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with that of St . John of Jerusalem , so that " their secret doctrines were preserved and introduced into various countries of Europe . " It is a well-known legend of the Society that a few Templars became mingled with the Architectural

Fraternities , and it is on record that as early as 1590 a Lodge of Builders at Stirling in Scotland had a Templar Chapter attached to it , tho members of which were designated " Cross-legged Masons , " and whose initiatory ceremonies were performed not in a room , but in the old abbey , the

ruins of which are still to be seen in the neighbourhood . After the Reformation , " the combined Orders of the Temple and ' Hospitallers of St . John ' in Scotland appear only as belonging to the Masonio Society . " In England , after 1717 , many brethren , dissatisfied with the

radical changes then introduced , held meetings among themselves for the purpose of teaching the old doctrines , and in the middle of last century " these meetings assumed the form of a revival of the Chivalric- Templars , imitating their ancient ceremonies and usages . " In these Templar

Lodges or Encampments the legitimacy of the Templar and ancient Masonic doctrines was fully believed in . From this has sprung our present system which " appears to serve" to keep alive the true Christian and Trinitarian character of Freemasonry , the direct descent theory of

British Templary from the Ancient Knights being unsustainable , beyond showing " that the doctrines of the Old Order are still intact , and form the basis of our Modern system . " After showing how different is the Templar system as pursued in the United States , Sir Knight Moore goes on

to deprecate any radical change in the present organisation . The American Templars may regard the Canadian as inferior in respect to their nationality , and because the latter form only a branch of the Cosmopolitan Order which boasts of the Prince of Wales as its Grand Master ; but this is the

very point on which they , as Canadian Templars , should pride themselves , and any separation on their part from the Order would degrade them into " a mere adjunct to the Craft , " so that they would become a kind of " Police " guard for public display and demonstrations of Craft

Masonry . Convent General " may have proved a mistake , a mere illusion , and Great Priory should no doubt be selfcontained , but it is in reality independent , and it would be

uncourteous to think of severing our connection with the Grand Master to whom we have sworn fealty , and who moreover belongs to Canada as well as to England and Ireland . "

Other matters are also touched upon , of which the following , relating to the sacredness of the ballot , and being universally applicable , is worth quoting : " It is with pain I feel called upon to notice reports and complaints made to me during the past year of practices utterly at variance

with all the principles of honour and teachings of Masonry , which I did not think it possible could exist . I refer to personal disputes and ill-feeling prevailing in some Preceptories , which has led to the underhand and most dishonourable action of taking advantage of the ' Secret

Ballot' to blackball all candidates brought forward , not from any fault as to their character or merits , but from personal dislike and spite towards the rules of the Preceptory , or the individual member who proposed the candidate . Such acts are most base and unmanly , and if

substantiated that individuals have boasted that they did so , or intended to do so , should subject the offenders to be ignominiously expelled and not tolerated in any society . " We agree with every word of this strong condemnation of so base a practice .

The further proceedings are principally of local interest , but the question of absolute and complete independence of Convent General having been referred to a Special Committee , that body , of which Sir Knight J . H . Graham was Chairman , reported in favour of the proposition , and the

Great Prior , though retaining his own personal views on the question , consented , in deference to the wishes of the general body , to take the necessary steps to bring about the Separation from the Templar system as presided over "b y the Prince of Wales as Grand Master . Sir Knight

Graham is entitled to his own opinions , and to exercise in support of them such influence as he may happen to possess , but , in our view , Colonel Moore is a far better and

more prudent counsellor , and it is to be regretted that Sir Knight Graham did not time his arrival on the scene so as to have been too late , as owing to his ahsence , and that of other members of the sub-Committee , during the earlier

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part of the proceedings , no report was delivered , and it had been resolved that the question should be deferred till next annual assembly . But Sir Graham appeared on the scene , and , as might have been foreseen , the separation question was taken up and settled . Bnt no other result could have

been anticipated when it is remembered that this is the same brother who , as Grand Master of Quebec , had it in contemplation to anathematise all English Masons , from His Royal Highness downwards , because certain Lodges in Montreal will not place themselves under the banner of

the Grand Lodge of Quebec ; and who , since then , has distinguished himself by addressing a most objectionable letter to the Grand Master of the Mark Grand Lodge of England , and having it printed , and we presume published

before it could possibly have reached the brother to whom it was addressed . We say again , it is deeply to be regretted that the prudent course of Great Prior Moore was not preferred to that of Frater Graham .

Masonry And Christianity.

MASONRY AND CHRISTIANITY .

A STRIKING ANALOGY . THE secret , quiet , and yet potent influence that emanates from Freemasonry , an influence which manifests itself not with ostentation or parade , but by tranquil methods , while it meets the approbation of all initiates , and

is not excepted to even by impartial thinkers among the profane , has had the fortune to evoke from ultra-religionists , both Roman Catholic and Protestant , unsparing condemnation . These fanatics will not consider whether the

fundamental principles of Freemasonry are correct , or morall y helpful , but the simple fact that the Fraternity is secret , in the sense of excluding from its meetings all but Initiates , causes it to receive their emphatic disapproval . They seem to forget that for several centuries Christianity itself

was a secret society—more purely so than Freemasonry is now , in that all of its principles were secret , and its meetings were all held in secret , and at night , at which none but Christians were permitted to be present . No Masonio Lodge is more jealously tyled now than a Christian

assemblage was then . More than this : The secrets of Christianity were communicated only to initiates , and these initiates were first made Christians , then advanced in Christianity , and finally raised to a knowledge of all the aporrheta of

Christianity . There were three degrees in Christianity . Its religious system was known as Disciplina Arcani , the Discipline of the Secret . There was an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine . The three classes who received

the three degrees of the Primitive Church were the Catechumens , the Competentes , and the Illuminati , or Mystae . In the first degree of Christianity the candidate was baptized—Baptism introduced the believer to the Christian Mystery . The secret doctrines taught in the several

degrees were those of the Trinity in unity , the Incarnation of the Logos , or Son of God , the Crucifixion , the Resurrection and the secret of the Liturgy . Baptism initiated the candidate , while a participation in the Lord ' s Supper , or Eucharist , marked the raising of the candidate to the

highest degree of Christian light and doctrine . Freemasons will observe the remarkable analogy between the secret character of primitive Christianity , and its division into degrees , and Freemasonry . But this analogy extended even further . The meetings of the early Christians were

held exclusively at night . Indeed , the advent of the Founder of Christianity took place at night , the Lord ' s Supper was instituted at night , and the Resurrection occurred at night . In the time of Justin Martyr ( A . D . 170 ) Christianity was positively a secret society ; but a few

years later it became , if possible , still more so . In the time of Pope Innocent I . ( A . D . 402-417 ) Bishop Dicentius consulted the Pope upon the subject of the Sacramental Rites , when he was told , " That instead of asking for explanations in writing about the secret things , he should have

contented himself with observing what took place in the celebration of the Mysteries , at which he had several times assisted . " And , after giving some sage advice , Pope Innocent I . concluded : "As to the other things about which we are not permitted to write , you will ask us when you come

here , and we will be able to answer . A written communication would oetray the secret" ( Migne's Patrology , vol . 20 , p 51 ) . Twenty-eight times in the New Testament do we find the words Mystery and Mysteries . For example : "We