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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 11 of 16 →
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Provincial.
parties , conciliate all private opinions , inculcate charity , and bind all in harmony , sociality , and good-fellowship . Now it must be acknowledged that amongst so great a body as the Craft is composed of , and scattered as they are over nearly the whole face of the globe , though there are many who have and who now fill the highest posts in society , the luminaries in literature and science , and adorning the pulpit , the bar , and the throne . We have lately lost a brother in the Archbishop of
Canterbury . Nelson was a Mason ; Bonaparte was a brother ; the hero of Waterloo has been enrolled in the Order , together with a host of the noblest of our nature ; and though we happily live under the reign of our own Queen Victoria , who , being a lady , cannot unite herself with the Craft , her Majesty does not fail to patronize it . We also , with all other portions of the human family , have to name the unfortunates , those whofrom unforeseen causes and calamitieshave been hurled from
, , the pinnacles of comfort and ease to the depths of misery and distress , and for such I would plead . We have , truly , institutions of an almost invaluable character , and first , the Fund of Benevolence ; then the Royal Masonic Benevolent Annuity Fund for granting annuities to poor , aged and infirm Freemasons , of which there are now many , averaging perhaps above 20 / . per annum ; the Royal Freemasons' Charity for Female Childrenbeing for the maintenance and education of indigent female
, children of reduced Freemasons ; the Royal Masonic Institution for Clothing , Educating , and Apprenticing the Sons of Indigent and Deceased Freemasons ; the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons in course of erection , about it is reported to be incorporated with the Annuity Fund , a most desirable object in all respects ; and also a recently adopted plan for granting gratuities or annuities to the widows of
Freemasons dying in indigent circumstances . There are eight hundred and fifteen lodges in the constitution of England according to the last register . Under Scotch and Irish Grand Lodges are numerous benevolent institutions ; and in the sovereign states of Europe , including the Italian and German ; in Asia , Africa , and America ( the latter very numerous ) I calculate in masonic charity at least £ 50 , 000 per annum is dispensed . Considering , as I think we fairly may , that there is yet more need of enlarged benevolenceand that though this is a very large sum and perhaps
, the largest that any one body of persons called by the same name , distinguished by the same ancient forms and ceremonies which have been handed down from time immemorial ; should we not endeavour to impress upon our brethren who are not members of lodges , the necessity of their becoming so much the nearer allied to us , and to those great and important charities which it is the honour and glory of the institution to call its own ? Surely those who are so situated cannot have duly considered ,
that the trifle of two shillings per annum which is the amount subscribed by the lodges for each member to the Grand Lodge , when multiplied by the brethren in their position would become in the aggregate a sum sufficient to relieve many of the fatherless and widows , to rescue from want and suffering many a brother in distress , or place his child or children in the school of industry . In foreign countries , and even in hostile landsthe distressed have met with succourand tbe forlorn with
, , cause for hope ; even the murderous weapon of the brigand has been known suddenly to fall from his grasp , and in the field of blood and slaughter the prostrate soldier has beheld the avenging blade of his opponent miraculously arrested in its descent . And while its influence is diffused to every corner of the world , I trust it will continue to be as it VOL . VII . 3 I
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
parties , conciliate all private opinions , inculcate charity , and bind all in harmony , sociality , and good-fellowship . Now it must be acknowledged that amongst so great a body as the Craft is composed of , and scattered as they are over nearly the whole face of the globe , though there are many who have and who now fill the highest posts in society , the luminaries in literature and science , and adorning the pulpit , the bar , and the throne . We have lately lost a brother in the Archbishop of
Canterbury . Nelson was a Mason ; Bonaparte was a brother ; the hero of Waterloo has been enrolled in the Order , together with a host of the noblest of our nature ; and though we happily live under the reign of our own Queen Victoria , who , being a lady , cannot unite herself with the Craft , her Majesty does not fail to patronize it . We also , with all other portions of the human family , have to name the unfortunates , those whofrom unforeseen causes and calamitieshave been hurled from
, , the pinnacles of comfort and ease to the depths of misery and distress , and for such I would plead . We have , truly , institutions of an almost invaluable character , and first , the Fund of Benevolence ; then the Royal Masonic Benevolent Annuity Fund for granting annuities to poor , aged and infirm Freemasons , of which there are now many , averaging perhaps above 20 / . per annum ; the Royal Freemasons' Charity for Female Childrenbeing for the maintenance and education of indigent female
, children of reduced Freemasons ; the Royal Masonic Institution for Clothing , Educating , and Apprenticing the Sons of Indigent and Deceased Freemasons ; the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons in course of erection , about it is reported to be incorporated with the Annuity Fund , a most desirable object in all respects ; and also a recently adopted plan for granting gratuities or annuities to the widows of
Freemasons dying in indigent circumstances . There are eight hundred and fifteen lodges in the constitution of England according to the last register . Under Scotch and Irish Grand Lodges are numerous benevolent institutions ; and in the sovereign states of Europe , including the Italian and German ; in Asia , Africa , and America ( the latter very numerous ) I calculate in masonic charity at least £ 50 , 000 per annum is dispensed . Considering , as I think we fairly may , that there is yet more need of enlarged benevolenceand that though this is a very large sum and perhaps
, the largest that any one body of persons called by the same name , distinguished by the same ancient forms and ceremonies which have been handed down from time immemorial ; should we not endeavour to impress upon our brethren who are not members of lodges , the necessity of their becoming so much the nearer allied to us , and to those great and important charities which it is the honour and glory of the institution to call its own ? Surely those who are so situated cannot have duly considered ,
that the trifle of two shillings per annum which is the amount subscribed by the lodges for each member to the Grand Lodge , when multiplied by the brethren in their position would become in the aggregate a sum sufficient to relieve many of the fatherless and widows , to rescue from want and suffering many a brother in distress , or place his child or children in the school of industry . In foreign countries , and even in hostile landsthe distressed have met with succourand tbe forlorn with
, , cause for hope ; even the murderous weapon of the brigand has been known suddenly to fall from his grasp , and in the field of blood and slaughter the prostrate soldier has beheld the avenging blade of his opponent miraculously arrested in its descent . And while its influence is diffused to every corner of the world , I trust it will continue to be as it VOL . VII . 3 I