Ideal Freemasonry.

names are found only on the page of history . No ¦ nation can live beyond the time Avhen the practice of virtue ceases to actuate the lives of a large part of its subjects . And what is the order of Freemasons , but a nationality as broad as the

earth . The sun never sets on her children . They are in every land and on every sea ; in the desert alone , and on the thrones of the mi g htiest empires surrounded by hosts of willingsubjects . But let the canker of immorality , or

intemperance , or profanity , or any other unmasonic vice once prevail in the lives of the brethren , and the ideal life will be destroyed . Then our unity will be but a rope of sand , and Ave too will be on ¦ the page of history , but nowhere else . Brethren , see to it that you keep in vigorous

activity this ideal life . While it is a noble boast that one possesses an ancient and honorable ancestry ; that the blood of the great and the good of . ages lon g past courses through his veins ; that he can trace back his lineage untarnished through hundreds of years ; yet the past cannot cover up

the short-comings of the present , and we must at last be judged by Avhat we are . So it is Avith the Freemason . He belongs to the only true and ancient brotherhood , and its ideal faith is one of the most coiuprehensi \ e simplicity the world has

ever known , for which it is indebted solely to its first Great Light , the Holy Bible ; but unless , in addition to this , he exemplifies in his conduct the ideal life of Masonry , his faith is vain , ancl his connection with the Craft has no real significance .

The ideal Freemason is not a shadowy , unreal person , nor a bare name for what once existed , but is now in the tomb of the Capulets . Every brother has met him , and is meeting him continually . To expect that every one should be this ideal is perhaps expecting too much in this world ; but

that every one should aim to be , we have no shadow of doubt . The principles of the brotherhood demand it , and unless their spirit continue to pervade the Craft , it cannot retain its hold upon the respect of mankind . Brethren , our princi ples are perfect ; let us mould our lives in accordance Avith their sublime teachings . —Keystone .

The Twelfth Annual Grand Convention of the Order of High Priests , of California , was held at the Masonic Temple , San Francisco , when the following were elected officers for the ensuing year .- Bros . 8 . Graves , President ; Theodore E . Smith , Recorder .

Masonic Jottings, No. 71.

MASONIC JOTTINGS , No . 71 .

BY A PAST PKOVINCIAL GRAND MASTEE . THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE . Brother , —the Great First Cause is the Will of the Glorious Architect of Heaven and Earth . INCOMPREHENSIBLE THINGS .

Brother , — There are some incomprehensible things Avhich the Mason Avho is a Christian , and the Mason who is a Natural Theist alike believe , — which they necessarily believe .

THE UNIVERSE—THE MORAL LAAV . The Universe may be annihilated . The Moral LaAV can not be annihilated . TIIE MORAL LAAV . The Mason who is a natural Theist , cannot hold that a command , incompatible with the moral law , is the command of the Great Architect of the Universe .

THE VOLUME OE GOD'S SACRED LAW . In the inauguration oration delivered before the Most Worshi p ful the Grand Master , Freemasons ' Hall , 14 th April , 1869 , the Grand Chaplain asserted that the volume of God ' s Sacred Law is the foundation of our English Freemasonry .

TOLERATION . Where the Religion of Freemasonry is one of the four Positive Religions , ( Christianity , Judaism , Parseeism , and Mahommedanism , ) it is only by Toleration in all cases , or in individual cases , that Masons , professing the other Positive Reli gions , are admissible into its Lodp-e .

POETRY—PROSE . Some Institutions , like Nations , have their Poetry and their Prose , the former being the most antient . The admirable institution called Masonry is one of those institutions , aud a learned brother is asked Avhat reason can be alleged for taking from it its Poetry ?

GENIUS . A Brother calls " genius " the facult y given b y the great Architect of the Universe of expressing fit thoughts by the fittest language . THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES . Speculative Masonry touches not the Christian

Mysteries . XENO PHANES . In a communication of the Past Provincial Grand Master for Kent , " Freemasons' Magazine , " vol . 16 , page 29 , a correspondent will find the two famous lines of Xenophanes iu the ori ginal Greek .

My Correspondent will also find some remarks of the late Monsieur Victor Cousin respecting the system of Xenophanes .