St. John The Baptist.

has been a herald to proclaim loftier things . It bus touched life with a moral grandeur and set before its members not only great but enlightening ideals , and from the flame of its altar casts a lustre on the society of men . Social in the promoting of the kindlier charities which

witness to its royal brotherhood , its mission is yet higher than that . It is tho imperial standard for nobleness in thought , for chivalry in action . As an Order in the manifold life of men , it recognises tho largo fact that it is not only truth , but truthfulness its members require ; that its

charge in the world is not to achieve alone , but to send forth achievers in fche movements of society . Still moro its mission is nofc simply to exercise mastery over men ' s passions , but to make men masters of themselves ; not to shape their mental work to a narrower conservatism , but

to urge the mind to broader , profounder thinking ; not to hold dominion over them , but to elevate them in knowledge , in the ampler beauty and grace of intellectual culture , that they may take , by right of a larger , stronger , reasoning manhood , their dignity and knightship in tho world .

And this will be the law of the progress of Masonry , and the progress of humanity with it . For it cannot be that truth shall fail , and an Order resting on righteousness such as a prophet taught , can go down without having wrought good for man . The morality which shines in it

and makes it luminous is the morality attempered by Sinai lires and fanned into a holier flame by thafc impersonated Truth which John proclaimed . Take away the moral element which burns with a radiance through all its economy and it becomes a powerless thing , but lot it

remain and work , and it will bring into it nobler triumphs than have yet been won . And out of it thore shall come a purer life , a more sustained faith , a more unbending righteousness , and by that secret but unbroken law of influence , a more visible and commanding progress for Freemasonry and the race .

John was the prophet of one of the greatest essentials of Masonry . In a high and dignified sense Masonry is manliness . And that means the outgoing of all the great virtues of the Order in a visible , working life . For Masonry has to do with all the man , and bring the lower

in disciplined obedience to the higher . This wondrous body , whioh in the work of the Order forms geometrical figures , is marshalled by such discipline to bo the instrument of the greater moral and spiritual nature . Each lino aud angle and curve is a hand pointing and guiding tho

way in which the faculties of tho mind shonld move . No position is without a meaning , and every step the Mason takes in the Order is a John the Baptist heralding a truer manliness . All are prophets telling him to be the director not only of the cultured , but of the ignorant , and

by infusing all tho superb teaching of symbol and emblem and acted drama into his mental being , to light the cultivated to a newer cultivation , the unlettered to a truer knowledge , the unwise to a larger wisdom , and the timid to a more princely courage .

As the ship which cleaves the sea with gigantic forces within , with the engine of unknown capacity for destruction and its sublimer capacity for use , working as with the inspiration of life , is under the command of thc one master , so this body in Masonry , with its faculties

enshrined in its depths , a regal engine , is taught to be under the control of the intelligent will . So only can it work out the great possibilities of its being . This is the rule and discipline of the olden Order , and this is fche treasure it imparts to mankind . Not by numbers , not by

conquest , does Masonry seek to be great , but by the manhood it possesses . This is the seen and unchanging fact it recognizes ; for , as manhood is tho law of entia ice into the fellowship , so manhood is tho law of its being and action . To broaden and deepen it into wider and higher

altitudes is its unceasing labour . And it takes on nobler attributes and kingly forces to achive this great end . And ns the past and tho present have been the scene of its toil , so the present and the future shall be the scene of enduring triumphs in this great work , and there shall go forth from

its shaping hand , with every passion held in just restraint , every faculty of mind so strong in its divinely given use , every emotion of the spirit kindled into the grace of a generous charity , not the hi gher but the highest fruitage of humanity , the manliest man .

Saint John , the prophet of the building of that Temple which was to ari ^ e and cover the earth , was in a ineasuni . lie prophet to forctel tbe Temple which Masonry is ever

St. John The Baptist.

building . He was not only the voice proclaiming the truth incarnate in human form , but he was the hand pointing also to Him the Infinite . He ever directed man beyond himself to something higher aud more supreme . And thia i < the truth which rests as au inspiration on all buildings

ot nobler use ; they are prophetic of something beyond themselves . Tho cathedral , rich in its sculptured work , in massive portal , loftier pillar , in pictured window aud poised arch , suggest higher praise and spiritual things ; the Temple of Justice dimly shadows forth the Justice of tho

Lverlastiug One ; the academy blossoms with the flowers of knowledge which were sown as seeds in the younger minds ; the greater structures for tho mysteries of Masonry forecast a moral beauty to bo attained . All are heralds and prophets of influences and results higher and vaster

than themselves . Phis is thc genius and the spirit of all these edifices which are for tho spiritual and mental education of humankind . They are not for themselves , nor can they find tho purpose of their being in themselves . They point to something beyond man ' s most glorious

imagination . With prophetic outlook they tell of thoughts , glories , things divinely beautiful , to which man is moving ; of distances unmeasured , knowledge sublime and yet more sublime , magnificence of power , visions of tho truth for whioh man was made to receive aud make

abidingly his own . And to what aspiring heights Masonry rises , as , moving behind the religion of tho Infinite Father , she accepts her mission and prepares the hearts of every disciple of her mysteries for this majestic destiny ! For this too is her work , to build a Templo

prophetic of tho higher things to come . With noble voico sho echoes the herald cry of the church of the living God , for every member to prepare aud build ; to shape the rock masses of the quarry into the disciplined army of stoue ; to sculpture every passion of the heart , eveiy virtue of the

mind , into august proportion and the harmony of order ; and , sending forth her voice , bids every listening ono to change the olden Temple of the lower manhood , with its golden vine and fragrant incense , into the newer manhood

inspired by Him , the truth of all truth , until tho moral , social and spiritual brotherhood of man is fche suggestion and the prophecy of that nobler building the ransomed man shall enter , the building of God not made wifch bauds , eternal in the heavens . —Voice nf Masonry .

Lord Jersey's Installation.

LORD JERSEY'S INSTALLATION .

' | 1 bE ceremony of installing his Excellency Lord Jersey into tbe -L ofHce of Moat Worshipfnl Grand Master of tho United Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Now South Wales took place on ( hu evening of llth Juno in the Centennial Hall . The gathering wi-s a bii'liti'it one . Thero were over 3000 members of the Craft present , all , ot * course , in Masonic regalia , many of tho uniforms being rich and costly ; nnd tho scene was most pictnresqae . A moro

representative gathering of brethren of the mystic tie has never assembled in Australia ; indeed , the Pro Grand Master , Dr . Tarrant , declared : it thu Ivimpiot that it was the greatest gathering of Masons ever held in Australia , nnd the greatest in the world except one—tho occasion of thu inula Nation of his Koyal Highness tbe Prince of Wales a * Grand Master of Kngland . The office into which Lord Jersey haa

just been installed is the highest in Masonry in this country , aud his Excellency was the unanimous choice of the brethren . Tho federal spirit was manifested by tho representation of the sister colonies of Victoria , Queensland , and Tasmania , and unavoidable circumstances , soch ns the obligations of parliamentary life , prevented other colonies fiotn participating . Victoria was represented by Sir

W . J . Clarke W . G . M ., and his Grand Lodge Olhcera ; Tasmania by Deputy W . G . M . Dr . Giblin ; and Qneerisl » nd by Bro . Unmack , District Grand Master under the Irish Constitution . All the Grand Lodge Ollicera of New South Wales were in attendance in fnll regal a . Tho ceremony was conducted without a single hitch . Appropriate aud veiy beautiful musical selections , vocal and

instrumental , woro given Ir-twcen tho various stages of the proceeding ? , Bro . Gohdo presiding tit tho grand organ , Bro . Massey conducting , I 5 r <\ Drewe letting as gri » utl director of music . Thero was a choir on tho » tnge of nearly one hundred voices . Bro . Humphreys wns Graud Director of Ceremonies , arid wt * one of the most conspicuous figures m tho pp ceed ' tiga . The cei jniouy of installing Lord Jersey into

tho Giatu ) Master ' s ohcir wan performed by Pro Grand Master tho Hon . Dr . Tarrant M . L . C ., who admiuist rod the prescribtd obligations ia a very clear voice and an impressiveinauuer . After tho coremouy the Pro G . M . delivered au approp . into speech , congratulating Lord Jersey upon his election t . j tho highest position in Masonry in New Souuh Wales , and the Order upon hiuiug ao distinguished a

Freemason o preside over it . Lord Jersey responded io sympathetic t , > . ins , thanking the breth . en for the honour they had confei red upon h ' . n , aud expressing his dete / miuatiou to do all in his power to advance the r ' otoresta of the Craft , and to strengthen tha fratar / ial bond exist ! jg between the home a > d the Australian Lodges . H' 1 * L ' . ' . caileiicy anuoimcr . l that ho had appointed Bro . Tarrant Pry G . M . . 0 . t . ' . e yt-a ? . After tie G . and Lodge Officers h-d b-v . ru iuva «« d aud