The Temple At Paris.

magnificent arch , from the place de la Concorde to the p lace de la Bastille , is a great row of houses . Near the Port of St . Martin turns this splendid arch in a south-easterly direction , towards the place de la Bastille and there it was known as the Boulevard de Temple . Here stood in the time of the first revolution , one now

entirely erased building , or entirely transformed quarter , whose centre was of old the mighty and magnificent castle of the Templars . The beginning of this castle , which in strength , beauty , and enormous size surpassed those of the French Kings falls in the time of Louis XVIL , who presented the Templars with land outside of the city , before the Porte of St . Antoine .

With the same enthusiasm and valour which characterised all actions of the Templars , rose out of this , then swamp land , the Temple , with its walls , parapets and turrets , covering an immense area . The castle was the seat of the Grand Preceptor of France , the next in office to the Grand Master . Here also were assembled all the conclaves of Templars this

side of tbe Alps , and hundreds of them , assisted by Serviente , had their head quarters there . The main building , the strong quadrangular tower , was only completed 1306 , by the Grand Preceptor Jeanle-Turc . Hardly was the tower completed , when King Philip the Beautiful , against whom the citizens rose in arms , sought and found shelter there .

The Templars not only protected him but also , through their influence , subdued the people ' s ire . The King thanked the Templars in his blandest manners , yet he , with his creature , Pope Clement V . swore destruction to the order . The most faulty in the transaction , was the Pope . Philip might have found an excuse , being unscrupulous , but also determined , as to a united kingly power , and the destruction of Templars might have advocated his plans . The fifth Clement , though a sworn

protector of the order , only sanctioned the proceedings out of sheer avarice and cowardice , but what more could be expected of one who stands almost unappreciated as one of the " Governors of Christ" for his destitution of honour , virtue , and faith , a Pope who permitted his "friend" a daughter of the Duke of Foix and wife of the Duke de Talleyrand-Perigord , to break the finest and

costliest diamonds out of the tiara , aud have bracelets made out of them . The 12 th of October , 1307 , King Philip the Beautiful was the guest ofthe Templars , of G . M . Jacques de Molay , who had been induced by the Pope and the wish of the King to leave the Isle of Cyprus aud come to France , in order , seemingly , to be also involved in the general destruction of the Order . The next day this diabolical act was to begin .

Indictments were found in the accusations of the Papal and Kingly tools , ready to torture and slaughter—to honour God . One hundred and forty Templars , among the different officials , surrounded the G . M ., on this occasion , this memorable day of October . The King , their invited guest , Philip , was condescending beyond measure and while he was jubilant with DeMolay and the others ,

his seneschals and bailiffs had orders to capture on the 13 th of October all Templars then in France , either fair or foul , imprison them , and confiscate all and everything belonging to them—and so it was done . The proceedings of the 12 th and 13 th of October are justly called the blackest leaves of history . The torture was Judge , and how fearfully it was applied , one instance testifies ,

where one tortured ravingly burst forth—it was I who helped to crucify our Saviour . Executions were hundred fold . In Paris alone , 113 suffered on the stake . The 12 th of May , 1310 , 51 Templars were before the door of St . Anthony roasted alive , nevertheless declaring their innocence . So also did J . DeMolay , and the G . Preceptor of Normandy , who ascended the stake , built on a little Isle of the Seine , on

The Temple At Paris.

the 11 th of March , 1313 , where a statue of Henry II . now stands . Tradition says , that the unfortunate Molay , out of the suffocating flames and smoke , called the King and Pope to appear before the tribunal of Eternal God , and it somewhat strangely come true , for Clement V ., died on the 20 th of April , 1314 , at Roquemaure , while Philip died on the 29 th of November , 1311 , at

Fontainebleau . Had Philip been able to lift the veil of futurity on the 12 th of October , to see the 13 of Aug . 1792 , ib would have likely deranged his mind , for on this day the " Temple Tower" became the Prison of French Kings . The 21 st of January , 1793 was the dethroned King led forth from the Temple to the Guillotine .

The 1 st of August , Marie Antonette left the Temple for the Conciegerie . The 10 th of May , 1794 , brings in the cart an innocent victim , Princess Elizabeth for that fatal knife , the 8 th of June , 1795 , died in the Temble , a poor , mentally , and phisically , crippled , rheumatic , and almost dumb boy , Louis Charles , son of the unfortunate Queen Marie Antonette , since which time , the Temple goes to ruin , having been the witness of Eoyalty and depravity .

Progress.

PROGRESS .

What is it ? The march of mind , whether for good or for evil . The old adage is trite in this connection" Just as the twig is bent , so will the trunk be inclined . " An impetus in any direction from a given point will manifest progress . Progress may be fast or slow ; our ideas may take the pace of a snail , or they may be telegraphed with lightning speed ; it may be downwards or

upwards . Perhaps there never has been a period in the history of the world when progress could be so truthfully said to be the genius of . the age as the present . We are not satisfied to stand still , nor yet to move at the slow measured tread of the turtle ; everything impels us to celerity ; we must glide swiftly along . Although we are what may well be called fast men , yet we cannot be called

thoughtless or heedless , on the contrary , thought still keeps ahead of the age . It beats the telegraph in speed , and even is not outdone by sound and light , those annihilators of space and distance . What is there that connects the periods of creation and final consummation so completely as thought ? The mind of man is , in a sense , divine . We may stand upon the promontory of

time present , and how quickly does thought , on the wings of past experience and history , cut through the dusty ages of the past , and then donning tho pinions of fancy and imagination , fly through the coming ages of

the future , forbidding our approach by its dewy and dim outlines , but at each step of our bold and dashing approach , growing brighter , until bewildered and fasinated by the new and increasing beauties gradually unfolding to our ravished senses , we are at the end of time before we know . Such is thought , with which man was endowed by his Creator , the only connecting link—a

past eternity with the future eternity . Did I say that ib was the connecting link ? Perhaps I may recall that ; time is the connectinglink , but astride of it sits thought . Thought may be said to be like Janus , the Roman God , two-faced—one for the past and the other for the future —so that though thought may ride the steed , old time , with its frosty maneyet it can take in all the pastand

, , penetrate with equal facility the future . Closely attached is its shadow or attending pageprogress . Progress is an impressible personage ; all her movements are governed by her lord—thought . If an advance is made , progress advances also ; or if a flank or rear movement , then progress follows ; it' he is happy , it is reflected from her countenance . In whatever garb

he appears , so also does progress . In fine , so intimate are tho two , one may be said to be the substance and the other its component parts . This is tho inner-self that we have looked at . We will now see what progress