Order Of The Secret Monitor.

ORDER OF THE SECRET MONITOR .

ON Easter Monday , the Brethren in Manchester took advantage of the presence of the Grand Officers who had consecrated the Cockcroft Conclave on the previous Saturday , and arranged for the Consecration of their new Conclave , No . 26 , at the Palatine Hotel . The Grand Officers officiating were Bro .

F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , P . G . S . R . Grand Registrar of the Craft as Consecrating Officer ; Bro . Japheth Tickle , C . C ., Past G . Guide as Counsellor , Bro . J . E . Eagdale P . G . C . as Guide , Bro . J . Marshall P . G . C . as Chaplain , Bro . W . J . Spratling G . E . as

D . C . and Bro . J . J . Pakes G . V . as inducting , installing and commissioning Officer . Several of the Brethren from Eastwood attended , and gave material assistance in the proceedings . We noticed particularly Bro . Cockcroft S . E . 25 , Bro . Shackleton , and Bro . Fielden .

Punctually at the hour appointed the Brethren assembled in the Lodge Eoom , and Bro . Pakes , assisted by the Officers and members of the Cockcroft Conclave , duly inducted the following Brethren into the Order : Bros . Thos . Hy . Scholfield , of Whitefield , near Manchester ,

Integrity Lodge , No . 163 , Manchester ; Buckley Carr , of Miles Platting , Manchester , De Grey and Eipon Lodge , No . 1161 , Manchester ; Fletcher Armstrong , of Skelwith , Lower Broughton , Manchester , St . John ' s Lodge , No . 325 , Salford ; Hy . Taylor Grundy , of Grundy Street , Eadcliffe , Merit Lodge , No . 934 ,

Whitefield ; Eichard T . Redman , of County Asylum , Prestwich , Integrity Lodge , No . 163 , Manchester ; Nathan Heywood , of Mount Street , Manchester , Fortitude Lodge , No . 64 , Manchester ; A . C . K * Smith , of Brazennose Street , Manchester , Affability Lodge , No . 317 , Manchester ; Thos . Plumpton , of Cooper Street ,

Manchester , Affability Lodge , No . 317 , Manchester ; John A . Kirkland , of Brentwood , Eccles Old Eoad , Manchester , Faith Lodge , No . 344 , Eadcliffe ; Vincent Brown , of 213 Eochdale Eoad , Bury , Belief Lodge , No . 42 , Bury ; J . E . Williams , of 5 St .

Clement s Eoad , Chorlton-cum-Harcly , Integrity Lodge , No . 163 , Manchester ; W . A . Boyer , of 132 Alexandra Eoad , Manchester , Affability Lodge , No . 317 , Manchester ; and Edward Roberts , Ashbury Lodge , No . 1459 , West Gorton .

This being done the Brethren formed up to receive the Grand Officers , who entered in their robes of office with the Chaplain at their head , bearing the V . S . L . on a cushion before him . The Consecrating Officer having taken his seat and

appointed his Officers as before named called upon the Brethren present to confirm their acquiescence in the choice of Officers already signified in the petition and warrant just read by the Director of Ceremonies .

This being done Brother Philbrick , Q . C , gave an eloquent oration upon the nature aud principles of the Order , as follows : — Brethren , we are met to-day to commence in Lancashire a work which has been already begun in several counties of England , in many places abroad , and has more recently been

initiated in Yorkshire . It was with very pleasurable emotions on Saturday , that we consecrated a Conclave to the honour of David and Jonathan in a corner of Yorkshire well known to you and known for many years to nearly every Order practised

among English Masons . The work begun in the adjoining county and continued here is a great work , and I trust you will bear with me a few moments while I attempt to say a few plain words on the text here set down—the nature and principles of our Order .

The nature of our Order may be briefly stated as embracing all that has made Masonry what it now is , and has led to its being a power in our land second to none of its , kind . Masonry in general is , as you are aware , very widely diffused , the tie of brotherhood among us is well recognised , but it is so extensive ,

and the number of those who have a claim upon us is so large , that it is difficult at times to respond with discrimination , and to carry out in their entirety the noble principles to which we have all given our adhesion . In these times of peace and quiet it is well to be thus , but in times of stress , in times of danger , or

times when a man is afraid to trust his fellow man , and when life or death and things even more sacred than either may depend upon the action of Brother to Brother , a more intimate tie has often been sought , and being found , has been handed down to posterity by those who have proved and could appreciate its

worth . So long as the world has stood there have been the oppressor and the oppressed , and in all ages the only hope of the oppressed lay in their union the one with the other , bound together by such ties and sanctions as the state of society could furnish . Our ritual takes us back to the times when the Jews ,

wandering defenceless in the wilderness , forged one bond or another for mutual protection and support . It is not pretended that research can substantiate every expression and every detail ,

but much of our ritual is in the very words of the ancient Scriptures of the race , and anyone reading them in the light thrown upon them by our ceremonies is likely to perceive the hidden meaning running through them , and helping largely to explain them

Order Of The Secret Monitor.

and make them intelligible to us moderns . So we come down to the friendship which is known to have existed between the two great Hebrew heroes , David and Jonathan , and , as you are aware , it la upon this episode that our ceremonies turn . The love which Jonathan bore to David has been rivalled , though not excelled

by many examples in history , and such mutual love and friendship is not entirely unknown even in these degenerate modern days . The nature of our Order is to afford an opportunity for the display of this mutual confidence , this trust which never is betrayed . One of our Conclaves has been well named

" True Friendship , " another " Damon and Pythias , " two Greek heroes whose love " passed the love of women . " Here in Manchester to-day we are preparing an arena in which such tender care and fraternal solicitude may be shown , and where in days to come the weary heart may turn for solace , and the

burdened mind may be relieved of its load . I mentioned on Saturday , Brethren , that our Order is no new thing of mushroom growth Our venerable Grand Supreme Euler joined us more than fifty years ago , our lamented Grand Secretary of Masonry , the late Colonel Shadwell Clerke , than whom no truer friend ever existed ,

took what we now designate as the first degree of the Order in Malta in the year 1848 . Another Past Supreme Euler in the Order received the same degree in Jerusalem itself in the same year . The Order increased and multiplied in America when the troublous quarrel arose which resulted in American independence ,

when two nations speaking a common tongue were holding each other in a deadly grip , and when no tie seemed binding , no promise sacred . It was then the first degree of our Order took firm hold of the English-speaking race , and in these later times our care has been to organise it , and to reduce it to a

system duly subject to control . At present the Order in America is wide-spread , and we have recently received a petition signed by fifty Secret Monitors there begging for a warrant empowering them to work our higher degrees , and to form a Conclave for the purpose . Such a Conclave has been formed , and we have every reason to believe it bears within it all the elements of thorough

success . Such being the nature of our Order , it remains for me to elucidate its principles , and I think I need not prove to you that a Society framed upon the principles of self sacrifice , of mutual trust , of watchful Brotherly care , of compulsory warning

in time of danger , official solace in time of sorrow , and skilful and effective though unostentatious advice in every circumstance of life , is a Society that meets a great and crying need in human affairs and is calculated to benefit those who act up to its tenets . Such a Society is that of the Secret Monitor , which we introduce

here to-day . If a Brother be in sorrow the Conclave will afford him sympathy , if in danger his Brethren will give him assistance , if in distress the Visiting Deacons will bring him consolation , and if in poverty he will find aid . Moreover , at every turn of life , at every crisis of fate , he may look , and he will not look in vain , to

the experienced among his Brethren who have this day pledged themselves to give him caution , to prompt him to good actions , to warn him from doubtful ones , and generally to watch over him , support him and cherish him so long as he may need their care and prove himself worthy of the confidence reposed in him .

Such my Brethren are the principles of our Order . Tried they have been in times of peril , and true they have been found in times of difficulty . The bark we are launching this day may meet with storms and tempests ; it may have to contend with unfavourable winds and it may be tossed on the inhospitable

waves of human selfishness and greed , but if you , Brethren , are true to your Order and to the honourable undertaking you have this day embraced , though the storms of life may press upon you

they will never overwhelm , and though the waves may threaten to engulf you , your craft will never be submerged . May the good ship be rescued from the boisterous waters and may it finally reach its desired haven .

The consecration proceeded , and being concluded , Brother Scholfield was duly installed as Supreme Euler , and saluted as such . He was then commissioned , and the Brethren of the first degree were invited to the customary distribution of presents , which , except at a consecration , is always confined to the Brethren

of the second degree . The S . E . appointed his Officers in the rotation previously mentioned : —Bros . Buckley Carr C , FArmstrong G ., J . E . Eagdale P . G . C . Treas ., J . Marshall P . G . C . Sec , J . E . Eedman Std ., H . T . Grundy 1 st V . D ., N . Heywood 2 nd V . D ., A . C K . Smith D . C , W . A . Boyer Guarder , and E . Eoberts Sentinel .

Several propositions for new members were made , and Brother Thomas Plumpton was recommended as Grand Steward of the year . This being done the Conclave was closed in due form , and

Bro . Scholfield presided at a banquet which lasted far on into the night , and was pronounced a fitting ending to a most successful day . The Manchester Brethren may be congratulated on the excellent start the Order has made in their midst , and we look forward to the time when Lancashire and Yorkshire will rival London itself in the interest and success displayed .