Consecration Of The Royal Thames Lodge, No. 2966.

Freemasons , were called upon to answer was this : " If your ¦ secrets are so beneficial to mankind , why are they not divulged for the public good ? " It was one of the weaknesses of human nature that they were apt to value things in proportion to their inaccessibility or rarity , rather than in proportion to their intrinsic worth , and there could be no doubt that if the privileges of Freemasonry were made free and public the purposes of their institution would be thwarted

BRO . LIEUT .-COL . J . AUSTIN-CARPENTER , W ' . M . —( Photo Arthur Weston . ) and the secrets themselves , like other important matters , would lose their value and sink into disregard . But after all , the best answer to such a question was this : The essence of Freemasonry did not lie in its secrets at all ; they were only

the keys to their treasures . They had those keys and they knew how to use them—others did not—that was all . They taught us lessons , they inculcated principles of purity and morality , and , like Sir Christopher Wren ' s monument in St . Paul's Cathedral , " Si monumentum quarris circumspice . " Look around . Look at the lives of our members and see how

they conducted themselves towards God , towards their neighbours , and towards themselves . In that day , when the secrets of all hearts would be revealed , the jarring crowds , who had so curiously but vainly inquired into their secrets , would perhaps be astonished to find that the greatest depth of all Masonic secrecy was the unpublished act of doing good .

They were taught at their entrance into Freemasonry that its lirst and principal foundation stone was " brotherly love . " In these days , when the dividing line between class and class was daily gaining breadth and definition , it was surely no small thing to be reminded that all had a common Father ,

and that it was neither to the wisdom of the learned , nor to the purse of the wealthy , nor yet to the strong arm of the labouring man that they owed their daily bread . Freemasonry taught them to look up to God as the source of every blessing , and to regard any service that they might be

privileged to render to their fellow man as an act of gratitude to Him from whom they received so much . The modern operative too often regarded his employer as opposed to him in all his views , his feelings , and his interests , but in the lodge they met on the level , and the working man became the

brother and companion of his employer , and as such they were equals , knit together by bands of sympathy and kindness , and cemented by the delights of social intercourse . In conclusion , he begged the members of the Royal Thames Lodge never to forget that the interests of Freemasonry were in their hands ; they should be careful never to mar it with any of their weaknesses or to stain it with their vices . As union and

harmony constituted the very essence of their Order , they should let all personal animosities and private piques and quarrels give place in their lodge to Brotherly Love and good fellowship , remembering that the eyes of the world were upon them . As citizens and individuals , they should show themselves living examples of virtue and benevolence , doing

nothing that might cast a doubt on their principles or bring discredit on their glorious Institution , for they might be well assured that if in their conduct they forgot that they were men , the world would most certainly remember that they were Masons .

Upon the completion of the consecration , Bro . Lieut-Col . J . Austin-Carpenter , P . M ., was installed as first Worshipful Master of the new lodge . He then invested his officers for the year as follows : —Bros . Arthur Carpenter , S . W . ; J . J . Lamigeon , P . P . A . G . D . C . Surrey , J . W . ; J . J . Simcox ,

P . P . G . Org ., P . P . G . Treas ., P . P . J . G . W . Bucks , I . P . M . ; L . E . Harfeld , Treasurer ; W . A . Paynter , Secretary ; Vincent Smith , S . D . ; F . H . Callingham , P . M ., J . D . ; W . E . Jeanes , P . M ., D . C . ; D . G . Collins , A . D . C . ; R . S . Y . Fowler , Organist . ; Captain W . E . Rielly , I . G . ; and R . E . Stephens and F . G .

Dray , Stewards . The following brethren were also founders of the lodge -. —Bros . H . R . S . Pulman , P . M ., P . G . Std . Br . Bucks ; S . W . Stephens , J . R . McGill , and J . H . E . Evans .

lhe Consecrating Officers were elected honorary members of the lodge and presented with founders' jewels , for which the Deputy Provincial Grand Master in courteous words returned thanks . Bro . C . E . Roberts , Provincial Grand Secretary , was then invested as Chaplain , and a vote of thanks was given to the Worshipful Master and brethren

of the Herschel Lodge for the use of their lodge room and furniture . The lodge was closed and the brethren adjourned to a banquet , after which the loyal and Masonic toasts were duly given and honoured .

BRO . ARTHUR CARI'KNTER , H . W . —( l'liolo Arthur U \» lon .: Bro . Lieut-Col . J . Austin-Carpenter was initiated in the Ionic Lodge , No . 227 ; he has twice been Master of the Royal Rose Lodge , No . 2565 , of which he was one of the founders , and is a member of the Outer Circle of the Quatuor Coronati

Lodge . He was exalted into Royal Arch Masonry in the Royal York Chapter of Perseverance , No . 7 , and is a founder and the present H . of the London Stone Chapter , No . 2536 . In the Province of Buckhamshire , he is the first Master of the Royal Thames Lodge , M . E . Z . of the Bowen Chapter in

Royal Arch Masonry ; P . P . G . Org . and P . J . G . Deacon ; and J . W ' . of St . Barnabas Lodge in Mark Masonry . He is also a member of St . John the Baptist Chapter in the Rose Croix .