Hospitallaria;

HOSPITALLARIA ;

OR A SYNOPSIS OF THE HISTORY OP THE OKDEK OP

Shu ' aftis fposptf alters . ( Continued from page 74-. ) The venerable and sovereign Order of Saint John , during the period of its supremacy , enrolled from twenty to thirty thousand members , includiugknights , priests , aud serjens . The possessions of the

fraternity ( amounting after the suppression of the Templars to twenty-eight thousand manors , with the principality of Malta , Goza , & c . ) were divided into priories , bailiages , aud commanderies , and the government was administered by the Grand-Master and the Sovereign Council . This Supreme body ,

upon ordinary occasions , consisted of the Grand Master , whose style was " The most Illustrious and most Reverend Prince , the Lord Brother N—N— , Grand Master of the Hospital of St . John of Jerusalem , Prince of Malta , Gaules , Goza , " & c . ; the Bishop of Malta ; the Prior of the Church of Saint

John ; the eig ht Pilliers , or Conventual Bailiffs , viz . the Grand Commander from the Language of Province , the Marshal from Auvergne , the Grand Hospitaller from France , the Admiral from Ital y , the Grand Conservator from Arragon , the Turcopolier from Britain , the Grand Bailiff from Germany , and

the Chancellor from Castile ; and the eight Grand Priors of the different languages , —or eight Capitular Bailiffs . On extraordinary occasions there were added to these chief officers the Kni ghts Grand Crosses , two being allowed to each language besides those ex officio , and the two senior Kni ghts of each

Language ; and this was called the Council complete . The residence for the time being of the Grand Master , the'Prior of the Church of Saint John , and the Conventual Bailiffs , was considered the Chef Lieu , or Head Quarters , of the Order ; and it had attached to it a church , an hospital , and eight inns for the knights of the different nations . The Grand

priorswere the acting resident chiefs intheprovinces ; and under them the Conservators , Procurators , and Commanders , administered the affairs of the respective languages according to the general statutes of the Order . The war-dress of the Knights Hospitallers was a scarlet tunic , or sopra vest , on which was embroidered the sacred emblem of the Order . In the

convent they wore a black robe similarly adorned , with a cap of dignity . The other insignia were—first , a etar , which was worn on the left breast in the form of a cross patee , having eight points , symbolical of the eight beatitudes , and the eight languages which composed the Order ; second , a badge formed of a

white enamelled cross , having the angles charged with the supporters , or principal device , of the respective kingdom to which the language belonged . This , surmounted by an imperial crown , was worn originally suspended from the neck by a gold chain ,

latterly by a black riband , to these were added the sword , scarf , spurs , & c . As an armorial distinction , the knights were privileged to augment their family arms with a chief , gules , charged with a cross , argent and exteriorly adorned the shield with the mantle cap of dignity , banners , badge , and motto Pro Fide

On the division o . ' the Order in 1118 , the Knights Hospitallers of England , Scotland , and Ireland con . stituted the sixth language or nation . This branch of the fraternity , which attained to great power and wealth in these islands , was under the . administration of a Chanter , composed of the following principal

officers j viz ., the Turcopolier , or General of the Horse and Marine Guards ; the Lord Grand-Prior , the acting Chief of the British branch , and Capitular Bailiff , or Lieutenant of England ; the Lord Prior ofTorphicau , or Bailiff of Scotland ; tho Lord Prior of Kilmaiuham , or Bailiff of Ireland ; the

Conservator ; the Procurator ; the Grand Crosses ; the Commanders ; tho Grand Chaplains ; the Grand Secretary , &<• ., & c . The Grand Priorv of the sixth language , —a magnificent edifice founded by Lord Jordan Briset a little subsequently to 1101 ,- contained a church , an

hospital , and inns for the knights , & c . It was situated in the parish of Clerkenwell , London , which is , still rich iu monuments o ( the grandeur of the Hospitallers . When the Kni ghts Templars were suppressed in 1307 , the whole of their extensive possessions in the British Isles were bestowed on the

Knights of tho sixth language . The Order in England possessed fifty-three Commanderies , and in Scotland and Ireland there was scarcely a county in which they did not hold estates . The Grand Prior ¦ at in the Parliament of England as the Premier Baron of the realm , and the Prior of Torpbichen ,

commonly called Lord Saint John , took his seat as a Peer iu tho meeting of the Scottish Estates . The House of Saint John , Clerkenwell , or tho Grand Priory of the sixth language , was dedicated by Hcraclius , Patriarch of Jerusalem , in the year

of our Lord , 1185 . It was set on fire in 1381 , by tho rebels under Wat T yler , and burnt for seven days ; and it was not finally repaired till ono hundred and twenty-three years afterwards , when the Lord Prior Docwra , in 1501 , put the finishing hand to all the

Hospitallaria;

various re-erections which the calamitous event had made necessary . This building , in its widely varied decorations , both internally and externally , is said to have contained specimens of the arts both of Europe and Asia , together with collections of books and rarities , the loss of which in a less

turbulent age , would have been a subject of national regret . . During the Crusades , bodies of kuights from the European Commanderies were regularly drafted to serve under the standard of the Order ; and latterlv , for the defence of Rhodes and Malta , the Grand Masters frequently had occasion to summon the

whole chivalry of the various languages to the field . It is recorded by a contemporary historian , that in the year 1237 , in consequence of the Grand Master , Bertrand de Texis , having ordered large succours from the West , there went from the Grand-Priory in Clerkenwell , three hundred knights , preceded by

Theodoric , their Grand Prior . They marched with the banner of Saint John unfurled before them , and as they passed over London Bridge , they saluted the crowds who had congregated to see them depart ; at the same time recommending themselves , and their cause , to their prayers .

After the loss of Rhodes , several of the European kings contemplated seizing on the revenues of the Order of Saint John within their territories , under the pretext that they were no longer applicable to the defence of Christendom . The suppression of the Templars was a precedent which avaricious princes

treasured in vivid remembrance , and the Hospitallers , driven from their insular principality , and without a permanent and independent lodgment for their banner , found that the memory of their past services was but an indifferent shield between them aud royal rapacity . Under these circumstances , the

Grand Master , Vilhers de l'lsle Adam , visited the courts of Spain , Portugal , and Enghnd ; and by his eloquence , sagacity , and the halo that a long life of glory threw round him , succeeded in obtaining for the Hospitallers , fiom one of the sternest and most selfish hearts that ever ruled the destinies of nations , the barren roek which was the last scene

of their political existence ; and from the arrogant and rapacious Henry the Eighth , the temporary abandonment of the rigorous measures he had devised against the British branch of the Order . Respect for the venerable Knight , and the power of the Hospitallers of the sixth language , composed as it

was of the chivalry of the nation , for a time deterred Henry from openly prescribingitjbutat length , having come to an open rupture with the Pope , his wrath blazed forth in ungovernable fury . Iu 1534 , by an arbitrary act of the legislature , the Order of St . John , which had a sovereign and independent

existence , was abolished in the King of England ' s dominions ; and the property in England , Wales , and Ireland , which belonged in common to the members of the eight languages of which the fraternity was composed , in violation alike of the law of nations and equity , was violently seized upon . Several

knights , refusing to abjure their privileges , perished on the scaffold . Others , abandoning their country for ever , sought an asylum in Malta , where they were received by the Grand Master with the tenderness of a father , and had generously administered to them that consolation of which he himself stood in

need . Sir William Weston , the Lord Grand Prior , overwhelmed with grief , died on the day on which the suppression of the sixth language was promulgated , and was buried in the chancel of the old church of Saint John , Clerkenwell . An altar-tomb in tl- > e architectural style of the ago , was erected over his

remains , which still exists . It represents the aged knight , ly ing on a winding-sheet , worn to a skeleton by distress of mind . The care and anxiety occasioned by the rigorous measures of the King of England , which bent the gray hairs of the illustrious Villiers de l'lsle Adam in sorrow to the grave , broke the

heart of the Grand Prior of Britain : and the simple epitaph of the former , " Here lies Virtue triumphant over Misfortune , " might also have been inscribed over the latter . On the accession of Qur-en Mary to the throne of England , conscience-stricken at her father ' s unjust

spoliation and persecution of tho Order of Saint John , she determined to make restitution of all the commanderies and manors in the possession of the crown which had been confiscated . In 1553 , an envoy conveyed to Malta an invitation to the knights to send a deputation to England without delay .

Accordingly tho Commander de Montferrat was despatched to that country , and in virtue of the authority reposed iu him , was re-iu vested in theestates which had formerly belonged to the Order . ( To be continued , )

Wis are glad to be able to annoinee that Bro . the Rev . Roht . J . Simpson , J / . / l ., of Oriel's College , Oxford , Vicar of Slouch , has been nominated to the . important metropolitan rectory of St . Clement Danes . Bro . Simpson is a Past Grand Chaplain of

England , and our readers will remember that the Inaugural Oration , at the dedication of Freemasons ' Hall , on the 14 th April , was delivered by the Rev . brother as Grand Chaplain .

Papers On Masonry.

PAPERS ON MASONRY .

BY A LEWIS . XX . —MASONRY AMONG THE MORMONS . " Depart from me , ye evil doers : for I will keep the commandments of my God . —Psalm cxix . 115 .

" A false witness that speaketh lies , and he that sowctb . discord among brethren , " —Proverbs , vi . 19 . One of the most remarkable phenomena of modern times is certainly the facility with which men can and

do strive to form sects , professedly of a religious character , but administering only to the satisfaction of the passional emotions of mankind . While on the one hand we find men endeavouring with all their strength to elevate the mind by education , to introduce that happy state of calm which exists in a due balance

between Superstition and Reason—between God as unseen , and Nature as seen—we find others rivetting the chains of Credulity by introducing new pretended revelations . They have the effrontery to support their " divine " claims by books of various kinds , according

to the purposes their founders might desire to introduce for their own advantage . But we also find , in our singular era , men honestly seeking to cast out the foolish method ; rejecting what is manifestly inconsistent , and reconciling Science , Nature . and God . Among this class we may reckon the body of Freemasons , who

say : — " For points of creed let senseless zealots fight , He can't be wrong , whose life is in the right . " But 1 want to put a case of such a nature as to bring prominently before the more thoughtful readers of my papers , the question of what relations can exist between

a Mason who has become converted to the creed of Joseph Smith and has submitted to ihe rule of Brighain Young , and his " Gentile" Brethren ? I wish to know how polygamy stands as regards Masonry . It is a point worthy of discussion . That many Masons have become Latter-Day Saints , I can hardly believe ; but

it is well known that men . otherwise of the most lofty minds , have condescended to basenesses of a character hardly intelligible when even most carefully scrutinised . A Mason cannot divest himself of the knowledge he has gained of the ceremonies of Freemasonry . He may be degraded , but his expulsion is a force ; and we are aware that Masons have been known even to commit

great crimes . Do not let me be misunderstood ; the creed of the Mormons may be all right for what I know , but my close aud attentive perusal of the '' Book of . Mormon , " aworkofthomost Herculean and Morphean characterthe Mormons do not read much of it themselves—has

led me to one of these two dilemmas : either that the Divine Spirit presumed to dictate revelations to mankind must have been suffering from a violent headache , or that the " Manuscript Found , " written by a very indifferent author , named Solomon Spaulding , formed the main substratum of Joe Smith ' s imposture . Let

me also mention that although polygamy was not universally adopted into practice in thu commencement of the " Church , " the Prophet Joe Smith " received a revelation , " on tho 12 th July , 1813 , in the presence , we are told , of Ilyruni Smith , his father and Grand Patriarch , and Clayton , an early disciple . His mind

was moved , and he appealed to the Lord—the following celestial telegram was returned : "Do tho works of Abraham . If a man espouso ten virgins , who arc given him by the law ( the Mormon revealed law ) , ho cannot commit adultery , for they belong to him ; therefore lie is justified . Let my daughter Emma receive

all those who have been bestowed upon my servant Joseph , and who are virtuous in my sight . " Emma was the Prophet ' s wife , and was not edified . Now , supposing that a EYcuiniison , OIIUJ a Gmtile , afterwards a Mormon , marries according to Minnon law , a Mason ' s sister , etc ., how does he stand ? It is

worthy of reflection . In an article writlon by Joseph Smith himself in I . Daniel Itupp ' s "Original History of the Iteligious Denominations at presjut existing in the United States , "—published at Phila lelphia , 1814 , p . 410—the Prophet concludes his account of his Church in these words : — " We believe in Uiuvi

subject to kings , presidents , rulers and magistrates ; in obeying , honoring , and sustaining tint law . We believe in being honest , true , chaste , benevolent , virtuous , aud in doing good to all men ; indue I , we may sav that we follow the admonition of Paul—> oe bdieva all things ; we hone all things ; we have endured many

things , and hope to be able to endure all things . If tliervi is anything virtuous , lovely , or of good rep irt , or praiseworthy , we seek thereafter . " The italics are mine—the words acknowledged to bo Smith's . But enough of this point . As it has been stated that Freemasonry exist !

among the Mormons , I am detennin ; d l . o sho . v w ' lat those peculiar rites are , as reported by some who have passed through them . There is no violation of confidence , as they have long since been made public property , although the works contain ! ig the

particulars are not easily accessible . But lliey contradict Joe ' s creed as above . The ceremony in tho first instance is denominated the Endowment , and is performed in a building specially devoted to the purpose . Tho candidates