Freemasonry & Israelitism.

ness of the dance and the play , the lovesong and the novel , we have eloquent pulpitsentimentalists who are authors of dramas and tales , and contemners of things for which their fathers would have suffered

martyrdom . All things are progressing , Christian communities among the rest ; and as ah eloquent writer has said ( Christian Society , p . 43 ) : "A great untutored strength , a gigantic force , impetuous in its

manifestations , but essentially healthy ; a central heat of moral impulse and wholehearted devotion to truth , may be discerned amid the weltering confusion of religious phenomena in our time . Better the

shortcomings , the offences , the extravagances of life , than the silence of death . Earnest heresy , reverent scepticism , arc more hopeful phenomena than the ecclesiastical

formalism and infidel frivolity' of the last century . The age has been one of extending knowledge . Science and criticism have widened the horizon embraced within man ' s

intellectual vision . Difficulties have been felt , debate has arisen in harmonising the new knowledge with the old faith . The religious man has been compelled to admit ,

if not the conviction , at least the surmise , that there may be more of mystery in tlie ways of God with man than his fathers believed—that Revelation mav have been a

more complicated and wonderful process than was supposed—that the Spirit of God may have moved more extensively upon the waters of the human soul , leaving the vestiges on civilizations and in forms of national life where devout men of the last

century did not suspect his presence . The faith which has been knit to the heart by the links of clear conviction—the faith which has been accepted , not blindfold but with open eye and assenting mind—the

faith which is a man ' s own , as well as his father ' s , which he found , indeed , growing upon an honoured grave , but which , with loving hand and joyfully-accepting heart , he has planted in his own garden—this

manly , vigorous , storm-tried faith is more common in our days than in any former generation . " And , then , be it observed that whatever may have been done in times past in the way of mutual recriminations and

persecutions amongst religious sects , this ground of reproach is continuallynarrowing . The Protestant and the Catholic ; the Churchman , and the Dissenter , and the Jew work together for tlie accomplishment of a

common object in philanthropy and religion . The wolf dwells with tlie lamb , and the leopard lies down with the kid , and the calf and the young lion and the fatting together ; the cow and the bear feed

together , and their young ones lie down together . How little of the bitterness of sectarianism exists in our day is seen in the fact , that Churchmen and Dissenters of various sects occupythe same -pulpits ,

advocate on a common platform the claims of benevolence , and exchange in our lodges and chapters all the courtesies and kindnesses of fraternal union . By-and-byc , we shall , perhaps , sec eye to eye , even in this world . Meanwhile . it would not be difficult

to show that a mere difference of opinon , upon however many points , is rather a good than an evil , in our present state of imperfection . At all events , it is not a thing to be swecpingh' or indiscriminately

condemned , for while this sectarianism was foretold of Israel , the prophet , speaking in the name of the Lord , says : " I will pour out my spirit on thy seed ; and my blessing

on thine offspring ; and they shall spring up as the grass among the waters , and as willows by the water-courses" ( lsa . xliv , 3 , 4 ) .

United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

[ BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER . ] The Quarterly Communication to Grand Lodge of England was made on Wednesday evening last , in the Temple , Bro . R . J .

BAGSHAW , Prov . Grand Master of Essex , on the throne . The proceedings throughout were of a very animated character , which is an unusual occurrence at the September

meeting . At this time of the year most of the brethren are out of town , and the business before Grand Lodge is light . The meeting , therefore , lasts about an hour , and

the more important of Masonic affairs stand over till December . But on this occasion , Bro . Matthew Cooke , P . M . 23 , had undertaken to remove the September Quarterly

Communication from " the dull catalogue of common things , " by a motion which asked Grand Lodge to forbid any of its " salaried officials" from " mixing

themselves up in any way with " what he called "spurious , " "schismatic , " and " exterior " organisations . Love of a fray seems a part of the nature of a Briton , and consequently

brethren from all parts of the metropolis pressed into Grand Lodge soon after the formalities of opening it were concluded . Whether they were much edified by the

time the proceedings were closed , it is impossible to say . Wc venture to think that on no occasion was the presence of the Grand Master or his Deputy , both of whom

so thoroughly understand the duties of a chairman , more urgently needed . A motion conceived in a bad spirit , introduced in a speech of worse taste , most sweeping in its

charges , and in the highest degree libellous , has , by the unfortunate want of a powerful chairman , placed the officials of Grand Lodge in a less enviable position than they

occupied before . The Grand Secretary , in the ' most manly way , craved the fullest investigation into all the charges made in the

speech of Bro . Cooke ; but Bro . Bennoch insisted on pressing to a division an amendment which referred the whole matter of

Brother Cooke ' s motion to the Board of Gcne / nl Purposes . As Brother Evans , the President of that Board , said , there was then no specific charge for the Board to

enquire into ; and it not being , as he further said , the practice of the Board to enquire into hypothetical charges . Grand Lodge is

now under the stigma that it has burked the subject . From the commencement of the evenimr there was a r / ood cieai of life

exhibited , and considerable discussion onsued even on a simple motion to expunge a few words from rule 42 of the laws and regulations of the Masonic Benevolent Institution .

Among the brethren who were present we noticed the Rev . R . J . Bagshaw , P . G . M . Essex , as Grand Master ; Rev . J . Huyshe

P . G . M . Devon , as D . G . M . ; Lord Lindsay , S . G . W . ; J . Havers , A . Perkins , P . G . W . ' s ; Rev . YY " . F . Short . G . C . ; R . J . Simpson , C . J , Martyn , P . G . C . ' s ; Al . J . Mclntyre ,

G . R . ; J . LI . Evans , P . G . P . ; S . Tomkins ; J . Hervey , G . Sec ; S . L . Tomkins , J . R . Stebbing , J . E . Sounders , 13 . Baker , J . M .

United Grand Lodge.

Clabon , P . G . D . ' s ; Dr . J . D . Moore , G . S . B . ; W . Young , P . G . S . B . ; Wm . Farnfield , J . Smith , J . Brett , J . Coutts , J . Boyd , G . P . ' s ; and about 250 other brethren .

Grand Lodge having been formally opened , the Grand Secretary ( Bro . John Hervey ) read the minutes of last Quarterly Communication , which were put by the Acting Grand Master , and confirmed .

The report of the Board of Benevolence for the last quarter was then read by the Grand Secretary , and on the motion of Bro . Joshua Nunn , seconded by Bro . Brandt , a grant of . £ 50 was made to the widow of a late brother of Caveac Lodge , 176 .

The following report of the Board of General Purposes , taken as read , was received and ordered to be entered on the

minutes : — To the United Grajid Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England .. The Board of General Purposes beg to report as follows : —

In consequence of the last issue of the 321110 . edition of the Book of Constitutions being nearlyexhausted , the Board have directed a reprint of 5000 copies of that edition . A letter has been received from Bro .

Sigismund Rosenthal , P . M . No . 435 , offering for the acceptance of Grand Lodge , on behalf of the Craft , a portrait , painted by himself , of the Right Honorable The Earl of Zetland , K . T ., Most Worshipful Past Grand Master , in which letter

Bro Rosenthal states that the offer had the formal sanction . of the Most Worshipful Past Grand Master , and that it was his Lordship ' s desire that the Portrait , if accented , should be

placed in the Board Room . The Board have consequently accepted the Portrait , on behalf of the Grand Lodge , with a proper expression of thanks to Bro . Rosenthal , and have had it placed in the Board Room accordingly .

The Board beg to subjoin a statement of the Grand Lodge Accounts at the last meeting of the Finance Committee , held on the nth August , 1 S 71 , showing a balance in the hands of the Grand Treasurer of / . x-xZo 6 s . Sd . ; and in the

hands of the Grand Secretary , for petty cash , - £ 75- ( Signed ) J . Lr . KWKixv . v EV . AXS , President . Freemasons' Hall , London , 22 nd August , 1871 .

1 he Grand Secretary read the Report of tlie proceedings at a meeting of the Governors and Subscribers of the Benevolent Institution * on the 25 th July last , which report contained a recommendation that

the words , " and not less than one-third of the life donations received on account of each fund , " should be expunged from rule 42 of ( he laws and regulations of the Institution .

Bro . J . A . Rucker , as chairman of the meeting of 25 th July , moved the alteration . Bro . LI . Evans said he had not the least idea what the proposed law was intended to bo .

The Grand Secretary explained that the rule as it stood before the proposed alteration , required the investment in the name of trustees of all bequests , and not less than a third of life donations , with the view

of providing for the permanency of the Institution . The proposed alteration would do away with tlie investment of the third of life donations , and would restrict the investments to bequests , at the same time

leaving it to the discretion of the Committee of the Institulion to say what further portion of the funds should be

invested . At the commencement of the Institution it vras desirable that a certain fund should be established for the purpose of insuring the duration of the Society . Brother Havers requested the Acting Grand Master to ask the Grand Secretary