senior warden, you are to take the duty, which your attachment to the SOUTH. Brother TO THE SECRETARY. You are now invested with the badge of your office of secretary. It is your duty to keep fair, regular, and faithful records of such transactions of the lodge as are suitable to be committed to writing, to receive all monies due the lodge, and pay them over to the treasurer, taking his receipt for the same, and always having your books and vouchers ready for inspection. Your love of masonry, and attachment to this lodge, will undoubtedly induce you to a faithful discharge of the duties of your office, and thereby merit the applause of your brethren. Brother I TO THE TREASURER. now invest you with the badge of your office, as treasurer of this lodge. Your duties are important, and I have no doubt you will fulfil them with honour to yourself, and to the satisfaction of your brethren. You are to receive all monies from the hands of the secretary, make regular entries of the same, and pay them out by order of the worshipful master, with the consent of the brethren, always keeping your books ready for inspection. TO THE SENIOR AND JUNIOR DEACONS. Brothers, and I invest you with these COLUMNS, as badges of your office, trusting in your vigilence, and attention, in the performance of your respective duties. You are to attend on the master and wardens, and to act as their proxies in the active duties of the lodge. You are to receive all candidates, and to introduce and accommodate all visiting brethren. Your regular attendance on the lodge will be a particular Brothers TO THE STEWARDS. You are appointed stewards of this lodge, and are now invested with the badges of your office. You are to assist in the collection of dues and subscriptions, to see that the tables are suitably furnished at refreshments, that every brother is properly provided for, and to keep an accurate account of the expences of the lodge. You are also occasionally to assist the deacons, and other officers, in the performance of their respective duties. Your regular and early attendance on the lodge, will be the surest proof of your attachment to the fraternity. Brother TO THE TYLER. I now invest you with the badge of your office, as tyler of this lodge, under a confident impression, that you will faithfully discharge your duty, for the safety of the craft. Your constant attendance upon the lodge, cannot be dispensed with, without special permission. THANKS OF THE MASTER OF THE NEW LODGE, To the grand master, and other members of the grand lodge. Permit me, most worshipful, for myself, and in behalf of the brethren of this lodge, to tender you, and our worshipful brethren of the grand lodge in general, our hearty thanks for the honour now on us conferred; and be assured, it shall be our particular care, to cultivate the sublime art, and to assiduously perform the respective duties we owe to our own lodge, and the whole Masonic Family. CHARGE OF THE GRAND MASTER, TO THE OFFICERS, AND OTHER BRETHREN OF THE NEW LODGE, "Worshipful Master, "The grand lodge having committed to your care the superintendence and CEREMONY OF CONSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION. government of the brethren who are to compose this new lodge, you cannot be insensible of the obligations which devolve on you, as their head; nor of your responsibility for the faithful discharge of the important duties annexed to your appointment. "The honour, reputation, and usefulness of your lodge, will materially depend on the skill and assiduity with which you manage its concerns; while the happiness of its members will be generally promoted, in proportion to the zeal and ability with which you propagate the genuine principles of our institution. "For a pattern of imitation, consider the great luminary of nature, which, rising in the East, regularly diffuses light and lustre to all within its circle. In like manner it is your province to spread and communicate fight and instruction to the brethren of your lodge. Forcibly impress upon them the dignity and high importance of Masonry; and seriously admonish them never to disgrace it. Charge them to practise, out of the lodge, those duties which they have been taught in it; and by amiable, discreet, and virtuous conduct, to convince mankind of the goodness of the institution; so that when any one is said to be a member of it, the world may know that he is one to whom the burthened heart may pour out its sorrows; to whom distress may prefer its suit; whose hand is guided by justice, and his heart expanded by benevolence. In short, by a diligent observance of the by-laws of your lodge, the constitutions of Masonry, and above all, the Holy Scriptures, which are given as a rule and guide to your faith, you will be enabled to acquit yourself with honour and reputation, and lay up a crown of rejoicing, which shall continue when time shall be no more. "Brother Senior and Junior Wardens, "You are too well acquainted with the principles of Masonry, to warrant 123 any distrust that you will be found are assiduously to assist the master in "Such is the nature of our constitution, that as some must of necessity rule and teach, so others must of course learn to submit and obey. Humility in both is an essential duty. The officers who are appointed to govern your lodge, are sufficiently conversant with the rules of propriety and the laws of the institution, to avoid exceeding the powers with which they are entrusted; and you are of too generous dispositions to envy their preferment. I therefore trust that you will have but one aim, to please each other, and unite in the grand design of being happy, and communicating happiness. "Finally, my brethren, as this association has been formed and perfected in so much unanimity and concord, in which we greatly rejoice, so may it long continue. May you long enjoy every satisfaction and delight, which disinterested friendship can afford. May kindness and brotherly affection distinguish your conduct as men, and as Masons. Within your peaceful walls, may your children's children celebrate with joy and gratitude the transactions of this auspicious solemnity. And may the tenets of our profession be transmitted through your lodge, pure and unimpaired, from generation to generation." The grand marshal then proclaims the new lodge, in the following manner, viz. "In the name of the most worshipful grand lodge of the state of, 1 proclaim this new lodge, by the name of lodge, duly constituted." This proclamation is made thrice, and each time followed with a flourish of drums or trumpets. The grand chaplain then makes the concluding prayer, which ends the public ceremonies. The grand procession is then formed in the same order as before, and returns to the hall. The grand master, deputy grand master, and grand wardens, being seated, all but master Masons are caused to retire, and the procession continues round the hall, and upon passing the several grand officers, pays them due homage, by the usual congratulations and honours, in the different degrees. During the procession (which passes three times round the lodge) the following song is sung, which concludes the ceremony of in stallation. HAIL, MASONRY divine! Long may'st thou reign: Great fabrics still arise, Hiram, the architect, How they should build ; MASONIC PRAYER: BY DR. W. Father of light, of life, and of love! Supreme Architect and Ruler of Heaven and Earth! Infinitely glorious God-Thou, at the beginning, willing to communicate happiness, and to establish beauty, order, and harmony, didst, from the womb of thine own awful eternity, give birth to time; and, commanding the jarring elements of matter to cease their strife, didst marshal them into an universe complete! Then, while the heavenly hierarchies, with voice and harp, sung the loud anthem of joy, thou didst crown thy glorious work, by breathing the breath of life into thine own image— Man! Be thou with us at our present beginning, and to the end. In thy name we assemble, and in thy name we desire to proceed in all our doings. Let the wisdom of thy blessed Son, by the grace and goodness of the Holy Ghost, so subdue every discordant passion within us, so harmonize and * Various charges have been written for this occasion; but we find none more suitable, or more comprehensive, than that contained in our late worthy, and much lamented brother Webb's Monitor, and have taken the liberty of copying it verbatim. enrich our hearts with a portion of thine own love and goodness, that the lodge at this time may be a sincere, though humble copy of that order, and beauty, and unity, which reign forever before thy heavenly throne.. We thankfully acknowledge that thou hast loved us, O Lord our God, with an exceeding great and eternal love; and hast chosen us out of every people and language. Our fathers trusted in thee, and were not ashamed -for thou didst teach them the statutes of life, that they might do of thy good pleasure with a perfect and willing heart. As thou didst unto them, so do thou unto us; still remembering thy gracious promise, "that where two or three are met together in thy name, thou wilt be in the midst of them." By thus seeking and loving thee, and by loving each other for thy sake, shall thy blessing and peace be upon as from the four corners of the earth. Thou shalt put understanding into our hearts, and make us diligent to hear, to teach, and to do, all the words of thy law in love-So shall we be built up a spiritual lodge, never to be shaken: but cleaving to thy great name, and united to thee in love, and praise, and freedom of soul forever! Amen, so may it be, for the sake of Christ our Saviour! CEREMONY AT THE OPENING OF A BRIDGE. The grand lodge, neighbouring lodges, and brethren, move in procession to the new bridge, attended by the magistrates and gentlemen of the vicinity. They form, in order, at the entrance of the bridge. The grand master, with his wardens, then examines the work, and finding it to be "well constructed and fit for public use," he causes proclamation to be made accordingly. The grand honours are then given-a short address is made, and an ode sung, adapted to the occasion. They then march over the bridge and return with music. The proclamations are again made. After which there is a discharge of artillery, The grand lodge then returns in procession, and is closed in form. FORM OF RETURN from subordinate lodges to the grand lodge. Attest Secretary. Officers. WM to said Lodge. sions, in Lodge, No.- holden in from toas also the number of members belonging Return of the names of the Officers, of the Initiations, Passings, Raisings, Admissions, Rejections, and Expul Initiations | Passings | Raising | Admissions | Rejections | Expulsions | Number of Members W. WILLIAM W. JONES, grand secretary. W. JEREMY L. CROSS, grand lec turer. The grand master appointed W. THOMAS K. BRACE, senior grand deacon. W. ELIZUR GOODRICH, junior grand deacon. W. and Rev. MENZIES RAYNER, grand chaplain. It appears that this grand communication was attended by the officers of all the lodges excepting four, under its jurisdiction, or their proxies. A charter was granted for the establishment of a new lodge in Barkhamstead, by the name of Northern Star Lodge, No. 58. A charter was also granted for the establishment of a new lodge in Suffield, by the name of Apollo Lodge, No. 59. A petition was presented, praying for the establishment of a new lodge in Goshen; and another praying for a new lodge in Stafford, both of which were read, and continued to the next grand communication. A number of petitions of a local nature were presented, and properly disposed of; and after an address to the throne of grace, by the worshipful and reverend Menzies Rayner, the grand lodge was closed, in DUE and AMPLE FORM, and adjourned to the next anuual grand communication, to be holden in the city of Hartford, in May next. MASONIC ADDRESS. The following Address, was delivered on the 24th of July last, at Doylstown, Pennsylvania, before the brethren of BENEVOLENT LODGE, No. 168, attended by a number of visiting brethren, and a large concourse of other citizens. BY BROTHER LEWIS DEFFEBACH. ADDRESS. Dear Brethren, Friends and Fellow Citizens, When reflection awakens me to a sense of the important duty which devolves upon me this day, when I bring to mind that I am about to address this assembly on so momentous an occasion as the present, when I view myself, and feel the conscious want of ability, I am ready to retire from the task with which I am honoured. But why? Diffident as I feel, and inferior as I know my abilities to do justice to my friends, and to myself, yet when I look around me, and on the one hand find myself in the presence of men connected with me by the most sacred ties that can bind man to his fellow man; and on the other witness an assemblage of my friends, and my neighbours, I feel myself doubly strengthened, I feel myself doubly fortified. Did 1 possess the eloquence of a Cicero, or the oratorial powers of a Demosthenes, I would exhibit to this assembly, such a scene as would in a moment, remove every unfavourable impression they may entertain of our ancient and honourable fraternity. Yes, my friends, I would advance such arguments that all the malice of the wicked and the unbelieving, would appear before you as faint and imbecile as the midnight taper, compared with the glowing splendour of the meridian sun; but aware of my inability, I crave, and anticipate your indul |