Freemasons And Their Doings.

capital establishment for the education and maintenance of female children—one which almost defies "rivalry for its display of buxom , chubby , well-fed , and well-clothed little lasses . The brethren do not do things by halves . It is their noble task to succour the orphan—we Avill not say tlie friendless , for the

orphan of a mason must have friends—but they accompany their benevolence with no galling and degrading restrictions . Tlie leather breeches , pewter badge , and mob cap code of charity finds na favour in their eyes . They look upon their children , not as the offspring of Avant and misery , who are to be screwed down

to a certain level and rigorously kept there , but as sacred charges left them by deceased brothers ¦ — -charges to whom theA' are bound to act a brother ' s

part , and to strive their utmost to train upwards instead of downwards . For this reason is it that Masonic charity does not rear little vagabonds and little mendicants , but healthy , Avell-nurfcured boys and girls , stoutly armed to fight the battle of life . It was in consonance with the frank and generous spirib of a

fraternity which recognises the nobility of labour , and what a man can do much more than the advantages of rank and Avhat a man is , that the solemnities of the inaugural ceremonies , the occult mysteries of Grand Lodge , and the stateliness of a Masonic banquet should have been combined Avith a frolicsome

entertainment for the children , Avith boyish sports and games , with coujurors' tricks , and music and dancing . Masonry , indeed , puts all free men on an equality ; and none but the initiated could tell , when aprons aud badges were discarded after the inaugural ceremony on Saturday , how high or how low the mystic bond of union ascended or descended . Professional

sneerers , or persons alien to tlie Craft , are very apt to decry it as purposeless , if , indeed , they do not denounce it as mischievous . The Masons answer both scoffers and censors with a good-humoured smile . They make no such parade of their ceremonies as to render them vulgar or ridiculous . Their

signs and secrets are kept religiously to themselves , but they may be shared in by all who are held worthy of admission to the ranks of their Order . If their organisation be only to perpetuate a myth or a delusion , the myth finds disciples all over the world , the delusion has been shared' for ages by the greatest

, 3 ioblest , and wisest of mankind . They seek to gain no proselytes , but thej r repel no accession of new blood Avhen it is pure , honest and free . Their duties towards themselves they practice in secresy and calm ; their duties toward the State , as subjects of the ( Sovereign and citizens of the common-wealth , no man

has yet been bold enough to accuse them of forgetting . What they may be to themselves is their own business , and according to their Avorlcs , Ave suppose , they Avill be reAvarded ; but to the outside Avorld the Free aud Accepted Masons are loyal men AVIIO reverence the Church , obey the law , and abound in charitable Avorka .

Lecture On The First Degree.

LECTURE ON THE FIRST DEGREE .

Bv Brio . WILLU- : H . HOPF , PROVINCIAL GRATSD SECRETAUY , BEXOAL . Ou the 6 th May , 1861 , in Lodge 'Humility with Fortitude ( No . 270 ) , Calcutta , Bro . 'W . H . " Hoff , after initiating Mr . W . Bishop , read the folloAving lecture : —¦

"It has often occurred to me that Freemasonry Avould derive great advantages if , whenever the ceremony of initiation is performed , the newly-made brother were to be furnished with a key to the lessons to be drawn from the mysteries through which he has passed . Instances have come under my observationin which , for want of such explanationEntered

, , Apprentices , believing the ceremony to be meaningless , have despised it . It is with a view to supply this defect on the present occasion , that I propose to offer a few remarks for the special instruction of our newlymade brother . Freemasonry is , ivhat its ancient name shows it to bea system of Luxand the object

, , which Freemasons , the 'Sons of Light , ' propose to themselves , is to seek for li ght , and to build themselves into fitting temples for its reception . The word light , in its metaphorical sense , is frequently used in the volume of the Sacred Law , and in other books , where Ave find such expressions as ' the body

beingfull of Light , ' conscience being ' the candle of the Lord , ' the Gentiles being turned ' from Darkness to Light , ' & c . The first thing which strikes us in the ceremony of initiation , is the testimony Avhich

Freemasonry bears against the assumption of infidelity that we are sufficient unto ourselves for discerning and acquiring light . The rationalist and the spiritualist , giving expression to the pride inherent in human nature , will declare that man possesses the intuitive power of discovering truth . The very illustration they have used isthat there is a connection between

, God and the soul as ' between li ght aud the eye . ' Masonry on the other hand , teaches us that man is naturally in a state of darkness , that he must clothe himself in humility , aud come literally as a beggar to receive a gift , without money and Avithout price . Unless Ave thus prepare ourselves with self-renunciation

aud humble-mindedness , we may takeinto ourselves that Avhich Ave may fancy to be light , but which will , in reality , be darkness , regardless of the warning that we should 'take heed that the light which is in us be not darkness . ' But if man be naturally in a state of darknesshow is he to proceedwhich way is he to

, , turn , since he is not able to perceive the j > ath in which he should go ? He has simply to put his trust in God , and to remember that' Godleadeth the blind b y a way they know not of . ' The blindness with which St . Paul Avas struck was emblematic of the darkness

which enveloped his heart . It Avas not until he had been led by the hand to Damascus , and had there received light into his heart , that the scales fell from his eyes . He Avas thus significantly taught that the learning which he had acquired at the feet of Gamaliel Avas but darkness , and that in persecuting the Christiansin his zeal for religionhe had been acting like

, , a biincl man . Man , therefore , must place his trust in God , and surrender himself entirely to His guidance , banishing at once the sceptical doubts which prompt him , in his gloomy journey , to turn back faintl y , as Avell as the presumption aud self-confidence which .