The Masonic Mirror.

THE MASONIC MIRROR .

MASONIC MEMS . Tun Prov . Grand Lodgo of Warwickshire is appointed to bo hold in thc Trinity Lodge-room , Castle Hotel , Coventry , on Wednesday , the 25 th instant , when it will be presided over by the ll . W . Bro . Lord Leigh , Prov . G . M . The brethren will attend divine service at the Church ut the Holy Trinity , at two o ' clock , when a sermon wilt be preached by the Prov . 0 . Chaplain , and a collection made on behalf of

the Masonic charities . Tin-: special meeting of the Phccni .. Lodge of Instruction , at tho Freemasons ' Tiivern , on AYednesi - iiy next , to hear Bro . Elisha D . Cooke , of Kentucky , work the third degree in Masonry as practised in America , will be opened at eight o ' clock precisely . All Master Masons can attend . WE understand that Bio . _ •_ . S . Cossens , Prov . G . Reg . for Berks and Hants , and of Lodges Xos . 1 , 7 , aud S . AV . NVi . 27 , has been appointed by the M . W . Grand Master , the Farl of Carnarvon , one of the Stewards of Grand Lodge of Mark Masons .

PROVINCIAL . DEVONSHIRE . rr . OVINCIAL GIIAND LODGE . IT is seldom that the Order of Freemasons direct attention to their proceedings by ally public display , but when an opportunity occurs that require . , their assistance in the cause of charity and benevolence , it is in accordance with

the fundamental rules and principles of the institution to lend to that cause all the assistance in its power . The demonstration on Wednesday , June 27 th , was in aid of au educational fund for thc provincial district of Devonshire , to which , in tho event of a certain amount being subscribed , the E . W . Prov . G . M . of Devon , the Earl of Fortescne , E . G .. had offered a donation of £ 50 , and the D . Prov . G . M ., the Eev . John Huyshe , M . A ., another donation of £ 25 . . Nothing could be more worth y of tho Order than that it should aid the cause of the

educational progress . The teaching it will adopt will be of no peculiar part )' , nov will it be sectarian ; its chief endeavour ivill be to give to the children of poor and indigent brethren such a course of instruction as will aid them to obtain their livelihoods without that drudgery which they must necessarily bo confined to where their education has been neglected . The demonstration was very successful . The number o £ brethren who took part in the proceedings was about two hundred , and although the weather was gloomy throughout the morning , no rain fell , did circumstance

nor a occur to wax the purposes of the manifestation . The brethren assembled at the Royal Hotel at noon , and shortly afterwards the procession left , and proceeded through George Street and Bedford Street to St . Andrew ' s Church , preceded by the band of the Royal Marines . Every member and office bearer appeared in their full Masonic costume , wearing the numerous and splendid insignia of their Lodges . The streets in the route of procession , and the immediate vicinity of the church , were thronged with spectators . On arriving at the principal entrance to the church the procession halted , and the brethren divided to the right and left for the

B . W . ' IX Prov . G . M . the Rev . Bro . John Huyshe to pass up between the lilies . The rev . gentleman was preceded by his Banner and Sword Bearers and Provincial Grand Officers , and followed by the several Lodges in rotation from the bottom of the procession , which ivas thus inverted . The brethren occupied seats immediately adjacent to the pulpit , whilst the principal officers were placed in the corporation seats . No restriction was offered to the admission of thc public , and ths spacious edifice was well filled . On the entrance into the church the choir sang , "I will arise and to

go my father , " & c , thc noble organ being played on the occasion by Mr . Jeffery . The prayers woro read by the Rev . George Knowling , M . A ., of St . George ' s Chapel , Stonehouse ; the first lesson by the Rev . Mr . Whitinarsh , chaplain of H . M . S . Implacable , and the second lesson by the Rev . Mr . Risk , curate of St . Andrews . After the third collect an anthem was sung from the 133 rd Psalm , " Behold how joyful ami good a thing it is , brethren , to dwell together in unity , " & c . The anthem was exquisitely rendered by the choir .

Bro . the Rev . W . Daykin , M . A ., ivho wore his insigna of the Order , preached the sermon . The rev . gentleman took for his text , " For so is the will of God , that with well doing ye may put to silence thc ignorance of foolish men . " First . 'Epistle of Peter , chap , ii ., v . 15 . AVhen , he continued , this epistle was written , the Apostle sought to give good advice , which had been commanded by his Divine Master for himself and his fellow-labourers . These words were addressed to men who were exposed to all kinds of misrepresentation and calumny . Their principles , at best but

, were imperfectly kiioivn ; thoy stood in a prominent position , like a lighthouse on a rock , and the more conspicuous they were the more likely were they to be attacked . What answer could thev return to those who found fault with them ? how could thoy better disprove any injurious assertion than b y a patient continuance in well-doing ? Jf accused of invading the ri ghts of their fellow-men , aud tying up their sympathies among themselves , how could they better disprove those accusations than by showing to the world tluit they honoured all men , at thc

same time that they loved , as in justice bound , their brotherhood especially ? Were they accused of irreligion and not worshipping their God , how could they refute that charge except by showing that they led holy and good lives 1 When accused of disloyalty to their sovereign , how could they show the falsity of that charge better than by preaching fidelity to kings ? In short , rather than be drawn into disputes and arguments ivhich in the end often prove ineffective , they lot their course of life testify to the falsehood of those and other charges ; as to that Tho

course they could appeal for a good and sufficient answer . society which he now had the honour of addressing had imitated the example of the Apostles . Those ivho were acquainted with its history knew that many groundless charges had bean brought against the Order , and believed , but its members lived down the imputations that had beeu from time to time made upon their body ; until , at tho present day , the Order stands first , challenging tho world , ' and rearing its head trium pliant . They were charged with atheismwith disloyaltywith want of regard

, , for mankind , but all these charges had been disproved by ivell doing , and by patient continuance in well doing the ignorance of foolish men had been put to silence . Can that . society , which has raised the noble temples of religion this land and Englishmen can boast of , be said to have done nothing for religion ? that society that has numbered among its members the very greatest of earthly potentates , who have gloried iu their connexion with it , be charged with disloyalty ? and that society whose charities have erected those noble monuments of benevolence

which this country boasts of , bo said to be indifferent to tbe cause of humanity - Can it he said that it draws the line of sympathy very closely when , instead of confining its benefits to one class or another , it knows no bounds , whether of nation or of class ? Are the hearts of thc brethren cold towards thc afflicted ? Is there not some wonderful spell upon this Order , which causes the stream of its charity to flow faster and faster ? Witness their asylums for the aged and decayed—that beautiful home where the man , wearied out with earthly labour , can find a place Fund

to rest his head , aud end his days in peace . Witness the Annuity . Witness the school for girls , where now are sheltered seventy or eighty otherwise homeless girls , and where over seven hundred have been educated and sent out into the world virtuous and well-taught—so wolf taught indeed , that no one of them , that they knew of , had ever swerved from the path of virtue . Witness thc boys' school which , though not yet fully developed , promises to bear fruit in great abundance . Witness the and friendless strangers who have foundby the aid

many poor , of this society , a home and a table spread for them in tho wilderness where they knew not one friend before . Patient continuance in carrying out this aud the like well-doing have enabled , ancl will enable the society to disregard the laugh and sneer of every man , and if not to command the respect of the world at large , to learn the approval of all whose good opinion is worth having . In this maimer of action lie exhorted the brethren to persevere in the assurance that their principles and mysteries rested on a firm foundation that never could be shaken . The

reverend gentleman then proceeded to state the object oi the large assemblage of that day . They had met to lay the foundation of another of those national charities ivhich the Order was so justly pi ' oud of . And ho was certain that the assistance to be given could not be less generous than it had been ou former occasions when their aid was asked . Indeed , this occasion had only one distinctive feature iu its occurrence . Appeals were usually made to the society for objects not of local interest , but for charities open to the whole Craft at large . The

institution now intended to be founded has for its object the education of children which , but for the generosity of the body , would be without that great blessing . Education is that alone by which a child can hope to escape from the deadly dangers which ignorance entails . Let them not talk of them as strangers ; lot them think that these poor children had been left to the Order as a trust , to be put out at the highest rate of interest . Let them look upon them as brethren in deed and not merely in nameand stretch forth their hands aud save them from ignorance .

, They have souls to be saved for God , and not to be abandoned to despair . Thoy should help them to choose tbe good fruit from that tree that bears another kind , of winch in an evil hour our first parents tasted . Tho rev . gentleman then showed iu a . forcible light the advantages of education , and the evils of allowing young people to grow up in ignorance . One child rescued by their benevolence would , he said , be a brighter jewel than any among the multitude that he saw before him . He that hath pity only lendeth to the Lord , aud whatever he lays out

shall be repaid to him again , with interest , for God will not be in any man ' s debt . By their charity they were giving to God when they aided those little ones , whose angels they were told saw the Father ' s face , and they were laying' up for themselves a part of that good treasure which neither moth consmneth nor rust corruptcth . He concluded by impressing on his hearers to show that that assembly had not come together in vain , but that one aud all were determined energetically to take part in the work entered upon , aud show to the world at large an example of

generously disposing of that which the great Architect had blessed them with , in the humble hope that the bread thus cast upon the waters may be found again . The choir then chanted the 100 th Psalm , and meanwhile the brethren brought round the collecting plates , which at the close were very well filled . The Hallelujah Chorus was then played , and the brethren and congregation quitted the sacred edifice . Outside the church the crowds collected were nearly as large as in the earlier parts of the day . Every window hail its occupants , and the