The Knights Templars.

decreed , by unanimous consent of their chapter , that he should have the power of pardoning any brother who had transgressed the rules of the Order , provided he came and acknowledged his crime before this their benefactor . And the

Knights of St . John , to whom all the possessions of the Templars were assigned ( for to give to profane uses such things which had been consecrated to God our ancestors thought a crime not to be atoned for ) , in testimony of their gratitude ,

granted to John Mowbray de Axholm , successor of the said Roger , that he and his successors , at every assembly of their Order , should be received in the next degree of bonour to sovereign princes . By the custom of this place , the tenants could not

marry Avithout the consent of the Templars or Hospitallers , as appears by an account taken in the reign of Henry II . [ To he continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

OFFICE OF CHAPLAIN . Has the office of Grand Lodge , or Provincial Grand Lodge Chaplain , ever been held by an individual who was not a Christian clergyman?—Question taken from one of Bro . Purton Cooper's Note-books .

BOOK OF KINGS , LVII . It appears that according to some commentators the names in question are supposed to be the beginning of inscriptions . The Jews have a practice of showiug the first letter or word as circular inscriptions . —E . R .

MASOXIC CHARGE OS INITIATION INTO OTJE FIRST DEGREE . A foreign brother , a Roman Catholic , is wholly misinformed respecting the nature of this charge , as a passage making part of a communication to the Freemasons Magazine ( vol xiv ., p . 367 ) two years

ago , sufficiently shows . My correspondent not appearing to have access to the volumes of that publication for bygone years , the passage for his convenience is here subjoined . " ( The Worshipful Master speaks . ) _ As a Freemason let me recommend to your most serious contemplation the volume of the Sacred here the

Law ( W . M . points to the Bible placed open before him ) charging you to consider it as the unerring standard of truth and justice , and to regulate your actions by the principles it contains . Therein you will be taught the important duties you owe to God , to your neighbour , and to yourself . " —C . P . COOPEE .

KING DAVID ' S CHARTER . Bro . Buchan is quite right , the date of the charter is not correct , for it should be A . D . 1147 , not 1157 . The latter being printed in error , as was also " March 1 st , I 860 , Freemasons' Magazine , " when it should be March 17 th .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

The copy of the charter to ancient lodge at Stirling was obtained from Bro . Dyson , P . M ., and on referring again to it , I find " David the first" plainly stated ,, although Bro . Buchan says not . Some of the translations of these ancient charters seem in a fair way of being proved forgeries , and I am glad to find that Bro ..

Buchan ctill perseveres in endeavouring to procure a correct translation of the St . John's Charter , rTo . 3 Glasgow . Even when that is obtained , I do not envy him the task of proving that the present holders of this ancient document are the legitimate descendantsof the original incorporation or fraternity chartered

by King Malcolm , and thus entitled to be considered members of a lodge which has been in existence for more than half a dozen centuries . Still it would be premature to give an opinion before the authenticated translation is produced ; - but in common with many , I await its arrival withinterest . —W . J . HTTGHAN .

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER . At one time the Book of Common Prayer , according to the rites and ceremonies of tbe Church of England , being considered to contain all the moral principles of Freemasonry , was an established lodgebook . —From Bro . Purton Cooper ' s Commonplace-Book , No . 2 .

THE EVIL SPIRIT CREATED BY OURSELVES . The brother at Frankfort-on-the-Maine , who has been so obliging as to send me a copy of Maier's " Historia Diaboli , " is right in his conjectural emendation . In my communication , " The Evil Spirit , " Freemasons' Magazine , vol . xvi ., p . 486 , for " there is no Evil Spirit created by ourselves , " read "There is no Evil Spirit except the Evil Spirit created by ourselves . " —0 . P . COOPER .

BRO . A . 0 . HAYE AND BRO . II . B . WHITE . Bro . White asks , "How can that , which is in itself untrue , be an unerring standard of truth to anyone ?" Bro . Haye does not say it would be , but merely observes that what the New Testament is to the Christian , the Koran is to the Mahomedan , the

works of Confucius to the Chinese , and the Bible to the Jew . We cannot discuss which one is true in the Freemasons' Magazine , and therefore Bro . White ought not to ask the question , out of respect to the brethren who are Mahomedans and other religions . All Masonry requires of its candidates is that they

must be of some religion or other , and must take some kind of O . B ., whatever that may be , and on what . Hence although eminent Freemasons and C hristians , like Bros . Findel and Haye , admit that Christianity was discernible in Freemasonry before the Unionand under the English Rite has been slihtl

, gy retained since , there is no ancient landmark to prevent other Grand Lodges from making the " unerring standard of truth" that which accords with their religion . Still , in my opinion , Freemasonry is a Christian institution . —W . J . HTTGHAN .

BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF A PERSONAL BEVIL , CHIEF OF EVIL SPIRITS . This belief forms no part of Natural Theology , and therefore it forms no part of the religion of Freemasonry as a universal institution . —From one of Bro . Purton Cooper ' s Note-hooks .