What Will 1878 Bring To Freemasonry.

back , ( not the last sitting ) , and read the speeches of Bro . Behr and others , they will see what is the real state of the case , and what is the strong prevailing apprehension of many good brethren and true , among the French Freemasons themselves . We cannot accept any Jesuitical apologies or casuistical pleas of mitigation , knowing as

we do the facts of the situation , but must once again condemn , with sad forebodings for the future , the recent suicidal act of the Grand Orient of France . Let us hope that other foreign Grand Lodges will avoid so great a blunder . We repeat that we regard the position of foreign Freemasonry in 1878 with many grave apprehensions .

The " Freemason " In 1878.

THE " FREEMASON " IN 1878 .

Not quite ten years ago , the Freemason first appeared in the literary world , a little bantling , timid , nervous , and unfledged . Like the young bear of the old story , " it had all its troubles to bear . " It was at first , if a labour of love , yet a " venture" of some doubt and no little delicacy .

It appeared in one sense at a propitious time . Masonic literature , after many struggles , which reminds one of the little " farthing rushlight " of . ballad celebrity , was in a very hopeless way , owing , we fairly must admit , to the apathy and indifference ofthe Craft . It is just possible , too ,

that Masonic literature was in itself to blame not a little , in that we who remember those more ancient hours , can recall how too much , far too much , of personality marked the utterances of the day , the normal existence of the Masonic press . At least such was the

complaint we often heard then , and the reason assigned why a Masonic paper could not bt better supported , and we can only suppose that more stirring times , and more exciting questions than those which greet us now , called forth a less restrained exercise of the Masonic pen ,

But be that as it may , the Freemason appeared the Freemason has continued to appear , the Freemason still appears , and the Freemason prospers . Of course , its course has not always been easy sailing ; it has had it ups and downs , its seasons of sunshine and its storms . But still it

is a very remarkable success . Started and upheld by one publisher , with no aid and no subscription list , subsidized by no committee , the organ of no clique , it has simply appealed to the open comt of Masonic criticism , judgment , and fair play . It has antagonized none , assailed

none , envied none , opposed none . It has never condescended to resort to personality or partizanship , it has never bandied words , it has taken notice of no insinuations , and has laughed at all malevolence . And here it is to-day , holding a position never held by a Masonic journal before , and rapidly increasing in the confidence

and support of a most friendl y body of friends and patrons . Just now , the Freemason is read all over the world . Its news is repeated , its articles quoted in many Masonic journals , and we have been long and still are truly sensible of the favour and sympathy with which our modest lucubrations are received and commented

upon , especially in such Masonic journals as the Keystone , and the New York Dispatch in America . And , therefore , the moral we wish to draw is this , suitable and seasonable at the beginning of a new year , that success in Masonic literature , like all other things , though it cannot be

guaranteed to any as acertainty , will as a general rule accompany straight-running , plain sailing , fair dealing , accompanied by a manly sense of independence , and a zealous effort to offer a good article in the open market of trade and barter . To revert to an old truism of political economy ,

we require free open trade , and we cannot thrive on a system of artificial protection , or hurtful "drawbacks . " No doubt in literature there is a special consideration : " does the demand need the _ supply ? " which can only be answered by experience . Masonic literature is a very exceptional literature , we admit , and many are its

difficulties , but we are inclined to be hopeful . We see , as we think , manifest signs of improvement , and we certainly may congratulate ourselves on these two facts—first , that had it not been for our publisher , Freemasonry in England would have been for years without a literature at all , and , secondly , that he has created a literature

The " Freemason " In 1878.

which is alike effective and expanding . To the Freemason must in great measure be fairly ascribed that encouragement which has been given to the archaeological and historical study of our antiquities and annals . If in fairness we must not omit here reference to an older journal , once

ably conducted by our old friend Bro . Henry G . Warren , yet who , remembering the discussions and discourses since 1869 , but must feel how much is due to the ever open pages of the Freemason . The Freemason has set its face against that personality which disgraces Freemasonry ,

and thatindiscreet publication on ritual questions , which offends justly so many good Masons . It has been unsurpassed for the support it has tendered to our great charities , and while it has never forfeited its thoroughly independent character , it has supported , and always will support , with loyalty and devotion , our Royal

Grand Master and the lawfully constituted Masonic authorities . Recalling its past , and realizing its present , it appeals with confidence to its increasing circle of friends to-day while it seeks , net unfairly , to justify the zealous efforts of its publisher , and to point to even still greater success in its efforts to please , to instruct , to inform , to edify the Craft .

Time.

TIME .

Who has not heard ot that little word Time which yet sums up in itself one of the greatest mysteries of all . For time isalike inmeasurable , unexplicable , unrestrainable , and unknown . It is , and it is not . It passes away , and it lives again . It seems to leave us , and yet it is

neverending , lt has no commencement , no close , no " beginning of years or length of days . " And yet time is the creation of T . G . A . O . T . U ., the Divine Creator , and will also one day be swallowed up in eternity . But until that better hour dawns on our weary and waiting world , Time

constitutes one of the most remarkable of facts , for the appreciation and realization of mortal man . For Time , curiously enough , is both the season of his joys and the limit of his sorrows . It gives hi : n all he counts most dear , and robs him of all he cherishes most ; it is at the same time the

cradle and the grave of his personal existence . There is , perhaps , nothing more mysterious , more solemn , more full of marvel and awe , when we come to consider it , than Time . It has seen the rise of Oriental Dynasties , and witnessed the mysterious history of the Hebrew race ; it has

looked down on the growth of Grecian culture , and watched the march of Roman legions . During its progress the dark night of the darkest ages has yielded to the influence of art , and intelligence , and civilization , and religion , and in all the long annals of Time has the history of

our race been written on its stormy pages with an adamantine pen , in indelible characters , and with undoubtable certainty . What struggles , what contests , what wars , what revolutions has old Time beheld , and how before its cold and callous gaze have

kingdoms and empires come and gone , risen to preeminence , and faded like a dream ! But yet , though this be so , it is perhaps more in the way in which Time bears on us individually , that we feel its flight and enter into its reality . Time is , Time was , to all of us . Its years

succeed to years carefully and silently . We almost doubt at times the accuracy of the fact , the verity of the occurence . It seems , for instance , but yesterday that we were young , strong , active , surrounded by dear friends , gifted with pleasant gifts , starting on our journey ,

training for our race . Alas ! how Time has sped on halcyon wings , since youth with its grace or maturity with its power , were our privilege and our possession ! Alas ! how few of us there are who must not feel that Time past has for us all but a melancholy and an upbraiding voice . We

might havo been so different , from what we are , and yet we are not ; we might have done so much better than we have done ; we might have been so much more useful citizens of Time than we have been . To most of us , if not all of us ,

Time always seems to speak in a voice of mingled pathos and sternness . But Time also has for us all a special utterance of tenderness and sympathy . It recalls to us our own life , hushed voices , vanished forms , the near and the dear

Time.

the grace of childhood , the true love of maturity , the silvery hair , the placid features of old age . What a wonderful record is that which Time brings for all of mortal mould , of the wreck , of the drift , of the salvage , of the seaweed which line our shore of life . There is a voice from cut

of the very depths of the past hours of Time which tells us not only that we are al ! mortal , but that Time which gives us happiness , ; destroys it also with unpitying mien , and that our whole being is , so to say , summed up in , bound up with the memory of joys which

have flitted , of loving friends , pleasant faces , no longer at our sides- But Time does not stop here ; if it did , poor feeble comforter , it must ever be , as indeed it is , amid the griefs which affect , the cares which devour , and the hopes which startle us all . But Time is ever passing on

, through its own destructive reign , through its own inherent decay , despite its autocratic authority , to that great eternity of our moral being , which lies dim and awful , beyond the " Silent Sea , " That is the great secret and hope of Time . Its separations are not eternal its sorrows

are not incurable . No , there is a Great Day of final appeal , a court of lasting award , when all these things shall be put to rights . The hasty sentence , the perverse judgement , the obloquy , the ill-fame of time may yet be but a pathway to an altered condition of all things in another and a better world , and freemasons who

remember the teaching of our goodl y ceremonial , will always be glad to remember that the undying and imperishable will yet outlive the passing and the special attributes of Time . Yet when the " fashions of this world " has at last reached its limits , Time has after all but prepared the way for the reign , the laws , the life , the outcome of Eternity

Freemasonry In 1877.

FREEMASONRY IN 1877 .

When the three Masonic Charitable Institutions closed their office doors yesterday afternoon the amount of subscriptions , donations , & c , received during the year 1877 reached the total sum of £ 42 , 627 8 s . 1 id . Of this sum £ 16 , 411 19 s . $ il . had been received by the

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged „ Freemasons and Widows of Freemasons * s £ 14 , 315 9 s . 6 d . by the Royal Masonic Institu : tion for Boys , and g ^ i 1 . 900 by the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls . In iS } 6 the total amount received by the three Institutions was

$ 639 , 600 , out of which sum the Boys' School were the largest recipients , the Benevolent Institution taking the second place . The latter Institution , however , in 18 77 heads the list with a sum larger than that ever yet obtained by any one of the Masonic Institutions . The Girls '

School , which in 18 76 and 18 77 was the lowest on the list of subscriptions , is the oldest ofthe three Institutions ; the Boys' School is the next in age ; and the Benevolent Institution is the youngest by nearly half a century . The Girls ' School boards , clothes , and educates 162 girls , and will during the present month admit 25

more ; the Boys' School boards , clothes , and educates 186 boys , and is about to take in a larger number ; and the Benevolent Institution has now on its books 14 ^ aged Freemasons receiving annually £ 40 each , 1 , 30 widows receiving annually £ 32 each , and 13 widows receiving annually half their late husband ' s annuities , or £ 20 each . "

We are pleased to transfer this extract from the Times of January 1 , 1878 to our pages , as not only a very gratifying announcement in itself , but as a tribute from a non-Masonic paper , to the value and reality of our ancient and benevolent Craft .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The first meeting of the Board of Stewards was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Thursday , at 4 o ' clock , when a large number assembled . 189 Stewards were announced by Bro . Terry . Bro : Joseph Smith , P . G . P ., was elected Chairman ;

Bro . Edward Cox , Treas . ; and Bro . James Torry , Secretary of the Board of Stewards . The amount of deposit was fixed at s £ i 2 s . and the necessary arrangements entered into . A full report of the meeting will appear in our next . The next meeting will take place on the 24 th January ]