Provincial Lodges.

The Rev . gentleman , in responding to the toast , thanked the brethren for the warm , and he would say , enthusiastic manner in which they had received his name . It gave him very great pleasure on receiving the summons of their Secretary to respond at once to their wishes , ancl to afford them the assistance of his services . He felt great pleasure in meeting the brethren ; their reception of him was so kind , their attention so marked during the solemn services of the sanctuary , that he trusted that pleasure to himself would be accompanied with profit to them . It

was indeed a happy day to him thus to meet with an assembly of kindred spirits ; it refreshed his soul amid the toils and labours necessarily connected with the charge of a large and important parish ; it was refreshing to his spirit to be permitted the free and friendly interchange of feeling amid a company of brethren , knit together in unity , and who had greeted his presence with such a warm and fraternal reception .

" The thread of our life would be dark , heaven knows , If it were not for friendship and love intertwined ; And I care not how soon I may sink to repose , When these blessings shall cease to be dear to my mind . " But it was not because he loved and valued their society that he was present among them , but because he admired the principles of that venerated Order of

which they had the honour and happiness to be free and accepted members . Masonry was indeed a venerable Order—to be honoured for her antiquity— " Her hoary head was a crown of righteousness . " The student who loved to explore amid the arcana , of the past , or to follow up the stream of time till it conducted him far beyond those ages that were wrapt iu darkness;—the antiquarian that loved to turn over the dusty and time-worn tomes of the mighty dead—would each find in Masonry a theme and a subject of surpassing interest . Existing in the dark ages of

antiquity , frowned upon at one time , caressed at another , still unscathed , unchanged by time , her secrets preserved inviolate , she still lived and flourished in her virgin pride and purity ; and of her it might be said , " Thou goest forth dread , fathomless , alone ! " Masonry was a soul-exalting science ; the subjects of her contemplation were the works of nature ' s God ; amid these she loved to conduct her students , and to impress their mind with feelings of deepest veneration for "the Great Architect of the Universe . From nature ' s works , she ascended to the contemplation of nature ' s first great cause . The vaulted roof of heaven , the sun , the moon , the stars , the laws of gravity and of order that regulated the system of

creation—each and all subjects of kindred interest , engaged the enlightened attention of her members ; while , at the same time , by the peculiar laws of the Order , they impressed the heart with significent lessons of moral worth . Masonry was a benevolent institution . Her design was noble ; to bind together the sons of men in one happy fraternity of unity , and harmony , and love ; to assuage the sorrows of humanity ; to do good ancl to communicate ; "to pity the distressed inclined , as well as just to all mankind "—this was the noble design of Masonry , and as such she

acted as a graceful handmaid to Christianity . In the prosecution of this noble object , Masonry was a fine traveller—mountains , seas , or continents obstructed not her progress . On the burning plains of Africa , the frozen regions of the north , or favoured and sunny spots of the south ; with the unlettered Indian and the untutored Laplander , the savage or sage , this unwearried traveller was found prosecuting her noble designs of benenolence and love . Masonry was a fine linguist , she spoke in all languages , the interpretation of tongues was hers . She called no man a Barbarian but

" , " understanding the hidden language of the heart , grasped him with the hand of friendship , and embraced him as a brother , Masonry was a good neighbour as well as a kind inmate . In the home circle she presided as a queen , shedding her benign influence around , inculcating lessons of unity and love , teaching mankind to he forbearing and forgiving , and bringing the neighbourhood in a family circle of happiness ancl harmony . The good Mason must be a good father , a good husband ; hence they would find that although the ladies were not privileged to be members , they were for the most part ardent admirers of the Order .