Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Oitr ^
affords some of the grandest effects , and is the cheapest accessory that can be afforded . An Organist to a Lodge , or Brother who can play the harmonium , is readily provided ; for a Brother , properly endowed , is glad to use his gifts , and the Brethren have the opportunity of promoting his professional views . The musical Brethren should
likewise be put on a better footing , as they have formerly been in some Lodges in England , and are in many continental Lodges . Provision should "be made in the constitntions that they may be initiated for the Grand Lodge fees , be exempted from joining fees , and only required to pay the Grand Lodge yearly foes . Such Brethren should be required to take part in the ceremonial . In every Lodge should be a master of music or precentor for instructing the Brethren , and
leading the choir . _ . There is good scope for choral effects , and portions of the ritual and responses admit of chanting . With the due observance of the higher functions of music , the musical Brethren would be regarded for higher qualifications than contributing to the amusement of the other members at the banquet , or , as is too often the case , singing vapid songs , which do not tend to the advancement of the assembly or the Craft .
An accessory , which has not been adequately employed , for the reason that we are sojourners in the tabernacles of strangers islight . It is only in our own buildings that we can make the necessary arrangements ^ as the very provision for ventilation might be a means of overhearing in a strange building ; while in a hall , at the
top of a secluded edifice , they could be safely applied . Gas is a very useful application in the hands of an architect knowing its resources , for as it can be kept under command ^ it can be easily turned to good account . The columns admit of ingenious illuminations , and these become interesting objects . The use of sunlights , of clusters of stars ,
and of a starry firmament in the vault of the roof of the Lodge , variable according to circumstances , is likewise a practicable adaptation . So too the application of coloured lights is an available adjunct to the solemnities . The command of gloom in more parts of the ceremonial than one is desirable .
A Masters Lodge can never properly be held in a strange and unconsecrated building , and no one in England has seen the raising adequately performed , as it is abroad—unless he has had the good fortune to visit a Lodge upon the continent . So it will be found
throughout ; and when a few proper buildings have been erected , the contrast will be strong between Masonry and what it has been hitherto . So far as to what is ritual—but its intellectual character will likewise be
favourably affected . Now its practice is too often a performance of shifts and subterfuges , making promise to the ear of the candidate and never bringing forth its fulfilment ; and the study of the liberal arts and sciences is as meagrely set . forth as at a Greshain lecture . When a Mason begins to think of these things , he can neither satisfy himself with Ids own position as a partaker in such doings , nor with the condition of the Craft ™ great in its professions , great in its past history , and paltry in its present performances .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Oitr ^
affords some of the grandest effects , and is the cheapest accessory that can be afforded . An Organist to a Lodge , or Brother who can play the harmonium , is readily provided ; for a Brother , properly endowed , is glad to use his gifts , and the Brethren have the opportunity of promoting his professional views . The musical Brethren should
likewise be put on a better footing , as they have formerly been in some Lodges in England , and are in many continental Lodges . Provision should "be made in the constitntions that they may be initiated for the Grand Lodge fees , be exempted from joining fees , and only required to pay the Grand Lodge yearly foes . Such Brethren should be required to take part in the ceremonial . In every Lodge should be a master of music or precentor for instructing the Brethren , and
leading the choir . _ . There is good scope for choral effects , and portions of the ritual and responses admit of chanting . With the due observance of the higher functions of music , the musical Brethren would be regarded for higher qualifications than contributing to the amusement of the other members at the banquet , or , as is too often the case , singing vapid songs , which do not tend to the advancement of the assembly or the Craft .
An accessory , which has not been adequately employed , for the reason that we are sojourners in the tabernacles of strangers islight . It is only in our own buildings that we can make the necessary arrangements ^ as the very provision for ventilation might be a means of overhearing in a strange building ; while in a hall , at the
top of a secluded edifice , they could be safely applied . Gas is a very useful application in the hands of an architect knowing its resources , for as it can be kept under command ^ it can be easily turned to good account . The columns admit of ingenious illuminations , and these become interesting objects . The use of sunlights , of clusters of stars ,
and of a starry firmament in the vault of the roof of the Lodge , variable according to circumstances , is likewise a practicable adaptation . So too the application of coloured lights is an available adjunct to the solemnities . The command of gloom in more parts of the ceremonial than one is desirable .
A Masters Lodge can never properly be held in a strange and unconsecrated building , and no one in England has seen the raising adequately performed , as it is abroad—unless he has had the good fortune to visit a Lodge upon the continent . So it will be found
throughout ; and when a few proper buildings have been erected , the contrast will be strong between Masonry and what it has been hitherto . So far as to what is ritual—but its intellectual character will likewise be
favourably affected . Now its practice is too often a performance of shifts and subterfuges , making promise to the ear of the candidate and never bringing forth its fulfilment ; and the study of the liberal arts and sciences is as meagrely set . forth as at a Greshain lecture . When a Mason begins to think of these things , he can neither satisfy himself with Ids own position as a partaker in such doings , nor with the condition of the Craft ™ great in its professions , great in its past history , and paltry in its present performances .