The Next Election For The Girls' Sohool.

bsnefit from the Charity they are now applicants for , and surely that wonld be but a poor sequel to the grand success of the Albert Hall gathering . As a counter proposition we are prepared to hear suggestions put forward to still further increase the buildings of the Institution at Battersea Rise , and

much as we should like to know that provision was being made for an increased number of pupils , we are almost afraid of the ultimate consequences of making further additions to the buildings there . Already the Charity has spent a fortune on land ,

bricks and mortar at that spot . Would the property realize anything like its cost if it had to be sold ? Is it wise to still further increase the outlay in what has become a really expensive suburb of London , and what must ultimately become an even closer associate

of the great metropolis ? Would it not be better to look further afield , and make a start with some new idea , rather than spend too much in maintaining an old fancy ? At present there may be no reason to anticipate a change being necessary , but who shall

say what the next few years shall bring forth , and it is well to look at matters from different points of view . As soon as the Craft has had time to consider the state of affairs in connection with the Girls ' School—a splendid balance , an enormous number of

candidates , and but few vacancies—we may expect that proposals will be mooted for enlarging the scope of that Charity , and in view of such a contingency we strongly advise a careful consideration of the

matter m its several aspects , and more particularly do we urge the advisability of adopting a system of grants in aid of education , so long as it is found impossible to take entire responsibility on behalf of all who are considered eligible and worthy .

The Freemason's Creed.

THE FREEMASON'S CREED .

Address Delivered by the V . W . the Rev . J . W . Owen , B . A ., Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of South Australia . WHEN , at the command of our Worshipful Master , I last had the honour of addressing you , my

brothers , in this our Lodge of Harmony , we considered as subject , " What is intended to constitute the serious outcome of the institution of the Craft ? " and we arrived at the conclusion that the main intention of Freemasonry

is " the association of men , in implicit reliance upon their Maker , to help one another to do their duty in life ' s battle . " Since then we have been addressed in words of wise advice and helpfulness by another brother , who desired to stimulate

us more and more to realize our intended outcome ; and although but few of us heard his utterances , I am sure tbey will not fail of their reward , for no utterance in this mysterious circle of life , wherein our allotted tasks are done

or left undone , ever dies with itself , but , like the descent of a pebble on the surface of some river , spreads an everwidening circle of its onward communication until the latest ripple dies away upon the marge .

It is assumed that we are agreed as to the outcome of our Craft ; it is also assumed further that we all feel the need of doing what we can towards its more perfect realization ; and these two thoughts combined must , it seems to me ,

serve to raise in every thoughtful mind inquiry as to the foundation on which we base our intended outcome , and by which we are nerved to fulfil that outcome . Here , as elsewhere , we are forced back on first principles , in which

lie air the virtues of any system man has elaborated , in neglect or denial of which lies also all consequent errror and wandering . Finding some such questioning in myself , I conclude , therefore , that it must be present with most

of you , my brothers ; we are of a like constitution of mind ; and above all things I must be careful to remember whoever ( his Lodge , through its Master , shall call upon

me to address it , that it would ill become me to assume any pedagogic attitude , bufc rather that ifc is my highest privilege to stand forth as a man and a brother , laying such thoughts as are in him before his fellows , and striving to learn rather than to teach .

The Freemason's Creed.

I I hold him great , who , for love's sake , Can give with generous noble will ; Yet , him who takes for love ' s sweet sake , I think I hold more generous still .

We men , my brothers , must have convictions by which to walk throngh life , if we are to walk in any true sense and nofc blindly stumble along . The man who leads most deeply the life of isolated contemplation knows this well—take away his convictions , and he has nothing to steer by . Men

who more wisely , as I deem , resolve to cast their lot in the associated life , and to project the range of fcheir usefulness beyond the narrow limit of the study and the home , know also the force of convictions , and the absolute necessity for

underlying unity of conviction . " Shall two walk together unless they have agreed ? " asked the herdman of Tekoa , one of those lonely ones of deep insight whom the wisdom

of God chose out to tell the world certain plain truths of which it is ever stood in need , and whose utterances will live on when the names of fashionable theorists and

empirics shall be forgotten . Let us cast our thoughts

backward over the long roll of fche bye-gone days , and ask , When were the ancient kindoms of the earth making that history which is still the lesson-book and guide of our modern world ? When were Egvpt , and Palestine , and

Assyria , and Persia , and Greece , and Rome really prosperous and able to do those mighty deeds which have rendered the race as we know ifc capable of what ifc is wholesomely doing and yet shall do ? Was ifc not when

fcheir convictions were real to them , and their men acted up to them ? and was it not just when their convictions ceased to be real , thafc men ' s action ceased to be strenuous , and decline grew on—until a palsied make-believe usurped

the place of faith which gives life , and a descent from bad to worse set in ? Aud the storied memory , and the forfeited inheritance handed on to nations worthier than themselves , are—as far as the annals of earth are concerned—all thafc

remain of those wondrous empires and dominating dynasties which , in their turn , reigned supreme . And as with nations so it is with men . Pick me out one who has signalized himself , whether for good or for evil , from the

common herd , and it requires no prophet to recognize a man of strong convictions , whether on a right method or on a wrong method wo need not now stop to inquire . All our argument is concerned to prove is thafc in order to truly

recognize that there is work to be done , and to further feel that there is an impelling necessity to get such work carried through , presupposes the existence within the minds of those who perceive how " correspondence with environment " after all , constitutes

Our being s end and aimof settled conviction , of firm belief in the existence of One who , of right , demands from His creatures such " correspondence , " and consequently of a creed by which man

expresses to himself , and to his co-labourers , as best he is able , the convictions by which he sees how to live , and ceases to fear to die , and expects to attain to larger and yet more beneficent activity in the life beyond the veil .

Yes , it is true . The science of man as he ought to be must be based upon man as he is in the totality of his nature , a spiritual as well as an intellectual and animal being . Freemasonry lays before itself the great task of

helping man to become as he ought to be . Freemasonry then must deal with man as he is , and it finds that man when he is really man , not a mere buying and selling machine , nofc a screen on which to hang clothes and opinions ,

not a mere pleasure comsumer , but a rational creature , capable of joy and sorrow—looking before and after—and precisely because he is rational , seeing the necessity for

regulative truth which is designed not so much to satisfy his cariosity as to guide his practice—when he is possessed of thafc

Faith which comes of self-controlimperatively demands a creed . Freemasonry , therefore , must have a creed to offer and it must be one which will stand examination , and prove ifcs worth by its general

adaptability to human needs , for it is a great saying , spoken by one of the deepest and most earnest and largest-minded thinkers of this century , thafc " the truth which is highest is the most universal . " What , then , let us inquire , is the

creed of the Mason in its simplest form of expression ? It is belief in God . Belief , I say , in God , not as an abstract idea ; not as a " tendency for righteousness , " not as some metaphysical subtlety on which men bestow the name of

Deity as a convenient cover for their ignorance of powers and forces which they feel to exist , but are unskilled to