Provincial.

Grand Loclge having been opened in accordance with the Masonic rule , and the W . the Prov . G . Master , the Rev . J . Bowles , D . I ) ., having been received by the brethren , he , assisted by the D . Prov . G . M , Bro . R . II . Luckes , and the other Grand Officers , proceeded to the transaction of the business of the province , iu the course of which the W . M . made tbe following official appointments for the ensuing year : —Bros . Alfred Osborne , of Ross , Prov . G . S . AV . ; Francis Nash , of Ross , Prov .

G . J . W . ; J . II . Skyrme , of Ross , Prov . G . Treas . ; the Rev . H . Kayo Booker , of Eastnor , Prov . G . Chap . ; the Rev . J . Buckle , of Ashporton , Assist . Prov . G . Chap . ; John H . Wilding , Salop , Prov . G . Reg . ; J . E . S . Hewitt , Ross , Prov . G . See . ; " Edward Gregg , of Leominster , Prov . G . J . D . ; W . E . Hyde , of Leominster , Prov . G .. I . D . ; S . R . Davies , Prov . G . Dir . of Cers . ; Alexander Gordon , of Ross , Prov . G . Assist . Dir . of Cers . ; Dr . Tanner , of Ledbury , Prov . G . Supt . of Works ; W . S . Boyce of Leominster

, Prov . G . S . B . ; T . Jowett , the Weir , Hereford , Prov . G . Purst . ; Bradley , Leominster . Prov . G . Org . The Grand Lodge having then been temporarily closed , at two o ' clock the brethren walked to the fine old Priory Church at Leominster , in which a large congregation of worshippers bad already assembled . Full choral service was performed in an excellent manner bthe Leominster choirassisted by some

y , Masonic brethren , under the superintendence of Bio . Bradley , who presided at the organ . The service , which was specially adapted for a Masonic gathering , was very beautiful , and seemed to afford very great pleasure to tbe large ancl highly respectable congregation assembled . The service was intoned by Bro . the Rev . II . Kaye Booker , one of the Prov . G . Chapsthe lessons being read bBro . tlie

, y Rev . John Buckle , the Assist . Prov . G . Chap . The sermon was preached by Bro . the Rev . J . Bowles , D . D ., R . W . Prov . G . M , in aid of the splendid schools recently opened in Loudon for the children of deceased Masons , and for tbe homes erected for the reception of decayed Masons ancl the widows of Masons .

1 ho venerable preacher took for his text the following words from Acts xx . 35 : — "I have showed you all things , how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak : and to remember tho words of the Lord Jesus , how He said it is more blessed to give than to receive . " Ho said : By the kind permission of the Vicar of Leominster—for which in the name and on behalf of the Freemasons of Herefordshire I tender him my grateful acknowledgments—we have met in this time-hallowed minster with

, grey its thousand years , to worship God . Here , were lordly priors and sandal-footed monks once offered up a gorgeous ancl ceremonial worship in a language not understood by the peoplehere , with the fragments ancl mouldering ? dust of by-gone generations beneath our feet , I am permitted to plead to you , my brethren , on behalf of those noble charities which are the life of our Masonic Orderand which so aptlillustrate the duties

, y enforced by St . Paul , how that " ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ , how He said it was more blessed to give than to receive . " The import of these words cannot he mistaken : to give is an universal description of communicating good ; to receive an equally extended description of gaining it from others . The former of these two kinds of conduct is pronounced " more blessed" than the

latter . To bo blessed is to receive happiness from God , from our fellow-creatures , or from ourselves , ancl denotes therefore all the good which wc do now or shall hereafter enjoy . The doctrine ofthe text is , therefore , that it is more desirable to communicate happiness than to receive it from others—in short it is a complete epitome of the principles of Freemasonry , which commences with love to God and terminates with love to man . The great pi ' . actical inference from this doctrine is that doing good is the

only proper employment of man . You , brother Freemasonsyou , brethren , who do not belong to our ancient fraternitywere created for this great purpose . You were not created to gain reputation , learning , wealth , knowledge , power , honour , or pleasure , but to do good . Make , then , the end for which God designed your existence ancl your faculties the voluntary and proper end of all your wishes , designs , ancl labours . Direct your

efforts to the well-being of those who are within your reach , and not to the inhabitants of a distant country . Let every day , when passing in review before the scrutinising eye of conscience present a regular series of good actions , which will soften the bed of repose , ancl rise as an evening sacrifice a sweet memorial before God . By patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory , honour , and immortality . If you act thus in the great trial-time of life you will he found and pronounced , when this

life ends , to have " well done , " and' to have been a good aud faithful servant of your Divine master , and will be directed to enter into the glery of your Lord . The modes of doing good , to which from the fraternity to which we belong we more especially called are the moral ancl social training of tho children of the poorer brethren , and the sustentation and shelter of aged and decayed Freemasons and their widows . With respect to the children for whom I have the honour to be an humble advocate

on this occasion , few words are necessary to recommend them to your patronage . If the cultivator of the soil , the man who rescues from barrenness a neglected portion of the country , and spreads over its face fertility and beauty , deserves ancl obtains our pride , shall our schools solicit you support in vain , which under God , will rescue from the evils of ignorance children in the humbler Masonic walks of life , who might otherwise perish

for lack of knowledge , and will open their understanding , at least in a degree to understand the scriptures of eternal life . It is impossible to doubt that such institutions as those for which I am now pleading are two of the great means which the divine Being employs for the accomplishment of His own great end . He does not Christianise the world by magic ; we are not to expect religion to descend from heaven , or to rise from the earth

like a beautiful vision ! It will indeed descend from hoaven and rise uron the earth , but this will be by a regular , appointed , adapted means—by means such as those which are now set at work in our Masonic Schools , means employed hy God himself ; means which this clay require your cordial and liberal assistance ; moans which afford au omen ofthe desired success , since I cannot conceive why all this energy should have been impressed on tho minds of men , if not for the providential accomplishment of

one grand result—the transformation of the kingdoms of this great world into the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ . Ancl then , the education of these children by your liberal contributions this day . Come up to the help ofthe Lord ; become labourers together with God , ancl bear in mind the unquestionable certainty , that every brother shall receive his own reward , according to his own labour . Give liberally and wait patiently for the whole end of your recompense until the evening hour when the Master of the vineyard shall call tho labourers and give them their hire , beginning at the first unto the last .

Meditate the worth of these children ' s souls , meditate deeply the lessons the scriptures afford on their inconceivable value and eternal duration . While tbe philosopher wearies himself with endless speculations on their physical properties and nature , while the politician only contemplates the social arrangements of mankind ancl the shifting forms of policy , fix your attention on the individual importance of these children as the creatures of God , as the candidates for immortality . Let it he your highest

ambition to train them up for an unchangeable condition of being . Assist in implanting in their minds a love of that rectitude—the eternal rectitude which was with God before time began ; was embodied in tbe person of his Son , and in its lower communications will survive every sublunary change , emerge in the dissolution of all things , and be impressed in refulgent characters on the new heavens and the new earth in which dwellcth righteousness . To do goodbrethrenis the only

pro-, , per employment of man—more especially of Freemasons—to do good is the character of angels , of Christ , and of God . It constitutes the beauty of Heaven , the glory of Jehovah , and is the source of all the happiness which is enjoyed in immensity ancl eternity . Surely then your benevolence towards the children of your poorer brethren will receive a rich reward in the great and final day—nay it will he received ancl rewarded bChristas

y , done to Himself , if in these schools but one immortal spirit shall first be taught to read the lessons of celestial wisdom , or hear the accents of immortal hope . Blessed aro you , brother Freemasons , if it be permitted you to be the means of leading only one of these young pilgrims to the stream amidst the desert , and teach him there to slake his thirst from the pure river of the water of life which proceeds for ever out of tlie throne of God

and of the Lamb . He who rears up one child in Christian virtue , builds a temple more enduring than earth or heaven . The souls of the children whom you rescue from ignorance and vice , and bring up in the way they should go , will survive all outward change . When winds aud mountains and suns shall have ceased to praise God , these rescued souls will praise Him . They will receive more and more divine inspirations of

truth , will fill with their benevolent ministry wider and wider spheres , and will accomplish their destiny by a progress towards God , as unlimited , as mysterious , as enduring as eternity . It is not necessary , I should hope , to use many words in pressing upon