Untitled Article

Dawes as a zealous and excellent Mason , and one who had done a great deal to advance the cause of Templar Masonry in Lancashire , and he felt that no words of his would add to the estimation , in which their Prov . G . C . was held in this Province . It was a great pleasure to him to cross the water from Cheshire , and see how things were carried on in Lancashire , and he must say that the proceedings of this day had given him very great satisfaction . He only wished he could get up such a Prov . meeting in Cheshire . He had held one or two Prov . Grand Conclaves , but with the small number of Encampments in his Province , the meetings had been more a name than a reality . He would not detain them longer , but would at once propose the health of their Y . E . Prov . G . C . Sir Kt . Dawes" ( applause ) .

The Y . E . Prov . G . C , who was much cheered on rising , said : "It is to me a source of the utmost pride and gratification to have seen assembled , on this occasion so goodly a muster of the Kt . T . s of this great county . Our numbers and our unanimity , at this our first Prov . Grand Conclave , will show to the other Provinces of the kingdom , that , as in arts , manufactures , and commerce , so in Templar Masonry , Lancashire takes the lead of every other county . It has been my most anxious and earnest wish , ever since our M . E . and S . G . M . conferred on

me the high honour of the command of this Province , to advance the'interests and to promote the welfare of our Order ; and when I tell you that , during the few years which have elapsed since my appointment , I have had the pleasure of consecrating four new Encampments in this Province , and " that a fifth awaits consecration , you will perceive that Templar Masonry is making steady and I trust healthy progress— -I say , healthy , because I am not one of those who think that numbers alone constitute all that is required—I would have you look not merely

to numbers , but to respectability—so as to endeavour to be the crime de la crime of Masonry . Let none but good and worthy Masons enter a Templars' Encampment ; and if you all steadily adhere to this rule , and if every E . C . is true to his obligation in this respect , we shall soon become a band of Christian Masons second to none in this kingdom . I am well aware that objections have been raised against the Christian Degrees , as being inconsistent with genuine Masonry ; and that many conceive that with the three First Degrees , crowned by the Royal Arch , Freemasonry is completed . But , believe me , it is not so : the higher you go

in the Christian Degrees , the more you will admire them . What would have become of Freemasonry after the destruction of the Second Temple ? It would have been lost to us entirely , but for the Ecclesiastics , —the Christian Ecclesiastics—of the Dark and the Middle Ages , who not only preserved to us the fabric of Craft Masonry , but also studied and practised operative Masonry ; as is evidenced by those magnificent Cathedrals , and those beautifully designed Parish Churches ( both in this land and on the continent ) , which testify so strongly to the skill and learning of the Christian Masons who erected them . To whom then are we indebted for

the preservation of our ancient system , but to the Christian Masons , who formed themselves , in the hour of need , into distinct fraternities ? Of these fraternities , not the least glorious was the Order of the Temple , originally founded by Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey de St . Omer , and one or two other Knights , for the purpose of escorting and protecting Pilgrims through the Desert to the Holy City . Though we have now no Pilgrims to protect , let us , as much as possible , endeavour to follow the footsteps of our founders in evincing those true Masonic

characteristics , BROrHEKLY LOVE , relief , and truth ; and whilst we render all honour to Craft Masonry , without which we should none of us have been here ; and whilst we allow to the Jew and the Mahomedan that most excellent Degree , the Royal Arch , let us , who profess the Christian Faith , hold it our duty to maintain those Christian Degrees , which were established by our sainted predecessors , whose zeal and fidelity has alone preserved to us the ancient and mystical Degrees of

Freemasonry . For the very kind and flattering manner in which my health has been given by the V . E . the Prov . G . C . of Cheshire , and received by you , I beg to tender my warmest thanks ; and to assure you that my best endeavours shall never be wimting to promote the progress and the welfare of our Order " ( great applause ) . The Y . E . the Prov . G . C . then called for bumpers to the toast which he had next