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 !

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,
Refulgent streams from chaos broke

To illume the rising earth!

Well pleased the Great Jehovah stood

The Power Supreme pronounced it good,
And gave the planets birth!

In choral numbers Masons join,

To bless and praise this light divine.

Parent of light! accept our praise!
Who shedd'st on us thy brightest rays,
The light that fills this mind.
By choice selected, lo! we stand,
By Friendship join'd, a social band!
That love-that aid mankind!
In choral numbers, &c.

The widow's tear-the orphan's cry-
All wants our ready hands supply,
As far as power is given!
The naked clothe-the prisoner free!
These are thy works, sweet Charity!
Reveal'd to us from heaven!

In choral numbers, &c.

BLEST Masonry! thy arts divine

With light and truth inform the mind,

The virtues in thy temples shine,
To polish and adorn mankind:
Sprightly pleasures, social love,

In thy triumphant domes unite;

'Tis these thy gallant sons improve, And gild the day, and cheer the night.

Dark bigots may with anger gaze,

And fools pretend thy rites to blame, But worth is still deserving praise,

And Pallas' self will speak thy fame. Apollo bids the tuneful choir

Prepare their songs, and sweetly sing, The music sound from every lyre,

And all the hills with Paans ring.

The

pure unrivall❜d joys of life,

Love and Friendship 'mongst us reign; We banish Discord far, and strife,

From Masonry! thy blest domain. As in fair nature's works, the whole Is moved with harmony and art, So order sanctifies the soul,

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. We scorn the blind's censorious pride, Masons united ever stand,

Nor guilt nor faction can divide

The faithful and illustrious band.

[Tune-" Rule Britannia."]

To Heaven's high Architect, all praise,
All praise, all gratitude be given;
Who deign'd the human soul to raise
By mystic secrets sprung from heaven.

CHORUS.

Sound aloud the great Jehovah's praise;
To him the dome, the temple raise.

HAIL to the Craft! at whose serene command
The gentle Arts in glad obedience stand:
Hail, sacred Masonry! of source divine,
Unerring sov'reign of th' unerring line:

Whose plumb of truth, with never-failing sway,
Makes the join'd parts of symmetry obey:
Whose magic stroke bids fell confusion cease,
And to the finish'd Orders gives a place :
Who calls vast structures from the womb of earth,
And gives imperial cities glorious birth.

To works of Art her merit not confined,
She regulates the morals, squares the mind;
Corrects with care the sallies of the soul,
And points the tide of passions where to roll:
On virtue's tablet marks her moral rule,
And forms her Lodge an universal school;
Where Nature's Mystic laws unfolded stand,
And Sense and Science, join'd, go hand in hand.
O may her social rules instructive spread,
Till Truth erect her long-neglected head!
Till through deceitful night she dart her ray,
And beam full glorious in the blaze of day!
Till men by virtuous maxims learn to move,
Till all the peopled world her laws approve,
And Adam's race are bound in Brothers' love.

Then follows the installation of the W. M.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CEREMONY OF OPENING AND CLOSING THE LODGE.

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. From the most remote periods of antiquity it is traced, 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