Imatges de pàgina
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"Tis all safe, I hope,

Well brace'd with each rope,
Your braces and putlocks securely.

Then next your bricks bring,
It is time to begin,

For the sun with its rays is adorning;
The day 's fair and clear,

No rain you need fear,

'Tis a charming and lovely fine morning.

Pray where are your to
Your plumb line and rufes,

Each man to his work let him stand, boys;
Work solid and sure,

Upright and secure ;

And your building, be sure, will be strong, boys.
Pray make no mistake,
But true your joints brake,

And take care that you follow your leaders;
Work, rake, beck, and tueth,

And make the work smooth,
And be sure that you fill up your headers.

SONG XV.

[Tune, On, on my dear Brethren.]

The curious vulgar could never devise,
What social free-masons so rapt'rously prize,
No human conjecture, no study in schools;
Such fruitless attempts are the efforts of fools.
Sublime are our maxims, our plan from above,
As the creation antique, and cemented by love;
To promote all the virtues that adorn human life,
To subdue baser passions, and banish all strife.

Pursue, my dear brethren, embrace with great care
A system adapted our actions to square;
Whose origin clearly partakes of divine;
Observe how its precepts to virtue incline.

The secrets of nature king Solomon knew,
The names of all trees in the forest that grew;
Architecture his study, free-masons' sole guide,
Thus finished his temple, antiquity's pride.

True ancient free-masons our art did conceal,
Their hearts were sincere, and not prone to reveal ;
Here's the widow's son's memory, that glorious sage,
Who skilfully handled plumb, level, and gage.

Toast next our grand master, of noble repute,
No brother presuming his laws to dispute;
No discord, no faction, our lodge shall divide,
Here truth, love, and friendship, must always abide.

Cease, cease, ye vain factions, your country's disgrace,
To ravage like traitors, our arts to deface;
Learn love to your country, our laws to defend,
And live like free-masons, your lives to amend.

A GLEE.

LIGHTLY o'er the village green
Blue-eyed fairies sport unseen,
Round and round, in circles gay-
Then at cock-crow flit away;
Thus 'tis said tho' mortal eye
Ne'er their merry freaks could spy,
Elves for mortals lisp the prayer-
Elves are guardians of the fair;

Thus, like elves, in mystic ring,
Merry Masons drink and sing.
Come then, brethren, lead along
Social rites, and mystic song!
Tho' nor Madam, Miss, or Bess,
Could our mysteries ever guess;
Nor could ever learn'd divine
'Sacred Masonry define;

Round our order close we bind
Laws of love to all mankind.

Thus, like elves, in mystic ring,
Merry Masons drink and sing.
Health, then, to each honest man,
Friend to the Masonic plan;
Leaving parsons grave to blunder,

Leaving ladies fair to wonder,

Leaving Thomas still to lie,

Leaving Betty still to spy.

Round and round we push our glass

Round and round each toast his lass.

Thus, like elves, in mystic ring,
Merry Masons drink and sing.

A HYMN

Sung at the Consecration and Installation of a Lodge.

UNTO Thee, great God, belong

Mystic rites and sacred song!
Lowly bending at thy shrine,

We hail thy majesty divine!

Glorious ARCHITECT above,

Source of Light, and Source of Love,

Here thy light and love prevail

Hail! Almighty Master hail!

Whilst in yonder regions bright,

The SUN by DAY, the MOON by NIGHT,

And the STARS that gild the sky,
Blazon forth thy praise on high s

Ff

Join, O EARTH, and (as you roll)
From East to West, from Pole to Pole,
Lift to Heav'n your grateful lays,
Join the universal praise.

Warm'd by thy benignant grace,
Sweet Friendship link'd the human race;
Pity lodg'd within her breast,
CHARITY became her guest,
There the naked raiment found,
Sickness balsam for its wound,
Sorrow comfort, hunger bread,
Strangers there a welcome shed.
Still to us, O God, dispense
Thy divine benevolence!
Teach the tender tear to flow,
Melting at a Brother's woe!
Like Samaria's son, that we
Blest with boundless Charity,
To th' admiring world may prove
They dwell in GoD who dwell in Love

A PARAPHRASE

ON THE

Letatus sum in his. PSALM CXXII.

Sung at the laying of the first stone of a Bridge
ON wings of harmony up-borne
Wide view the exulting sound;
Auspicious beam'd the festal morn,
That call'd the nations round.

To Salem's favour'd tow'rs and plains
The bands fraternal move;

Her temples catch the solemn strains,
That swell to Peace and Love.

O'er Salem's plains new structures rise;
Her busy sons spread wife,
Heave mighty turrets to the skies,
O'er-arch the fluent tide.

Sweet science beams upon their toil,
Descending powers approve

And sounding round the sculptur'd pile,
The strains are Peace and Love.

Now swells the choir in solemn tone.
And hovering angels join;

Religion looks delighted down,

When votries press the shrine.

To Salem bliss-and 'midst her tow'rs,
May guards celestial move,

To join the grateful hymn that pours
Its strains to Peace and Love.

MASONIC TOASTS.

1. Our most Worshipful Grand Master. May he long continue to execute the duties of his highly important office with honour to himself, as well as to the lodges over which he so worthily presides.

2. All grand officers around the globe. May they square their lives by the strictest regard to the rules of morality, and regulate their conduct by the plumb line of equity, so that when any of them shall be consigned to the silent grave, it may be inscribed on his tomb "here lies a good man.'

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3. Health, happiness, and unanimity to all the fraternity of free and accepted masons, around the globe.

4. To all the members of the ancient and honourable craft. May they always be desirous of contributing to the relief of their distressed brethren, and never be destitute of the means.

5. May every mason entertain that ardent and generous good-will to his brother, which makes his brother's situation his own, and do to all as he would they should do to him.

6. To all ancient masons, wherever dispersed and oppressed. May they soon find friends able and willing to relieve them.

7. May every mason, who is desirous of assisting a distressed brother or his family, be always possessed of the means.

8. All regularly constituted lodges throughout the globe. May peace, harmony, and love predominate in all their meetings, and hap piness be the portion of every member, in his individual capacity.

9. May the funds of all lodges be managed in such a manner, that the distressed widows and orphans of deceased members may never have the mortification of applying for that relief, of which they stand in need, but cannot obtain.

10. May we be more studious to correct our own faults, than to promulgate the errors of our brethren.

11. May no honest heart ever know distress.

12. May the fragrance of a good report, like a sprig of cassia, bloom over the head of every departed brother.

13. May the tongue of every free-mason be the faithful interpreter of his heart, so that he may never be under the necessity of abandon. ing candour, or hiding himself behind the mask of dissimulation.

14. May we strive to resemble our divine master, in promoting, as far as possible, the happiness of all mankind, and when we cannot suc. ceed, may it be for want of ability, never for want of inclination.

15. May we enter apprentices to virtue; be fellow-crafts with endrity; and always masters of our passions.

16. The heart that conceals, and the tongue which never reveals. 17. The immortal memony of the Widow's Son.

18. The good Samaritan. May masons, when they meet a fellow mortal in distress, be actuated by such motives as those which influs enced this benevolent man, and endeavour, as far as possible, to contribute to his relief, whatever may be his political creed or religious tenets.

19. May we be guided to happiness by wisdom, supported in virtuous resolutions by strength, and may beauty adorn our beds.

20. Sincerity! May all who belong to our order, scrupulously adhere to this virtue, not only in their transactions with their brethren but with all mankind.

21. May all masons strictly adhere to truth; wisdom, virtue, and happiness will be the concomitants of such conduet.

22. May brotherly love continue and increase; till the time shal come, when as a band of brothers, we shall all be united in the grand lodge above.

23. Invested as we are with the badge of innocence, the glory of the greatest potestates in the old world as well as the most exalted characters in the new, may we never do any act, which can detract from the dignity of our profession.

24. May every mason be obedient to all lawful orders of his superiors, friendly to his equals, and condescending to his inferiors.

25. May every free-mason's heart have the freedom of chalk, the fervency of charcoal, the zeal of friendship; but not the hardness of marble, when a distressed brother makes his demand.

26. May universal benevolence be the plumb line of all our actions. 27. May every mason endeavour to attain a thorough knowledge of himself.

28. May the square form our conduct through life; the level and plumb line remind us of our condition, and teach us to walk perpendicularly and act uprightly.

29. May our wisdom be as conspicuous to our sisters, as the wisdom of our grand master Solomon was to the queen of Sheba.

30. May every free and accepted mason rise in the East, find refreshment in the South, and when he rests in the West, may he enjoy the same reward as was bestowed on our patron St. John, that of being the disciple, whom the saviour of mankind loved.

31. The American fair. May virtue, modesty, grace and love, endear them to the affections of their husbands.

32. Success to every mason, who stands plumb to his principles, yet on a level with his brethren.

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