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honour and stability of the Craft at large . Our Lodge stands on holy ground , for the grand foundation on which it is erected is the Word of God , and from that foundation reaching upwards to the celestial canopy of the heavens is

that ladder likened unto Jacob ' s , the principal staves of which are Faith , Hope , and Charity , by which we hope to reach the ethereal mansions of bliss oil high now veiled from the mortal eye on earth . Faith is the first step from the foundation . Without faith in the Great Architect of the

Universe it is impossible to love Him , to fear Him , or to please Him . Faith leads on to hope , hope contained in the Sacred Volume . Hope opens to us the second gate , and this leads on to charity—Brotherly love . Faith , Hope , and Charity ; but the greatest of these is charity . Faith it is

sustains us , and hope it is that cheers us on our way . The one helps us manfully to overcome difficulties , and the other cheerfully to bear the sorrows and disappointments that we may encounter in our onward and upward struggle . But charity is the greatest . Faith must come to an end , when what we now believe in shall hereafter be accomplished ,

when what we now see as in a glass darkly we shall then see face to face . Hope will end when our hopes are realised , and all we long for shall have been attained . But charity will but increase the nearer we approach to the great Author of it . It is a virtue crowned with immortality . Like its sister mercy in the words of our greatest poet : —

" It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven , Upon the place beneath ; it is twice bless'd ; It blesseth him that gives , and him that takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown ;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power , The attribute to awe and majesty , Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of Kings ; But mercy is above this scepter'd sway , It is enthroned in the hearts of Kings , It is an attribute of God Himself . "

Such is charity , and it is the fundamental feature of the Masonic body . On the strength of love for the Brotherhood it has risen ; through lack of love alone can it fall . We have had our Order cried down because of its secrecy . Well , this feature of it is at least no secret . It is no secret

that the greatest virtue enjoined in the Scriptures is that which is chiefly inculcated by Freemasonry—to feed the hungry , to clothe the naked , to relieve the wants of the poor , and to protect the widow and orphan . Therefore in no

invidious spirit but with a genuine pride I would point to our noble Institution , our schools for the orphan children so munificently endowed . I would point also to our noble asylums for aged and decayed Brethren , and the unlimited funds at our command for the relief of distressed Masons and

Widows , existing m almost every Province in the kingdom ; and I will take this opportunity of asking for your liberal contributions on such an occasion as this towards the Royal Masonic and Herefordshire Masonic Charities . Let the reality of our professions be proved by our actions , and let

the faith that is in us be manifested in deed and word , remembering that "Pure reli g ion and un defiled before God and the Father is this : to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world . " Thus may we show how we honour all men and show forth especially our love for the Brethren .

" Fear God " is the next precept of the Apostle ; " Fear God . " The great foundation upon which the graces of our Craft rest—love , charity , and virtue—and on which our glorious Temple is laid , is the Word of God . This is the one basis of all our proceedings . We place it in the most

honourable position in our Lodges ; it is carried before us in all our public processions , and , like the sanctuary of old , is made a lantern unto our feet and a li ght unto our paths . The rules of our Order are strictly in accordance with the Holy Scriptures , and are justly entitled to be considered

religious . From the Word of God , the pure fountain of truth , we derive all our principles of religion and morality ; we recognise in its fullest sense the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man ; we show our fear by never mentioning His name but with that reverence and awe due from the creature to the Creator , and our love by looking up

to Him in every emergency for comfort and support . And so we come into His glorious Temple , to worship the Almighty Governor of the Universe as our Creator . In everything , above , below , around , within , we see and hear that which demands our adoration . In the grandeur , beauty , and order of nature we behold a higher glory than its own , a mysterious force deeper than all its motions . But , Brethren , God is more than Creator . To create is not to be Father in the hi ghest sense . The distinction of

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the Father is that He communicates an existence like His own . The father gives being to the child , and the child bears the image as well as receives existence from the power of the parent . God is the Father . He brings into life mind and spirit partaking of energies kindred to His own . God

made man in His own image . Here is the ground of His paternal relation to the whole race , and hence is He called in an especial sense the Father of those who strive to conform themselves to the Divine Original . Brethren , we are not wholly matter , not merely flesh ; were we so we could not

call God "Father . " God is a Spirit , and we are ofthe spirit , also ; we are conscious of a principle superior to the body , conscious of faculties higher than the senses , ancl so we are different from the mere brute creation . We analyse , compare , co-operate . We search for hidden causes , inquire

for ends and purposes , combine for mutual improvement and assistance . We discern , we approve the right , the good , the just , the holy . We have thought , ideas which do not come from matter , the ideas of the infinite , the immutable , the perfect ; we have power over ourselves , over thought and

desire , power to bridle our lusts and passions , power to conform to a law written on our hearts , and power to remit this law . Man is thus a spirit . Man has capacities , thoughts , impulses , which assimilate him to God . His reason is a ray of the infinite reason , his conscience an oracle of the

Divinity , and this reason given him by the Supreme Ruler of the Universe teaches him to fear God as the All Supreme , the All Powerful , and at the same time to love Him as a Father and to conform to those rules which He has ordained for the regulation and well-being of His people , whether temporal or spiritual .

The Apostle concludes with an exhoration to honour the king , and St . Paul likewise enjoins that prayers and intercessions be made for kings , and we find the earliest apologists for Christianity representing it to be the constant and invariable custom of the first Christians to pray for the

lives of their emperors and for the prosperity of their state and government ; and if under such trying circumstances they could thus impress on their converts their duty , a duty so terribly hard to carry out in the midst of persecutions and cruel martyrdom , how much more should we be ready to

show honour to one who is the rightful sovereign of these realms , and who rules a willing people with tenderness and love , who desires to be beloved rather than feared by her subjects , who takes the truest way to ingratiate herself in the hearts of the people by the constant interest that she shows

in their welfare . They who governed the world at the time of the Apostles and early Christians had no virtues of their own to recommend them to the pra } 'ers of the faithful . Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero , were not only bad

princes , but bad men , infamous for their lust , cruelty , and other vices ; but they were in authority , and that gave them some sort of right to be mentioned in the Offices of the Church .

Very different their case from ours , who have on the throne one who fills that position as a Christian sovereign and a virtuous woman : That we do honour her greatly was manifested this sixtieth year of her reign , and no one who

saw that wonderful procession , in which representatives from all parts of the British dominions united to show respect and esteem for their monarch , will ever forget the sight . Nor are our Brethren of the Craft one whit behind in their

manifestations of loyalty . No firmer adherents of Her Majesty are to be found than among the Freemasons of England , Australasia , Canada , and the Indian Empire ; and that there exists a firm union between Royalty and Freemasonry is evident by H . R . H . the Prince of Wales occupying

the high position of Grand Master , and almost all the other Princes of the Royal blood being members of the Fraternity . No greater manifestations of their loyalty could have been exhibited than were shown at the Albert Hall a few months ago , when every part of that immense building was crowded

to do honour to their Prince and Grand Master . Yes , Brethren , we are a loyal body , a religious body , a charitable body ; we are ready to render to Caesar the things that are Ceesar ' s , and to God the things that are God ' s . We go to the fountain-head for our instructions , our principles rest on

a sure foundation—God ' s Holy Word .- There should we search out the great ideas which are the groundwork of the entire Masonic superstructure—reverence to God , the great Architect and Upholder of the Universe , and love to man .

Conforming to these laws , the true Masonic Brother will be enabled to exercise all Masonic , which are also Christian , virtues , and to adorn his profession by a consistent life ; with the blessing of God resting on him and the divine law