Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Colonial.
The Brethren then proceeded to the Masonic Hall , to lay the Corner Stone of the new addition to that edifice . Prayer was offered up by Bro . the Rev J . T . Twining , D . D . who officiated as orator of the day . He then read the inscription , in Latin , to be placed under the Corner Stone . The following is a
translation" By the blessing of the Almighty God !—The Right AVorshipful the Honourable Alexander Keith , by appointment of the most AVorshipful Grand Master of England , Provincial Grand Master , with the assistance of many Brethren , laid the foundation stone of this addition to the Masonic Hall on the hundredth anniversary of the opening of the first Lodge in Halifax , being the 19 th of July , in the fourteenth year of the reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria , in the ninth year of the city , in the year of our Lord 1850 of Masonry 5850 Lieutenant General Sir John Harvey
, , , K . C . B ., & c , being governor of the Province . The Trustees of the Building were the Hon . Alexander Keith , James Formau , jun ., Esq ., Mr . John Richardson , Mr . John AA'oodill , Flenry C . D . Twining , Esq ., . Joseph AVhidden , Esq . The Architect—Charles W . Fairbanks , Esq . The Contractors—Saunders and Brown , Thomas Clouston . "
The inscription having been read , the Grand Chaplain returned the scroll of parchment to the architect , and it was deposited under the Corner Stone , with various other tokens and records of the day . The stone then descended into its place with solemn music—the Grand Master , giving three knocks , pronounced the work finished , and poured the corn , wine , and oil thereon . The grand honours were given with three cheers . The Rev . Dr . Twining , G . C , then delivered the following
oration" Brethren , — Of the permanent and indestructible basis on which Freemasonry rests—of the solemn and imperative duties which it imposes on all who assume its obligations—of the indissoluble ties by which it binds them together—it has frequently fallen to me to speak to you . The present occasion seems rather to demand a consideration of the expansive character of our institution—diffusing itself wherever the step of civilized man has trodden—girdling the globe—embracing the whole human racecarrying with it to the remotest climes the emblems of union , order , and
science ; and inculcating the practice of all the moral and social virtues . Little more than a year has elapsed since our city poured forth its multitudes to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival in our harbour of the first British settler—the treading of our strand by the first British foot —in this celebration the Masonic body participated iu common with their fellow citizens . AVe are now congregated on an occasion of avowedly less general importance , but of much interest to us , to mark the hundredth recurrence of the day on which a Lodge was first opened and a Brother first
initiated in what is now the City of Halifax . Freemasonry had its cradle in the East at so early a period that its origin is enveloped in the mists of antiquity . From its commencement its progress has been continually westward . It gradually overspread the face of Europe , and , crossing the Atlantic , was fully established in every one of the North American States previously to the revolution which severed them from the Mother Country , We lind it embarking with the hardy pioneers who came from Britain's shores to seek a settlement in the wilds of Nova Scotia—with them
conveyed across the vasty deep and early setting up its tabernacle and commencing to diffuse its charities on the site , which until that period had been the abode only of wild beasts and savage men ; for our records inform us that 'so early as the year 1750 , whicli was almost as soon as any houses were erected in Halifax , a number of Brethren met together with Governor Gornwallis at their head , deeming it for the benefit of thc settlement that
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Colonial.
The Brethren then proceeded to the Masonic Hall , to lay the Corner Stone of the new addition to that edifice . Prayer was offered up by Bro . the Rev J . T . Twining , D . D . who officiated as orator of the day . He then read the inscription , in Latin , to be placed under the Corner Stone . The following is a
translation" By the blessing of the Almighty God !—The Right AVorshipful the Honourable Alexander Keith , by appointment of the most AVorshipful Grand Master of England , Provincial Grand Master , with the assistance of many Brethren , laid the foundation stone of this addition to the Masonic Hall on the hundredth anniversary of the opening of the first Lodge in Halifax , being the 19 th of July , in the fourteenth year of the reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria , in the ninth year of the city , in the year of our Lord 1850 of Masonry 5850 Lieutenant General Sir John Harvey
, , , K . C . B ., & c , being governor of the Province . The Trustees of the Building were the Hon . Alexander Keith , James Formau , jun ., Esq ., Mr . John Richardson , Mr . John AA'oodill , Flenry C . D . Twining , Esq ., . Joseph AVhidden , Esq . The Architect—Charles W . Fairbanks , Esq . The Contractors—Saunders and Brown , Thomas Clouston . "
The inscription having been read , the Grand Chaplain returned the scroll of parchment to the architect , and it was deposited under the Corner Stone , with various other tokens and records of the day . The stone then descended into its place with solemn music—the Grand Master , giving three knocks , pronounced the work finished , and poured the corn , wine , and oil thereon . The grand honours were given with three cheers . The Rev . Dr . Twining , G . C , then delivered the following
oration" Brethren , — Of the permanent and indestructible basis on which Freemasonry rests—of the solemn and imperative duties which it imposes on all who assume its obligations—of the indissoluble ties by which it binds them together—it has frequently fallen to me to speak to you . The present occasion seems rather to demand a consideration of the expansive character of our institution—diffusing itself wherever the step of civilized man has trodden—girdling the globe—embracing the whole human racecarrying with it to the remotest climes the emblems of union , order , and
science ; and inculcating the practice of all the moral and social virtues . Little more than a year has elapsed since our city poured forth its multitudes to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival in our harbour of the first British settler—the treading of our strand by the first British foot —in this celebration the Masonic body participated iu common with their fellow citizens . AVe are now congregated on an occasion of avowedly less general importance , but of much interest to us , to mark the hundredth recurrence of the day on which a Lodge was first opened and a Brother first
initiated in what is now the City of Halifax . Freemasonry had its cradle in the East at so early a period that its origin is enveloped in the mists of antiquity . From its commencement its progress has been continually westward . It gradually overspread the face of Europe , and , crossing the Atlantic , was fully established in every one of the North American States previously to the revolution which severed them from the Mother Country , We lind it embarking with the hardy pioneers who came from Britain's shores to seek a settlement in the wilds of Nova Scotia—with them
conveyed across the vasty deep and early setting up its tabernacle and commencing to diffuse its charities on the site , which until that period had been the abode only of wild beasts and savage men ; for our records inform us that 'so early as the year 1750 , whicli was almost as soon as any houses were erected in Halifax , a number of Brethren met together with Governor Gornwallis at their head , deeming it for the benefit of thc settlement that