TO MASONS,

ON THE SCANDAL WHICH A LAXNESS IN THE DISCHARGE OF THEIR

MORAL DUTIES, BRINGS UPON THE CRAFT.

MASONRY is what it professes to be-a beautiful system of morality, pure as the unsullied atmosphere of Heaven; fervent as the meridian blaze of Sol; and zealous as the teeming earth, which is continually laboring for our comfort and support. How then shall we account for the prejudice which, it must be confessed, exists against it? The proneness which dwells in the mind of man to associate evil with secresy, cannot be assigned as a sufficient reason; nor is the barrier interposed between our mysteries and the popular world so impassible, as to render it, in every sense, an exclusive secret. Our science is ever ready to receive just and upright men into her bosom of Charity: and one would imagine that, at her bidding, all good men would hasten to enroll themselves as members of so beautiful a system. What then deters them? With shame be it spoken-the acts of Masons themselves. The uninitiated, being forbidden to enter the tyled recesses of our temples, can judge of Masonry only from its disciples. With plausibility they say, if Masonry be indeed the beautiful science it is represented to be, the fruits of that beauty will be developed in its professors; by them we shall see if the system be of good, or of evil. The justness of this means of arriving at truth I deny, although it must be confessed to have some force but its correctness or incorrectness is foreign to my purpose; I merely wish to show the means whereby a conclusion is arrived at, and its effect. With the resolution, therefore, of passing judgment upon Masonry from the moral conduct of its professors, they watch them with the keen eye of scrutiny; and how little will the lives and conduct of many calling themselves Masons, bear the test! The evil deeds of the wicked are more glaring than the modest acts of Virtue, whose charity and truth oftener seek the sequestered vale than the glare of noon; and even the weaknesses of good men are more apparent to the eye of prejudice than their excellences. On this account we suffer in the estimation of many, who, poorly versed in the nature of man, seek for unsullied excellence, and are disappointed. But what shall we say to those Masons whose evil ways detract from the good opinion which the rectitude of others has won for Masonry? What can be said, when deaf to her beautiful precepts, they shame themselves, and bring scandal on the Craft, by acts worthy only of the beasts that perish, and double shame to them, who enjoy the twofold privileges of Christianity and Masonry? Excommunication is a means of punishment which should only be resorted to in extreme cases; but on no one's head could its thunders light more worthily than on those whose lives shame the religion they profess, whose deeds show them unworthy of its privileges, and whose slight proves them unworthy of her protecting arm.

Seeing the great evil which the unworthiness of some brings upon the Craft in general, I would exhort others to take heed to their ways. Beholding how much the prosperity of our beautiful science depends upon the rectitude of our lives, let us study in all things to live as

worthy members of a body which will never dishonour us, if we do not dishonour it. Knowing that the eye of the world is upon us; that the evil man will eagerly catch at our errings, to drag us down to the level of his own evil way; and that the good are analyzing our science by the acts of our lives, let us walk as those who have been called from darkness unto light. From the meanest of us some jewel of the mind is expected to dart a benign ray into the darkness of a corrupt world; and in proportion as we rise in our profession, are we expected to illumine the moral horizon. From him to whom much is given is much required. Let not those whose talents have raised them to office be as sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal; but remember, that it is not the talent, but the application, that ennobles man. They have been placed by the Great Architect of the Universe, in a situation which will enable them to do infinite good or evil, and their use or abuse of the authority vested in them will plead for or denounce them, when, after having passed through the mysterious darkness of the grave, they pray to be admitted into that Grand Lodge not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens, the password to which is, a belief in Christ, and a life spent in his service. A laxness of principle in them will create the same among the humbler Brethren; while a strict discharge of duty will be attended with the most beneficent results. By accepting office, I consider they virtually pledged themselves to be living witnesses of the divine precepts of Masonry reduced to practice,-her moral lights-not stumbling-blocks in the path of their brother.

Knowing the force of example, I am confident that were the Masters and Officers of Lodges to discharge their duties with freedom, fervency, and zeal, the Craft would make a giant stride in the affection of the moral world; that all societies would hail a Mason as an invaluable member; that to have a son a Mason would be a mother's joy; and to have a husband from the Masonic body, would be to our fair sisters an assurance of felicity. Then would a man's initiation be the prelude to his discharge of every moral and religious virtue, to which he would be encouraged, not only by the hope of an eternity of bliss hereafter, but by the happiness which he would have so many opportunities of seeing it produce even in this world.

My Brethren, can you subscribe to the truth of these remarks, and not use your utmost efforts to bring so desirable a state of things to pass? Oh! let me conjure you by our beautiful science-by your obligation-by the hold which Virtue yet has upon the heart of manto unite with me in honest efforts, however humble, to bring about a "consummation so devoutly to be wished." Whether we fail, or whether we succeed, our reward is sure; a reward considered inestimable by all good men-the approval of God and of our own conscience.

CATO.

COMPARISON BETWEEN SOME OF THE CEREMONIES AND USAGES AMONGST THE FREEMASONS OF THE PRESENT DAY AND THE CEREMONIES AND EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

Being part of a Lecture upon the subject by Bro. J. C. v. D. M. M. Translated by G. W., St. John, 95.

[From the Dutch Freemasons' Almanack of 1817.]

THE opinion that Freemasonry derives its origin from the order of the Knights Templars, is rendered more probable by comparing the institutions and ceremonies of the present Freemasons with the institutions, ceremonies, and historical events which occurred to the Templars.

The symbols borrowed by the Craft from Operative Masonry, working tools, &c., are the allegorical forms in which the beautiful moral truths are concealed which the Craft so constantly and so successfully inculcates, as well as a continuation of its history.

Freemasonry in some countries is called a Royal Art and a Royal Order, in honour, it is said, of a certain Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, who granted his high and royal protection to the Brethren of the Temple, many of whom he established in his household, and whom he assisted in performing their vows to protect widows, orphans, and pilgrims.

In some countries the order is also called a Holy Order, because and in remembrance of the so called holy rules and regulations which were prepared for the use of the Templars, by the Popes and general assemblies of the church. From them, also, we derive the titles of W. R. W. and M. W.; and finally, that also of Brother, which was given in those days to all who lived according to certain spiritual rules and regulations. The titles Master, Grand Master, and others, have the same origin from and conformity with the titles of the officers among the Templars.

When the candidate is initiated into Freemasonry, one part of the ceremony is supposed to perpetuate the remembrance of the cause of the awful downfal of the Templars, which is generally attributed to the envy and avarice of Pope Clement V., who endeavoured to make himself master of their riches and honours by the destruction of the order. The other corporeal preparations to which the candidate must submit, serve allegorically to teach him, as well as to remind the Brethren who are present, that it is the " MAN ” alone, divested of all the outward recommendations of rank, state, or of riches, which we accept, and that it is his spiritual, or moral worth alone, which can open for him the doors of the Temple. While, on the initiation into the order of the Templars, this preparation took place to impress upon the mind of the Templar that he had exchanged the rank and titles he possessed in social life for the title of a Templar or Brother.

The diligent and strict investigation which every candidate must undergo before he is permitted to appear in our Lodges, preserves the remembrance of a part of the history of the Templars, when they were prosecuted and thrown into prison, and had to submit to the cruel and barbarous examinations (both by torture and otherwise) of those who were at once their accusers and their judges; and the custom which

prevails to this day, in some foreign Lodges, of proving the moral fortitude of the candidate by sundry different means, while he is going through this examination, serves to remind the successors of the Templars of the fortitude with which they bore the most cruel torments, rather than prove false to their engagements; and finally, the difficulties which are every where thrown into the path of the candidate during his secret journey, represent most forcibly the unlooked for persecutions experienced by the members of the Temple order, and serve further to prove that the candidate is in a fit condition, both mentally and physically, to undergo the same difficulties and dangers, should such come in the way of due performance of the duties he owes the Craft, and which he has voluntarily undertaken to perform.

When the candidate is first brought to light in our Lodges, he perceives a sudden glittering light or flame, which disappears equally as suddenly and unexpectedly as it appeared. The moral which is concealed under this allegory is not generally known; I will therefore embrace this opportunity of etching my opinion upon the subject. It is well known to all of us, my brethren, that the object of many of the ceremonies of R. is, as it were, to bring the candidate into a new state of existence, in which he may be enabled to walk according to the moral rules and regulations of the order ;- —as far as practicable, to divest him of all his former prejudices and prepossessions, and thus to render it more easy for him to practise those great moral truths which are revealed to him in the course of his progress; but above all, firmly to impress upon his mind a true conception of what we mean by a "just, a perfect, and a rational equality," and thus to annihilate all those vain and idle distinctions of rank and fortune by which he might hope to obtain promotion even in the Lodge. From thence the symbol of a glittering and dazzling, but a momentary flash, which vanishes, but not more quickly from before the eyes of the candidate than do those distinctions which are procured by rank or by riches, and which are regarded by the truly wise and good as unprofitable and frivolous, inasmuch as they contribute nothing to the moral, consequently, to the true happiness of life. Hence it is also customary, in some Lodges, to exclaim, at the moment the flame disappears, "Sic transit gloria mundi"-So vanishes the glory of this world; and after that the eyes of the candidate have recovered from the effects of this sudden flame, he beholds the of the Brethren pointed to his breast. This admonishes him of the punishment and prosecution he is sure to experience should he violate or break through his solemn, and at the same time voluntary engagements: it also serves to teach him to rely with confidence upon the protection and the support he will receive from his Brethren in the due performance of all his moral, civil, and social duties, as long as he continues faithful to the Craft and to himself.

Now many people are of opinion, that besides these two common interpretations of this allegory, it has also two others which refer to the Templars as the founders of our order; first-By the sudden appearance, and equally as sudden disappearance, of this brilliant and dazzling light before the eyes of the candidate, we are taught to reflect upon the greatness and upon the glory of the Order of the Templars, which was admired through the whole of the civilized world, and which for awhile shone with brightness resembling that of the sun, but which had no sooner reached its highest pinnacle of glory than it vanished, and was destroyed as suddenly as it had appeared; while the of the Brethren pointed to the of the candidate, preserves the remem

brance of the blood of the Templars shed by the strong arm of tyranny and oppression. As the Templars, when they were admitted into the order, received its clothing and the cross, and were never afterwards allowed to appear in their regular assemblies without it, so also, at their initiation, do Free and Accepted Masons receive their

and an ornament.

as a sign

The straggling manner of the campaigns of the Templars in the Holy land, and in later ages the fear of new persecutions, rendered it highly necessary for them to be able to recognize each other, and to distinguish themselves from the uninitiated by private signs, and by words known to themselves alone. Freemasonry succeeding the Order of the Templars, this custom has remained in use, so much so, that many of the signs and words now in use are supposed to be derived from the Templars, and so prove the affinity between the two orders, as that of and of in the two G.G. alludes to the vengeance with which the remaining Templars punished their enemies; whilst finally, the mystic word of the is also said to be derived from the name of the last and most illustrious of the Grand Masters of the Temple, Jacques Molay.

I might here introduce to your notice a number of other surmises and comparisons of various ceremonies peculiar to both orders, as well as to the close connection of the numbers used in both orders, which seem to refer us to the Templars for our origin, but this would detain us too long.

I will therefore conclude this lecture by proving to you the importance of the inquiry, and by comparing some of our traditions with the events which actually occurred to the Templars.

Some time before the total destruction of the Order of the Templars, a certain Junior Prior of Montfauçon, called "Carolus de Monte Carmel," was murdered by three traitors, whereby it is thought that the first death-blow was struck at the order; from the events which accompanied and followed this murder, some are of opinion that the mystical and ritual part of a great portion of Freemasonry is derived. For the Prior was murdered by three traitors, and by this murder an irreparable loss was inflicted upon the order. The murderers of Charles de Monte Carmel concealed his body under the earth: and in order to mark the spot, planted a young thorn-tree upon it. The Knights of the Temple, in searching for the body, had their attention drawn to that particular spot by the tree, and in that manner they discovered his remains. The ceremonies of disinterring, &c., are described as strikingly similar; but, unfortunately, some good historians describe what took place at the murder, &c. of the Prior in quite a different manner, and thus weaken the comparison, and render it less striking; but, at the same time, rendering the following account still more probable, which tends to prove a still closer resemblance or connection between the principal events recorded and the and the history of the Templars: it is also a subject of more importance, and thus more worthy of being preserved for the use of our posterity.

The most celebrated part of the history of the Templars is that which records the sufferings and deaths of many of the members, but in particular, in that of their last Grand Master, Jacques Molay. In the year 1307, on a certain day, all the Knights or Templars who were spread over the whole of Europe, and who had not the least suspicion of any danger, were seized and thrown into prison; racks, scaffolds, and stakes were defiled with the innocent blood of the Brethren. But the