The Forthcoming Visit Of The M.W. Grand Master To York.

work , and the preparations are as forward as is possible . The York Assembly Rooms have been secured for the meeting of Prov . Grand Lodge , under the Earl of Zetland ,

and those who are acquainted with that beautiful structure , designed by the Earl of Burlington , will readily judge how admirably suited to the occasion is its classical style and elegance of adornment .

The Grand Lodge will be opened in the Guildhall , a noble old mediaeval apartment , lighted through stained g lass windows , and rich in historic memories . The procession will have about a quarter of a mile of streets to traverse , a distance that will be scarcely sufficient for the

number of brethren whom wo hear are likely to attend . The streets will be decorated in the most magnificent way , for the inhabitants of the ancient capital of the North are resolved on sparing nothing to do honour to their Royal guest . After the ceremony and return of the procession to the

Guildhall , Brother the Lord Mayor of York will give a luncheon to a hundred of the most distinguished Masons in the State Room of the Mansion House , which is now being specially redecorated for the occasion . The State

Room is a very beautiful and stately apartment , and contains many portraits of Royal personages who have visited York at various times and partaken of civic hospitality . It will be as well for us to mention that no brother will

under any circumstances be permitted within the enclosure to view the ceremony without a ticket . These tickets will be sold at 5 / -, for the benefit of the Institution of Art , Science , and Literature , and we shall announce their issue

as soon as they are offered for sale . The whole arrangements are of course in the hands of the Grand Secretary , Colonel Shadwell H . Clerke , and the Grand Director of Ceremonies , Sir Albert Woods ( Garter ) , with whom the local Committee are in correspondence .

Aims Of Freemasonry.

AIMS OF FREEMASONRY .

11 / HAT has been done is , perhaps , of less importance V T than that which remains to be accomplished . It is not enough that we have wrought a task in the quarries and brought up our work for inspection , agreeably to the designs laid down for us by those whom we have

succeeded in the labour of building up the walls of our Masonic Temple , for having reached a stage of Masonic preferment when it has been allotted to us to design that others may execute , the Craft have a right to demand that the plans we shall conceive shall correspond in the

grandeur and breadth ot their conception , with the exalted honours which we enjoy . If the high dignities and sounding titles we possess be our only qualificati : ns to enlighten the Craft and the world in respect to the aims and objects of Freemasonry , we shall merit the denunciation so justly

pronounced against those who assume duties they are not qualified to perform . It in not given unto all of us to accomplish some great work , by which our names shall be

perpetuated after we are dead , but there is no man so humble or so devoid of talents , that he may not accomplish something to make the world the better for his having lived in it , and to impress

" Footprints on the sands of time , " which even , although they may be effaced by the first rising of the tide , shall , while they remain , mark the path trod in the performance of duties rendered , not unwillingly and solely because they are duties , but because they

tend to the accomplishment of a noble end , and some one , it may chance to be a stranger and an ingrate , is to be benefited thereby . It is said that a celebrated Egyptologist discovered a tomb of the god Ap is which had never been opened . On entering , he says , for the first time , he

beheld distinctly marked on the delicate bed of sand which covered the soil , the impression of the footprints of the Workmen who , three thousand seven hundred years ago , had placed the image of the god on his conch , and then retired . As no one knows , or cares to know , the names of the

workmen , who , nearly forty centuries ago , left this , the only record of their existence , so it may be that no one Will know or care to know our names , but it is possible for os to accomplish , in the few years which are allotted to us to labour in the Lodge terrestrial , that which forty centuries hence , aye , for all eternity , will work for good or evil , and

Aims Of Freemasonry.

thus it happens that our deeds are of more importance to those who shall come after us than we ourselves are . Men seldom pause to inquire whose hand traced or whose brain inspired a statute which confers a benefit , or works an injury , but the consequences resulting from its enactment

make the law itself the object of respect or denunciation . What we shall do here this year may be undone by those who shall stand in our places another year , but the consequence of our acts are for all time , and cannot be undone .

Thus it becomes us to consider well the results which are to follow our acts and judgments , lest we inflict an injury where we intend conferring a benefit , or render a judgment which shall work an irreparable wrong where we design administering impartial and exact justice .

Viewed from the exterior , Freemasonry presents no marked excellencies which are not possessed in common with numerous other Associations . To the profane it is simply an organisation which proposes to practise virtues which all mankind are under like obligations to perform , but to those who have entered within the most secret

apartments of the temple , and beheld the cherubim whose outstretched wings shield the ark of the covenant , and who have studied its symbols and read their hidden meaning , it exhibits peculiarities which distinguish it from all other human organisations , and to him who has been so

fortunate as to receive the true spirit of the inspiration which it breathes in its every teaching , it must always remain without a peer in his affections . We speak this in no spirit of self-approbation or of vaunted superiority , for while it must ever retain to itself the peculiar field it

occupies , it also imposes a greater and higher measure of duties upon its initiates . This is not an occasion which calls for an exposition of the nature or extent of those duties . You would not be here if you did not already understand and appreciate them , and you also know

whether it is worth the expenditure of time and labour which is demanded by the effort , to make it the means of doing a greater and ever-increasing measure of good , not only to ourselves , but to all mankind . —The Canadian Craftsman .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

THE monthly meeting of the General Committee was hold on Wednesday , at Freemasons' Hall . Bro . Colonel John Creaton presided , and the following brethren also were present : —Bros . James Brett , Frederick Adlard , G . Bolton , W . H . Goodall , Charles Belton , James Moon , Baynham VV . Stewart , Edgar Bowyer , W . J . Mnrlis , Henry Moore , C . G . Dilley , L . Stean , W . J . Stephens , C . H . Webb , Charles Atkins , Thomas W . Bush , J . A . Farnfield , A . H . Tattershall ,

Charles Lacey , E . F . Dix , Jnhas Qaitmann , G . L . Moore , C . J . Perceval , Thomas Cubitt , Jabcz Hogg , E . C . Massey , and James Terry Secretary . The minutes of the previous meeting having been read , Bro . Terry reported that since the last meeting four annuitants had died , viz ., Bros . Mauer , Harrex , Matthew Cooke , und Mrs . Betty Moorhouse , and , according : to the practice of the Committee , the

vacancies were at once filled up . Bro . Terry also reported that Bro . Wirtzfeld , a successful candidate at the election on the 18 th nit ., had died on the afternoon of that day . Four cheques , amounting together to £ 26 7 s 6 d , were reported as having been received from the John Hervey Memorial Fund , and distributed to the two brethren and two widows standing highest on the poll of

unsuccessful candidates . Certificates were read of Brother Griggs , architect , for the payment of £ 250 to the contractors for work done at tho Institution , and for the payment of £ 5 to G . K . Smith for painting . Applications from the widows of Bros . Harrex and Matthew Cooke for a moiety of their late husband ' s annuities were granted . Bros . John Bnlmer , T . W . C . Bush , W . J . Mnrlis , William Stephens ,

and Tattershall wero elected to serve on the Finance and Audit Committee ; and Bros . Bowyer , Cubitt , Farnfield , Perceval , and Stewart were re-elected as the House Committee . On the motion of Brother Stewart , it was resolved to give the usual summer treat to the annui . touts resident at the Institution , and the House Committee wero requested to give effect to the resolution . Brother James

Terry reported having written letters of condolence to the widows of Bros . Duff-Filer , Gallant and Hale , and that he had received a letter of acknowledgment , written by Bro . Buss , on behalf of Mrs . Dnff-Filer , which he read to the Committee . There were four petitions , which were considered and discussed at some length , bill ; ultimately all were received , and the names of the candidates

ordered to be added to the lists . The Secretary said , in reply to an inquiry from a brother who was not present when the matter was formally reported , that the whole of the money due from the two Stewards , who were reported to the Committee some time since , had now been received . He said that there were , however , two others

who bad not paid in the sums tbey had collected , and whose names he would have to report to the next meeting if their amounts then remained unpaid . The Committee authorised the Secretary to communicate on the subject with the Grand Masters of the Provinces to which the brethren belonged . A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings .