Reopening Of The Lodge Of Pertuis, France. *

60 years , Maurizel , M . D ., Arnoult , porter of the room , to be condemned to imprisonment for three days , and Imbert , a shoemaker , to the same punishment for five days . Notice of appeal against this judgment has been given . We have

no doubt that it will be completely reversed , especially as the higher authorities have yielded to the just remonstrances of the Grand Master . We are assured that the Mayor of Pertuis will be dismissed from office for his officious conduct .

All does not end here , however . To the individual wrath of the local authority is now added that of the religious fanatics . The influence of the clergy is considerable in certain of the southern departments of France , and the hatred against

Freemasons has found fresh fuel in the affair of Pertuis . In that country the spirit of the clergy is such that lately at an open air religious ceremony at Aix the chanting was suspended whilst the procession passed before the building in which the

Masonic meetings are held , because it is an accursed place . The desperate and unscrupulous adherents of the ultramontane party do not attempt to conceal their intrigues , nor to extend their influence in affairs of every description . Whatever may be the result we may confidently believe that reason and justice will ultimately triumph .

The Grand Master has held high and with a firm hand the standard of Masonry . Bro . Bremond has courageously done his duty ; he has not beaten the signal of retreat before his enemies , nor has he yielded to the difficulties occasioned by

the numerous changes rendered necessary in the arrangements of the lodge . The Council of Order has seconded the Grand Master ; it has given encouragement to Bro . Bremond ; with all its resources and with all its affection it supports

the Freemasons of Pertuis against the proceedings which have been commenced in regard to them . Under these circumstances we have at present only to make a record of duties honourably and courageously performed . This is to us a source

of the greatest satisfaction . May we always find Masons thus cordially united for the defence of their rights and of their independence !

Freemasonry.

FREEMASONRY .

An oration delivered by Bro . Dr . J . HAYXES , at the St . John ' s Festival , Lodge N ~ o . 70 , Plymouth , of January 3 rd , 1867 . ( Continued from page 123 . ) Those of the outside world are not fully

Freemasonry.

acquainted with your labours of love ; you have not prayed and given alms at the corners of the streets to be seen and heard of men . What you have done you have done in secret , and the great presiding spirit of our sacred and secret temple

has rewarded you openly . We might have enlarged , indefinitely , on your Christian consideration and praiseworthy benevolence towards the orphans and widows of your departed brethren ; but we must pass on to notice that great seamless cloak of charity that you have thrown over and around all who are associated with

this society . There is an indescribable and an infinite amount of beauty in that charity that covers a multitude of sins . And what is it , brethren , that binds this order together , if it be not that endless and golden

chain of love that drops from the hand of God , whose imperishable and everlasting links knit together the kindred hearts of the universal brotherhood of Freemasons ?

Let us not be deceived , there is a reality m our order , more magnificent than crowns and sceptres , and as enduring as the everlasting hills ! The institution of Freemasonry is unlike all other societies , as I have said before . Other

societies spring up as if by magic — have their summer ' s sunshine and their showers , have a premature development—flush with beauty in their noonday splendour , bud and blossom with a luxuriant prodigality , and suddenly

disappear ! But Freemasonry , like a small acorn dropt by a thoughtful hand in the valley of tears , has taken root—it has spread its gigantic branches , laden with the deep green foliage of its own inherent

goodness , over every valley , hill , and mountain ; and to-day there is not a kindred , tongue , or nation , but are living under the cooling and refreshing shade of its branches , screened from the scorching noonday blast of withering poverty , and the summer drought of moral depravity .

The history of the world furnishes us with no subject moresublime , moretranscendantallymajestic than that connected with Freemasonry . It is the great luminary in the brilliant astronomical system of pure morals , around which all other secular

planets move , and have their being . When other luminaries have grown dim and strayed from their orbits into the oblivion of past forgetfulness and obscurity , this , like the star of Bethlehem , continued to shine with tenfold brilliancy , as a