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Article SERIOUS TRUTHS Page 1 of 4 →
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Serious Truths
QUE AEOHIIECTUEAL CHAPTEE .
The Freemasons Magazine of last week contains a notice of an architectural event much rarer than it should be , namely , the laying of a foundation stone with Masonic honours , which took place worth , when the t ) . Prov . G-. M . of West Yorkshire officiatedj on the occasion of commencing a newMechanics and Literary Institution . The building was
not large , but of sufficient importance to merit the special honour awarded to M . We observe that the dimehsioris are eighty-one feet by forty ^ five outside , and sixty feet high . The style is early English , which is rarely applied to this class of structure ; but we fear , as the windows and doors constitute the only ornamental features , and as one end only is displayed , that forced economy led to the adoption of this s ^
Among the professional members present ' were Bro . J . 0 . 'Grill , of Dewsbury , Provincial Grand Superintended Works , and Bro . George Mitchell , of Huddersfield , Past Provincial Grand Superintendent . As the rain poured down at the time , the cereruonies were interfered with . Bro . Dr . Fearnley , the Deputy Provincial Grand Master , thought it desirable to make an apology to the people who had witnessed the laying of the foundation stone , as they might think there had been a great amount of unnecessary ceremony . We think this was by no means a happy idea on
an occasion when the Masonic authorities had been specially invited to perform a ceremony which was considered desirable , and when there was no ground to suppose that the majority of the spectators would be displeased with any such ceremony , or desire it should be abridged . It would , taking low ground , be about as reasonable for the chairman at a public dinner to apologize for "hip ! hip ! hurra ! " and proceed to give an explanation of the ceremony and the salutation .
Bro . Fearnley was no happier in his explanation than in his excuses . He told his auditory that to his brethren the reasons for every thing in the ceremony were well known , which , if it were satisfactory to the uninitiated , made any explanation unnecessary . To the uninitiated , however , he said he could only give general reasons , which were really no reasons at all , for they were only symbolic illustrations of the tools used . He told them that the level taught that all sprung from the same stock—a strange lesson for
a level to teach ; that all were partakers of the same nature and were sharers of the same fate ; that the level was necessary for good government and for the purpose of providing order amongst all ranks and conditions of men . What any intelligent working man could think of an assertion such as this we should not like to say , for to them and to the auditory generally
it must have been a novel discovery that the level is an instrument ot government in England . He likewise told them that the square teaches humility—another assertion rather difficult of comprehension by those to whom Bro . Fearnley professed to assign general reasons . After such a speech the people might be excused for thinking that the ceremony contained much that was unnecessary .
Had Bro . Fearnley contented himself with moral reflections or professional remarks they would have been acceptable , but the barren roots of symbolic illustration are hard of digestion by the public at large . Among the unsatisfactory features of this celebration must be recorded the circumstance , that although the Provincial Grand Lodge was invited by Bro . Whitehead , the president of the Mechanics' Institution , to perform
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Serious Truths
QUE AEOHIIECTUEAL CHAPTEE .
The Freemasons Magazine of last week contains a notice of an architectural event much rarer than it should be , namely , the laying of a foundation stone with Masonic honours , which took place worth , when the t ) . Prov . G-. M . of West Yorkshire officiatedj on the occasion of commencing a newMechanics and Literary Institution . The building was
not large , but of sufficient importance to merit the special honour awarded to M . We observe that the dimehsioris are eighty-one feet by forty ^ five outside , and sixty feet high . The style is early English , which is rarely applied to this class of structure ; but we fear , as the windows and doors constitute the only ornamental features , and as one end only is displayed , that forced economy led to the adoption of this s ^
Among the professional members present ' were Bro . J . 0 . 'Grill , of Dewsbury , Provincial Grand Superintended Works , and Bro . George Mitchell , of Huddersfield , Past Provincial Grand Superintendent . As the rain poured down at the time , the cereruonies were interfered with . Bro . Dr . Fearnley , the Deputy Provincial Grand Master , thought it desirable to make an apology to the people who had witnessed the laying of the foundation stone , as they might think there had been a great amount of unnecessary ceremony . We think this was by no means a happy idea on
an occasion when the Masonic authorities had been specially invited to perform a ceremony which was considered desirable , and when there was no ground to suppose that the majority of the spectators would be displeased with any such ceremony , or desire it should be abridged . It would , taking low ground , be about as reasonable for the chairman at a public dinner to apologize for "hip ! hip ! hurra ! " and proceed to give an explanation of the ceremony and the salutation .
Bro . Fearnley was no happier in his explanation than in his excuses . He told his auditory that to his brethren the reasons for every thing in the ceremony were well known , which , if it were satisfactory to the uninitiated , made any explanation unnecessary . To the uninitiated , however , he said he could only give general reasons , which were really no reasons at all , for they were only symbolic illustrations of the tools used . He told them that the level taught that all sprung from the same stock—a strange lesson for
a level to teach ; that all were partakers of the same nature and were sharers of the same fate ; that the level was necessary for good government and for the purpose of providing order amongst all ranks and conditions of men . What any intelligent working man could think of an assertion such as this we should not like to say , for to them and to the auditory generally
it must have been a novel discovery that the level is an instrument ot government in England . He likewise told them that the square teaches humility—another assertion rather difficult of comprehension by those to whom Bro . Fearnley professed to assign general reasons . After such a speech the people might be excused for thinking that the ceremony contained much that was unnecessary .
Had Bro . Fearnley contented himself with moral reflections or professional remarks they would have been acceptable , but the barren roots of symbolic illustration are hard of digestion by the public at large . Among the unsatisfactory features of this celebration must be recorded the circumstance , that although the Provincial Grand Lodge was invited by Bro . Whitehead , the president of the Mechanics' Institution , to perform