Somersetshire.

SOMERSETSHIRE .

THE annual Provincial Grand Lodge was held on Friday , 3 rd inst ., at the Friends' Meeting House , Yatton , under the banner of Lodge Agriculture , No . 1199 . The Prov . G . M . "Viscount Dungarvan presided , and was supported by the D . P . G . M . Bro . R . G . Else P . G . D . of England . The P . G . Secretary Bro . E . Fry Wade called the roll of Lodges , and all in the Province were found to be represented .

The P . G . Treasurer Bro . 0 . L . Fry Edwards S . G . D . of England next presented the P . G . Lodge accounts , which showed a balance in hand of £ 81 10 s 7 d , and the statement of accounts was adopted , on the motion of Bro . Peel Floyd ( Bath ) ,. seconded by Bro . J . C . Hunt ( Bridgwater ) .

Bro . T . P . Ashley ( Bath ) next proposed the re-ejection of Bro . G . L . Fry Edwards as P . G . Treasurer , remarking that he had discharged the duties of that high and important office in a very efficient and satisfactory manner , and he was sure they could not do better than re-appoint him .

Bro . J . Burnett ( Highbridge ) seconded the proposition , observing that the accounts were always presented by Bro . Edwards in the best possible form , and that they were very much indebted to him as a Province for his valuable services .

The Prov . G . M . said he was sure it was unnecessary to put the resolution in a formal manner , and that it would he agreeable to the Lodge that he should inform Bro . Edwards that he had been re-elected unanimously . Bro . Edwards then thanked the Brethren for the honour

they had again conferred on him . The Prov . G . M . said he had received the permission of the M . W . G . M . H . E . H . the Prince of Wales to confer two more Jubilee honours on Provincial Brethren , and had great pleasure in appointing as Officers of past rank Brother W . Rice 1755 ( Portishead ) Prov . S . W ., and Bro . Evans 1199 ( Yatton ) Pro v . J . W .

The Prov . G . M . next appointed and invested the following Brethren as Officers of P . G . Lodge for the ensuing year , remarking that he was pleased to state that the Bishop of Bath and Wells had accepted the collar of P . G . Chaplain , but unfortunately his many duties had prevented his attending the Lodge that day : Bro . Robert Gough 973 - Senior Warden

H . W . Collins 1199 - - - Junior Warden Rev . Dr . Kennion G . Chap . Eng . - - I „ , , . Eev . A . R . Cartwright 1750 - - f cha P Iains G . H . Kite 390 - - - - Registrar C . L . Ery Edwards 1199 - - - Treasurer E . E . Wade 291 - - - - Secretary

W . Gough 2038 - Senior Deacon P . T . George 446 - Junior Deacon A . B . Cottam 135 - - - - Superintendent of "Works A . B . Wickenden 1750 - - - Director of Ceremonies P . H . Shrepnell 1833 - - - Assistant Dir . of Cers . 3 . P . Capell 1222 - Sword Bearer

J . Tyler 291 - - - - ) Q . , , _ , J . R . Paull 1197 - - - - j standard Bearers T . H . Chaffin 261 - - - - Organist W . Agnew Ecdden 1296 - - - Assist . Secretary 3 . M . Harper 379 - Pursuivant W . J . Clarke 976 - - - - Assistant Pursuivant

C . J . Parrott 2 S 5 - - - - , E . B . Smith 329 - - - - / C . P . White 437 - - - - > Stewards S . Pile 814 - - . .. - ( J . W . Pitts 1199 - ... ) A . J . Salter 53 Tyler S . Bidgood -il - . . . Assistant Tyler .

Bro . R . G . Else D . P . G . M . next presented a very satisfactory report of the Charity Organisation Committee . The Prov . G . M . said he was sure they were all very grateful to the D . P . G . M . iov the way in which he had again so successfully managed the elections in connection with their Benevolent Institutions , on behalf of the Province .

Bro . Else replied that it had been to him a labour of love , and he could not have achieved so much but for the valuable

cooperation and assistance he had received from the various Lodge delegates throughout the Province . The Prov . G . Treasurer Bro . Edwards , in accordance with notice , moved , " That the sum of £ 21 be given from the funds of the Prov . Grand Lodge to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , and that the sum be placed on the list of the D . P . G . M ., who is representing the Province as Steward at the Centenary Festival .

Bro . W . Rice having seconded the proposition , Bro . Haddon ( Wellington ) reminded the Brethren that their Graud Master would preside at the forthcoming Centenary , and he proposed as an amendment that the sum of fifty guineas be voted instead of twenty guineas only .

Bro . J . Burnett ( Highbridge ) seconded the amendment , observing that the occasion was a unique one , and , besides that , their D . P . G . M ., whom he ventured to say was one of the most popular D . P . G . M . ' s throughout England , being not only respected and esteemed , but beloved by every Brother throughout the Province , was going up as Steward . After remarks by other Brethren ,

Somersetshire.

Bro . C . E . Hagon ( P . M . 135 , Bridgwater ) proposed , as a further amendment , that the sum of thirty guineas be voted , and this was seconded by Bro . Rubie ( Bath ) , and ultimately agreed to by a large majority . The P . G . M . said he was sure they were all very sorry that two or three Brethren , who were formerly well known and much

esteemed throughout the Province , and had done a good deal of work for Masonry , were missing from amongst them that day . He alluded more particularly to Bro . Radway ( Bath ) P . P . S . G . W ., and the Rev . C . G . Anderson ( Bridgwater ) P . P . G . Chaplain , and he was perfectly certain all the Brethren deplored their loss . He desired to move a vote of sympathy and condolence with the bereaved families .

Bro . Else D . P . G . M . seconded the resolution , together with a request that the Prov . G . Secretary should record it on the minutes , and forward a copy of the same to the relatives . An anthem was then sung , and this was followed by the collection of alms , amounting to £ ( i 3 s .

On the motion of the Prov . G . Treasurer , seconded by Bro Perrett ( Weston-super-Mare ) , this sum was voted to the widow of a P . M . of 1199 , recently deceased . The Lodge was then closed in due form . Dinner was afterwards partaken of at the Assembly Rooms , Railway Hotel , under ^ the presidency of the Prov . G . M . — " Bristol Times and Mirror . "

Church Services.

CHURCH SERVICES .

THE following is the text of the sermon preached by Bro . the Rev . Canon Cbilde Past Grand Chaplain of England On the occasion of the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire , at Tewkesbury , on the 31 st ultimo . The text selected by the preacher was I Corinthians hi , 9 , 10 ( Revised Version ) : We are God ' s fellow-workers . Ye are God ' s building . Let each man take heed how he buildeth . "

Our Reverend Brother is reported in the " Cheltenham Examiner " as follows : St . Paul is writing to bis friends at Corinth . ' Not the old Corinth of Pericles and . Thucydides , but the new Corinth , fast rising from the ruins of the ancient city , which had been destroyed

by the legions of Flammius . For a hundred years it lay in total ruin , when Julius Caesar rebuilt it , and peopled it with a colony of veterans and freedmen . And as St . Paul writes to these Corinthian Brethren , we can well imagine how there would rise before his mind the magnificence and beauty of that city he knew

so well . The glorious view from the citadel stretching over the two seas , studded with the white sails of the merchant ships of every land—the glow of sunset bathing the islands and distant mountains in the soft lustre of opal and of gold , and below , the pinnacles and towers and marble colonnades of the city which

was " the Vanity Fair of the Roman Empire , at once the London and the Paris of the first century . " But St . Paul ' s interest was centred , not in these stately buildings , temples , palaces , and pillared halls , but in the much people , and the varied surroundings of the human life of that cosmopolitan city . And through the

visible , he sees the invisible ; through the temporal , the eternal ; under the material structure , the spiritural building . " Know ye not , " he says " that ye are the Temple of God , ye are God ' s building ? Let every man take heed how he buildeth , for we are fellow labourers with God . "

Brethren , we are gathered in this House of God to-day , under circumstances of special and peculiar interest—gathered , mainly , as the members of a great and world-famed Fraternity ; assembled from our various private Lodges , under the banner of our Province and the rule of our chief . But others there are

present with us , who are not of us , observing the strange insignia and mystic emblems of our ancient Order , so familiar to us , so rarely seen by others—speculating , perhaps , upon the nature oi that secret tie which knits us together , in the swift advance of our Craft , in its triumphant march of benevolence and beneficence .

But for us each and all alike the inspired apostle , that great master-builder , himself here reveals the inmost secret of the free , ancient , eternal Masonry , of soul-making , character-building , for all the world to know it . The Great Architect of all , he tells us , is God . " Ye are God ' s building , " and each of us alike , called

to be at once a living stone of the sacred edifice , and a fellow worker with God , in raising the stately superstructure of that eternal temple , which is to be the habitation of God . " For know ye not that ye are the temple , the sanctuary of God , and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you . " It is a wonderful system of doctrine which the apostle here veils in allegory and illustrates

by symbol . Further on in this same epistle this wise masterbuilder teaches our prentice hands how to build , how to become fellow-Craftsmen , fellow workers with God ; he reveals yet another great secret of this spiritual Masonry of characterbuilding ; it is " Charity , " he tells us , " edifieth , " more literally , love , buildeth up . Charity , that brotherly love which binds us each to each and all to God .