From Labour To Refreshment.

listen to one brother talk for the space of twenty minutes . However most of them have more mercy on their audience , and content themselves with a few words . After all the lodges present have been duly

honoured with toasts , the Senior Master present proposes the health of the R . W . M . of the lodge they have come to visit , and the health of the Wardens and office bearers concludes the list . The lodge is then resumed in labour and closed in due form .

I had almost forgotten to say that there being only a nominal subscription , say Is . per annum as a test of membership , no banquet is provided ; and every brother present , visitor or not , has the proud and pleasing privilege of paying for his own

refreshments . I have spent many a pleasant evening in a lodge of refreshment , and hope to be spared for many another . I can bear testimony to the complete absence of anything like excess on these

occasions , and am delighted to think I have never seen a brother the worse either in body or in mind for being called from " Labour to Refreshment . "

The Prayers Of The Craft.

THE PRAYERS OF THE CRAFT .

By Bro . WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN , P . M . 131 , Truro . Provincial Grand Secretaiy of Cornwall , Honorary Member , Mother Kilwinning , Scotland , & c . ( Continued from page 482 vol . xx . —For former

, parts vide Nos . 508 and 515 , vol . xx . ) The following prayer from Davis ' s Freemasons ' Monitor , ( A . D . 1850 , Phladelphia ) is one we think little known in this part of the world , although most appropriate for the third degree .

" Thou , 0 God ! knowest our down sittiug and our uprising , and understandest our thoughts afar off . Shield and defend us from the evil intentions of our enemies , and support us under the trials and afflictions we are destined to endure , while

travelling through this vale of tears . Man that is born of a woman , is of few days , and full of trouble . He cometh forth as a flower , and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow , and continueth not . Seeing his days are determined , the

number of his months are with Thee ; Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass ; turn from him , that he may rest , till he shall have accomplished his day . For there is hope of a tree , if it

' be cut down , that it will sprout again , and that the tender branch thereof will not cease . But man dieth and fadeth away ; yea , man giveth up the ghost and where is he ? As the waters fail from the sea , and the flood decayeth , and drieth up , so

man lieth down , and riseth not up till the heavens shall be no more . Yet 0 Lord ! have compassion on the children of Thy creation ; and minister them comfort in time of trouble , and save them with an everlasting salvation . Amen . So mote it be . "

Whether it be the admirers or opponents of Freemasonry , few can read our funeral service without benefit and solemn gratification . The charges , prayers and anthems unite in one harmonius utterance of devotion and resignation to the will

of the Most High , and heartfelt sorrow at another stone in our temporal building being removed from amidst his brethren , and breathe a hope that the life here was such as to result in a happy eternal future ' ¦

In the Freemason ' s Vade-Mecum by Stephen Jones ( London 1797 ) the funeral ceremony is well arranged , and suitably compiled for Masonic purposes . After the first part of the service has been rendered , the Master is desired to repeat this

prayer : — " Most Glorious God , author of all good , and giver of all mercy , pour down Thy blessing upon us , and strengthen all our solemn engagements with the ties of fraternal affection .

" Let this striking instance of mortality remind us of our approaching fate ; and so fit and prepare us for that awful period , whenever it may arrive , that after our departure hence , in peace and in Thy favour , we may be received into Thine

everlasting kingdom , and there enjoy , in endless fruition , the just rewards of a pious and virtuous life . Amen . "

A similar prayer occurs with a trifling alteration in Webb ' s Masonic Monitor ( New York 1802 , as also the following admonitions . '' Let us while in this stage of existence , support with propriety the character of our profession , advert to the

nature of our solemnities , and pursue with assiduity the sacred tenets of our Order . Then with becoming reverence let us supplicate the divine grace , to ensure the favour of that eternal Being , whose goodness and power know no bound ;

that when the awful moment arrives , be it soon or late , we may be enabled to prosecute our journey without dread or apprehension , to that far distant country whence ' no traveller returns . By