MASONIC LODGE OF SORROW.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1661, 19 August 1873, Page 3

MASONIC LODGE OF SORROW.

(From the Wellington Independent, August 13. In Memoriam. —On Monday evening, in pursuance of directions from the Grand Lodge of England, the Brethren of the New Zealand Pacific Lodge held a Lodge of Sorrow as a mark of respect to the memory of the late Earl of Zetland, who was for many years the Grand Master of English Freemasons. The hall was tastefully hung with mourning emblems, under the direction, of Brother Toxward, ably seconded by Brother Nicholson. The walls were covered with black cloth, and festoons of the same material hung between the pilasters, while on the capital of each pilaster the display was arranged as

a shield, each shield being appropriately "charged" with a sprig of cypress. The canopy over the chair was hung with crape, and a catafalque was arranged in the centre of the Lodge, at the head of which sat the deacons with their rods draped with crape, and at the foot sat the stewards with rods like those of the deacons ; while all the brethren wore crape rosettes on their aprons and collars, the gaslights being subdued so as to give a funereal character to the whole. The musical arrangements were under the direction of Brother Raymond, organist to the Lodge. The ceremony commenced with a voluntary, followed by an ode, which was sung by the brethren. Prayer was then offered by the chaplain, followed by another ode, after which the Worshipful Master delivered an address. A dirge was then sung, and the chaplain gave an address, to which succeeded an interval of profound silence; after which another prayer was offered, concluded by the solemn chant, "So mote it be." A procession was then formed of the stewards, deacons, wardens, and Master, and after proceeding round the lodge—the organist at the same time playing the "Dead March"—the junior warden deposited a bunch of white flowers; and finally the Master deposited a wreath of evergreens, each pronouncing the prescribed formula. After another interval of silence, the chaplain read a second address, ending with the word "victory," upon which the lights were raised to their usual brightness; the tapers at the corners of the catafalque were lighted, another dirge was sung, and the Master pronounced the following eulogium :— " Brethren —In asking you to permit me in few and brief words to set before you some of the reasons which call on us to mark with due and seemly sorrow that the highest officer of our craft has passed away, has ascended, as we trust, to the Grand Lodge above, there to meet with our three ancient Grand Masters, and to learn from their venerable lips those sacred signs and symbols that have so long been lost to earth, let me premise that it would be a mere vulgarism, and utterly inconsistent with all the traditions of Freemasonry to say that the craft has derived lustre or honor through being presided over for many years by a nobleman of exalted rank and illustrious lineage. Princes of the blood royal have heretofore occupied the throne of the Grand Master, but even in this case the office conferred dignity rather than received it. There is indeed some cause almost for boasting in him that now is gone, but it is one that may be shared by the humblest member of the order. It is that he was a man of unblemished honor and unsullied probity, and that "by a well squared life and upright actions" he showed that he was ever mindful of his obligations as a true and faithful brother. But though our task to-day may be fitly— if figuratively—described in the words of our great poet, 'We come to bury Caesar, not to praise him," yet it would be ungrateful and unjust to forget the special claims our late Grand Master has to be held in affectionate remembrance in every lodge where Masons "prize honor and virtue above all the external advantages of rank or fortune." It has been his, and our, happiness, that he has borne the sceptre in peaceful times, and therefore there are no striking incidents to mark the history of his rule. That he would have exchanged the sceptre for the sword, if our ancient landmarks had been attacked or our privileges invaded, we cannot doubt, for in that quiescence which has almost kept him from the thoughts of the majority of the craft, may be traced the marks of his true nobility, "Peace has its victories as well as war," and there is no victory greater than that which a man achieves over himself, when being armed with power, he never seeks occasion to make that power felt by those who own allegiance to it. But whilst in times of trouble if such had come, our departed Grand Master would have shown that he did not "bear the sword in vain;" he had the true magnanimity to remain quiet while all was quiet around him, and thus the lodges were left to pursue their labors in peace, undisturbed by vexatious orders or harassing demands. In my young days there were some who sought to disparage the fair fame of the victor of Waterloo, by saying that all the arrangements for the battle were made by Lord Hill before the Duke arrived, but it was shrewdly replied, "If what you say be true, it shows the real greatness of the Duke of Wellington. He saw that all was done and well done, and therefore left it undisturbed, while a lesser man would certainly have made some alterations, just that be might say that the arrangements were his own." So may we say of him whose loss we now deplore. He saw the lodges quietly fulfilling their appointed tasks, and was content to stand almost out of sight, a grand reserve of power, ready for any emergency that might call for its exercise, It is therefore not as a mere ceremony that we place evergreens and flowers on his tomb. "The memory of the just is blessed," and such shall his memory be, and let it be our aim so to fulfil the duties of our several stations that we may all ascend from earth by that ladder whose steps are Faith, and Hope, and Charity, to those immortal mansions which are prepared for the true and the faithful." A final ode was then sung, and the Senior Warden declared that Masonry never presumed to express any judgment upon the dead ; but while it required that nothing unkind should be said, it above all things enjoined that nothing should be said that was untrue. After this the chaplain pronounced the benediction, and the proceedings terminated. It need only be added that there was a large attendance of the members of the lodge, that the officers and members of the Lodge Waterloo showed their fraternal sympathy by their presence, and that there were also present a number of visiting brethren from other lodges.