Official Visitations.

OFFICIAL VISITATIONS .

ELSEWHERE in this issue we record a meeting of * - * the Isca Lodge , No . 68 3 , in connection with which it is therein recorded that members of two

neighbouring Lodges made it the occasion of an " official visit ; " and we can but feel that the novelty of the event makes it deserving of something more than passing notice .

As is known to our readers , we are of opinion that a more general interchange of visits between members of different Lodges would be of great advantage to the Craft at large , and to the Brethren concerned in them

in particular ; and we therefore most readily take the opportunity of directing attention to this visitation , hoping it may serve as an example for others to follow , and , it may be , thus lay the foundation of an extended system of Masonic visiting .

From the report given it will be seen the guests were met at the Station by a representative member of the home Lodge , and were received therein with full honours—nothing very much , it may be urged , but

quite sufficient to show that the Brethren of the entertaining Lodge were making special efforts to impart to the meeting some particular feeling of hospitality .

There are many ways in which this idea may be extended , and once it becomes recognised that Lodge visits are desirable as a part of our Masonic system no doubt many methods of making them interesting and attractive will present themselves .

In this connection we might suggest that the Visitors be entrusted with the different Offices for the evening , providing there is any work to be done , or , failing it , they might be asked to rehearse one or other

of the ceremonies . By this means such visitations would not only prove enjoyable from a social standpoint , but might be made the means of imparting

instruction and lead to better results in the matter of uniformity of work than are now customary , because , in many cases , Brethren do not know what is going on .

A remarkable record of Masonic charity was made at the Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire Freemasons on the 23 rd . There are about 700 subscribing members of the Craft , attached to sixteen Lodges ( a seventeenth lately consecrated is of too recent foundation to be included in the

summary ) in Gloucestershire , and Bro . Sumner , as the Charity Secretary , was able to announce that these had contributed to the great Masonic Charities during the past year no less a sum than £ 3 , 237 , certainly the highest average per member among the Provinces ranged under the Grand

Lodge of England . When it is borne in mind that the above amount is exclusive of the mere local Charities , which are liberally and loyally maintained , and that the Freemasons do not pretend in any way to usurp the functions of a Friendly

or Benefit Society , the record is indeed a creditable one , and speaks well for the observance in Gloucestershire of the obligation which places Charity in the forefront of the Masonic virtues . — "Cheltenham Examiner . "

Norwich Cathedral.

NORWICH CATHEDRAL .

THE nave of Norwich Cathedral was re-opened on Thursday , 25 th inst ., upon the completion of the unflaking of the interior at the cost of Mr . S .. Hoare , M . P ., and Mrs . Hoare . There was a large attendance , but Mr . and Mrs . Hoare were unable to be present , in consequence of the

death of Mr . Hoare's brother . A procession , comprising the Mayor and Sheriff of Norwich , Sir H . Bullard , M . P ., the High Sheriff of Norfolk , the Provincial Grand Master -of Freemasons of Norfolk Bro . Hamon le Strange , and representatives of various local bodies , was marshalled by the

Rev . Canon Hervey in the Upper Close , and entered the nave by the great West Door . The service included an address by the Dean of Norwich , and was followed by the first part of the " Creation , " rendered by an orchestra and augmented choir .

The Provincial Grand Master of Norfolk was accompanied by his Deputy , and several other of his Officers . The sermon was preached by the Dean , from I . Chron . xxii . 5— " The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical . " He said that these were right

royal words . They expressed the high purpose of the Hebrew monarch who set apart treasure , skill , time , and patience to the glory of the Most High . They were uttered under circumstances which lent pathos and intensity to that lofty purpose . David's life was almost all behind him , with

its victories , its defeats , its sorrows , its joys , its moral discolouration , and its spiritual experience of God ' s pardoning love . And then , when the old King saw that his kingdom was at the very zenith of wealth , peace , and prosperity , he found in his heart a great , a holy , and a divine discontent with

all that he had hitherto been able to accomplish . There was a yearning deep down in that aged soul , there was a longing which empire itself was unable to appease , and that yearning and that longing were expressed in these words— "The house that is to be builded for God must be exceeding magnifical . "

For that purpose David was careful to appeal to the generosity of a consecrated people . They gave their silver and their gold , ' theij brass , iron , marble , and precious stones , conscious even then that the God of this fair world was

entitled to the best that could be produced , or that he could entrust men with , and thereby , thus early in the story of human life , teaching men the great lesson which this material

age was rather dull and slow of learning , that the best of treasure , the best of art , and the best of science that could be given to God were but a consecrated return of what God had given to men .

But it was not only treasure that was given . Artificers were engaged to spend their skill and time upon producing the noblest expressions of art , and the King was careful to make arrangements for the minstrelsy of song and the

chanting of those Psalms which , blessed be God , had been chanted in that ancient house of theirs with all the regularity of the ocean tides twice a day since Herbert de Losinga opened it in the early years of the 12 th century . The great thought of the Hebrew monarch was "Let the house that is to be builded

for the Lord be exceeding magnifical , " and with that thought they passed at once to the circumstances under which they were privileged to meet together that day . That Cathedral of theirs could lay claim to more than eight centuries of existence . It had seen six Royal dynasties

come and go . It was m existence 100 years before John laid the basis of what was now our Parliamentary method of government . It had known a literature three centuries before

printing was invented , and the voice of prayer and of praise and the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel had been heard within those walls before the Renaissance , before the glorious Reformation , and , of course , before the discovery of