unite in fraternal intercourse in the sanctuary of the Tabernacle on this occasion.

During the ten years of our existence we have been enabled to not only bring under our banner every Chapter in the province, but also to extend our control of R. A. Masonry to two of our sister Provinces.

*

*

No words of eulogy that we can add would express the value of the able services to the Royal Craft of the R. E. Grand Secretary, Companion James Gossip, and it must be a source of gratification to him to notice the steady progress of Royal Arch Masonry in this jurisdiction since his acceptance of office, dating from the formation of the Body, and whose term fortunately for the Craft has been continuous.

OFFICERS ELECTED.

M. E. Comp. WILLIAM TAYLOR, Halifax, elected Grand High

Priest.

R. E. Comp. JAMES GOSSIP, Halifax, re-elected Grand Secre

tary.

NEW YORK.

The Eighty-third Annual Convocation of this Grand Chapter was held in the City of Albany, February 3–5, A. D. 1880, A.

I. 2410.

M. E. Comp. DAVID F. DAY, Grand High Priest, presiding. Ten Past Grand High Priests and Representatives of one hundred and eighty-eight Subordinate Chapters present.

ADDRESS OF GRAND HIGH PRIEST.

A most entertaining document of twenty pages is the address of Comp. DAY, replete with wisdom and abounding in excellent advice. He says in opening:

It was to me a most grateful thought, as, some hours since, I was making my journey to this ancient and historic city, that upon all the lines of travel which here converge there were journeying with me, by the dim light of the winter's day and through the darkness and silence

of the night, the representatives of nearly two hundred Chapters of Royal Arch Masons of this State, called hither for the performance of duties so important, interesting and agreeable as those which now demand our attention. I knew that with me they had turned aside from the engrossing pursuits of business, the cares and troubles of daily life, and, severing for a little season the ties of home and kindred, were hastening to this place, rejoicing in the anticipation of meeting here old friends and new, and of participating with them in the sweet and elevating communion of our Tabernacle.

Our hopes are realized. The unseen but all-powerful hand of the MOST HIGH has guided us securely through the perils of travel, and brought us once more to this holy place. By his indulgence we meet again in this temple, consecrated by the labor, devotion and sacrifice of so many companions of the past, whose memories hang like garlands upon these walls and fill these arches with a fragrance sweeter than the odors of the East.

The mystic chain dissolved a year ago has been again restored, and upon bended knees, and in that spirit of sincere devotion so consistent with our professions as Royal Arch Masons, we have besought the blessing of heaven upon the labors which we shall attempt in this place.

We meet not to consider any of the absorbing problems of trade or commerce, nor to inqure how any one in his worldly wealth may be advantaged. We meet not to deliberate upon any question of the State, nor to endeavor to discover how political power may be perpetuated or obtained. We seek for no man the wreath of civic honor or authority. We meet not in the interest of any creed or sect. It is not for us even to consider how those who worship God upon Mt. Gherizim may be brought to Zion's holier hill. None of the purposes for which men are accustomed to assemble in convention are ours.

The duty which calls us together is beyond self, beyond sect, beyond party. It is for us in our deliberations to ignore the distinctions which have so often divided men into jealous and contending factions, and look alone to the common interests of humanity. Within our charge is one of the most important departments of Masonry. To that extent Providence has committed to our care the oldest and most venerable institution in which the benevolence of man has taken form and organization; an institution whose origin is shadowed in doubt, but whose gentle and humanizing influences encircle the globe. I deem it a trust of the greatest consequence.

I have called Capitular Masonry a most important department of the

institution. I would not willingly place it in any position beyond that to which it is entitled in the estimation of candid and judicious men. But I feel sure that the fact must have impressed itself upon your minds, as it has upon my own, that its great conservative influence has made it, as it were, a balance wheel, giving to all the movement of the great machine something of steadiness, regularity and precision. May I repeat a favorite figure, and call it again the Senate of Masonry?

CONDITION OF MASONRY.

After referring to the loss in membership of his Grand Chapter, the Grand High Priest thus speaks of the Condition of Royal Arch Masonry in his jurisdiction:

The number of Royal Arch Masons exalted, affiliated and restored, though inconsiderable as compared with the increase of membership during "the years of plenty," is sufficient to prove that the interest taken in Capitular Masonry in many of the Chapters of the State is still active. I doubt not that with the return of "better times" in business affairs there will be also a return of the days when candidates were plenty and treasuries overflowing. But I am quite well satisfied with the condition of Chapter affairs in this State, so far as the reception of candidates is concerned, even as it is. The strength of Masonry is not to be found in the multitude of its votaries, but in their devotion to its principles and their obedience to its laws. I dread the hurry and hot haste in which candidates have sometimes sought the portals of Masonry. The oak, whose strength derides the tempest, and whose life is measured by centuries, is a tree of the slowest growth. More food than can be assimilated, no matter how wholesome the food may be, must prove pernicious. It is the lesson of all history that

"Extended empire, like expanded gold,

Exchanges solid strength for brittle lustre."

NECROLOGY.

He refers at length to the deaths of P. G. H. P., PETER P. MURPHY, and Past Grand King LEWIS GOODWIN HOFFMAN, and says of the latter :

At our last Annual Convocation we were called upon to deplore the death of a companion whom many years of intimate and most friendly association had taught us to love, esteem and venerate. While yet our grief was at its height, the announcement came that R.. E... LEWIS GOODWIN HOFFMAN, Past Grand King of this Grand Chapter, was con

fined to his house by disease, which was certain before long to wear "the thin thread of his life in twain." It seemed to me an appropriate and most becoming act on your part to send to Comp. HOFFMAN, as you did, a deputation of his friends to express your sympathy for him in his hours of suffering, and assure him that he still held a warm place in your regard, and though absent yet was not forgotten. As your presiding officer I was made one of the committee to which this duty was assigned. We found Comp. HOFFMAN bearing the tortures of his malady with a patience and fortitude which seemed invincible.

His faith in the goodness and wisdom of God were undisturbed. Age and its infirmities had fallen upon him. Sickness and the acutest suffering had assailed him. Death stood ready to smite him at "the Eastern Gate." But it was plain to be seen that he was able to defy them all, and that like the master-builder in the sublime legend he could say, “My life you may take, my integrity never."

I was glad

There is a joy which lies close to the confines of sorrow. that I was there. Again in my life did I realize the fact, that "The chamber where the good man meets his fate

Is privileged beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life-quite in the verge of Heaven."

It is a beautiful sight to see the young man, in the freshness, purity and promise of his early manhood, while yet his heart is as stainless as the new-fallen snow of a winter's morning, before it has been trodden under foot, or sullied by the contact of the busy world; it is, I say, a beautiful sight to see the young man approach the Masonic altar, and there solemnly dedicate his life, not like the Carthaginian youth of history to the hatred of any man, or any nation of men, but to love, and charity, and universal benevolence.

And yet it is a more agreeable sight to see the true Mason, in the noonday of his life, faithful to every vow, exemplifying in his daily walk the beneficent principles of our Order, speaking evil of no one, rendering to every man his due, giving the word of fraternal admonition when it is needed, lending the helping hand where it may be required, and often turning away from the engrossing pursuits of business to renew his love at our shrine, and to give to our assemblies the benefit of his counsel and the sanction of his presence.

But still more beautiful, it seems to me, is the sight of the aged brother, whose well-spent life has been illustrated by the virtues of brotherly love, relief and truth, who has kept inviolate the vows taken in the morning of his life, whose love for the Craft has never been im

o wear

opriate

as you him in

place

your

s duty

of his

urbed.

cutest

"the

defy could

as glad

purity inless

odden

say, a ", and

of hise, and

in the

daily

› one,

moni

pe re

busi

s the

aged

28 of

aken

im

paired, and whose heart still abounds in charity. Thus, even as in nature, the hour of sunset is sometimes made glorious by rarer and more gorgeous colors than those which beautify the morning.

I am persuaded that such was Comp. HOFFMAN'S life and such his death.

By reason of strength he lingered on until the afternoon of the sixth of September, when, in his eightieth year, "he gave his blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace."

At his funeral, which took place on the ninth day of that month, I was present, with my associates of the Grand Council, thus, in your name, to testify to the esteem in which he was held in this Grand Chapter.

DECISIONS.

The Grand High Priest rendered the following decisions :

1. On the 19th day of March, 1879, M. E. WILLIAM H. PECKHAM, High Priest of St. George's Chapter, No. 157, made inquiry of me whether his Chapter could entertain the petition of a companion for affiliation before such companion had obtained his dimit from the Chapter of which he was a member. I answered the question in the negative.

2. On the 21st day of March, 1879, M. E. OLIVER C. BREED, High Priest of Oswego River Chapter, No. 270, made inquiry whether, in the event of an unfavorable report upon a candidate, a ballot was proper. I answered the question in the affirmative. One reason which I assigned for my opinion was, that while it was entirely proper to inform a candidate of the fact that a ballot upon his petition had proved unfavorable, there might be many reasons why he should not know that a committee of investigation had reported against him.

3. On the 6th day of April, 1879, M. E. Comp. BREED further interrogated me, whether it was competent for the High Priest of a Chapter to discharge a committee of investigation, which he had himself appointed, and name another in its stead. I answered that the High Priest had such right, and that he might exercise it whenever he discovered good reason therefor.

4. In answer to another inquiry of M. E. Comp. BREED, I held that there is no limit to the time within which a petition may lie in a Chapter without action being taken thereon.

5. I also held, in conformity with the decision of this Grand Chap