Provincial.

such fund . " Grants from the Provincial Grand Lodge funds of £ 10 and £ 5 5 s . were made respectively to Emma Heath and Amelia Curtis , sister and daughter to deceased and worthy Masons . A further sum of £ 5 5 s . was granted to a distressed brother . The brethren then formed in procession , and marched to St . Thomas's Church , the use of which had been kindly granted to

the Craft by the Rector , the Rev . C . F . Wilkinson . Prayers were read by the Rev . C . Williamson , Curate ; the first lesson by Bro . Rev . C . T . Elliot , and the second lesson by Bro . Rev . C . Bramwell Smith , Incumbent of St . John ' s , Deritend . The sermon was preached by the Rev . Joseph Bay , lecturer of St . Philip's , and Prov . G . Chap ., who took his text from tbe . first chapter of the book of Genesis and the third verse : — "And God saidlet there be lihtand there was liht . "

, g , g In the beginning of the creation of this world , as in the commencement of all the works of God , darkness prevailed . It pleases the Almighty , when seated in the workshop which He lias chosen for tbe structure of His divine wonders , to veil himself in the robe of ni ght . " He maketh darkness His secret place , His pavilion round about li ' un with dark water and thick clouds to cover Him . " Then , beneath a sable robe which the eye of creature cannot penetrate , He evolves His mighty plans ,

and ex . ecutes His majestic enterprises . Expectant intelligences stand around , gazing in reverential wonder towards the spot where His mysterious wonders lie concealed . At length the mist which covers them is uplifted , and light , glorious light ,

beams m upon the Divine handiwork in the beauty and perfection of its first finish . How gently it distils its softening influences , lightening- the rigid outlines of darkness , breaking up its massive folds into an innumerable multitude . of shadows , which give the idea of being , its outstretched wings aiding it to flee away at the approach of the morning . What wonders does the action of light thus unfold ! There is scarcely any place upon which we have never looked that can be said to be

without interest , if we regard it precisely at the moment when tbe clouds of darkness , which had enveloped it and shut it out from view , are slowly curling up and floating away upon the horizon of day . And the more novel and unexpected the scene which the light thus discloses , the move deeply is the mind impressed by this gradual disclosure of its strange wonders . At first the dim outlines of the vaster objects are traced , and imagination plays with them as she strives to fancy what they must appear

to be when all their minuter portions are determined . As the light grows stronger fresh beauties are discovered ; what had previously only form now assumes colour ; soon thesmaliest irregularities of surface reveal and break up the picture into a labyrinth of combinations of light and shade , until what was one vast rolling cloud of darkness , black as night , is transformed by the wonderful operation of light into a brilliant panorama of . earth and water , hill and dale , plain and mountain , interspersed with smiling fields and pleasant roads , the mansion of the proprietor and the cottage of the peasant—here the country and there the town .

These reflections will serve to illustrate the condition of reverential wonder into which the minds of angels may have been probably thrown when God said , "Let there be light , and there , was light . " All is not open to their keen vision ; we know , indeed , that there are still mysteries bound up with this little planet that is now careering on its way through God ' s universe which these gifted intelligences "desire to look into . " And we rain , therefore , understand how the Grand Architect of the

Universe should have canopied himself with a night so dense as to disappoint even the ken of the highest created intelligences , whilst Hisinassive mind was at work in the laboratory of this material frame . If , indeed , the first glimpse which they caught of this earth was as the rolling clouds of darkness slowly curled up , broke into scattered fragments , and let in the dawn of their own celestial ether , with what amazement , thrilled with exultation , must they have watched the operation of that

supreme decree , " Let there he light , " upon the invisible mass of a now created world . Surely , as its marvellous varieties and beauties peeped out from amid the swiftly flying legions of darkness , lighted by a heaven which , as . yet , possessed no sun to rule the day—no moon to rule the night—we may form some conception of the manner in which the morning stars sang together , while the angels of God were shouting for joy . And the busy fingers of tbe Omnipotent are still plying their never-wearying tasks in the secret chambers of the earth ; an impenetrable shroud veils much of what is left of the creative principle from the too curious gaze

of the created . The germinating of plants , the fructifying of trees , the propagation of species , the formation of every living thing tbe Great Architect of the Universe still reserves within His own special province , and therefore He executes them as His first , His grandest achievement amid the shadows of what to men is darkness , but to Him is a shining clear as the day ; for , to Thee , 0 God , "the darkness and the light are both alike . " How beautifully has the Psalmist expressed this in creative

describing the manner in which God continues that effort by which He first formed man out of the dust of . the ground : — " My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of earth , Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect ; and in Thy book all my members were written , which in continuance were fashioned , when as yet there was none of them . " It is only when the glorious work is done and the perfeetness of creation achieved that the Great Architect of every vital creature , standing at the innumerable points reaciies

at which His creative efforts are going on , says as eacn its appropriate completion , " Let there be light , " and at once the glorious creature bursts from the hidden hand of its Secret Contriver into the splendours of a new world ; and "there is light" —light to drape in its robe of verdure and grass of the field—light to spin the snow-white texture of the lily of the valley—light to blush the fragrant rose and the ripening fruit —and liht to breathe knowledge into the of every animated

g eye creature , and intelligence and reason into the soul of man . We have spoken of the gradual operation of the divine decree , " Let there be light , " and insisted strongly that the affirmation " and there was light , " must not necessarily be interpreted to mean thatinstantaneously the dark earth was ushered into the refulgent splendour of day . We have shown you that grander and more magnificent results have been produced to the even of

may eye an immortal by the gradual progression of the work ; and this will prepare you for understanding how the light which illumines the " paths of science" may have been wisely determined by the Great Architect , even as the rays which He has thrown upon the " paths of nature , " so as to lead to a gradual progress in knowledge . It is a mistake to suppose that our knowledge is to be measured by the exact amount of light with

which God illumines His works , or the reverse . An excess of light may prove as injurious as darkness , and the sudden concentration of the rays of the sun upon the organ of vision has been known to snap asunder its elastic framework , and place it in the midst of refulgent brightness in tbe same condition as though darkness surrounded it . Even a moderate amount of light may hide from us things that are visible in the sombre gray of twilight . It is not when the sun is high in the

heavens that I see the farthest ; his splendour girds with a robe thicker than darkness the universe through which he moves ; it is only when the light of day has fled , and the soft twilight supervenes , that which we may suppose to have been first ushered in when God said , " Let there be light , " that my eye sweeps over trackless paths of light , the coruscations of myraids of stars , compared with which the sun himself sinks into secondary importance , and his distance from us becomes

insignificant . Wisely , therefore , has the Most High so regulated the expandings of that light which , whether of nature , science , or religion . He has commanded to dawn upon this world , as to cause its first scintillations of brightness , if we may

so express ifc , only "to make darkness visible . It is amidst this gloom resting upon futurity , that every discovery of knowledge , or invention of art , has been attained ; that the earth has been rifled of her genuine secrets ; and the wonders of the Great Architect of the Universe , and its Grand Geometrician , displayed to the eyes of those who have been initiated into a knowledge of and admiration for His laws . Light , indeed , we have at all times sufficient to guide ns to a

knowledge of the secret of the Most High—that secret which He is ever ready to reveal to them that fear Him . Guided by its dim but not uncertain shining , we may hold on as by a thread through the labyrinth of earthly perplexities . The very presence of gloom around us , and the gradual progression which is ever going on towards the full splendour of the light of day , should serve to assure us that the fiat has gone forth from the Almighty" Let there he liht" and that the fiat will be most

, g , indisputably fulfilled ; so that the light shall yet shine in all the brilliancy of its meridian splendour , in every pathway which man has trod , until every secret has been explored , and there is " nothing left covered that has not been revealed , nothing hid that has not been made known . " The very slowness of the