And we beseech thee, O Lord God, to bless this our present assembling, and grant that this candidate may become a true and faithful brother among us; endue him with a competency of thy divine wisdom, that he may, with the secrets of Free Masonry, be able to unfold the mysteries of godliness; and may he and we walk in the light of thy countenance, and when the trials of our probationary state are over, be admitted into the temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Amen.

USED IN ANCIENT TIMES AT JERUSALEM.

O Lord, excellent art thou in thy truth, and there is nothing great in comparison to thee, for thine is the praise, from all the works of thy hands, for ever more.

Enlighten us, we beseech thee, in the true knowledge of Masonry. By the sorrows of Adam, the first made man ; by the blood of Abel, the holy one; by the righteousness of Seth, in whom thou art well pleased; and by thy covenant with Noah, in whose architecture thou wast pleased to save the seed of thy beloved, number us not among those that know not thy statues, nor the divine mysteries of the secret Cabala.

But grant, we beseech thee, that the ruler of this lodge may be endued with knowledge and wisdom, to instruct us and explain his secret mysteries as our holy brother Moses did (in his lodge) to Aaron, Eleazar, Ithamar, and the seventy elders of Israel.

And grant that we may understand, learn and keep all the statutes and commandments of the Lord, and this holy mystery, pure and undefiled unto our lives' end. Amen.

THOU hast loved us, O Lord our God, with eternal love; thou hast spared us with great and exceeding patience, our Father and our King, for thy great name's sake, and for our fathers' sake, who trusted in thee, to whom thou didst teach the statutes of life, that they might do after the statutes of thy good pleasure with a perfect heart: so be thou merciful unto us, O our Father! Merciful God, who sheweth mercy, have mercy upon us, we beseech thee, and put understanding in our hearts, that we may understand, be wise, hear, learn, teach, keep, do, and perform all the words of the doctrine of thy law in love, and enlighten our eyes in thy commandments, and cause our hearts to cleave to thy law, and unite them in the love and fear of thy name; we will not be ashamed, nor confounded, nor stumble, for ever and ever.

Because we have trusted in thy holy, great, mighty, and terrible name, we will rejoice and be glad in thy salvation, and in thy mercies, O Lord our God; and the multitude of thy mercies shall not forsake us for ever. And now make haste and bring upon us a blessing, and peace from the four corners of the world: For thou art a God who workest salvation, and hast chosen us from every other people and language; and thou, our King, has caused us to cleave to thy great name, in love to praise, and be united to thee, and to love thy name: Blessed art thou, Lord God, who hast chosen thy people Israel in love.*

* This prayer is a translation from the Hebrew, used in the Holy Land, before the destruction of the temple.

CHARITY:

THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC OF MASONS.

CHARITY is the chief of every social virtue, and the distinguishing characteristic of our order. This virtue includes a supreme degree of love to the great Creator and Governor of the Universe, and an unlimited affection to the beings of his creation, of all characters and of every denomination. This last duty is forcibly inculcated by the example of the Deity himself, who liberally dispenses his beneficence to unnumbered worlds.

It is not particularly our province to enter into a disqui ́sition of every branch of this amiable virtue; we shall only briefly state the happy effects of a benevolent disposition towards mankind, and show that charity exerted on proper objects, is the greatest pleasure man can possibly enjoy.

They are exposed to They have not always

The bounds of the greatest nation, or the most extensive empire, cannot circumscribe the generosity of a liberal mind. Men, in whatever situation they are placed, are still, in great measure, the same. similar dangers and misfortunes. wisdom to foresee, nor power to prevent, the evils incident to human nature. They hang, as it were, in a perpetual suspense, between hope and fear, sickness and health, plenty and want. A mutual chain of dependence subsists throughout the animal creation. The whole human species are, therefore, proper objects for the exercise of human charity. Beings who partake of one common nature, ought ever to be actuated by the same motives and interests. Hence, to soothe the unhappy by sympathising with their misfortunes, and to restore peace and tranquillity to agitated minds, constitute the general and great ends of our institution. This humane, this generous disposition, fires the breast with the

most manly feelings, and enlivens that spirit of compassion, which is the glory of the human frame, and which not only rivals, but outshines every other pleasure the mind is capable of enjoying. Charity is here represented to be the principal step by which we are to arrive at the summit of Masonry.

Hail! brightest attribute of God above,
Hail! purest essence of celestial love,
Hail! sacred fountain of each bliss below,
Whose streams in sympathy unbounded flow,
"Tis thine, fair Charity, with lenient power
To soothe distress, and cheer the gloomy hour;
To reconcile the dire embitter'd foe,
And bid the heart of gall with friendship glow;
To smooth the paths of thorny life,

And still the voice of dissonance and strife:
Abash'd, the vices at thy presence fly,
Nor stand the awful menace of that eye;
Hate, envy, with revenge, in anguish bleed,
And all the virtues in their room succeed;
Attemper'd to the bloom of virgin grace,
See modest innocence adorn that face,
To failings mild, to merit ever true,

See candour each ungenerous thought subdue!
See patience smiling in severest grief,

See tender pity stretching forth relief!

See meek forgiveness bless the hostile mind,
See Faith and Hope in every state resign'd!
Happy! to whom indulgent Heaven may give
In such society as this to live.*

In what character Charity is, and should be received among Masons, is now my purpose to define, as it stands limited to our own society.

As being so limited, we are not through that subject to be imposed on by false pretences; but ought to be certain

* Composed by the Rev. H. C. C. Newman.

of the proper and merited administration of it. It is hence to be hoped, that Charity exists with us without dissembling or hypocrisy, and lives in sincerity and truth; that benefits received impress a lively degree of gratitude and affection on the minds of Masons, as their bounties should be received with cheerfulness, and unacquainted with the frozen finger of reluctance; the benevolence of our society should be so mutual and brotherly, that each ought to endeavour to render good offices, as ready as he would receive them, "For blessed be him whom giveth, as well as him who receiveth."

In order to exercise this heavenly virtue, both in the character of Masons and in common life, with propriety, and agreeable to such principles, we should forget every obligation but affection; for otherwise it were to confound charity with duty. The feelings of the heart ought to direct the hand of charity. To this purpose we should be divested of every idea of superiority, and estimate ourselves as beings of the same rank and race of men; in this disposition of mind we may be susceptible of those sentiments which charity delighteth in, to feel the woes and miseries of others with a genuine and true sympathy of soul, and exclaim with Pope,

Teach me to feel another's woe,

And hide the faults I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.

Compassion is of heavenly birth: it is one of the first characteristics of humanity, peculiar to our race, and our noble order, it distinguishes us from the rest of the creation.

That Mason whose bosom is locked up against compassion is a barbarian; his manners must be brutal, his mind gloomy and morose, and his passions as savage as the beasts of the forest.

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