The Knight's Templars.

should be given to those sentiments , which no one could disguise in the hour of death who expected salvation . 6 . That they should admit as witnesses , and even constrain them , those Knights who had not deponed anything either for or against the Order , of whom there was a great number ,

and that they should not longer be permitted to indulge in a criminal silence . For this purpose , they should be forced to take an oath to tell the truth , and that they should be permitted to give their evidence , freely regarding what passed at their receptionancl what took place and was

, practised in the chapters . 7 . That they should cause to appear , and interrogate , the Kuight Adam cle Valaiucourt , a Parisian , whom they could procure easily , as he was at the time in Paris , to answer , if it was not true that , animated by too ardent a zeal , he had quitted the Order to embrace

that of Chartreux , in which he believed he could better save his soul ; that , having joined that Order he abandoned it , as he acknowledged he had been deceived in his idea , and asked to be permitted to return to that of the Temple , iu which alone he had the sure reliance of saving- his soul . This

request was granted him , upon his undergoing the punishment awarded to the inconstant by the statues . This was to appear at a full chapter , accompanied by several of his friends , and , kneeling before the Superior , to ask his and the brethren ' s pardon ; to eat grass in the refectory

for a year ancl a day ; to fast during that time from bread ancl water every Saturday ; and to come every Sunday to the Grand Conventual Mass , to receive discipline . Valaiucourt had submitted to all these conditions ; and it was not till after a long delay that he was received anew , p , nd permitted to wear the habit of the Order .

" He is yet living , ' exclaimed Boulogne . " Let them bring him here , and ask him . He will confirm these facts , and give an account in what manner we have conducted ourselves in the Order , and in what manner we have lived . What , Sirs ! can it enter into the minds of men of good sense ,

to believe that so many persons of the first quality should choose a condition , and enter an Order , where suddenly they chauged their religion ; or entering into it , for the sole purpose of saving themselves from damnation , should consent , neverthelessto be lost for ever ? Whatnone of them

, , have resisted ! All have persevered ! They all have given themselves up to abominable crime ! No one has been reclaimed ! No one repented ! During two centuries the secret has been kept ! These are incredible facts—not onl y false , but ridiculous , impertinent , and absurd , ancl which

victoriously prove the blind and atrocious fury and malignity of our enemies , and their unjust ancl odious project of destroying an Order so respectable . In short , it displays the falseness of all the depositions against the Order , which only force and fear could have wrung from the Templars , and made them depone to imaginations and absurd

The Knight's Templars.

circumstances , which they believed , by so confessing , would procure them the favour and mercy of the King-. " To the manifesto , and bold and spirited language of Boulogne , the Commissioners could make no reply . They were embarrassed by the evident

innocence of the Order , and the false testimony borne against it . They contented themselves with receiving the manifesto , and ordered four copies to be made of it . They then sent the Templars back to their prisons * ( To be continued . )

Masonic Sermon.

MASONIC SERMON .

The following is a sketch of a sermon preached iu St . Andrew's Episcopal Church , Banff , on St . Andrew's Day , to the St . Andrew ' s and St . John's Lodges of Freemasons , Banff , by the Rev . J . Davidson , Prov . a . Chap . : — Text—Rom . xiii , S , 10 . The preacher , after

alluding to the season ancl the p ositionwhich the sect occupied in the Church ' s Advent Services , dwelt at some length on the duty of Christian love or charity , illustrating his subject from the examples of the early Christians , whose love for one another challenged the attention and drew forth theadmiration of the Heathen

among whom they dwelt . "Behold how these Christians love one another . " He then proceeded to notice that , whatever motives they had for loving one another , we possessed the same . The first reason of all for the exercise of brotherly love is founded on the fact that God has made of one blood all the

nations of the earth ; hence we are all the children of one common Father . But the next ground for those who in he addressed loving one another rested on the fact that they were associated as brethren in the great confederation of freemasonry , which was a charitable

and benevolent Order , founded hythe virtuous for the purpose of spreading the virtues of morality and science among the orders ancl conditions of men . He then alluded to the antiquity of the Order , the rise of whicli was lost iu the far past , but its history intimately connected with the worship of the true God , and therefore with reli

gion and godliness was written iu those monuments of Christian art , cathedrals , minsters , churches , and kindred works , which would remain as monuments of the Craftsman ' s skill and piety till the Advent fire should burn up this perishable globe and all its contents . Then , alluding to the

universal language of Masonry , ancl various ways and instances of its usefulness , notice was taken of the fact that men of the most opposite tenets and ofthe most contradictory opinions were through the universal principles of the Order united in one indissoluble bond of loveso that in nation a Mason miht

, every g find a friend and in every clime a home . Iu conclusion , the doctrine of the text was enforced by an appeal to his hearers to think as Christians of ail that had been done for them through the Saviour ' s love ; aud , it He so loved them , how ought they to love one another .