to participate in the gratifying intercourse that now prevails
, and to witness the happy results of the fresh impulse which has recently been given to Masonry at this important station . Let those who would pronounce Freemasonry to be but a speculative and dreamy system , unattended with practical advantage ( for such sceptics there still are ) , but be allowed to contemplate the scene that is now passing around us ; or , as that cannot be , to ascertain who and what those are that are here assembled side by side for purposes of reciprocal improvement and
happiness ; Justly was Masonry declared , by a late noble dignitary of the Craft , to be a system to exclude civil and religious feud , —to mitigate ¦ within and annihilate without the bitterness of all controversy . With equal truth , perhaps , but certainly with inferior eloquence , it . has also been described by a less worthy individual—one who . has spoken so much on the subject that he can scarcely avoid a reiteration of his own ideasas an institution based on that never-failing charity which upholds uni- ;
versal love , calms the troubled sea of our evil passions , and leaves a , smooth surface , in which all men , who are sincere and conscientious worshippers of God , and unexceptionable in moral conduct , iriay ; unite , bless each other , and rejoice , in practically realizing the sublime sentiment , that
God hath made mankind one . mighty brotherhood—Himself their Master , and the world their Lodge . ' ' ¦ "Thus has Masonry been defined ; but it is in a somewhat altered aspect—yet still ; as always , carrying with it its lessons for good—that it presents itself within this hall . We do not indeed see here the crowned monarch and the honest yeoman—the minister of state and the industrious artisan—the Christianthe Moslemand the Jew—different and
, , conflicting races of men ; ' . white , black , and tawny , Greek and Goth > Northmen ,, and off-spring . of hotAfrica , * drawn within a circle by the magic tie that binds our . brotherhood ; but still , even here , there are contrasts and combinations : which , must bs sufficiently striking and instructive to all , but especially : so to the reflecting Mason . : For not more wonderful , perhaps , is that annihilation of all strife , and the substitution in its stead of a kindred sympathwhich Masonry enforces amongst
y , those whose creeds , customs , climes , and languages , are essentially discordant , than is that beautiful application of our system here exemplified ; by which the iron chain of one of the strongest bonds that restrain men is deprived , not indeed of its strength , but of its weight , and under whose genial influence the military superior and his more hurnble , though not less exemplary follower , mingle together in fraternal communion oh
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
that he is cordially welcome to every heart here . A more devoted Mason never belonged to our ancient fraternity than Dr . James Burnes ; and I am sure it is the earnest wish and prayer of all present , that the blessings of health , happiness , and prosperity , may attend him and his family through life ; and at last , that he and they may find a welcome into the Grand Lodge above ! " ( Enthusiastic applause . ) Tune— " Bonnets o' Blue . "
The reply of the RIGHT WORSHIPFUI , was fervid and truthful : — "Next to the approval of my own conscience , the approbation of my Brethren has been alike the encouragement and the reward at wh | ch I have aimed in my Masonic proceedings ; and grateful indeed to me is the meed of praise which your brotherly love has accorded to me on this interesting occasion . Most sincerely , also , do I congratulate myself that I am amongst you to participate in the gratifying intercourse that now prevails
, and to witness the happy results of the fresh impulse which has recently been given to Masonry at this important station . Let those who would pronounce Freemasonry to be but a speculative and dreamy system , unattended with practical advantage ( for such sceptics there still are ) , but be allowed to contemplate the scene that is now passing around us ; or , as that cannot be , to ascertain who and what those are that are here assembled side by side for purposes of reciprocal improvement and
happiness ; Justly was Masonry declared , by a late noble dignitary of the Craft , to be a system to exclude civil and religious feud , —to mitigate ¦ within and annihilate without the bitterness of all controversy . With equal truth , perhaps , but certainly with inferior eloquence , it . has also been described by a less worthy individual—one who . has spoken so much on the subject that he can scarcely avoid a reiteration of his own ideasas an institution based on that never-failing charity which upholds uni- ;
versal love , calms the troubled sea of our evil passions , and leaves a , smooth surface , in which all men , who are sincere and conscientious worshippers of God , and unexceptionable in moral conduct , iriay ; unite , bless each other , and rejoice , in practically realizing the sublime sentiment , that
God hath made mankind one . mighty brotherhood—Himself their Master , and the world their Lodge . ' ' ¦ "Thus has Masonry been defined ; but it is in a somewhat altered aspect—yet still ; as always , carrying with it its lessons for good—that it presents itself within this hall . We do not indeed see here the crowned monarch and the honest yeoman—the minister of state and the industrious artisan—the Christianthe Moslemand the Jew—different and
, , conflicting races of men ; ' . white , black , and tawny , Greek and Goth > Northmen ,, and off-spring . of hotAfrica , * drawn within a circle by the magic tie that binds our . brotherhood ; but still , even here , there are contrasts and combinations : which , must bs sufficiently striking and instructive to all , but especially : so to the reflecting Mason . : For not more wonderful , perhaps , is that annihilation of all strife , and the substitution in its stead of a kindred sympathwhich Masonry enforces amongst
y , those whose creeds , customs , climes , and languages , are essentially discordant , than is that beautiful application of our system here exemplified ; by which the iron chain of one of the strongest bonds that restrain men is deprived , not indeed of its strength , but of its weight , and under whose genial influence the military superior and his more hurnble , though not less exemplary follower , mingle together in fraternal communion oh