Notices Of Meetings.

W . Marks I . G ., E . Kirby Tyler ; P . M . Bro . John Lowthin Prov . G . S . W . Herts . Visitors—Bros . H . Campkin W . M . 403 , Carter P . M . 403 , J . Cutbush W . M . 1385 , & o . The minutes of last Lodge wore read and confirmed , and Bro . F . R . Webster W . M . designate was presented by Bro . P . M . Lowthin , and duly installed into the chair of K . S . Ho invested his officers as follows : —Bros . Isaac Nowton Edwards

S . W ., T . Kent J . W ., Hall Secretary , W . Palin P . M . Treasurer , W . Marks S . D ., A . H . Debenhara J . D ., C Miskin D . C , Bridges Steward , C W . Reynolds I . G ., Kirby Tyler . Tho installation ceremony was performed by the retiring Master , Bro . Askew . A letter of regret was read from the R . W . Prov . G . Master , Bro . Halsey , at not being able to be present . Three gentlemen were proposed for ballot and initiation , and ono as adjoining member . We

have no doubt that this Lodge will soon become one of tho strongest in the province ; at tho same timo , we regret to seo so many now faces amongst tho officers for the current year . Tho Lodge being closed in duo form , the brethren adjourned to tho banquet , which was served by Bro . Marks . The usual loyal and Masonio toasts wero given and responded to , and a very enjoyable evening spent . Bro , lies P . G . S . made a very able speooh in proposing the toast of tho Masonic Charities .

Tenth Annual Festival Of St. Andrew's Lodge , No. 465.

TENTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF ST . ANDREW'S LODGE , No . 465 .

THE tenth annnal festival of this Lodgo was held in tho Hall of the Lodge , Garngad-road , Glasgow , on 31 st March , Bro . David Gilchrist R . W . M . presiding , and Bro . G . B . Davidson S . W . Croupier . The hall was completely filled with the brethren and their wives and sweethearts . Amongst the visitors we noticed a deputation from No . 28 , St . John , Kirkintilloch , headed by

Bro . Allen D . M ., also brethren from No . 0 , 73 , 199 , 382 and 570 . On the dais the R . W . M ., who was supported by R . Bell E . C . of St . Mungo Encampment K . T ., G . W . Wheeler M . P . S . Conclave 114 , Robert Atkinson R . W . M . 570 , Wm . Campbell Secretary , and R . Donaldson Treasurer . The Croupier was supported by J . Anand Z . of Chapter 114 , and J . Allan Deputy Master of 28 . Full justice was done to a

plentiful supply of substantial provisions . The following address was delivered by the Master : — "Aa we have met here this evening under the auspices of a Lodge of Freemasons , I wish to make a few remarks anent that grand and mysterious Order . I have no doubt but that Freemasonry took its origin from the operatives that were employed at tho numerous buildings that have been erected , more

especially those dedicated to the services of the Lord . I will endeavour to give you a brief illustration of ono of those buildings . As we look on grey Jerusalem , within its fence of walls , and scan tho time-worn features and faded beauty of tho city , once great among nations , and prince among the provinces , standing there , over against tho levelled summit , where the Crescent glitters on tho dome of Islam ' s

wisest Caliph , one cannot but feel time's shadow go . backward on the dial ; we behold the vision of Judah's golden days , tho glory and the loveliness that havo departed throned once more on the ancient heieht : tho holy and beautiful house which God desired for his habitation ; the shrine once luminous with tho misty splendour of His presence , whence mingling voice and instrument sent up the

melody of earth ' s holiest praise ; tho smoke of sacrifice , ( loafing heavenward in unceasing token of the expiation , wavers through the cloud of years , and grows into bright form and exquisite proportion ; again , we see it exalted on its munition of rocks , with its marble terraces and pillared cloisters , its ample courts thronged with tho wlute-Yobed Paschal -multitude , awl its trellis of golden spikes Hashing

over its roof of cedar . A glorious building it seems , and we wonder not at those of old who thought it too fair and stately over to pass away . Of what a wondrous scries of events , linked with the highest destinies of man , has this external mount of Jerusalem been tho scene , licking down on the one side on tho valley of Jehoshaphat , and on the sister hills of Zion and Asia , on the other over the narrow ravine that

severed them of old , np its rocky sides , through tlio thicket that clothed it to the summit ; it would seem that the Father of the chosen people led His son to the altar of his typical sacrifice . Long after , when David had wrested from the Canaanites their last stronghold on Zion , a Jebusite farmer had built his threshing floor on the neighbouring height , and there the King saw tho Angel of the

pestilence stand with sword outstretched over Jerusalem ; there David built an altar , and often as he looked forth from his house ' of cedar on the sacred site the thought rose into his heart to build thereon a lasting Temple to the God of Israel . This work was not to be for him , but early in tho reign of his peaceful son its foundation was laid in Mount Moriah . In the place that David had prepared , there

the glorious fabric grew up , without sound of axe or hammer , into its majestic and harmonious completeness ; the first Temple stood exceedingly magnificent . The Temple proper was never very large , but with its spacious courts and cloisters , its rich materials , its sumptuous decorations , its magnificent approaches from the royal dwelling on Zion , by a bridge or causeway , and flights of marble terraces winding

up the steep ascent by which Solomon went up into the house of the Lord , it well deserved its renown . Near the south-western angle , not far from the Jewish wailiug place , may be seen the spring of an ancient arch ; perhaps the remains of a bridge , which joined the Temple Mount to the hill of Zion ; if so , one may conceive the effect of this splendid arch , swinging in mid air over the valley of the

Tyropean , for it chained , by its marble links , the palace of cedar wood t > the corridors of the Temple , oftentimes stormed and plundered . The first temple was at last burned to the ground by tho armies of Babylon . And tho daughters of Zion mourned , because none came to the solemn feasts . After many years the second Temple rose under the hand of Zerubbabel and his band of exiles . To those who remember the former house , with its Ark of the Covenant , and its outward and inward glories , tho second must have so « med a rude

Tenth Annual Festival Of St. Andrew's Lodge , No. 465.

and empty shell , a defaced casket , from which the jewel had been stolen , and so it was thafc the old Priests and Lerites wept aloud , yet the glory of the latter house was to be greater than the former , for the desire of all nations was to appear within it . Through many troubled years and strange vicissitudes , it stands polluted b y Antioches , purified by the Maccabees , besieged by Pompey aud his

Jewish partisans in the furious faction fights of a later time . This Temple endured till Herod tho Great , in his passion for costly build , ings , resolved to restore it to all its earlier Jgrandeur , a work nofc completed till our Lord had grown to manhood ; forty-six years was this Tomplo in building . This was the Temple at whose altar the holy child was offered to God , whoso chamber heard tho first words

of his boyish wisdom , in whoso porches and arcades many of his parables wero spoken ; whoso wide enclosure and pillared courts he often looked upon from Olivet . Earth had nofc any to show more fair , as it lay open in all its extent , severed by deep ravines from the irarden of Zion , and the compact buildings of tho city , and planting its sheer walls and colonnades on the edge of the steep , with its great

eastern gates of Corinthian brass flashing in the sun , its tesselated pavement and lofty terraces ascending to tho sacred porch , over which wreathed the colossal golden vino , a scone of strange fascina . tion , as it rose on its embattled mount with all its courts stooped in golden sunlight , and its steps of delicate marblo glowing in thatsapphiro air with a pare and dazzling whiteness as of snow . Snch was the

Temple of Solomon , from the building of which we date our present organisation . There are a great many things said against Free , masonry , that itis a secret institution ; and as secrecy may bo conjoined with wicked intentions and for wicked purposes , as well as the contrary , or used as a veil to conceal childish and demoralising ceremonies , which will not bear the scrutinising gaze of the world ,

it is argued that it would not be unreasonable to l'egard Masonry as a suspicions association , an anti-christian and anti . moral society , and as opposed to freedom and social order . From our societies being formed in secret , and our principles and proceedings enveloped in mystery , they appeal to it as an argument for this view . I mosfc emphatically deny that any unworthy object of the kind alluded to

in these insinuations can be imputed to Freemasonry . We meet periodically , and in secret , as do the bodies referred to above , but there all aulaogy between ns ceases , they completely cloak their motives and actions with mystery , and studiously conceal even their names . It is not so with us ; the text books of our Order disclose our constitutions and our qualifications , and make known to all who

choose to investigate the subject , the symbols which we use and the beautiful moral lessons they are intended to inculcate , and the names of our officers and members are published to the world . But , you may ask , why observe secrecy at all ? That is a curiosity I am nofc afc liberty to satisf y , suffice it that we are associated together for no selfish or unhallowed purposes , we withdraw ourselves occasionally

apart from the world , that we may be tho better able , within the privacy of our sanctuaries , to divest our minds from the taint of worldly prejudices , and accomplish the objects of Love and Charity which havo banded us together . These are assertions , but if any should doubt their truth I would ask , were our institution anti . christian in its character , or immoral in its tendency , is it at all

probablo that primates and bishops and religious men of every grade and denomination would be found enlisted under its banners ? Wero our ceremonies puerile or unmeaning , is it at all likely that Locke , Newton , La Place , Franklin , La Fayette , and Washington , and thousands of other men of name and fame , pre-eminent for their intellectual acquirements , moral worth , and

sterling virtues , would bo found bearing testimony in our favour ; wore our institution political in its character , think you that Princes and Patriots , Royalists and Republicans , Aristocrats and Democrats , would lie found co-mingling in our ranks , proud of tho badge with which thoy are invested . Theso are facts which none can controvert , and they tell more diroctlv in favour of our association

than the objections founded , as they aro , on ono of two opposite probabilities ; they ought , until more direct and truthful evidence can be adduced against it , to satisfy every candid and reflecting person that Freemasonry is a laudable institution . The degrees of Masonry aro numerous , but all are moral and aro intended to impress upon the mind of its votaries important and serious truths j and if tho seed

thus sown arrives nofc at maturity , the fault is not with the sower , bufc with the soil in which it is sown . In no branch of Freemasonry does the political opinion of tho applicant form , upon principle , any ob . jection to his admission ; there are , I allow , frequent occasions in which personal motives and political differences influence the rejection of applicants and deprive those who havo been received

into our Fraternity of promotion in tho Order , I have , unfortunately , witnessed myself several instances of the kind , but this should not be adduced as a charge against the institution , for it is diametrically opposed to the landmarks and genius of the Order , and those who are guilty of thus permitting their petty worldly prejudices to govern their conduct within the precints of the Lodge , though they may

be entitled to wear our badge and to use our distinctive appellation are in reality exotic men who , by their gross departure from the prinoi * pies they hypocritically profess , forfeit every claim to be considered aa either Masons or Christians , for they know not how to control their evil passions or to forgive their enemies ; they have no charity . That Freemasonry will ever have its enemies is to be expected , therefore

it behoves every individual member of the institution to exercise constant vigilance over all his words and actions ; let us walk worthily in the path of our duty , making ourselves intimately acquainted with all the details of our Order , practising its requirements ; let us nofc for an instant relax our exertions in the cause of truth until the

benign principles of charity , morality and brotherly love shall bo spread abroad throughout all the land ; let us encourage each other in the good work of clearing the Temple from the rubbish that may have accumulated , then may the children of Masonry rise from the grave of lethargy , clothed in tho glorious drapery of the Sons of Light , and , though last not least , in the admission and rejection of applicants let us act Masonically ; let ] no man , be hia station in