The Prospects Of Candidates At The Coming Elections.

THE PROSPECTS OF CANDIDATES AT THE COMING ELECTIONS .

THE three Masonic Charitable Institutions stand at the present time in very peculiar relation to each other , so far as the number of candidates at their next Elections and the number of probable vacancies then to be filled aro

concerned ; The position of one of them , " at least , gives cause for considerable anxiety among those who take an interest either in Masonic charity work , or the

care of those who , by age and misfortune , are compelled to seek assistance from their fellows , and unless some exceptional piece of good fortune should enable the Committee to extend the number of those

receivmg the benefits of the Institution , or something else unexpected should occur during the next few weeks , grave difficulties will present themselves when tho day of Election arrives . Putting the matter in as brief and concise a form

as possible , we may for the present dismiss the two Schools from consideration , not because they are so well off as to be independent of , or that they need no further support , but because , from a comparative point of view ,

the prospects of their candidates for the April Elections are all that could be desired , as the following figures will prove . The Girls' School is in a position to elect twentytwo , out of a list of thirty approved candidates , or in

other words , three out of every four children seeking the benefits of the Institution . The Boys' School cannot show such a favourable programme , but it is sufficiently good to give cause for congratulation , the actual state being , that

of forty-five approved candidates twenty-five can be elected . When we turn to the Benevolent Institution , however , a very different state of affairs presents itself . Here we have one hundred and twenty-seven approved

candidates , and , so far , only twelve vacancies ; but these figures do not clearly show the really critical state of affairs . As is well known , the funds of the Institution are devoted to two sections—the male and the female . Voting and

indeed everything , from the receipt of tho money to the expenditure of it , is kept distinct so far as these two sections are concerned , and therefore we have to divide

the candidates and vacancies accordingly . We find , then , that forty-six of the applicants are men , and eighty-one widows , and that all the vacancies are in the male

section—therefore , unless something unforeseen occurs , not one of the eighty-one widows can be elected . It will not surprise our readers when we say that these facts caused very grave anxiety as soon as the figures wore

settled , as they were at the Committee meeting on Wednesday , or that the difficulty which appears certain to occur seems all but insurmountable . Will it be possible for the Committee to increase the number of Female

Annuitants?—is the all-important question of the moment . and the ^ answer to it must entirely depend on the result of the coming Festival . An increase of funds is the only certain method by which an increase of the number of

annuitants can be secured , and , accordingly , the matter rests in the hands of the brethren of England , and on the amount of money they are able to place at the disposal of

the Committee . There is really no other method by which the pending disaster—for disaster it would certainly be if the Institution was unable to elect any of the widows —can be diverted than the one we have referred to , except the possibility that some of those already on the funds

The Prospects Of Candidates At The Coming Elections.

should die before tho day of election , and we feel there is not a brother among- us who really wishes for that method of solution . When once our old people are elected , it becomes the universal wish that they should live long to

enjoy their annuities . The difficulty which will prebent itself on the clay of election will make itself felt by almost every subscriber of the past , from the fact that the Widows ' votes , to which most , are entitled , will be practically

valueless , and although it may perhaps be a strange way of securing what very many have looked upon as already theirs , we wonld suggest that each voter exert himself to

collect at least a little , in order to place the funds in such a state as to warrant the Committee increasing the number of annuitants , thereby creating vacancies for competition , and rendering the votes of customary value .

Brotherly Love.

BROTHERLY LOVE .

LOYE , as pertaining to humanity , is a benevolent affection , and involves a complex action of tho mind , embracing : First , a pleasant emotion in view of the object loved , and , secondly , a desire of good to that object . In the object loved we discern some quality ,

either some excellence in the form , or in the relations sustained , or in the intellect , or in tho moral traits , or possibly in all these combined , which excites our

admiration and forms the basis of subsequent desire in ua toward that object . Love , therefore , is constituted of admiration and desire .

In our rough and unseemly state , wherein we resemble the rough or imperfect ashlar , we are prone to admire that which will gratify our passions , and to fix our desires on what we fancy will afford these ample

gratification , sometimes blindly supposing that to be highest in excellence which is really most unseemly and forbidding . When , however , the " passions " become " subdued , " and the intellect becomes enlightened , and

the moral sense and affections change in their sensibilities and aspirations , " the attention becomes directed to the inimitable excellencies that dwell in the Grand Architect of the Universe , and constitute the traits of His nature and character which the true Mason ever loves

to study , admire , and imitate . As love in our nature is a benevolent affection , so in the nature of Him who is our Great All Father , it is a moral perfection , hence " the volume of the sacred law "

declares " God is love . " Toward the holy and the good His lovo is an infinite parental complacency and affection , and toward the vile and immoral it is an unmeasurable compassion . It is shown in all His works and * ways and

dictated in the divine law , but Christians and Christian Masons claim that its most transcendent illustration is in " the Gospel , " that "in this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent His only begotten son into the world that we might live through Him . "

In all its revealitigs this love is unspeakably winsome and supremely commanding . Words cannot express its vastness ; finite intellect cannot comprehend its heights and depths and intensity .

" Could we with ink the ocean fill , Were tho whole earth of parchment made , Were every single stick a quill , And every man a scribe by trade ;