Professor Robertson On Freemasonry.

that men of most estimable character and exalted position had attached themselves to this society . " "Plow then , " the Professor pertinently asks , " could an institution apparently so praiseworthy , have drawn down the censures of the Church ?

How could it have aroused the suspicions and the hostility of so many different governments ?" We confess that we are inclined to ask these

questions too , and are most anxious to see what answers Mr . Robertson gives to them . They are as follows : — " In the first place , the Catholic Church condemns all societies which , like that of the

Freemasons , impose secret oaths . " The Scripture , " he says , " tells us , that our speech should be yea ,, yea , and nay , nay ; and that it is not lawful to swear . " He adds , however , that " both the Church and

the civil power can exact an oath from us . " Most undoubtedly rash and unnecessary oaths are to be condemned , aud such only . The 39 th Article of the Church of England seems to us to be quite in accordance with the teaching ; of the volume of the Sacred Law , on this point . We therefore venture to quote it : —

" Of a Christian Man ' s Oath . " As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ , and James His A . postle , so we judge , that Christian religion doth not prohibit , but that a man may

swear when the magistrate requireth , in a case of faith and charity , so it be done according to the prophet's teaching in justice , judgment , and truth . " ( To be continued ) .

On Love.

ON LOVE .

The Substance of a Sermon preached at the last Annual Provincial Grand Meeting of Suffolk , hj the S . ev . A . TIGUE GREGORY , M . A ., LL . B ., Provincial Grand Chaplain , Vicar ofBawdsey . " For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning , that wc should love one another . "—1 John ,

iii „ 11 . The foundation stone of the world , the Church , and our brotherhood is love . 1 . The foundation stone of the world is love . For " God is love , " and all things are of God .

Hence , the broad earth and its arching heavens , this goodly frame , the earth , and this o v erhanging firmament fretted with golden fire , may be

regarded as the floor and the roof of a structure intended for the development of love . The first heaven sufficed not for God ' s love : the earth was created as a supplement to Heaven : one common origin was conferred on the whole human race

that all we should be brethren ; that , each feeling related to the other , every heart should form a consecrated channel to receive God's love rejoicingly , and to distribute it benignantly . And as each separate section of this building of his

own love took definite shape beneath the Grand Designer's loving eye in Eden , God saw that ifc was good , and as the draught grew to completion before him , behold , it was very good , the Divine Architect saw of the travail of his soul , and was satisfied—and God blessed the day and sanctified it , in which he rested from all his work—a work

of love , and therefore good , for love worketh no ill . And had this design of God's love been carried out by man , what a glorious world would be exhibited to-day ! a whole race in family union ,

animated by one heart , a heart beating in harmony with heaven , aud sending in waves of sweetest music with every pulsation the fresh life of love to even the remotest members of the body coporate , blest in the reception of a Divine Spirit from God ,

and doubly blest iu the God-like prerogative of diffusing a Divine Spirit amongst men . But sin entered into the world , and , as a consequence , this glorious fabric fell . Sin entered into the world , and death by sin ; and as death

passed upon all , for that all have sinned , so love died —• But revived ae'ahi . For God ' s Counsel must

stand . The sinfulness of man must be overruled : the sentence of death must be remitted : the fallen fabric must be rebuilt : and so , in the very hour that all seemed lost , the decree was proclaimed that the seed of the woman should bruise the

serpent's head , and God so loved the world , that he he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believethhihiinshouldnotperisb , but have everlasting life . Love died , but revived agaiu : a death in mortal shape—a resurrection in celestial spirit .

For where sin abounded , grace did much more abound , that as sin reigned unto death , even so might grace reign unto eternal life . And as witness to this—to the indestructibility of love , and the ultimate realisation of God ' s design—on the same foundation stone as the world , was the Church npreared .