Mark Masonry.

William Ackroyd P . M . ... ... Assistant D . C . G . H . Locking P . M . Ill ... ... Sword Bearer Thomas Howden ... •••Standard Bearer G . F . Carr 111 ... ... ¦••Organist

Thos . Myers W . M . Ill ... ••Inner Guard Billington 127 ... ... ¦••} mT " , . _ Y Stewards T . Gankrogor 14 ... ... V T . J . Gree 5 S )

The R . W . Bro . 0 . P . Matier P . G . W ., Assistant Grand Secretary , then addressed the meeting on tho question of the Mark Charities , pointing out the great benefits attending them , and urging the Brethren to support them . His appeal was responded to , and several Brethren gave their

names as Stewards for the next Festival . An invitation was given for the next Provincial meeting to be held at Sheffield . The Provincial Grand Master thanked the Brethren for their invitation , and asked themto renew it next time , as he

wished to hold the next meeting in Huddersfiold . A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the Barnsley Brethren for their arrangements and reception of Prov . Grand Lodge . The Provincial Grand Lodge was then closed .

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

Sepher Yetzirah ; the Boole of Formation . Translated from the Hebrew , by Bro . W . Wynn Westcott . Bath : Robert Fryar . THE work which Bro . Westcott now submits to our notice is a remarkable treatise of the Hebraic occult learning , which baa necessarily much interest for the votaries of that mysterious lore .

Bro . Westcott , who is a Hebrew scholar , is also well known as the author of a treatise on the " Isiac Tablet , " lately reviewed in our columns , and of other occult aud media , val works , and is a leading member of the increasing baud of occult students . In his hands the translation has been admirably performed . The

Sepher Yetzirah , or Book of Formation , is believed to be the oldest work extant in Hebrew on the Theosophy or Theo .. ; ony of the Jewish race , and as an outcome of tho old world Rabbinical or cabalistic teaching , on the snbjecfc of the world ' s creation . It has been ascribed to Abraham , to Rabbi Simeon Ben Joohai

A . D . 70 , to Rabbi Akibah A . D . 120 , and wo b . li . eve to others . Graefcy considers it Gnostic , and about A . D . 300 , while Tung holds it to be post Talmudie , and about 900 A . D .-, at the earliest . But as it is apparently mentioned in the Babylon and Jerusalem Talmuds , and was also admitted by "Rashi" later as an early work ,

it is most probable that it is a relic really of tho great Rabbinical Coliego at Babylon , and that therefore its parentage may fairly bo described to Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai , which is the Hebrew tradition moreover on the subject . Of course its Abrahamio origin , or date , is a harmless ascription of Rabbinical mnthos . It was first printed about

the middle of the sixteenth century , and several commentaries of it exist and several versions . It has had its commentators , such as the well-known Judah Halevi and Ben Ezra . Hermetic students will find it sometimes termed "Abrami Patriarchs } Liber ; " but though it is not Abramic , it is of very early date , as we havo before shown ,

and as Bro . Westcott fairly puts it , " the crystallization of several centuries of tradition by one writer , " though , as he adds rightly , " it has been added to from time to time by later writers . " As resulting from the cabalistic lore of the great Rabbinical school of Theosophy and mystic teaching and occult learning , it

naturally has had a charm for earlier Hermetic students , and is now put out by the new occult school rising up amongst us as a necessary " supplement" to the mysterious and astounding treatises on

kindred subjects contained in " Zohar . " But it would require a long and very abstruse review , far too exacting for our pages , to follow out here the clue given to the rapt students in the " 32 Paths . "

Our readers , if bitten by the ideas and views of tho occult school , or interested in such peculiar studies , anxious to tap the hidden wisdom of the ages past and gone , must folio' . v it np and study it for themselves , within the lines laid down by the Scribe of Sepher

Yetzirah . And . ii / Tiei . ntly abstruse , difficult .. nd enigmatical they will find it , without , a commentary from an , which as of ton happens may clear up little , lc . i . vo obscurity where it was before , aud difficulty where it still exists .

Commentators , as wo all know , aro too apt to leap over the most difficult passages , and where wo want light we often can find none . Tho study of occultism is clearly on tho increase amongst ns , though what its practical , scientific and expert valuo will eventually prove to be , time alone can show us , aud it is very difficult if not

impossible now accurately to predict . Some writers seem to question the reality and utility of such studies , on the ground of th . old French proverb that the " game is not worth tha caudle , " and that when ire have disentombed the

remains of occultism from the grave of the past , wo have practically found nothing . Wo confess wo do not agree with such objectors . There is no doubt an abuse of snch speculation and studio ., but there i _ also a use , and though the " jargon of Ilormcticisrn , " as ifc has been termed , appears to many to savour of charlatanism , yet thar .

Ucnncfcicism and occultism contain much of Thee . cphic old world mystical teaching is we think undoubted . Wo therefore hail all such works and all such efforts as valuable ; as helps to light , knowledge , and

expert criticism ; and we thank bro . Westcott for another proof of the skill and ability with whioh he usoa tho editorial pen .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents . All letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

THE HIRAM LODGE . To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAI . Snt AM . BUOTHEK , —Much as I always admire and generally coincide with onr esteemed friend and Brother W . J . Hughan , I am tree to confess that I cannot follow him at all in hia recent deliverance anenfc Oxnard ' s Charter and the Hiram Lodge . Indeed , I am unable to accept any one of tho positions he has taken up , and

I mast , therefore , ask you once again , in the interests of fair play to a worthy body of brethren , and in tbe name of the very important consequences involved in the discussion , " audire alteram partem . " I would premise that , in my humble opinion , Bro . Hnghan has laid down certain postulates which are not " warranted " by any English Masonio precedent or statute law , any Euglish Masonic

custom or common law . 1 . As regards the first great precedent he might have quoted in respect of his too broadly stated proposition in your paper of the 12 th instant , that any Lodge on joining a Grand Lodge , or forming a new one with other Lodges , ceased to have the right to work by authority of the Charter granted by the Mother Grand Lodge " ipse

facto , " I need hardly add that utterly fails him . I am not aware that in 1813 any Atholl Lodge took out a new Warrant , or ceased to work under fcho Charter granted by tho Mother Grand Lodge " ipso facto , "—the original warranting Grand Lodge . No doubt this is American law and understanding to a great extent , but I know of no English authority for such a position .

There certainly is no precedent for the assumption that a Charter of Recognition is identical with a Charter of Creation , or that the actual rights of the original grantee , as emanating from the original grantor , are superseded by an " ex post facto " Charter of Recognition ; such Charter tending rather to validate aud recognise , rather than to weaken or obliterate the rights and privilege of an earlier

creation altogether . In the caso of Canada tho original Warrants were all surrendered voluntarily , indeed officially by vote of the Convention , and were , as Brother Hughan puts it , to be returned as relics of the past , —heirlooms if you will . But in tho case of the Hiram Lodge there was no question of

surrender , neither in the directions of the Grand Master in 1789 was there any idea of favour or condescension . The members of tho Hiram Lodge produced the copy of a Warrant of 1750 good , legal , binding , a copy of which was taken aud registered , and tbe original Charter , the source of their Masonic life , tho authority for their Masonic work , tho guarantee of their liberties ,

privileges , and immunities , was returned to the Lodges . I fail to seo how anything that was done in 1789 affects Oxnard's original Charter of Creation , or Warrant of Masonic organisation . The Charter o . Recognition gave , so to say , no doubt a duplex vitality to Hiram Lodge , and there may be a concurrent authority established , but in no sense whatever , all American later legislation or custom

notwithstanding , can Oxuard ' s Charter be superseded or destroyed , nor has it ever been abandoned by the Hiram Lodge . 2 . The Grand Lodge of England did not take Bro . Hughan's view , as from 17 GS to 1813 Oxuard ' s patented Lodge remains on tho list of English Lodges . It is not difficult to realise why , in 1813 , it disappeared from the

new Union List of Warranted Lodges under the United Grand Lodge of England . 3 . Bro . Hughan puts far too strongly in every way the effect of tho vote of a " constitutional majority" iu any Grand Lodge . The question between the Grand Lodge of Connecticut and the Lodge Hiram is based on the landmarks in use in the Lodge since 1750 , long before the Grand Lodge itself was formed .

Whether tho matter involved be actually n landmark or no I pass by at present ; sufficient for the purpose , —it is assumed to be , as far as I know , on both sides . But if Bro . Hughan is right in what he lays down , any G . Lodge passing a vote on a similar question by a constitutional majority , it is impossible to enter into tho reasonableness or vice vvrsa of change with a disciplinary act , and other Grand Lodges can only accept fcho Record " sub siloufcio , " and are " cstoi . med" from considering , it afc all

from a critical or u . 'soussional point , of view . Th . English Grand L'ifigo ha ? , however , noted quite differently on two occasions . When a foreign Grand Lodge , by " a constitutional majority , " pa /' . S-d a vesolutiovi excluding Hebrews from initiation , Lord Zetland ( then G .. _¦[ . ) took a different view of tbe neattei ' , and he was backed

no by tha G . i . iodge . That was tho case of a landmark c .-rtaiuly . He did not accede to is ns necessarily binding on > . noi . a groin , d . So , again , when tho -Vouch G . Orient altered another landmark , tho JjiUgiish '•¦} . Lo'l ' . o di / . i not he .-, itat _ to refuse to accede to it ; practho Orientand

tically con ... ' ! red G . , , in company with all the Americ . in G . LodgcJ , broke oil : intercourse , though such change was passed by a ' •' consLifcutioual m-jorky /' I ; id „ ci ! , a morner . t ' s consideration will show tint any such theory N fatal > o the iibaxie _ and l ; Hidmark _ j of universal Freemasonry . Any particular Ura ; ::. ' . Lodge might then , under these circumstances ,

repeal any hmdi-iark _ y a constitutional majority , and no other Grand Lodgo can oven d : _ cii - .. it , bub must accept ic as a " fait accompli . " Where Bro . . 11 ugh-. u fieds any authority or precedent for such a view I really do nob know . Tho action of tho Grand Lodge of Connecticut tuuji :, therefore , bo