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define its relationship to the mother lodge . A warrant is not necessary . The record of a motion to that effect ^ in the lodge minute book is quite sufficient to satisfy the Constitutions . In

practice some little more formality is desirable . The following form of warrant was once drawn up by the writer , and is at this moment hanging up in a very flourishing lodge of instruction .

Lodge ... No . . . E . C . Whereas certain brethren , members of this lodge , whose names are noted hereunder , havc signified to us their desire to acquire more instruction in Masonic knowledge than they are able to obtain at the ordinary meetings of thc lodge owing to tlie many and various calls upon its time . We , the

Master ancl Wardens of the above ) odgc , acting by virtue of a resolution passed ( date ) and confirmed ( date ) do hereby allow these brethren to form a l . odge of Instruction to bc called ...... and recognise Wor .

Bro . " .... as Preceptor thereof , and Bro as Secretary , and the following brethren as lirst members . under Articles 15 S to 161 of the Book of Constitutions . This is given merely as an example of what is suitable .

The sanction of a warranted lodge is not always necessary , inasmuch as the Grand Master may g ive the requisite permission . In Article 158 occurs the very important phrase . The lodge giving its sanction , or the brethren to whom such license is " ¦ ranted , shall be . . responsible that thc mode of working adopted has received the sanction of the Grand Lodge .

What generally takes p lace in a lodge of instruction is that the lectures , or sections of them , are worked , officers to conduct the same being appointed at a previous meeting . Such appointments are , of course , part of the business of the meeting , and must find a place in the minutes .

It will be readily understood that a very serious , indeed the chief , responsibility lies with the brother who is elected to the office of Preceptor . The very appellation signifies that the members take the law from him , and accept his explanation of every word and phrase demanding explanation , and therefore

it is most desirable that their confidence shall not be misplaced . The Preceptor ' s duties may be described as twofold . The more important one is to see that ceremonies are conducted in accordance with working sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of England . The other is , of course , to supply enquiring brethren with information , and to make such explanations as seem to be

called for . First of all , the working . A little historical retrospect is necessary . At thc time of the Union it was felt that uniformity in working was desirable , and a warrant was issued for the formation of thc Lodge of Reconciliation—which included an

equal number of members of each of the two Societies . They were instructed to prepare a ritual , and on May 20 th , 1816 , the ceremonies were rehearsed at two special meetings of Grand Lodge , the Duke of Sussex presiding . The work thus displayed was officially recognised , and out of the Lodge of Reconciliation ,

sprang a few years later , the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , with Bro . Peter Gilkes as first Preceptor . Bro . Gilkes , who died in 1833 , was succeeded by Bro . Stephen Barton Wilson , who presided over lhc lodge till his death in 1866 . Bros . Fenn ,

Murton , and Richards succeeded , and it may be taken that the ritual taught in the Emulation Lodge of Improvement at the present day by Bros . Sudlow , Rushton , and Kentish is the same that was recognised nearly a century ago .

Jf not , we are absolutely without guidance , and though every brother who has occupied the Master ' s chair has solemnly declared his conviction that it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry , yet he would be absolutely without the means of knowing whether he was introducing innovations or not .

Further discussion of this question , however , lies outside our province . All we need say more in this connection is to quote a resolution of Grand Lodge on December 1 , 186 9 : That with a view ' to sociirinif jrreater uniformity of working and observance at Die same usages ami customs throughout the several lodgrs held under the authority of ( lie

(¦ rand l . u < li _ y uf Kngland , a Committee uf 1 ' ast Masters lie appointed to enquire into the merits ol the respective systems of working- note in 'H' . 'lciice ami lo report to Grand l . odtre thereupon , with such recommendations as they may think necessary to prevent deviation from the established mode , such deviations beini ; , according lo the Constitutions of Freemasonry , improper , and not to he justified nor countenanced .

Oliver says * . " No abstract ceremonies can legally be performed , and all attempts at initiating a candidate would subject such a lodge to extinction . " With regard to the performance of an abstract ceremony , with a brother to personate a candidate , it is a thing of common occurrence , and we venture to doubt

whether Oliver has any foundation for the prohibition . It might be considered want of taste to travesty our working to that extent , especially as the lectures supply all that can be wanted .

And we have Oliver's authority for saying that members need not he clothed . Membership does not convey any Constitutional privilege , ancl it would not hele any brother disqualified ( o sit in Grand Lodge under Article 9 .

It is to he recommended that at every regular meeting of a lodge which has sanctioned a lodgeof instruction the minutes of the latter be read as part of the ordinary business , inasmuch as

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any laches may entail serious consequences upon what may be called thc mother lodge . It is not absolutely necessary that the mother lodge and its offspring should meet in the same building . In fact , a District

Grand Master having ruled that they must do so , his ruling was appealed against ancl reversed by Grand Lodge in December , 1882 . Nor is membershi p restricted , every brother qualified to attend an ordinary lodge is eligible , and Mackey says that onl y Master Masons are eligible .

The Preceptor should be a reading man , aptness in ritual is not all . He should be qualified to explain matters which in a regular lodge are taken as being clear to everybody . Occasionally lodges of improvement for Installed Masters are met with , one such , the Perfect Ashlar , formed with the sanction

of Lodge Perfect Unanimity , No . 150 , was formed by the writer and others in March , 18 97 . The object of the lodge was to make Worshipful Masters familiar with the ceremony of installation , and for this purpose meetings were to be held on the eve

of each communication of the District Grand Lodge , when there was a chance of most brethren being present , and at any other time on the requisition of any brother who might be getting ready for such ceremony . The lodge was supported b y fees payable by brethren present . There are no less than 213 lodges of instruction in the London District alone .

Consecration Of The Seymour Lodge, No. 2804.

CONSECRATION OF THE SEYMOUR LODGE , No . 2804 .

The above lodge was consecrated on Wednesday , the 14 th instant , at the new Masonic Hall , Ipsley , Redditch . The lodge has been founded for the convenience of many brethren residing in the neighbourhood who have hitherto been members of a lodge in Birmingham ( 15 miles distant ) , and any residents who may desire to become Freemasons . A commodious hall has been built for the accommodation of the members .

The founders are Bros . Lord Ernest Seymour , P . M . 310 , P . P . G . W . ; Dr . Pierce , P . M . 1016 ; G . Trentham , W . S . Tunbridge , W . J . Taylor , J . W . Alcock , J . Burman , E . J . Charles , E . H . Durban , A . Eadie , C . H , Edmonds , T . Evans , W . Farrow , R . Fenwick , E . H . Godbold , J . J . Kendall , H . R . Lloyd , J . Lucking , W . Marhenke , T . W . F . Newton , R . W . Palk , A . W . Perkins , H . E . Perkins , A . E . Robinson , R . E . Shorthouse , H . W . Shrimpton , B . Perrins , J . Smith , R . W . Smith ,. E . Warner , and W . Woodfield , all of whom were present .

Bro . GEORGE BEECH , D . P . G . M ., delivered the address on the nature of the meeting , and called upon the Provincial Grand Secretary to read the Petition and Warrant . An impressive oration was delivered by Bro . the Rev . R . Spencer Alldridge , M . A ., W . M . 284 , Prov . G . Chap . Most Worshipful Grand Master in the chair , Officers of Provincial Grand Lodge ,

and brethren : I do not think we can ever fully realise the intensity of the sorrow that King David felt that the privilege of building a house to the glory of God was not permitted to him . It is only when we study in the Volume of the Sacred Law , the Psalms , which were written at the end of David ' s life , that we get a glimpse of the innermost feelings of the King . Those Psalms reveal the King ' s truest self because they are his communings with God . Those Psalms are full of

thanksgiving , but there is a note of pain running through them all . He , the King , had received a hundred times more than he could have asked , bat not the desire of his soul—the building of ' . he Temple was withheld from him . That Temple of his dreams , more glorious than was ever built with hands . That great Psalmist erected in everlasting stone , and lined with gold and filled with music . That beautiful imagination was refused to him . To know tbat Solomon , his son ,

should build it was no doubt a great thing , but yet a man ' s son , though dear , is not himself . His was the imagination , his the heart in which this great thought had been conceived , but not to him was to be the blessing of carrying it out . So David ' s thanksgiving to God is filled with humility and with pathetic acknowledgment of the promise that Solomon , his son , should build the Temple of God , but it is at the same time acute with an

unexpressed pang , for he himself must not build the House . That privilege , my brothers , which was denied to King David , is in a measure granted to us Freemasons . VVe are allowed to erect and conscrate our lodges to the honour and glory of the Great Architect of the Universe . To-day there are thousands of these lodges throughout the world , which have been erected and consecrated with the purpose that man may glorify his Maker . The Temple ,

which the Royal Solomon was permitted to build , what was it to the Jew of old . It was a place which could in a measure satisfy his desires for somewhere to p lace his affections , and , therefore , the Jew loved the place , not simply for its beauty and its stateliness , but because it hid him from the outside world , with all its miseries and offences , and brought him immediately into the presence ot God . Take as examples oi the thoughts of those who entered that Temple— " O how

amiable are Thy Tabernacles , O Lord of Hosts . " Psalm 84 ; also in the 4 i 5-1 * Psalm , " My soul is athirst for God , for the living God , when shall I come to appear before God ? " As to ourselves , we have our privilege of erecting and consecrating our lodges , as we do here to-day . What are those lodges to us . They are places where we can enter , leaving our cares outside , putting away for the time our worldly concerns . Here we are taught to

realise the universal presence of God , our dependence upon uuu , and the requirement of reverence for God . In those meetings our ceremonies speak of the duty of life , the needs of God ( we may with all reverence speak of the needs of God ) , the needs of our brother , and the needs of ourselves . They speak , too , of the duty of growing in knowledge of God and His works ; they tell us ol the end of life when we may pass to the Heavenly Temple aboveit vistDie

Now to think once more of the Temple and its plact in Jewish life , was material and local , and so from that Temple the Jew had to go forth again into his world ; but it was to go forth with fresh strength , to lead his life according t 0 the commands of the Divine Law . Such was the value of the privilege of the Temple to the Jew . And so you and I must remember that when we , too , leave our lodges , with their beautiful instructions , ceremonies , and rituals , that we shall