David, King Of Israel.

and saw the temple complete in its magnificence and beauty

go with our Order , the master builders , looking down the years , saw ifc complete ; its walls not built of carved stone , but of the richer sculpture , the character and thought of

men . But yet it is only in the travail and growth of centuries . Each year has its own work ; each member his own part , in laying a stone on the foundation to be finished in other times . This constant building is the incarnation

of the mind of the founders and of our mind ; the visible

embodiment of truth , duties , interests , obligations ; the expressed facts of our inner , secret life . We work in a time of more refined culture , of wider knowledge than those of the past . The grandeur of our time , its progress , the industries are , in a great measure , the unfolding of the

p lans and achievements of other generations . We enter

into the designs which they wrought with generous toil . The structures which adorn our common civilization have their roots embedded in the foundations they laid . And we bring to them more grace and beauty by a knowledge of

the principles on which they laboured than by ignoring or passing them by as the things of a dead age . The great problems of the Order and of the day are given us to work out as they worked out the problems from which these of

our time are born . We are to unfold their design and carry it to fulness by the toils of our mind and hands . Thus shall we write history , not of wars and kingdoms erected by force , but the history of moral actions and ideas . And

the lowliest members of the Institution by this mysterious connection with the thought of the past will become great . The felt truth of the principles which surround them will

transform their minds to a likeness of those principles . And there is a real grandeur in the thought that we are working with those of the past , carrying to broader proportion and higher altitudes the structures on which they

builded . Ifc is a great thing to be fellow-labourers with those who wrought in the temple of the moral and social

va man . But we must work wisely and well , according to the principles of our Institution . These principles have come down to us with regal splendour through the centuries . Time has energized them and given them the

lustre and majesty of a coronation . Life will be enlarged by such principles , and they will enrich it by bringing their power into operation before the eyes of all men . The more closely we follow the ideals thafc are given us , the more

morally noble will our life become . The faculties we

employ are immortal , the culture we attain is eternal . Every fresh hold we take on those principles of belief and goodness will be an education for ourselves and others , the germ of a higher development which shall find its issue in

ever-increasing power . As the old cathedral builders brought for its walls the stones from the quarries on which the foundation was laid , so we must bring from the truths

on which our Order rests contributions for its structure , the contribution of our lives with all that life means ; each of us in our generation laying a stone on the walls as our

fathers have done ; and seeing as we pass away , with the eye of a larger faith , the temple rising higher and higher , until , in its massive grandeur , it stands complete , the splendour of man ' s art , the monument of a moral toil that is imperishable . David brings the subject at length to a high conclusion . He suggests an end of all our toil and a reward for all our labour : " Thou shalt show me the path of life . At Thy

right hand there are pleasures for evermore . In Thy light we shall see light . " To the seeing eye the world above and around show everywhere the footprints of Him who made

it . To the hearing ear , nature , animate and inanimate , tells of the wisdom and goodness of Him who governs it . All sound aloud the manifoldness and greatness of His

name . He is clothed with majesty and honour . He decketh Himself with light as it were with a garment , and spreadeth out the heavens like a curtain . He makefch the clouds His chariot ; He walkefch on the wings of the wind . He watereth the mountains from above . The earth is

satisfie d with the fruit of His works . The invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made . If His hand touch the mountains they smoke . If He lookefch upon the earth it trembleth . If He speaks in the gladness of His providence , at His word the valleys stand 00 thick

as corn , they laugh and sing . For , as the heaven is high above the earth , so great ia His mercy toward them that tear Him . " As for man , his days are as grass ; as a flower

pf the field , so he flouris bet h . But the mercy of the Lord * s from everlasting to everlasting . " But the recognition of " od as the Creator is the recognition of God as the

David, King Of Israel.

Redeemer of all . So David points us to grander visions than the material universe . The visible heavens shall shrivel and fall away ; the stars shall drop from their

spheres ; the earth shall melt ancl disappear , but out of the wreck of worlds shall arise a new heaven and a new earth , in which the mortalities of man shall pass into immortality ,

and in the radiance of the eternal vision he shall see the meaning of a life that liveth evermore . And as he enters into the presence of Him who is life ' s source and life ' s reward , man and God face to face in the completed covenant , there shall be heard through the music of heaven , the words of the Psalmist in a higher , diviner meaning : " Lift up your heads , 0 ye gates , and be lifted up , ye

everlasting doors , and this King of my glory shall enter in . — Voice of Masonry .

Of No Importance.

OF NO IMPORTANCE .

SUCH is the idea that many units of the population entertain in certain matters which are not of vital interest to themselves . Concerning anything affecting their own pockets or interests they are watchful enough ,

fancy that the machine of the state or of society can go on properly without their assistance or supervision . Such

nonentities are , however , the first to grumble at , and find fault with , the faults of others , and the first to come to the front if any personal advantage is to be gained ; in fact ,

they are the drones ot society . The ocean is formed ot drops , each drop has a function to perform ; take away one drop and the economy of the ocean is disturbed ; it may be

in an infinitesimal degree , but it is disturbed ; remove all the drops and the ocean would cease to exist ; just so is it in society ; one drone , and ifcs economy is slightly disturbed ; if all are drones , society will fall to pieces . No one lives to himself . All our actions , like the pebble thrown into the

lake , with its circling eddies , act and react on one another either for good or evil , and form what we call fashion , which holds society in ifcs relentless grasp , and forms an unwritten law , having far greater power over society than any act ever passed by Parliament .

The same remarks are true as regards Masonry . We have , unfortunately , a number in our Lodges who fancy , or what is still worse , pretend to fancy , that they are of " no importance" in carrying on the noble work of the Craft .

No Mason is unimportant to his Lodge in particular , and the Craffc in general . Every one has his work to do ; if he neglect that work from carelessness , so far as he is

concerned , the Craffc is at a standstill . Such ought not to be . We have visited Lodges where there were not enough members present to open the Lodge ; in one case , where

only two members were present , the W . M . and the Secre

tary . Each thought he was " of no importance , " as far as Lodge work was concerned , with the result thafc the business had to be carried on by members of other Lodges . Society and Masonry is made up of units . What these

units individually are , so is the whole that the units make up . Let each brother then consider that he is of importance in his proper sphere . Let him act as if the Lodge to which he belongs could not go on without him , and

immediately we will have such a reformation as will give fche Craffc a push upwards and forwards in usefulness , such as it has not experienced in this sunny land . There are cases , when absence is a duty , where a brother has to attend

fco business or sickness in family , & c , but these do not form the hundredth part of the reasons that are given for inattention to Lodge duties . Is Masonry so unimportant thafc ifcs duties must be left ; till everything else is done ? Or

must it give way to every trivial circumstance that may arise ? Are our members so unmethodical that they cannot arrange their time table so as to leave time for Lodge work , and see that this time is devoted to that purpose , and not

to what chance may throw in the way ? Besides , this idea and the line of action consequent on it is unfair to others . It throws all the work on the shoulders of willing

brethren , and when they see selfishness and carelessness in others they are apt , from example , to become so too . Thus fche Craffc not only loses the work ifc has a right to expect from every member , but the influence exercised by these

has a very bad effect upon those who would otherwise do all they could to forward the advancement of their kind ,

and show good judgment and a considerable amount of energy ; but for anything affecting the general public , of which they are members , they are of "no importance , " and