The Altar In Masonry.

creed , with a theological covenant and constitution and certain articles of religious belief , says an exchange in discussing " The Altar in Masonry . " But the distinctive line separating Freemasonry from sect or creed in the religious world is so fine as to be difficult to discern . The altar worship of the world , in all ages , has been clearly

developed from the hour when the two first brothers built each an altar , down to to-day . Athens has 30 , 000 altars erected to the pantheology of its religious worship , and for fear some of the multitude of gods have been overlooked , an altar was raised to the " unknown god , " whom these old Greeks ignorantly worshipped .

The Masonic altar is erected to God . This certainly gives to this piece of Lodge furniture a religious significance which should clothe it in a garment of veneration . Around it have knelt thousands of the brightest and best of humanity . Generations of men have come and gone , and cities have crumbled into ruins , but lo ! here is an altar where you may bow and seek assistance of that Being who alone can protect amid dangers and difficulties .

It is a curious thing when we contemplate it , how this . altar has been preserved . Creeds have battled against creeds , and the altars of each have in succession fallen , but the Masonic altar still remains . As each new generation conies the seriously bowed head takes its place at the altar . Shall this not give strong evidence that the altar shall remain ? Does it not present silent testimony that the vows here spoken are the links which bind humanity into a band of common Brotherhood ?

When Joshua crossed the Jordan he took twelve stones out of the bed of the river and built an altar commemorative of the entrance to the promised land . The fathers were to tell the children , in the days to come , what , these stones meant . How long this altar remained as a witness of this wonderful transaction is unknown , but we may surmise that the heap of stones would be guarded with jealous care for many generations to come .

And so with the Masonic altar . What mean ye by these vows pledged before Jehovah for the benefit of our common Brotherhood ? What have you done , Brother , to fulfil these vows ? Yes , you have kept ihe secret inviolate , but that was only the passive part of the obligation . What about the active ? Has the world in any manner been bettered by you since

you bowed down at the Masomc altar ? Has the cry of distress passed by unheeded , or the mute appeal for help been by you ignored ? Has your hand reached out to stay a tottering Brother who has wandered by any forbidden paths ? Have you laboured with yourself to subdue those passions that jar and clash with the elements of good within you ?

In short , which is it ; have the principles taught in Masonry taken full possession of your will power , or have you caged them , as birds of beautiful plumage and song , to contemplate , but not to utilise ? Ah ! what answer , Brethren ?— " Square and Compass . '

The Worshipful Master.

THE WORSHIPFUL MASTER .

WOESHIPFUL was a mediaeval title of honour and respect which our forefathers in the Craft justly deemed appropriate to the presiding officer of a Masonic Lodge . In Shakespeare we find the term used thus :

" My father desires your worship ' s company . " " This is worshipful society . " The title is not used in Masonry as a term of adoration , but of sincere respect and deference . It accords supremacy in the Lodge .

To leave no doubt of the power of the Lodge ' s chief officer , he is styled not only Worshipful , but Master . He is a Master of Masters—their Worshipful Master . His authority in the Lodge is unquestionable—there , where he " not only has no superior , but no equal . As the orb of day sweeps majestically and beneficently

through the sky , the ruler of the material universe , with all the starry hosts of heaven silently and willingly doing his bidding , so the Worshipful Master with equal regularity and wisdom , rules and governs his Lodge . And just as above that sun is the Sun ' s Creator—the Lord of ali life and being , animate and inanimate ,

by whose infinity of wisdom the worlds were made , and in accordance with whose will are governed — so above the Worshipful Master is the Grand Lodge , with its Most Worshipful Graud Master—the constitutor of his Lodge , and to ' which alone an appeal to his action lies .

The Worshipful Master of a Lodge is infinitely more than the presiding officer of the Masonic Society . There is no officer that is his equal in privilege , power and honour . As a Master Mason all Freemasons are his peei * s , but he is the " first arnon ° *

his equals , " Elevated by his fellows , through their exercise of that universal suffrage winch embraces every affiliated member of the Craft , when installed in the Master ' s station his authority in the Lodge none there may question . Notwithstanding such

The Worshipful Master.

absolute power is accorded him , we have never known a case where that power was exercised to serve merely persona ! ends . Misjudgments , no doubt , there have been , but malicious judgments never . The Brother who feels the weight of responsibility resting upon him , as every Worshipful Master must , has too much heart in his office to permit his head to go wrong . The most radical Brother on the floor makes the most conservative

Master of a Lodge . The Worshipful Master has two fields for the exercise of his talents—in the Lodge when at labour , and in a banquet hall when a Table Lodge is open , or the Brethren are informally gathered to enjoy a feast of creature comforts and a flow of animal spirits . The ancient Romans had a rex convivii , or an

arbiter bibendi , to preside over their banquets , and encourage hilarity or check excess . These officers are rolled into that of a Worshipful Master . At the banquet table , as in the Lodge Eoom , he is Master—Master everywhere . No Brother , however full of selfwill or of anything else , that would not obey the sound of the gavel . There is no severer test of authority . It is not surprising ,

therefore , that a W . M . should feel a laudable pride when he reaches that honourable station . Therefore let us maintain our devotion to our ancient and honourable Fraternity , and our respect for the Worshipful Masters who preside over the individual Lodges . King Solomon is dead , but his representative in the Masonic Lodge never dies . — " Free mason ' s Chronicle ( Sydney ) . "

The religion of tbe heathen Chinee , to a large extent , consists in paying reverence to his ancestors . The classic Eoman deified his , and even the Hebrew * recorder wrote " there wero giants in those days , " " giants , " in the original , meaning a semi-angelic being . While not going now to such lengths we delight in

" looking backwards" to our ancestors . We sing of their deeds and inherit inestimable treasures handed down to us from them . But the W . M . of a Sydney Lodge , on a recent occasion in delivering their Grand Lodge Certificates to five Brethren of his Lodge , completely mystified them by expressing his hope that

they would duly treasure these " diplomas" and hand themcarefully down to their ancestors as heirlooms . Some Brethren smole a smile , but the unconscious perpetrator of this anochronism

went calmly onward with his peroration , in blessed ignorance of the Herculean efforts made by some of his hearers to retain their gravity , which they , however , succeeded in preserving until they reached the banquet table . — " Masonry . "

The basis of Freemasonry is indeed broad , very broad , but not so broad as to unite all men oi all opinions . Masonry does not close the door against any man for his religion . When the Lodge has done this she has done all that her professions require her to do . But the mistake sectarians make is that they wish to

have the ritual and usages of Freemasonry so changed that its ceremonial shall be perfectly agreeable to their religious views . This would make the society the very thing which they say it should not be , namely , a sectarian institution . While Freemasonry does not exclude , any oa account of their religion , she

does not stultify herself by pretending that all her lectures and ceremonies are so constructed as to please every individual , by exactly according with every shade of his religious views . Such a pretension would be sheer folly , since no institution can do this , and no honest society would pretend to do it . — " American Tyler . "

An unknown benefactor has donated to Humanity Lodge , Austria , the castle of Saubersdorf , to be used as a Masonic orphan asylum . It has a capacity of seventy inmates , and is situated at Schneeberg . There is also a Masonic orphanage at Kohlenbergdorf , which could not accommodate the demand upon it . — " New Zealand Craftsman . "

A New Chapter.

A NEW CHAPTER .

rriHE consecration of the Triangle Chapter , attached to JL the United Chatham Lodge of Benevolence , No . 184 , is arranged to take place on Thursday next , at the Masonic Temple , Park Road , New Brompton , at 3 o ' clock . The Prov . G . Superintendent Earl Amherst Pro G . Z . will officiate , and will be supported by some of the leading Companions of his Province .

The Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P . is to lay the foundation stone of Boscombe Hospital , with full Masonic ceremonial , on Wednesday next , 28 th inst ., and it is expected there will be a large assembly of the Craft on that occasion .