David, King Of Israel.

cord of gold all along its seeming chances and changes . For life , as man designed it and God designed , is not one . Its reality does not answer to the rich ideals he has formed with such splendour of imagination . The ideals

were wrought with grander colours than nature gives in her brighest moods . But as life deepens in its meaning and results , the colours have vanished , leaving only the faded coldness as of a sky when the warmer sunset has

gone . Its success is only a partial success , and is altogether removed from the gorgeous dreams that seemed only to await action to interpret them with victory . And here that life of Bethlehem teaches us that there is an Infinite

power back of all the working of man ; back of his writing times and thinking times , as the sun is back of the clouds turning them into beauty or blessing of the raindrop , and making them sources of warning or influence , or of fruitage for himself and others .

Two great events in the world ' s history prepared the world for a broader civilisation and progress . They were the unconscious heralds of the proclamation of the brotherhood of the race . The Hebrew kingdom , with its wealth

of spiritual power , its sacred associations , and its divine oracles , passed away ; but that which seemed to be a destruction was only the source of a wider spread of its principles and a higher culture for the nations . The

Roman empire , with its order and law , was shattered into fragments by blows of Goth and Vandal and Hun , as the great rock is shattered into pieces by blows of the hammer . But as each piece has in it the potentiality of a finished

stone in a building , so these fragments had in them the possibility of order and law for new empires . They were informed with life ; moved with thought , and held in them not only ideals but forces to press where they touched

society into newer civilisations and into polities and growth in all that makes a people great . What Rome did for the world in government , civilisation and law , Judea did in morality and religion . The Hebrew , though retaining his

race peculiarity , became , by his divine oracles , an inhabitant of all tribes and nationalities . Moving in all directions , trafficking with every people , he formed for those ancient days means of communication as widespread and enduring

as those of modern life . And the seeds of truth , which he carried from land to land , dropped unconsciously , perhaps , from his grasp , grew and spread , until they found larger fields and richer soil in the commonwealths and kingdoms

ofthe earth . And with this growth of truth , the Psalms of David passed on through lands and centuries like a river flowing without waste in its floods , the source and fountain of refreshment for man in his spiritual convictions and in his moral want of fulness . And this unites Judea

and the present not only in the bond of history , but by those more subtle and unseen bonds of influence and thought . For David embodied in himself the epochs and

the movements of the age and country , and in the passing of these through kingdoms and peoples he united all epochs to the present , and unfolded with a higher meaning the truth of the brotherhood of man . The fall of Jerusalem

was the rise of kingdoms . The destruction of civilisation was the development of civilisation . The shattering of empire was the building up of the grander empire of the unity of the race .

Into our thoughts and feelings , into our emotions and interests , these Psalms of David have come . They have found their way through that great and manifold tissue of human life and action we call civilisation . Into our

emotions and interests in our Masonic life as part of that civilisation they have penetrated and been enshrined as a visible power . Into our seventh degree they have wrought themselves as an educating and necessary force . And in

that degree with its parable of the exile of man and his return to his true home , their hymned utterances havo made that return a prayer and a manifestation of toil . And so

among the leaders and builders , the philosophers and poets , the thinkers and achievers of our Order , David , king of Israel , takes his place and becomes a teacher in this great temple of Masonic thought and work .

David s life furnishes us with three thoughts . He gives us a temple , growth and an ever-rising structure , which though they may not seem of the subject , yet are a part of it , as the ftuifc ofthe tree is unlike the tree , and yet is a portion of it .

( To be continued . )

Freemasonry In Bengal, 1740—1813, &C.

FREEMASONRY IN BENGAL , 1740—1813 , & c .

Br BRO . W . J . HUGHAN , Past S . G . D . ENGLAND .

Dedicated to the W . Bro . PROSONNO COOMAR DUTT . BRO . P . C . Dntt ( P . M . 234 , & e ., & c ) , a zealous Craftsman of Calcutta , has kindly sent me , for my friend and Bro . John Lane ' s " Masonic Records" ( nowpreparing ) , copies of warrants of certain old Lodges , for

which I have often asked , but without avail , until now . These transcripts ( or rather one of them ) open up a curious question or point for decision , for if the particulars the present warrant recites be correct , my "Masonic Register "

of 1878 is wrong , which is based upon Grand Lod ge Calendars , so they are wrong also . To put it clearly , there were seventeen Lodges granted for Bengal b y the regular

Grand Lodge known as the " Moderns" from 1740 to 1793 , they being numbered respectivel y 1 to 13 in Bengal , four being excepted from such a rennmeration .

They were as follows , with numbers as noted , and as altered : — Warranted Numbers from Town . In Bengal . v r ' To After 1781 1792 181-1 1832 1863 1702 1793

1710 77 70 93 80 67 Calcutta 1 1 1752 101 ... ... Chardanagore 1761 167 143 174 126 109 Calcutta 2 2 1768 273 Patna 3 ... 1768 280 Burdwan 4 ... 1772 319 Dacca 5 ... 1772 350 288 365 Calcutta 6 3 1772 351 1 st Brigade 7 ... 1772 352 3 rd do . 8 ... 1772 353 2 nd do . 9 ... 1773 360 292 371 Muxadavad 10 6 ( Cawnpore ) 1773 361 293 373 Calcutta 11 5 1775 388 316 3 rd Brigade 12 4 1786 489 399 Fntfcyghur 1789 555 464 Fredericksnagore 13 7 1793 ... 528 ... Chunar ...8 1793 ... 529 Cawnpore ... 9

A curious local change ocurred in 1793 , as several Lodges had died out ; the No . 10 at Cawnpore , so tho return stated to the Grand Lodge ( Bro . Lane tells me ) was not in existence , but another Lodge not previously

registered , but working apparently from 1793 , was put in its p lace as No . 292 , and was numbered 292 in like manner , but locally in tho re-arrangement it took No . 6 , old eleven becoming 5 , and old twelve becoming 4 , old No . 6 taking

the third position ; Nos . 1 and 2 being undisturbed , 7 to 9 falling in as indicated . The new 6 was called "Anchor aud Hope . " At the Union of the two rival Grand Lodges

in December 1813 , Nos . 1 , 2 , and 3 were numbered locally as before ( according to my researches ) on the revised Roll , bnt the new 6 of 1793 became 4 , and the new 5 of 1793 remained 5 , the others being erased .

The " Atholl " Grand Lodge ( Seceders ) had warranted four Lodges , all for Calcutta , viz .: — Warranted Numbers from Name . No . in v » ' Bengal . 1814 1832 1863

1797 315 383 265 218 True Friendship 3 1798 317 402 279 229 Humility , & c . 4 1801 323 410 282 232 Marine 5 1801 325 413 284 234 Anchor and Hope 6

The local numbers , 3 to 6 , were taken after the removal from the Roll of 365 , 371 , and 373 of the regular Grand Lodge , which occurred in 1817 . I have a copy of 218 warrant , but it lacks the original

number . This I want badly , for although it was 315 before the " Union" of 1813 , it took the place of 301 immediately afterwards . Will some brother kindly examine the document to discover the original nnmber ? The

warrant of 229 Bro . Dntt has kindly sent me , and also that of 232 , both of which accord with my "Masonic Register , " and Bro . Gould ' s " Atholl Lodges , " at least fairly so . But , the real point is as to No . 234 , the warrant sent me by

Bro . Dutt , or rather copy , printed in the Bye-laws of A . D . 1885 ( being one of confirmation ) recites that it was a Modem Lodge , not an "Atholl" Lodge , as all our Calendars state from 1815 , ( published a year in advance , as now )

dating really from 1773 , and bearing the numbers of 360 and 292 in 1781 and 1792 , as original No . 10 , and afterwards 6 of Bengal , also called the " Anchor and Hope " as orig inal 325 of the " Atholl" Grand Lodge . The singular thing also is that in 1814 , it is given the number 413 , and