Norfolk.

thankfulness . Loyalty and charity had ever been the distinguishing mark of the Masonic Order , and therefore when people pointed to them and accused them of all manner of faults against God and religion , they had nothing to do but to point to the way in which their Lodges were conducted , their business being

preceded and ended with prayer . It should be remembered that it was no use pluming themselves upon the great Masonic privileges that existed , they must try to show to the outside world that there was that about their Order which made them better men and better in all their relations in life . Sometimes they

were twitted with loving fine decorations and jewels , but did not the Army , Navy , and diplomacy , and every other order adopt its distinctive dress ? They were also accused of being a festive society , but he knew of no organisation , charitable or otherwise , that was not occasionally supported by a dinner or similar

function . Every Master of a Masonic Lodge promised at the time of his installation to guard against intemperance himself and to avoid quarrels and other matters detrimental to brotherly love , and woe be to him who fell short in his duty in this respect and did not impress the same principles upon the members under his charge .

In conclusion , he charged them to remember that as Freemasons they had great responsibilities and serious and solemn duties to perform , to which they had pledged themselves . Every moral and every good and excellent virtue was taught them by the text , but there was a great deal more to be done . Freemasonry was valuable in bringing together men of every kind ,

who would otherwise have been estranged towards each other ; it also provided a general platform on which they could meet and grasp each others' hands without a tinge of jealously , and Jews , Mohammedans , and men of every description could thus meet together . When a member was received into the Order , no mention was made of a man ' s political or religious opinions , so long as he believed in the one true God .

He was sorry to have to believe that there were a few who boasted about the liberality of the Order , but who never contributed a sixpence of their own to any special object of charity . But he was glad also to know that this reproach was passing away . He charged them finally so to live and act that when it pleased the Almighty Architect and Euler of the

Universe , their Heavenly Father , to ask an account of their past lives ( though there might be much to lament ) , they would have the knowledge that they had tried to do their duty , and although in justice God ' s fiat of condemnation might be deserved , yet they would be saved by the infinite mercy of Jesus Christ , their Eedeemer . — " Eastern Daily Press . "

Shropshire.

SHROPSHIRE .

AS we stated last week , a sermon was preached by the Eev . H . E . Cooper-Smith , D . D ., P . Grand Chaplain , at Shrewsbury , on the occasion of the annual meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge held there on the 14 th inst ., the text being Acts vii , 26 : " Sirs , ye are brethren . " Having introduced his sermon with a reference to the sense

of brotherhood which existed among the children of Abraham , the preacher said they who were gathered there that day were looking at the great principle from a double point of view . They were Christians , attending a Christian service , worshipping in a Christian Church . They were also Masons , bound together by

peculiar ties of brotherhood and fraternal affection , bound to set forth in themselves , by their lives and actions , the truths and beauty of those principles which they professed . As Christians

and as Masons they were there on common ground . That great truth , " Sirs , ye are Brethren , " applied to them in either capacity . There was not , and could not be , any incompatibility between the two aspects of their character .

Strange mistakes had been made respecting the Masonic brotherhood by those who were not included therein . There were those who supposed that Freemasonry was in itself a religion , and must therefore be in some sense a rival , even an antagonist to that which they held to be the only true faith .

Well-meaning , but mistaken persons had supposed that because a man was a Mason , he must from that fact be something less than a Christian . He had himself received a letter imploring him to give up the supposed errors of Masonry , as not being consistent with the Christian religion , of which he was an ordained

minister . From the wording of the letter , it appeared that a similar one had been sent to all the clergy who were known to be Masons , and he might say that it appeared incidentally that many

hundreds , it not thousands of the clergy were known to be Masons also . He had been reading only lately in the memoirs of a good and holy bishop of their Church , extracts from articles written by him , holding up Masonry to condemnation , as containing false religious teaching . He was not a Mason . He ( the

Shropshire.

preacher ) believed he completely misund erstood what he supposed to be their principles . Masonry was not a religion , and only by a strange miscouceptiou could it be supposed that it was . But there was one qualification which must distinguish every Mason . Masonry pre-supposed and required a belief in

God as a condition of membership , and rigidly excluded any person who said in his heart " there is no God . " The unbeliever could not be admitted within its pale . But this led him to a second objection , widely felt and forcibly explained in many countries . If it was not a religion , it had been said , it was at

any rate opposed to Christianity . Masonry , like all good things , was capable of being abused . It had been abused in times past . In some countries in previous generations he feared it must be admitted that masonic meetings had been held for other than Masonic purposes . But they would know that a good Mason must be loyal as well as God-fearing , that if at any time Masonic

meetings had been perverted , either for purposes of conspiracy against the existing government , or the promulgation of what was called free-thought , those who held them or took part in them had acted contrary to the rules and principles of the Craft . Subjects of political or religious difference were , ipso facto , excluded from their services .

Masonry must not be judged by the abuses that might have been suffered to disguise its true principles , and here and now in our own country they might boast that those true principles were loyally held and faithfully expounded . It was no doubt within the recollection of many present , how some years ago a

great and leading body of Masons in another country repudiated that condition which they held to be vital to Masonry—the belief in God . The matter was then brought before the Grand Lodge by the then Deputy Grand Master , by the direction of the Most Worshipful Grand Master , and by a formal resolution the Grand Lodge of England repudiated the false doctrine of the

Grand Orient of France , and from that time they had refused to recognise those who were initiated under its Warrants as genuine Masons . They could only recognise as Brethren from the Masonic point of view those who acknowledged the universal Fatherhood of God , in so far as admission to their Order was concerned .

Holding then firmly these tenets , Masonry , thought not a religion , so far as being inconsistent with a Christian profession , postulated the belief in God as our Father . They as Masons at any rate were bound to show their real and firm belief in the

brotherhood of man . They boasted , and were justified in boasting , that Masonry extented over the four quarters of the globe . Further , they claimed for it that its influence had been and was a beneficent one , drawing closer the family ties which existed between brethren , sons of one Father . .

On an occasion like the present they might well consider one tie which brought out wider Brotherhood , if he might so call it , of English Masons , or those who were subject to the Grand Lodge of England . They had at their head the heir to the throne , but more than that they had as their patron one who was

the daughter and mother of Grand . Masters . The Queen was their patron , and that fact appealed to a special filial sentiment in them all , and at such a time as that emphasised the relations in which they stood to her and to each other . Whatever might have been the case in other countries , and at other times , the loyalty of English Masons was undoubted . Their service that

day was the expression of the deep feeling of love and gratitude that had risen in their hearts as they celebrated the completion of sixty years of her rule , and while they looked up to her , who had been in so marked a manner the mother as well as the Queen of her people , they were forcibly reminded of their attitude towards each other .

Then , again , looking at Masonry in its wider aspect , they cultivated not merely that fraternal feeling , not merely the grace of brotherly love , but relief and truth also formed part of their profession . From that point of view they recognised this family tie between all mankind . In a special and restricted sense it

might be said to any gathering of Masons , " Sirs , ye are brethren . " But as Masons they recognised not only that peculiar bond , but they also admitted their brotherhood with all who were made in the image of God . Their Order , great as it was from its universality and from the loftiness of its principles ,

would yet be but small were these principles but only binding on them with regard to their fellow-Masons . They were universal in their application . But if their general sense of brotherhood with all mankind be so strong , what should he say respecting their special duty towards those of their own Craft ?

The brotherhood of Masons embraced both rich and poor . Not without a glow of pride did they recall the great efforts that had been and were being made among Masons for the support of the poorer brethren among them , and for the maintenance and

education of their orphan children . Speaking as one who had acted on the Board of Benevolence , and who for more than twenty years had taken a warm interest in their noble charities , he said during that time a wonderful development had been