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CONTENTS . LFADER— PAGE Approaching Festival oE the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... 79 The Lodge Room ... ... ... ... ••••••79 Supreme Grand Chapter ( Quarterly Convocation ) ... ... ... So Science , Art and the Drama ... ... ... ... ¦••Si

Nineteenth Annual Banquet of the Logic Club ... ... ... ... S 2 Provincial Grand Mark Lodere of Derbyshire ... ... ... ... S 2 The English Education Exhibition and the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys S 3 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ••¦ ' •¦•s 3 MA SONIC NOTESOuarterly Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter ... ... ... S 5 Monthly Meeting of the Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic

Benevolent Institution .... ... ... ... — 85 Provincial Grand Chapter of Hertfordshire ... ... ... S 5 Consecrations of the John Brunner and L'Entente Cordiale Lodges ... S 5 Ouarterly Communication of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria ... S 5 The English Education Exhibition and the Ro > aI Masonic Institution for Boys ... ... ... ... ... ... ... S 5

The Logic Club ... ... ... ... ... ... S 5 Moveable Grand Mark Lodge at Dukinfield ... ... ... 85 Correspondence ... ... ,,. ... ... ... S 6 POETRYHelp , O , Help ! ... . „ ... .,. ... ... S 6 Craft Masonry .,, ... ... .,, ... ... S 6

SCOTLANDGrand Lodge ( Quarterly Communication ) ... ... .,. ... Sg Ladies' Festival of The Molesey Lodge , No . 2473 ... .,. ... 90 Instruction ... ... ,,, ... .,, ... ... 90 Obituary ... .,. ... ... .,. ... ... 9 ° Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 92

Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

Our readers will be pleased to hear that Bro . TERRY ' S efforts to enrol a strong and influential Board of Stewards for the approaching Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution have been most successful . Last year , the number

of ladies and brethren who gave their services in this capacity was 4 87 . On Thursday , when we made our last inquiry , over 450 had given in their names , and to judge from the rate of progress during the last three or four weeks , there are fair

grounds for hoping that , as regards number , the Board will make as brave a show as it did in 18 99 . It does not follow , of course , that the donations and subscriptions will be as large . As we have remarked in our previous articles on the subject ,

there are far too many calls for subscriptions to all kinds of funds in connection with the war to justify such an expectation . But on the principle , " the more the merrier , " we may reasonably hope that , the greater the number of Stewards , the

greater the chance of a handsome total—at all events , of one that will set at rest all anxiety on the part of the Committee of Management as to ways and means for the expenditure of the current year .

As we have before pointed out , the annual expenditure of our Benevolent Institution amounts in round figures to £ 19 , 500 . Of this sum , upwards of £ 16 , 500 is required for annuities , and the rest for expenses of management and the maintenance of

the Asylum at Croydon . The permanent income , including the Grand Lodge grant of £ 1600 , and the Grand Chapter grant of £ 150 , is somewhere about £ 6000 , so that the amount to be raised through the medium of the Festival—allowing a small

margin for contingencies—is £ 14 , 000 . It is a big sum , but sec what an immense amount of good the Institution is doing . The present strength of the establishment is 477 annuitants , namely , 207 brethren at £ 40 a year each ; 248 widows at £ 32 each ; and

22 widows at £ 20 each , the total sum distributed among the widows and brethren in the three classes of annuitants being £ 16 , 636 . The recipients of this money are cither brethren who

have lost their all and are too old or infirm to work , or the widows of brethren in similar circumstances . If money were more plentiful , we might perhaps do more for these poor old people , but our duty as Masons requires that we should do for

Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

them what we . can , and the £ 16 , 6 3 6 disbursed in annuities represents the present extent of our ability . There is thus no need for us to emphasise our appeal in behalf of this Institution for Aged Masons and their Widows , but there

is one important consideration that must not be entirely overlooked . There are not only annuitants to be provided for , but there are also candidates to be thought of , whose claims to be admitted to the benefits of the Institution , as vacancies arise ,

have been approved and sanctioned by the Committee of Management . Unfortunately the candidates are many , and the vacancies but few . Last year , on the recommendation of the Committee , the Governors and Subscribers at the annual

meeting resolved on increasing the number of annuitants on the Male Fund by five , and on the Widows' Fund by three , but in spite of this increase there are at the present time about 108 or 109 Male and Widow candidates , while only about 20 or 22

vacancies have occurred . Add to these the three men and three widows who are elected to deferred annuities , and we find the number of brethren and widows to be elected in May next in

proportion to the number on the lists is , roughly speaking , in the proportion of one to four . We trust these few fi gures will be well , pondered , both by the Stewards and intending Donors and Subscribers .

The Festival will take place at Freemasons' Tavern on Tuesday , the 27 th instant , under the presidency of the Ri ght Hon . Lord ADDINGTON , Prov . G . Master of Buckinghamshire , and though the interval between now and then is short , it will

not be too short for Bro . TERRY to enrol the names of additional ladies and brethren who are prepared to give their services as Stewards . "The more , the merrier , " and the better for the Institution .

The Lodge Room.

THE LODGE ROOM .

V . THE VOLUME OF THE SACRED LAW .

[ COMMUNICATED ] . In considering the importance of the V . S . L . as a part of the furniture of every Lodge Room , we will collect evidence to show that if there be one thing as to which there is no uncertainty in Freemasonry , it is this .

First of all , the landmarks . According to Mackey ' s list there are three , which lay down the presence of the V . S . L . as an indispensable article of furniture , a belief in God , as an indispensable qualification in every Candidate , and a belief in a future life .

1 he charges of a Freemason printed in the Book of Constitutions commence'with a protest against atheism . In our ritual , the person who desires to be made a Freemason is not even officially designated a candidate until he has declared his faitli in a Supreme Being , and the first thin ° - he sees in open lodge is the open page of the V . S . L .

The Grand Registrar , in 18 77 , at the December Co nmunication , declared that up to 1813 the two Grand Lodges were not only Theistic but Trinitarian , and a study of the Ancient

charges cannot but confirm us in the belief that up to that date Freemasonry in England was christian in its basis , and Bro . Hughan points out that no record exists of any agreement to change that basis .

Certainly in 1836 a Mussulman was initiated , and in 1865 Bro . P . C . Dutt , a Hindu , was initiated in Bengal , after an expression of opinion by the then M . W . G . M ., and his decision was officially forwarded to the District Grand Master of Bengal . But such decision did not create any law on the subject . In the absence of appeal , it was regarded as law however , and now