Address.

which were published in that journal , and afterwards in book form . I have now done the same for the Mark Degree and have placed a copy in the hands of the Gi-and Secretary in London , who has expressed his approval and encouraged me to

hope for the sanction ancl authority of the Board of General Purposes , before publication . I now announce that I have also given a manuscript copy , te your Organist for immediate use . ( To be continued . )

Oration.

ORATION .

. ^ Delivered by Bito . L . P . METHAM on the occasion of the Consecration of the St . John ' s and Dundas Lodges , at Plymouth , on the 16 th inst . The beautiful ceremony prescribed to be used at the consecration of every new lodge , includes , as a

-prominent feature , an Oration on the merits of Freemasonry . AVe should be doing the wisdom of our ancient brethren who deyised this ceremony , a great injustice if we supposed that this was meant to be -confined to an eulogium on the system or on those

who possess it . The former is unnecessary , for the ¦ science of Freemasonry speaks for itself ; neither would the latter be congenial to its spirit , for the practice of Freemasonry carries with it its own Teward to those who practice it aright , and they

value not the praise or flattery of men . The purpose of an Oration has a higher and a nobler aim , for as every human institution is liable to be deteriorated ; and corrupted by the wear and tear of ages , it is ¦ intended to carry the mind back to the first principles

of the Order , to trace the stream of Freemasonry through the quicksands which beset its course , to -clear away the rocks and shoals which time has accumulated , until we reach the clear pellucid fountain from which flow the pure and crystal waters of charity , morality , and justice . It is intended to

enforce on the brethren of every new lodge that they are to labour with ourselves to keep the broad channel clear from all impedimenta and pollution , that they -are to guard its landmarks with jealous care , and to extend its principles with unflagging , self-denying

zeal . Such is , I believe , the object of this prescribed Oration , and I could only wish that I had power of language sufficient to enforce upon the officers and brethren of the new lodges the importance of

exercising this care ancl jealousy . I pray them to remember that on them is thrown the responsibility of showing to the Craft at large that the confidence placed in them by their Grand Master has not been misplaced ; that they will not be content with

founding another lodge , but that they will strive and determine to make a daily advance in Masonic knowledge . I trust they will never forget the pledge they have given that these lodges shall be conducted so as to improve the quality of Freemasonry , rather than to increase the number of professing Free

- masons ¦ to promote the cause of temperance , rather than a means of self-indulgence . Above all that , they may be great centres for the dift ' usion of brotherly love , relief , and truth ; brotherly love , as shown in mutual forbearance and forgiveness , mutual aid and

sympathy ; joy in a brother ' s joy , ancl grief in a brother ' s grief ; relief of a brother's wants , freely and ungrudgingly given , relief not only to his bodily but to his mental wants , relief not only to himself , but to those who are nearest and dearest to him , in the

persons of his widow and his orphans . And above all this , that the hand of a brother given to a brother Mason should be the sure pledge of brotherhood , aye , and when given to any of the outer world , should be received as an obligation binding as any the law of man could devise , because given by a Mason .

Above all let charity and benevolence be your motto , words tending to the same end , but by different means ; charity , to give , when you have the power , to everyone of your fellow-creatures in the hour of their need , and her handmaid benevolence to wish well to and to strive well for every good cause , even when , as

in the Apostle's case , " silver and gold we have none " to give . Remember that the noblest instinct of man , his noblest attribute is labour , to work through the morn , to work through the noon , to work through the evening of life , until " the night cometh when no

man can work . " And what man is in muscular life , he should be in the higher domain of spiritual life . The highest and most complete state of man , which his nature most longs for , ancl in which it fulfils its most sublime instinct , is work , bodily and intellectual ,

leading up to moral and religious work . For , as the race began with an outward Paradise , which being lost , may yet offer the type of a higher Paradise to be gained , so each individual life begins with muscular life , that passing through the hard struggles of work ,

in which body , mind , and soul are alike engaged , it may carry its ideal with it , and emerge at last into a state of inspired liberty and spontaneous beauty . If then of Masonry we can truly say : —

Its roots run under every sea , It blooms on every shore . It rests with those who have accepted its solemn obligations so to cultivate ! its growth , so to guard its noble fruit , that to every country and to every people it may carry blessings unlimited and unspeakable-It may be a gigantic task that which has been sketched out for us by the wisdom and self denial of our fore-