Step 3: The Charge to the Lodge
CHARGE TO THE LODGE
Brethren of Lodge, No. , such is the nature of our constitutions, that as some must, of necessity, teach and rule, so others must, of course, learn and obey. Humility in both is an essential duty.
The officers who have been selected to govern your Lodge are sufficiently conversant with the rules of propriety and the laws of the Institution to avoid exceeding the powers with which they are entrusted, and you are of too generous disposition to envy their preferment.
I, therefore, trust that you will have but one aim—to please each other, and to unite in the grand design of being happy and communicating happiness.
Finally, my brethren, as this Fraternity has been formed and perfected in so much unanimity and concord, in which we greatly rejoice, so may it long continue. May you long enjoy every satisfaction and delight which disinterested friendship can afford. May kindliness and brotherly affection distinguish your conduct as men and Masons.
Within your peaceful walls may your children's children celebrate, with joy and gratitude, the annual recurrence of this auspicious solemnity. And may the tenets of our profession be transmitted through your Lodge, pure and unimpaired, from generation to generation.
Brethren of Lodge, No. , such is the nature of our constitutions, that as some must, of necessity, teach and rule, so others must, of course, learn and obey. Humility in both is an essential duty.
The officers who have been selected to govern your Lodge are sufficiently conversant with the rules of propriety and the laws of the Institution to avoid exceeding the powers with which they are entrusted, and you are of too generous disposition to envy their preferment.
I, therefore, trust that you will have but one aim—to please each other, and to unite in the grand design of being happy and communicating happiness.
Finally, my brethren, as this Fraternity has been formed and perfected in so much unanimity and concord, in which we greatly rejoice, so may it long continue. May you long enjoy every satisfaction and delight which disinterested friendship can afford. May kindliness and brotherly affection distinguish your conduct as men and Masons.
Within your peaceful walls may your children's children celebrate, with joy and gratitude, the annual recurrence of this auspicious solemnity. And may the tenets of our profession be transmitted through your Lodge, pure and unimpaired, from generation to generation.