The Election For Secretary.

want of respect to him , but because somo ono must of necessity be last , and we have found conveaient opportunity of ref erring to the other candidates in front of him . But he can well afford being

low down on our page , from the fact that he comes at tho head of those especially recommended by the Provisional Committee , and also because he has such strong and influential supporters as to almost render

his election a certainty , were it not that others are also being well backed up . Foremost among those who will support Bro . McLeod is the Province of West Yorkshire , from which district we have before us a

summons , marked " urgent and important , " calling a special meeting of the Charity Committee of the Province , to be held at the Masonic Hall , Great George Street , Leeds , on Monday next , when the following , among other , "Business" will be submitted : —

The K . W . Pro * . G . Master Bro . T . W . Tew , J . P ., will propose , and tho W . Dc'p . Pro » . G . Mastor Bro . Henry Smith will second , the following ; resolution : — , " Tl . at this Chirity Committee of West Yorkshire , do hereby undertake to support the eleotion of Bro . James Morrison McLeod , for the office of Secretary to the E . M . T . for Boys , lin having been unanimously placed first of the four selected candidates bv the Provisional Committee . "

This means that West Yorkshire , with its hundreds of voters , will " go solid " for Bro . McLeod , who , we may add , does not stop when he polls the papers of West Yorks . He has several other of the Midland

counties pledged to him , and when we remember the way in which those districts combine in matters of voting , and the splendid system they already possess for communicatinr' with the voters and cnllflctino- tbo

o D proxies , it appears almost a Herculean task to oppose him . But we have shown he is to be opposed , and also pressed very hardly in the race for the

Secretaryship . The contest will bo one of the most severe ever known in connection with a Masonic office , and we can only hope that all may end well in connection with it , both as regards the brother who is ultimately selected for the office , and the Institution he will be called upon to work for .

Secularising Dangerous.

SECULARISING DANGEROUS .

An Oration before the Grand Lodge of Kansas , F . and A . M ., 20 th February 1890 , by Bev . Bro . Enoch Powell .

WHEN life is viewed from the animal plane , it is a vulgar affair . When wrestling for place and powor , what a wild beast scramble it is ! A man running after his hat is not more ridiculous than a moral being running after happiness or reputation . In seeking to

wrest from the necessities of Jus fellows some advantage for himself , he reminds you uncomfortably of his dog ancestor in the corner , gnawing his bone and growling off all intruders . Human nature thus presented , scheming for place and power , is in the " rough ashlar" state—au

unformed , unpolished stone , not fitted for a place in the " Temple not made with hands . " The life that is put to no divine use is a severed fragment . Tho life that is not fashioned according to tho design on the trestleboard , that

has no conscious part in thc plan of tho Great Architect , has no part or lot in that spiritual temple , from whose " Holy of Holies " streams tho glory which gives to lifo all of hope and significance it has .

" How weary , stale , flab and unprofitable " seems all the uses of this world to him who makes self the measure of

their value ! Any life that is not fraternal—any seeking of good save through tbe good of all—must bo vulgarly selfish aud unspeakably tragic . But , on the other hand , when we regard human nature from the plain of Fraternity , what a boundless privilege life is ! Here all hearts beat as one . How sacred the ties

which unite us in fraternal relations ! How ennobling the condition in which no man seeks his own but a brother ' s good ! When tho tides of fraternal love are heaved to thoir flood , we seem almost infinite and divine .

Secularising Dangerous.

I am not quite satisfied with such sfatoments as that "Freemasonry is a science of morality ve'led in allegory and illustrated by symbols ; Freemasonry is a science of morality developed and communicated by the ancient method of symbolism . If Freemasonry wero merely a

symbolic morality , a mystic , esoteric philosophy , it would not bo possible for all men to bo good Masons . It is not given to every man to grasp in thought tbo deeper laws of tho highest lifo . Above and before all else Freemasonry is a brotherhood—a fraternity of helpfulness . By tho

cultivation and practice of tho Masonic virtues , tho simplest mindjjmay raise itself to the sublimest plane , and acquire a deep intuition of tho " Royal Art . " Ho who has nothing more than faith in our beloved Order may bo its brightest ornament , and may exemplify its spirit ; whilo

auotber who can most eloquently expound all tho mysteries may not havo been raised from the dead level to tho living perpendicular , and may bo a stranger to that which is at the heart of our ceremonies , allegories and symbols . We may concede that thc first great want of tho

candidate is " light , " whilo his first great need is warmth of fraternal affection . Our mystic rites bavo no magical efficacy . Not even to save a weak Lodge from forfeitinoa charter have we the right to admit those who havo not found a moral basis for lifo and action , and who havo not

shown themselves to possess the fraternal spirit . Tho Masonic Institution is not a reformatory ; neither is it an association of men on the piano of self interest , but a brotherhood . Ho who wants the " Master ' s word " only that ho may secure the Master ' s wage—that he may travel

in foreign countries with greater profit , that he may havo a key to noble hearts and great opportunities , and that seats of honour and power , which princes and rulers havo si ghed for in vain may bo his—must of necessity bo blind to tho truo secret of our fraternal life . Our first great need is

" that light which never was on sea or shore "—that without which our cable tow were but a rope of sand . Before wc can cherish the laudable ambition to " best serve , " we must have something moro than the ability to open and close a Lodge , expound the lectures , and give correctly the

signs of recognition . I congratulate the Grand Lodge of Kansas ' , for tho Masons of this State have a rich , warm , fraternal spirit ,

the very soul of brotherly helpfulness . Who that has come under the charm of your courtesy , and beheld the boundless wealth of your charity , can doubt that tho Craft in Kansas possess the prerequisites of Freemasonry ?

Wmls even in Freemasonry faith in moral princi ples and affection for the brethren are the all-essentials , knowledge is not to be despised . We should seek to

understand the law of social life , that which makes fraternity possible . Why is this the law of moral life ? Why must we seek our own good through the good of onr brethren ?

If we wore brutes , under the rule of sordid appetite and selfish passion , we could not bo brothers to each other . But man is an immortal soul . He comes into possession of himself and of his race-inheritance , through and by means of his fraternal relations . Masonry assumes tho

Bxistence of a wise and benevolent Creator , who begets the aniverse from Himself , and raises us up through what we 3 all nature by a long process of evolution ; educates us into freedom and develops us iuto true individuality , making us capable of self-knowledge and self-direction . Masonry ,

ike the family , is one of the divine agencies for carrying jnward and upward tbe higher education of man ; teaching iim how to " link his market cart to a star ; " teaching him sow to live for his race , that his race may live in him ; rilling out his finite life to infinite proportions and making it divine .

" Even the South Sea Islander commences with his infant child , and teaches him habits that conform to that ohase of civilization , an ethical code fitting him to live in that community , and , above all , tbe mother tongue , so that ae may receive the results of the perceptions and reflections

jf his fellow beings , and communicate his own to them , rhc experience of the tribe , a slow accretion through years md ages , is preserved and communicated to each new

Dorn child , vicariously saving him from endless labour and suffering . Through this race culture the individual icquirca the experience of the species and lives the lifo of lis race . Thus the individual is lifted above himself . "

Masonry has garnered up the experience of many ages md many races . Their richest wisdom and their ennobling noral principles she seeks to communicate in symbols ,