Church Services.

CHURCH SERVICES .

A MASONIC service , promoted by the Albert Victor . Lodge , J \_ No . 1773 , was held in Christ Church , Salford , on Sunday , 21 st ult . Bro . Jas . Clough W . M . had the distinguished support of His Worship the Mayor of Salford ( Bro . Eichard Mottram ) who , as a member of the Lodge , took a more than ordinary interest in the proceedings . The following prominent Masons ,

together with others to the number of over 300 , and who represented nearly thirty Lodges , some as far away as Bolton , Heywood , Eadcliffe , Todmorden , St . Helens , Liverpool , and even Durham and New Providence , Bahamas , were also in attendance , viz ., Bros . James Beardmore Prov . G . D . C , Samuel Statham P . P . G . Tr ., Thos . H . Jenkins P . P . S . G . D ., J . W .

Millward P . P . G . S . of Wks ., W . Hardcastle P . P . G . D . C , Thos . Southern P . P . G . D . C , A . H . Duffin P . P . G . D . C , J . Harrop P . P . D . D . C , Eichard Duxbury P . P . G . Std . Br ., Thomas Pike P . P . G . Sd . Br ., Councillor William Oilier P . P . G . P ., Geo . W . Davies Prov . G . S ., Thos . Threlfall Prov . G . S ., Councillor Saml . I . Mills W . M . 2584 , W . H . Fulford P . M ., & c .

The Brethren were received by Bro . Mottram , in the library of Peel Park , and marched from thence to the church , crowds of curious people lining the whole of the route . Prayers were read and the service conducted by the Eev . Fergus Hill ,

M . A ., Sector ( Pendlebury ) . Bro . the Eev . W . LI . O . Noott , M . A ., Vicar of St . John ' s , Pendlebury , preached a very powerful sermon from two portions of the first book of Kings : iii , 10 , and vii , 22 .

The preacher said there were three essentials in the building up of every noble life , these being Wisdom , Strength , and Beauty . Whilst the first part of the text spoke of King Solomon ' s request to God for wisdom— " and the speech pleased the Lord , that Solomon had asked him this thing "—the second part

treated of strength and beauty : " and upon the top of the pillars was lily work , " pillars in this inrtance denoting strength , and the lily work beauty . Bro . Noott , in explaining these three essentials , said that around the City of Chester are high walls , on the top of which runs a much frequented path which is

reached by a flight of steps , A popular notion is that whatever is wished for when standing on these stairs is capable of attainment within a year ' s time—on this account they have been called the " wishing steps . " Supposing that by a strech of the imagination this were a fact , and one had never heard of Solomon ' s wish ; supposing also that we stood on those steps , —

what would each of us wish for ? Probably some would desire more money , some titles , some unlimited desires , and the means of gratifying them , some old age postponed ; but how many would ask for wisdom , for understanding to discern between good and evil , for a sensitive conscience in good working order ? Most men would even prefer a conscience that would fall asleep , and so give them peace .

The world in which we live is a great public school , where we are all learning something from the time when we enter until the great breaking up day , when each of us goes to his own home . Lessons of worldly wisdom which may have a tendency

to sharpen us in business ; how to coin money ; how to acquire a good position ; how to become popular , —these are the teaching of that school , but if this is all , then we have missed our real education . The world is a school where we should be

trained for Heaven , where the prizes and punishments , the hopes and fears , the shiftings and changes , the work and play ought to act as schoolmaster to bring us to Christ . For this cause God sent us into the world , not only that we should labour hard for the meat that perisheth , but that we might learn , by suffering , the goodness of God , and gain that wisdom , the merchandise of which is above rubies .

In reverting to the second text , which was a suggestive detail in the building of Solomon ' s Temple , the preacher spoke at length of the two famous pillars Jachin and Boaz , wrought by the son of a widow of Tyre . It was said of him that his work was an inspiration , that he wrought under the direction of God :

that he was a workman for the Great Architect , and that the fidelity of his trial expressed the purity of his worship . The curse of labour to-day is that God is not in it : the man , however , who is filled with a lofty purpose , whose sphere is high and heroic , who scorns what is beneath him , whose eye is fixed

upon some goal , and who works with a steady will , determined that each day shall bring him nearer to his ideal , almost always achieves his mission , and lifts himself at every step into a higher atmosphere of moral dealing and of social influence ; and the man who aims at nothing always hits it .

No scant worker was the widow ' s son of Tyre ; with him there was no tacking together , no puttying and painting to conceal the flaws , he put his soul into the work , and he toiled for God . We should believe that God himself has put us into

our business or profession , that we are His servants , and not the servants of mammon ; that we are not simply drudges , trying to pile up a few pounds , but component parts of a great work that must be better or worse for the lives that we live .

Church Services.

Bro . Noott then took a retrospective view of the time of Charles the Second , contrasting the licentious actions and example of that monarch with the poor working tinker who lived contemporaneously , and who had been committed to Bedford jail . In referring to Bunyan ' s hopes and aspirations , he credited . him not only with strength to endure , but with beauty too , adding that

he had shaped the speech of the English speaking nation , and while his name is mentioned with pride , that of King Charles is execrated wherever virtue reigns . The preacher then pointed out that we could not have the lily work without the supporting columns of truth and duty , and counselled his hearers to combine strength with beauty and beauty with strength , to beware of

jerry building , which was bad in a house , but far worse in a human life , closing his sermon with the following rigorous exhortation : —May our lives be rich in beautiful works ; may charity flourish amongst us as a glorious , health-blossoming flower ; may the burdened heart never pour forth its sorrows to us in vain ; may the distressed be always relieved ; may we give generously to the object placed before us this day , one which

appeals not only to Masons , but to all who possess a spark of Brotherly love ; and may we , when our live ' s work on earth is over , and we are summoned from this sublunary abode to the Grand Lodge above , hear the words of the World ' s Great Architect— " Verily I say unto you , inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of them my Brethren , ye have done it unto me !"

The musical arrangements were conducted by Mr . Thomas Sharpies , Mus . Bac , F . E . C . O ., Organist of Christ Church , assisted by the choir , Masonic and other friends . His Worship the Mayor was the first to inform us , and he

seemed to do so with a great amount of pleasure , that the collection had reached a sum of over £ 33 , which , as briefly reverted to in our report of the recent Lodge meeting , will probably be remitted to the East Lancashire Systematic Educational and Benevolent Institution in full .

A MASONIC SEEVICE will be held at Eainham Parish Church , on Sunday , 19 th inst ., at 345 p . m ., for which a special dispensation has been obtained for the Brethren to wear Craft or Eoyal Arch Clothing and Jewels . The Service will be held under the banner of the Victorian Jubilee Lodge , No . 2184 , supported by the St . John Lodge , No . 1343 , the Liberty of

Havering Lodge , No . 1437 , and other Lodges . The sermon will be preached by the Eev . F . Haslock Prov . Grand Chaplain , assisted by the Ven . Archdeacon of Essex , Bro . T . Stevens Grand Chaplain of England . The Brethren will assemble at the Lodge Eooro , Phoenix Hotel , Eainham , not later than 3-30 , and will be marshalled from there into the Church . Train from

London at 2-7 and from Grays at 3 * 12 . Brethren intending to be present will much faciliate arrangements if they will kindly intimate their intention as early as possible to Bro . W . Harvey W . M . 174 Hon . Sec . ( Eainham Ferry , Essex ) .

The Offertory will be devoted to the Eestoration Fund of the Parish Church , Eainham , for which purpose £ 3 , 000 is urgently required .

ON the occasion of the dedication of the new Hall at Minehead , already briefly reported in our columns , the proceedings commenced with Divine Service at St . Andrew ' s Church , where the sermon , a most appropriate one , was preached by Bro . the Rev . E . A . Sandford Provincial Grand Ghaplain and curate of Henbury , near Bristol , who took as his text Ephesiana iii , 17 , " Eooted and grounded in love . " The preacher said :

I had intended speaking from other words , but find I must confine myself as near as possible to fifteen minutes , and few words so aptly describe our position , founded as our Order is on brotherly love , relief , and truth . Though my remarks more especially will apply to the Brethren , if others are present 1 think they will carrv some useful thoughts away with them . " Eooted and

grounded in love . " Would that it were so in these days among all sorts and conditions of men ! To fear God and work rightly was the essence and aim , of our Craft of old . If their clothing were quaint , their diction conventional , their ritual archaic , they simply illustrated that which the Great Architect had endeavoured to indicate . It were surely nothing incongruous or irreverent that

men should perceive in their simple handicraft an analogy of that after which their soul was longing— -that in the sure foundation laid , in the stones carefully prepared and accurately fitted , and the mutual order and co-operation of the several degrees of Craftsmen essential thereto , they should see types and expressions of those principles which they felt essential to them as illustrations and exponents of those of faith , order and conduct , which they

would inculcate and practice . Is it unreasonable that men should seek to fence their Order from the prying gaze , the officious interference , the ridicule , the sarcasm and contempt of those who had neither part nor lot with them in the matter , by signs and tokens which could not shut in secrets which they were ashamod to acknowledge , but exclude from their community any but those who had given solemn pledges of their sincerity to the great truths and principles which they would feign preserve untampered with and inviolate ?