Church Service.

CHURCH SERVICE .

A SPECIAL service was held in Inveresk Parish Church on Sunday , 23 rd ult ., under the auspices of Lodge St . John , Fisherrow , No . 112 ( S . C ) . The preacher was the Very Rev . Professor R . Herbert Story , D . D ., Glasgow University , one of Her Majesty ' s Chaplains , and Past Grand Chaplain , who was assisted by the Rev . A . M'Neil Houston , minister of Auchterderran , and Chaplain of Lodge Minto , Lochgelly , No . 385 .

There were about 100 Brethren of Lodge St . John and 200 visiting Brethren in the seats in the centre of the area behind the choir . In the forefront of the group , at the communion table , sat Professor Story , in his hood and gown , and wearing also some of the Masonic regalia . On his left sat Sir Charles Dalrymple , Bart ., of New Hailes , M . P ., who wore the chain of office of the Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason .

Dr . Story preached from I . Kings viii . 18 " And the Lord said unto David my father , Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name , thou didst well that it was in thine heart ; " and vi . 7 " And the house , when it was in building , was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither ; so that

there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard m the house , while it was in building . " There were , he said , two thoughts presented in these texts—a great idea and a silent work . The idea for a temple for the service of God was not Solomon ' s own . The idea was his father ' s . It was David who

first thought that a temple should be built for the ark of the covenant . He wished to build it ; he intended to build it ; the wish and the intention , however , never were fulfilled . He died without having seen his great idea carried out . He had dreamed of the impossible , he had devised the impracticable , he had set

his heart on what he could not have , but still they were told he did well to set his heart upon it . It was no useless folly—the idea was workable , and he did well to cherish it . They were accustomed to think the test of the worth of any idea was its workableness . Can it be carried out ? can it be carried out now ,

here , and by us ? will it pay ? will it bring in an immediate return ? These were the questions they were led to ask , and they -were inclined to look with a sense of superior wisdom and contemptuous pity on the man who could not answer Yes ! to these questions . The test was a shallow and misleading one .

Would it have led Abraham to leave his father ' s house in obedience to an impulse , a call which he felt to be divine ? Did God give him any visible , any tangible guarantee of future welfare and success ? Would it not have condemned Moses when time after time , actuated by the great thirst for liberty of

worship and life , he pled for his people before Pharoah , or when at last he succeeded in leading 1 & eiii out into the barren desert , it seemed to die there ? Would it have justified David as he took his small stones from the brook and his sling to do battle with the giant ? Would it have justified the disciples of Christ

in following Him ? The test would in such cases prove a failure . In such cases wisdom was justified of her children . Abraham became the Father of the Faithful , Moses the Lawgiver of the world , and the Galilean fishermen the founders of the Christian Church . In David's case his idea for the temple was carried

out through the hands of Solomon his son . Every great idea could not be realised , put into shape at once , but in the fulness of time it took form and substance and was an accomplished fact . What a generation ago was a speculation , an idea , was a fact in this . The thoughts of David became the deed of Solomon .

The preacher then illustrated his point by referring to he discovery of the force of steam by James Watt , and its application by George Stephenson , and the result , in the British prison and reformatory arrangements of to-day , of the philanthropic efforts of John Howard . " One man sowethand another

reapeth . " It was well to have in their heart some great idea , though they might never be able to work it out or put it into outward form . It would be well for them , and it would be well ultimately for others that it had been in their heart . But he had been looking at the subject from the point of view of those

who were benefitted by the high idea ; they might now look at how it affected him in whom the thoughts , ideas , or principles dwelt . The possession of such an idea , such a thought , such a principle , lifted the man in whom they dwelt above the sordid cares and littlenesses of the world , and every

idea and principle of good repressed had its effect on his humanity by fostering habits of idleness , low desire , and unworthy motive . Having commended the elevating and upholding power of the idea of duty , the preacher said the true idea of duty that elevated was not any conformity to rule . It

was higher than rule ; it was striving after the divine perfection . They were to strive after the divine infinity of perfection , and as it could never be attained they were never to think that they were already perfect , but always to reach forward to that perfectness , that untravelled world , whose margin faded further and further away as they moved . This conception of duty was

Church Service.

a high ideal which they had to keep before them . For a conception which should guide them in their duties , he knew no relationship in life of more use than as Brethren of the Masonic Craft , if they attended to the obligations of life carefully , but if they went through their ritual in a slovenly way , and if they

regarded their meetings as mere opportunities for social fellowship , how poor a thing Masonry appeared . But how different it was when they respected its history and traditions by loyalty to its lightest rule and attending steadily to its rites and forms , and constantly maintained the great principles of charity and

brotherhood . Were they to do this , to do their duty , Masonry would become a power in their land for order , and in social life a power none the less potent , because the work was silent , working by methods that did not sound their trumpet in the street . Taking up the idea of silence and its value in work , the preacher

said there was one further point suggested by the characteristic of silence in the great work which had special interest to them of the Masonic Craft . Work done in silence must have been harmonious work—work in which perfect order ruled , in which

no wrangle , feud , or misunderstanding intruded , in which each wrought for all , and all for each , where everyone executed their allotted task in one great plan . In realising one great idea the builders must have worked like Brethren , guided by one will , animated by one purpose , cheered by one common sympathy . A collection was afterwards taken on behalf of the Red House and the Girls Home . — " Musselburgh News . "

Small Lodges.

SMALL LODGES .

AT an installation meeting last week a Past Master , alluding to the paucity of the Brethren present to assist at the ceremony , expressed a doubt as to whether large gatherings were indicative of a better state generally of the particular Lodge so favoured . His remark introduces an element of contention that has recently been agitating the minds of our most thoughtful and

honoured Brethren , and one that is slowly and surely forcing itself upon the Brethren who perform much visiting , and in the fulfilment of their duty attend the communications of Grand Lodge . Financially the Lodge which has large assemblages of Brethren at its meetings , if they be members of it , must with due

care be prosperous , but we all know that a full exchequer does not imply unanimity and concord ; indeed in one of the colonies there is at present a flagrant case of dispute involving even the taking of evidence in England , which , no matter what may be the ostensible cause of proceeding , really arises from a desire to

obtain possession of a large amount of money which is supposed to hang on the result . In this case we see that large Lodgesor , rather , the amalgamation of Lodges—with the consequent heaping together of funds ; has caused a covetousness that has become a grievous scandal to the Craft throughout England and

the colonies . Of course an exactly similar instance to this could not very well take place within the body of a single Lodge , but what does take place is that Worshipful Masters having no incentive in the shape of unpaid accounts to make them economical , but a large credit balance which acts in an opposite

direction , disburse the funds in luxurious banquets and wines in a manner that prompts the scoffer to place his tongue in his cheek and make disagreeable , but just comparisons between practice and precept as exemplified in Masonic Lodges . This

should not be , and although the Brethren may justify their conduct on the ground that the Lodge gives liberally to charitable institutions , yet this justification does not stand against the fact that the cost per meeting sometimes reaches within an ace of the dues collected .

Brethren sometimes urge that amalgamation should ensue where there are small Lodges which find it just possible to keep above high water mark , but we conceive that no kindness would be done to the members of a struggling Lodge who had proved their strength , in suggesting that the shortness of their

membership roll was a reason for their amalgamation with another numerically small Lodge . Financial strength is not always a blessing , and its attainment by the uniting of two Lodges , which had been unable singly to maintain a reputable position , would not necessarily mean a removal of that inability , but it would

mean that where fourteen Brethren were formerly earnestly at work as Officers for the good of their individual Lodges in particular and Freemasonry generally , there would , under the united system , be only seven . This appears to us to be a set off

against gain from any other direction whatever , that is simply incalculable as far as the proper progress of our Order is concerned , and there can surely be no Brother with hardihood enough to contend that unity should take place under these circumstances .

We admit , frankly , that there are small Lodges where Brethren , who would elsewhere be rejected , have become the coping stone of the edifice , but during the past few years these