Masonry is not a religion—it does not pretend to be that: but it is a religious -society—a fact that is I fear, sometime overlooked. True, a Lodge need not have a Chaplain at all, but if it has, he takes precedence of both the Secretary and the Treasurer, since the Y.5J" is to hold a higher place among tie~ brethren than either the minute book or the cash book. I hope it does—in reality, The Chaplains duties are not lengthy; in our daily lives, most of our time is spent in some forms of labour and refreshment, part of it in serving a friend or brother in time of need, and some part—it probably may be only a tiny part—in prayer to Almighty God: but this last is an essential part. Essential for one thing because if our labours in life are to be conducted in peace, "we must seek from God, who alone can give it, that peace of mind which enables us to perform our duty to our neighbour—by rendering him every kind office which justice or mercy may require; in fact, by doing to him as in similar cases we would wish he should do to us.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.