The Highbury Lodge, No. 2192.

THE HIGHBURY LODGE , No . 2192 .

In our report of the Consecration of the Highbury doe in our issue of the 19 th ult , we were unable to inide the oration delivered by Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . C V odford , P . G . Chap . This week we have the pleasure of Renting it to our readers , and we also avail ourselves of P ' opportunity of giving the portraits of the Worshipful Master , the Senior and Junior Wardens , and the Secretary .

vfe are met to consecrate another lodge of our Order , in , vear of light and grace , when , as the poet says , " Our od Oueen Victoria is reigning , " and when , as loyal ^" biects and peaceful citizens we commemorate everyw here , g ladly and rejoicingly the Jubilee of constitutional w genment , happy progress , educational activity , and the mvard and triumphant march of civilization ,

enlightenent and toleration . As Freemasons , our thoughts must lurn perforce to that marked and rapid increase of our own cr at Order which has been alike ueprecedented and even iL rvellous . When we compare the iSth Century with the inth Century Freemasonry , we think we may fairly claim ome little merit and some little commendation for the more comp lete development , and spiritualization , so to

sa v of the several laws and outcome of Freemasonry , whether beneficially or demonstratively , in the abstract or the concrete . The slow progress of Freemasonry from , 7 until 1 S 13 , in England , may be accounted for in various ways , no doubt , but still the fact remains , that the progress was slow , and the practical fruits very limited . The whole of our Charitable Institutions , for instance ,

have practically developed themselves in this 19 th century of ours , and though that useful and admirable Institution of ours , the Board of Benevolence , dates from ( he last century , so that our older brethren were not forgetful altogether of the great Masonic virtue of Charitable Benevolence , yet its very remarkable usefulness and effect as a great charitable medium are purely of

inth century increase and activity and remarkable reality . The Girls' School and the Boys' School actually date from the iSth century , but their great and glorious advance belong to our epoch . English Freemasonry to-day occupies a position alike unique and wonderful in itself . In the great increase of its numbers , in the vitality of its principles , and in the practice of its professions it stands unrivalled at the

pre-BRO . ALDERMAN SAVORY , S . W . sent moment amongthe jurisdictions of theworld . Freefrom fierce and hurtful questions of strife and discord , intent on Masonic work alone ; happily exempt from the baneful intrusion of passing social controversies , or stormy political passions , it keepslitself properly within its own

safeguarded limits , and gracefully and quietly elaborates its great and distinguishing principles of Masonic work , Masonic sociality , Masonic Charity . In one sense , therefore , when we meet to-day to open another lodge , as a centre of light and kindliness , of diffusive benevolence and active charity , we must remember in this year of Jubilee , J , > 'v ... " -, « . . W .. WUU 1-1 ... t *»» J jJTVdl Ul JUU 1 ICC much

now we owe to that great Union of 1 S 13 , which united bor ?' " ? £ eneous and amicable compact two separate and S l Freeemasons , and gave us at once the key south t 0 " onward advance of Freemasonry , north , of HY r ' * west ' ' > under the honoured banner tne brand Lodge of England has been productive of

imn ? ' bet ) efits to "ur Brotherhood , has given such an srXi t ' i ° Masoni < : Benevolence , and has , in addition , been we Iv to „ suffering humanity and the world in which uJZt' W , hen the two R ° val brothers and Grand rained t ° - ¦ father ' onethe uncIe of the Queen , deter-Freem unite '" ° inseparable bond the two bodies of EreatP « f ° u ? this c ° untT , they conferred not only the » r benefit on Freemasonry crenerallv . hut set an

attarhm ° ! fraternal goodwill and spmpathy , of zeal and Freema ' the unity ' the honour . the welfare of roll on hl ^' i . ™ ll , ch we should never forget as the . years We kno , t h We should always gratefully appreciate . antl harm g 0 ° d and §' raclous the principles of unity and in f , - ? y are ln 'hings mundane , in national interests on 'he nth y , matters ; we know also how sad and hurtful , s Mfe 4 and ' . all those tokens and evidences of tne strong ?'' "' - division > and discord , which weaken tion s , and em , P ' > injure the most prosperous instituutterl y dest "" - P eace and happiness , even sometimes 1113 11

, U SVmnQH , /• . ' U" * . C UC IUL UH . CU , IJCclCtlUl , had at onr . 1 familles - English Freemasonry from 1813 r ? s «! tmav h ken . . w life > made a fresh start , and the tln , e > and itsi ^? " - ' immense extension at the present * e owe it a "" J ? '"crease as year follows year . And r "lers , t 0 tuf [ dea ' under the wise government of our COl ' > to thnfo - reat P rinciple of fraternal union and con-E ^ cefui r " „ , . counsels which animated the idea and lsh Freern « n S 10 ns of the tw ° ° y brothers that , Eng"asonry presents to ourselves and the world , the

The Highbury Lodge, No. 2192.

spectacle of one great , happy , united Order , lengthening its stakes on every side , proclaiming the same principles , and avowing the same simple and tolerant , the same judicious and dignified course of action which has ever distinguished notably its career , and which has obtained for it the ever loyal adhesion of its members , the ungrudging admiration of distant jurisdictions , and even the respect of those who are often ready to cavil at Masonic professions ,

and hastily and signally find fault with its code of moral laws , or its proclamation of time-honoured principles of thought and action . We may gratefully remember , especially here and to-day , what , as Freemasons , we owe to those two great ruling houses of Hohenzollern and Brunswick , in marked contrast to other dynasties , in respect of the position and prosperity of the Order to which

we belong . Since the time that Frederick the Great assumed the Master ' s gavel in the lodge at Potsdam , initiated as he had been at Brunswick some years before privately , that distinguished family has never been without a Freemason among its members . To-day we greet

two brethren and Past Grand Masters , the venerable Emperor and his Imperial Highness the Crown Prince , whose interest in Freemasonry has never wavered or waned , and the latter , as we know , being a most instructed and able Freemason ; a bright Mason in word and fact . So , too , in England from the day that

BRO . EDGAR BOWYER , W . M .

BRO . C . 1 ? . HOGARD , SEC . Frederick , Prince of Wales , was initiated , ( the great great grandfather of our Royal Grand Master ) , at Hampton Court Palace , English Freemasonry has never wanted for members of the Royal Family as brethren of our Order , and we owe a great deal to the fact that that principle of loyalty and adherence to law and order which has

distinguished our Body , —has been happily cemented and advanced by the presence amongst us of those who , in the past as in the present , have " Ne'er been ashamed to hear themselves named as Free and Accepted Masons . " You may also well remember that our Sovereign , the only daughter of a brother and Grand Master , and , therefore , truly herself a Lewis , is not only the mother and

mother-inlaw of brethren of our Fraternity , but is the grandmother of a young and royal brother , whose advent among us not long ago was so gladly hailed , not only by us all under the English Grand Lodge , but by all Anglo-Saxon Masons everywhere . But , perhaps , after all making allowances for many concomitant cauies and aiding influences , the one great secret of our Masonic position and progress in this

year of Jubilee , has been the inherent excellency of the foundation truths , and the practical progress of Freemasonry . Beginning with the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man , basing all its moral teaching on the Bible , the Bible alone , it proposes and commends to our earnest adoption and sympathetic approval , the active and loving sentiments of friendship , sociality , friendliness , and

The Highbury Lodge, No. 2192.

goodwill for our neighbour . It unites us in bonds of amity , and sympathy , and interest . It drives away from us those elements of discord and division , strife and confusion which mar all human efforts , poison the sources of earthly happiness , and diffuse instead of ihe engaging attributes of amiability , geniality , pleasantness , and peace , the unhappy developements of bitter antagonism , and of

ill-omened strife . Happily for us all , a Masons' lodge is closely , is hermetically , tyled against the entrance of political controversies or religious discussions . None of the heated "output" of party animosity is there prevailing , none of the watchwords of earthly antagonism are there echoed . Men of different countries ; sects , and opinions , races and lands , creeds and castes , there happily can assemble

in peace , harmony , and sympathetic good will , forgetting for some happy hours anything that might sever them from one another in the world without , and united for the nonce in the great aspiration of being happy and imparting happiness to others , rontent " to aid humanity ' s great cause , " by advancing charitable efforts and supporting a tolerant and discriminating exercise of

benevolence , like , as in the parabolic teaching of old , pouring the oil and wine of sympathy and brotherhood into the open wounds of our common human race . Is it not true still for us and of us that some of our most endearing friendships have been formed in a Masonic Lodge ? Is it not the fact , that we , all of us can recall some of the pleasantest hours of our own lives , as spent in

the unrestrained and genial flow of sympathy sincere and personal , and that we owe to Freemasonry many charming evidences of abiding and heartfelt goodwill and kindness , which have been both a pleasure and nenefit to us , as we have pa-sed ihe milestones on our journey through li ' e ? In its zeal for benevolence , in its genial links and binding friendships , in the absence of all that constitutes the heartburnings of social life and struggles ,

in its noble literature , and its utter absence of anything that savours of libeiality or intolerance , and above all in its amiable and needful and praiseworthy hospitality , in its utter and dominating unselfishness , in its large and discriminating and active Charity , Freemasonry sets before us , day by day , and year by year , facts which we may always well and proudly remember , and commends itself to the loyal , nay , the unceasing attachment of its own

BRO . T . HASTINGS MILLER , J . W . members everywhere . The world has not always been fair or favourable to our Order , it has misconstrued its objects , undervalued its aims , and endeavoured by persecution or ridicule to stay its onward progress , and to thwart and mar its honest utterances . But all in vain . Freemasonry has outlived the virulence of

open hostility and the shafts of polished sarcasm , and is to-day more numerous , more influential than it ever was before ; and standing as it were in the midway path of Truth , it is equally opposed to bigotry and irreverence , and its only open and avowed enemies to-day seem to be the illiberal fanatics of both schools of thought , ever prevalent in the world , those who equally seek for the sake

of so-called religion or of assumed hyper-liberality of opinion to deny to others that right of private judgment which they ostentatiously claim for themselves . Masonic Charity is a wonderful fact , and we shall all heartily re-echo " Floreat Freemasonry . " Yes , so long as it subserves the good of the brotherhood , the help of humanity , and the happiness of man , so long as it

is loyal and true to its own principles , is yet tolerant and liberal , enlarged and far extending in its scope and aim , so long as it ministers to friendship , hospitality , brotherly love , and Charit }' , long may it flourish and abound . May it never cease to be helpful in all that can cement the brotherhod , aid humanity , further Charity , promote sociality , and strengthen friendship :

may it inculcate good will and peace , and in its striking unity and organization , may it tend to that future of which the Poet Laureate sang 60 years ago , the " Brotherhood of Man , " "The Federation of the World . " We shall offer , in conclusion , " Hearty good wishes" to the new lodge about to be conseciated to-day . The worthy and distinguished brother elected as its first Master is

so well-known to us all , that , we feel sure , the new lodge will be loyal to the Grand Master and Grand Lodge , an ornament on the roll of lodges , and distinguished by its adherence to the true principles of Freemasonry . He has gathered around him a most worthy band of brethren . and officers , many of tried zeal , proved experience , and great

service to our Order , and we shall aU hope , and we shall all believe , that the lodge , Sir , you are sent by the Grand Master to constciate to-day will prove worthy of hs favour and your presence , and will be distinguished by its firm adherence ever under all circumstances to the bright , the loyal , the genial , the tolerant principles of our English Freemasonry .