64 CONGRATULATIONS. circle of life. Their import and their application is familiar to you all. In their knowledge and their exercise may you fulfil the high purposes of the Masonic Institution! How many pleasing considerations, my Brethren, attend the present interview! Whilst in almost every other part of the world political animosities, contentions, and wars interrupt the progress of humanity and the cause of benevolence, it is our distinguished privilege, in this happy region of liberty and peace, to engage in the plans and to perfect the designs of individual and social happiness. Whilst in other nations our Order is viewed by politicians with suspicion, and by the ignorant with apprehension, in this country its members are too much respected, and its principles too well known, to make it the object of jealousy or mistrust. Our private assemblies are unmolested, and our public celebrations attract a more general approbation of the fraternity. Indeed, its importance, its credit, and, we trust, its usefulness, are advancing to a height unknown in any former age. The present occasion gives fresh evidence of the increasing affection of its friends; and this noble apartment, fitted up in a style of elegance and convenience which far exceed any we have among us, does honour to Masonry, as well as the highest credit to the respectable Lodge for whose accommodation and at whose expense it is erected. We offer our best congratulations to the worshipful Master, Wardens, Officers, and Members of the Lodge. We commend their zeal, and hope it will meet with the most ample recompense. May their Hall be the happy resort of piety, virtue, and benevolence! May it be protected from accident, and long remain a monument of their attachment to Masonry! May their Lodge continue to flourish, their union to strengthen, and their happiness to abound! And when they and we all shall be removed from the labours of the earthly Lodge, may we be admitted to the brotherhood of the perfect, in the building of God, the Hall not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ! ANTHEMS FOR CONSECRATION CEREMONY, 65 At consecrations, the aid of music, vocal and instrumental, is essential. Besides those Anthems introduced, any of the following may be used: ANTHEMS. 'Let there be light -the Almighty spoke, To illume the rising earth! Well pleased the great Jehovah stood- In choral numbers Masons join, To bless and praise this light divine. Parent of light! accept our praise! That love-that aid mankind! The widow's tear-the orphan's cry- The naked clothe-the prisoner free! Blest Masonry! thy arts divine With light and truth inform the mind, 66 ANTHEMS FOR CONSECRATION CEREMONY. Dark bigots may with anger gaze, And fools pretend thy rites to blame, Prepare their songs, and sweetly sing, The pure unrivall'd joys of life, Love and Friendship, 'mongst us reign; And truth and candour warm the heart. This night another dome we raise, And consecrate to Hiram's laws; Let all unite, your voices raise, Sing triumph to the glorious cause. Nor guilt nor faction can divide [AIR-Rule Britannia."] To Heaven's high Architect, all praise, CHORUS. Sound aloud the great Jehovah's praise; ELECTION OF MEMBERS. Hail to the Craft! at whose serene command To works of Art her merit not confined, 67 Then follows the installation of the W. M., the appointment and investment of the officers, and framing the Bye-laws of the Lodge. No members can be elected on the opening day, but propositions may be received for consideration at the next Lodge. Formerly, the members assembled as a Lodge before the actual consecration, but of late years it has been wisely ordered that this imposing ceremony shall be duly performed before any work takes place. CHAPTER IX. THE CEREMONY OF OPENING AND CLOSING In all regular assemblies of men which are convened for wise and useful purposes, the commencement and conclusion of business is accompanied with some form. In every country of the world the practice prevails, and is deemed essential. It is traced from the most remote periods of antiquity, and the refined improvements of modern times have not abolished it. Ceremonies, simply considered, are little more than visionary delusions, but their effects are sometimes important. When they impress awe and reverence on the mind, and attract the attention to solemn rites by external forms, they are interesting objects. These purposes are effected when judicious ceremonies are regularly conducted and properly arranged. On this ground they have received the sanction of the wisest men in all ages, and consequently could not escape the notice of Masons. To begin well is the most likely means to end well: and it is justly remarked, that when order and method are neglected at the beginning, they will be seldom found to take place at the end. The ceremony of opening and closing the Lodge with solemnity and decorum is therefore universally adopted among Masons; and though the mode in some meetings may vary, and in every Degree must vary, still an uniformity in the general practice prevails in the Lodge; and the variation (if any) is solely occasioned by a want of |