Correspondence.

small fortune , one equivalent to our E . C . would have paid , before he reached that rank , but little short of £ 200 for costume alone . Discrepancies like these could be multiplied page after page , but I think quite enough has been advanced to show that "Scrutator , " is hasty and incorrect iu his conclusions . I appeal to my fraters , the Knights of the Masonic Order

of Knights Templar , to discountenance all such attempts at assuming what we have no right to do . Freemasonry in every degree has quite enough to do to hold her own . Injudicious brethren have been the cause of heaping up a large amount of ridicule upon it through asserting it to be of fabulous antiquity and to belong to every age , society , religion , and country , in turn . The eduand

cated man is repulsed by such incongruities , as Masonic Knights Templar generally are educated men , and gentlemen , I hope we shall never need the " adventitious aid " of such writers as " Scrutator . " I am , Dear Sir and Brother , yours truly and fraternally , > £ « MATTHEW COOKE , 30 ° Grand Organist to the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templar .

TO THE EDITOK OP THE J-EEEltASOJr ' S MAGAZINE AMD MASONIC 3 IIRH 0 E . DEAR SIR KNIGHT , —There are many just remarks in " Scrutator ' s " letter , but I feel compelled to enquire whether he can furnish us with pcoofs that the English Freemasons , before 1717 , practised the mysteries which give us our distinctive characters , and , as well , of the succour afforded the templars at the dissolution by the

Freemasons ? ( a title first used in 1396 ) , who were ( under other names ) an operative society , and as Bro . Matthew Cooke and . yourself have shown , with a very simple ritual , and claiming their organisation , which was similar to that of other secret societies , from Euclid at Alexandria . Our peculiar system of mysteries , in later timeswere denominated by the York TemplarsFree

, , and Accepted Masonry , not Freemasonry . The early Templars were compelled to admit into their Order large numbers of operative Freemasons as serving brethren , and gradually , I think not markedly until the dissolution of religious houses , found it necessary to adopt many of their outward customs . Besides this , for a considerationthey affiliated numbers of every profession

, who were not considered to belong to the Order Without going back to the origin of secret mysteries , which , from their prevalence , must be placed before the dispersion of mankind , we find our traditions wonderfully borne out by historical facts . Before the institution

of Pythagoreon Masoitraneo , Colleges consisting of Disciples , Fellows , and Masters , were in existence amongst the ancient Jews , for the transmission of the oral law , and claimed their organisation from Moses ; and some of these , who afterwards became known as Essenes , joined , as an armed brotherhood bound by oaths , under the High Priest ( the President of the

Sanhedrim , ) Judas Maccabeus , for the defence of the Temple and the deliverance of the Holy Land . The first degree of the Essenian Ritual was precisely that of the first degree of a Knight Templar , similar to that of an apprentice of the present day , and in their assemblies these Essenes stood to order with the sign of our first degree . These mysteries were not confined to the

Essenes at this period , but were very prevalent and termed gnosticism , and Alexandria ( where the operative masons claim to have been first organised ) was a sort of Grand Orient . It is to some of these sects we are indebted for the foundation of the Rose Croix Degree , in order to make their ancient ceremonies correspond with the new law of the Christian reliion . In the eihth century wo

g g find an hospital at Jerusalem , claiming its origin from Johannes Hircanus Maccabeus , or St . John of Jerusalem , surnamed Elemosynarius , and all old Masonic documents claim this hospital as the mother lodge of Masonry . At the present day the degree of Prince of Jerusalem is the

" centre of the Continental Rite . So highly , indeed were those Maccabees esteemed by the early Christians that festivals was held in their honour . Every one knows that the Templars from the first were organised like these sects , and it was on the plea of gnosticism , that tho English branch of the Order was suppressed . Hence , I see no reason why we should , allow an operative

Grand Lodge entirely to ignore us , and deprive us of our own ceremonies , —tho three " ancient degrees , organised by Moses , and transmitted through the Essenian Maccabees , the Templars of St . John , and the monasteries of York , to our own days . It , perhaps , may not be generally known , that the York rito was very different to that of the Grand Lodge

of 1717 , and had little relating to operative Masonry , which , as soon as they safely could , they disavowed . The York rite is still practised in England , and is entirely dramatic . On this was founded the ritual of the Grand Lodge of 1717 , and several years later , on account cf their innovations on genuine Masonry , a portion seceded and called themselves Athol or Ancient Masons ,

granting warrants for " making Masons on the ancient system , as practised throughout the world , " recognised the High Grades , and under the sanction of the York Rite established a Grand Lodge for the South . These three bodies continued to work separately and independently , until the extinction of tho ancient York Lodge in 1787 , when Bro . Duukerley ( a modern Mason , ) somehow , obtained the command of the Templars , including the Arch degree . And in 1813 , when the ancient ' and modern Blue Masons were united , the

present system was adopted , which placed the government of what are now called the Craft degrees , under a Grand Lodge and chapter , and the Rose Oroix under a Templar Grand Encampment . There has been no peace in the Templar Order since the loss of the latter , and there will be no solid peace until some compromise is effected , perhaps by requiring it in place of the Arch

degree , and unless this is done it might , perhaps , be to the interests of the Order that it should be severed from Craft Masonry . " Scrutator " is , however , wrong when he states that the Scottish Priories admit the uninitiated ; this practice , as we are informed by the statutes , has been discontinued . All our degrees are , and were steps only in the Order of the temple . To the York Templars we

are indebted for the preservation of our degrees , and they were universally acknowledged heads of the Order . In Scotland , from the earliest times , the Templars have been connected with Johannite Masonry , and the charter of their oldest operative lodge states that they received it from the Templars ; and I strongly suspect that the claim of an operative oriin for our mysteries

g has thus spread . In France , where the transmission also has been unimpaired , they recognise Masonic degrees , so far that the first five are called the House of Initiation , and the Rose Croix is called the House of Posiulancc . I epiite agree with " Scrutator " as to the rejection of the term " Masonic" as well as the —for the first

, apron , the correct title is the Order of the Temple , and for the latter , tho correct thing is the Essenian and Templar Girdle . I remain , dear Sir Knight , yours fraternally , ef . X

TO THE EDITOR OP THE BREE 3 IASOJTS ItAGAZIXE AKD HASOKIO MIRROR . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER . —I quite agree with " Scrutator" that Sir Knight Masson left off his history where he should have begun it ; but I cannot arrive at the same conclusion upon all the other points in his long letter . Great mystery certainly envelopes the early history of the Rose Croix degree . " Scrutator ' s" idea of Its origin possesses at least the merit of probability ; and when history rested , as in Masonry , so much on tradition , probability must always