Pseudo Masons.

"Nous Venerable et Ofliciers de La Loge Egah ' te , O . de Stratford , assemblies , par les nombrcs mysterieux conuus des vrais Macons , ccrtifions et attcstons que leT . Ch . F , nea , le mil huit cent vingt lmit , possede du premier au troisieme degre de l'O . et fait partie en cette qualite cle cette Kesp . Loge . "En consequence nous invitons toutes les Loges " i le reconnaitre en sa qualite , ii l ' accueillir fraternellement , et a lui prefer aide et

protection au besoin . "Fait ot delivre dans un lieu eclairc d ' un rayon divin , oil rogue la paix , la vertu , la science , et la plenitude de tous les Mens . " 0 . de Stratford , Essex , le jour cle , An de la V , L . 000 , 000 , 000 ( E . V . )" " To all whom it may concern , these are to testify that our Bro . who hath signed his name in the in hereofwas

, marg , regularly received into Freemasonry , and admitted to the third degree in the Equality Lodge , and that he is duly registered in the book of our Order accordingly . " In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names and affixed our seals . " At Stratford , Essex , the day of A . L . 000 , 000 , 000 ( 1859 , A . E . ) '

SIGNATURES . " Le Von . dc la L . ROBERT MEIKLE ; le lor Snrveillant , LEAMEN STEPHENSON ; 1 'Orateur , JOHN Stewart ; le Trc ' sorier , E . -T URNER ; lc 2 me Snrveillant , DAVID BOOTH ; le G . Expert , STEPHEN SMITH ; le Secretaire , WiiiiAM Cox ; COUNTERSIGNATURES . "Em-egistre au G . Liv . d ' or duGConseil No Le Pre

_ . gen . . - sident , Or . VEIIXAUD , 33 ° ; PArch . gen . dc l'O ., BT . DESQUESNES ; le Secret , gen . de l'O ., J . BALAGUE . Valle ' e de Londres , lc jour de , 1859 . ( E . V . ) "Ne Varieteur . Timbre et scelle par nous , G . des Sceaux et Iimbres de la Loge , F . SCHEOEDTER . "

The Queen Of Sheba.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA .

THE following discourse was preached before the Ri ght Worshi pful Provincial Grand Master , Lord Lei g h , and the Provincial Grand Lod ge of Warwickshire , on Tuesday , October 11 th , at the parish church of Sutton Colclfield , by the Rev . Bro . R yland Bedford , Provincial Grand Chaplain , aud Worshi pful Master of the new Lodge the "Warden , " No . 1 , 090 .

; TUB Quoon of the South shall rise up in tho judgment with this generation , and shall condemn it ; for she came from tho uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and behold a greater than Solomon is here . "—MATTHEW , xii ., -12 . NOTHING , brethren , should be more instructive to us—who , alas , arc so apt to become partisans of our own ideal in opinion and to lose sight of the limits of those who generally adopt our standard of

profession , while we unsparingly criticise those who are unwilling to submit to our own canon of rectitude—than the view which the holy gospels give us of the expressions of illimitable knowledge , combined with unfathomable charity , in the conversations of our blessed Lord . He , who saw every vain , weak false , or malicious desire of the human heart , saw even in those whose cars were dull , so that they were deaf to his message of salvation latent

, some good , which still found favour and praise Irom his tender lovingkinmicss . While he sternly ancl scvcrclv rebukes the failings , the inconsistencies , and shortcomings of Ins own followers , he finds something to approve in the conduct of the sincerel y scrupulous though selfrighteous Pharisee ; in the centurion whose secular discipline had taught him unhcsitatiimlaith ; iu the schismatic Samaritanwho showed in act and deed

, ins real appreciation of the import of the second great commandment of the law ; even in the publican and harlot—nay , in the very heathen themselves—he finds something to approve , and some lesson of good lor tbe imitation of his own disciples . Here , iu the text , wc have an instance where the laudable thirst for knowledge ot a heathen princess is held up for the imitation not only of the laitliliU lew who surrounded their Lord to draw instruction from bis lipsbut of all who

, hear and believe in his name , of all to whom his religion is a living reality , till time shall be no more . _ ' j-lic Queen ol the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it , " Nicaules , Queen of Ethiopia or bheba , is the person here spoken of , who , stirred by the yyy ch , reached her , even at so great a distance , of the magmheence and wisdom of the great monarch of the Jews , came in person to confer with him ancl to consult the treasures of his

mind , from the same motive as other heathen potentates were wont to repair to the reputed seats of oracles . The journey must have been long and tedious and argued in her an unwonted desire of obtaining instruction and a sincere appreciation of the superiority of moral truth to the empty counterfeits of godless philosophy ; for wc are not to suppose that her journey was occasioned solely by the desire of viewing the splendour of King-

Solomon ' s royal state , the discipline and economy of his government , or those wonders of mechanical ancl architectural science which surrounded him on every side . Had her views been bounded by these advantages alone , her pilgrimage would not have deserved commemorative notice of the great Lord of heaven and earth . It must have been the instruction concerning Jehovah and bis law , and instituted worship , which she coveted to receive , ancl which

the great interpreter of the spiritual mysteries of nature felt pleased to impart . Though we find mention of many things which excited her admiration , the first point which she is recorded as esteeming worthy of mention is Solomon ' s wisdom , and the last is his piety . Not the architectural splendour of Tadmor and Lebanon , and the vast newly completed temple ; not the administrative ability with which the affairs of Israel were so prosperously conducted , nor the profound insight into the wonders of creation possessed by him , who" every creature know ,

And spake of every plant that sips the dew , " though ail these were so surprising that " that there was no more spirit in her , " for she had never seen the like—not these things , we read , were the subject of her grateful mention , for the wisdom of the inspired king made a greater inrpression upon her than all his prosperity and grandeur . Nowdo webrethrenwho place the example of the illustrious

, , , founder of the temple , nominally as our object of study and appreciation , take as accurate a view of his fame and the true merits of his wisdom as this potentate of heathenesse from the barbarous wilds of torrid Africa . Remember we are to submit to a comparison with her unenlightened faith , and a reference to her rude though energetic practice . In that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealedshe who left her own land and strove

, with toil and pain to come within roach of the hi ghest words of wisdom which ever issued from the lips of created man , will stand at that awful tribunal as a witness against the progress and the civilization—aye , and the religion too—of the great and advanced age of the world in which wc live . In this perhaps we may 2 ) i'ovc to have overshot the mark , and to bear a less favourable comparison than in our pride we could suppose possible for those

who live in so wondrous an age of intelligence and so favoured a land in doctrine as this to which we belong . AVhat ivas this wisdom which she sought ? AVe must seek for its exposition iu the works whicli yet remain to us out of the innumerable treasuries of the fertile mind of the wise king . Let us hear the " conclusion of the whole matter , " summed up in the deliberate sentence of the great teacher of the Hebrew

kingdom , at a tunc ot life when he was falling into the vale of years , and desired to leave on record his deliberate view of human life , and its true end— "Fear God and keep his commandments : for this fs the whole duty of man . " Here , brethren , is a system of morality plain , practical and applicable to the circumstances of every mortal upon earth . It docs not require the acute intellect of the philosopher and the

sage ; it docs not seek for the extended influence of the man of wealth or of position ; it involves no busy life of struggle in the arena of public employment , nor the self imposed acetieism of the hermitage or the cloister . In an humble , useful , charitable life , doing good to men for God ' s sake , and so keeping the two great commandments at once of the old and new law , it recognizes the true ideal of the godly upon earthit makes no nice

distinc-; tions , yet marks a course which none can tread in mortal strength , or finish without reward which angels covet . It is no li ght thing , this wisdom of Solomon ; it is no small thing to be born a man with all the various relations to our fcllowmen , each full of its correlative results , to meet and influence each onward pace for good or ill . To accomplish but a part of that whicli is here suggested , how great the devotion required—and yet how plain .

The man who lives in the faithful practice of the maxims of the Masonic order , may appreciate the problem here presented to us , and see in the beacons of our system the reflected fig ht of the divinely illumined sage . Brotherly love embodies the second great command of the new law ; and . what do we mean by truth , but that every one of us should live in constant consciousness of the presence of his Maker , not trying in vain device or hypocritical folly to make ourselves seem something that we are not , nor hiding our