Excerpt from Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois, Free and Accepted Masons: Fifty-First Grand Annual Communication, Held at Chicago, October 7, 8 and 9, 1890 We adore Thee, Infinite Creator, and our thought aspires to Thee as the Grand Master of the Universe in whom we all live, move and have our being. We thank Thee for the renewed opportunity of thus meeting together as brethren. We thank Thee for the kind providence which has attended our journey in life hitherto. We thank Thee, Infinite and adorable God, for the friends to sympathize with us, Speaking words of cheer and comfort to us in the pilgrimage of our existence. We thank Thee, O God, that we may now meet together and gain encouragement and inspiration from one another to think and do all that is right. We meet in the interest of brotherly love, re lief and truth; and we meet, Infinite God, to be improved in fortitude, pru dence, temperance and justice. We meet to have exalted ideas of Thee, the Infinite Creator and preserver of us all. We ask, therefore, Thy blessing upon us, as we are here assembled, that we may gain inspirations from the occasion, having a consciousness that we are advancing in all the grand qualities of a noble and enlightened manhood, ready to do good to our fellow men, ready to help the fallen, and cheer the fainting, disconsolate and the' despairing. We pray Thee that we may grow in these qualities, and present to the world the assurance that this, our order, is for good; that this, our order, contributes to ennoblement and truth and virtue and good citizenship. We pray for Thy blessing to rest upon us in all the deliberations that shall come before us and in which we shall be called to participate, that they may redound to Thy honor, and to Thy praise, and unto Thy name shall be an aspiration of unceasing praise. Amen. The Grand Secretary announced that the Committee on Credentials had informed him that a constitutional number of lodges were represented, and asked for the committee further time to complete their report, which was granted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.