THE ROYAL ARCH

THE HOLY ROYAL ARCH



  OFFICERS.—The members of this degree are denominated "compardons." There are nine officers, the chief of whom (in England) is Zerubbabel, a compound word, meaning " the bright lord, the sun." He rebuilds the temple, and therefore represents the sun risen again. The next officer is Jeshua, the high priest; the third, Haggai, the prophet. These three compose the grand council. Principals and senior and junior sojourners form the base ; Esra and Nehemiah, senior and junior scribes, one on each side ; janitor or tyler without the door. The companions assembled make up the sides of the arch, representing the pillars Jachin and Boaz. In front of the principals stands an altar, inscribed with the names of Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff.


   Ceremonies.—On entering the chapter, the companions give the sign of sorrow, in imitation of the ancients mourning for the loss 'of Osiris. Nine companions must be present at the opening of a royal arch chapter; not more nor less than three are permitted to take this degree at the same time, the two nimibers making up the twelve, the number of zodiacal signs. The candidates are prepared by tying a bandage over their eyes, and coiling a rope seven times round fhe body of each, which unites them together, with three feet of slack rope between them. They then pass under the living arch, which is made by the companions either joining their hands and holding them up, or by holding their rods or swords so as to resemble a gothic arch. This part of the ceremony used to be attended in some lodges with a deal of tomfoolery and rough horse-play. The companions would drop down on the candidates, who were obliged to support themselves on their hands and knees ; and if they went too slowly, it was not unusual for one or more of the companions to apply a sharp poiat to their bodies to urge them on. Trials, such as the candidates for initiation into the ancient mysteries had to go through, were also imitated in the royal arch. But few if any lodges now practise these tricks, fit only for Christmas pantomimes. The candidates, after taking the oath, declare that they come in order to assist at the rebuilding of Solomon's temple, whereupon they are furnished with pickaxes, shovels, and crowbars, and retire. After a while, during whicli they are supposed to hare been at work and to have made a discovery, they return, and state that on digging for the new foundation they discovered ' an underground vault, into which one of them was let down, and found a scroll, which on examination turns out to be the long-lost book of the law. They set to work again, and discover another vault, and under that a third. The sun having now gained his meridian height, darts his rays to the centre, and shines on a white marble pedestal, on which is a plate of gold. On this plate is a double triangle, and within the triangles some words they cannot understand ; they therefore take the plate to Zerubbabel. There the whole mystery of Masonry—as far as known to Masons—is unveiled ; what the Masons had long been in search of is found, for the mysterious writing in a triangular form is the long lost sacred word of the Master Mason which Solomon and King Hiram deposited there, as we have seen in the master's degree (207). This word is the logos of Plato and St. John, the omnific word ; but another compound name, intended to bear the same import, is substituted by modern Masons. It is communicated to the candidates in this way:—The three principals and each three companions form the triangles, and each of the three takes his left-hand companion by the right-hand wrist, and his right-hand companion by the left-hand wrist, forming two distinct triangles with the hands, and a triangle with their right feet. amounting to a triple triangle, and tlien pronounce the following words, each taking a line in turn :
—
As we three did agree,
In peace, love, and unity,
The sacred word to keep,
So we three do agree.
In peace, love, and unity,
The sacred word to search,'
Until we three,
Or three such as we, shall agree
This royal arch chapter to close.

 The right hands, still joined as a triangle, are raised as high as possible, and the word given at low breath in syllables, so that each companion has to pronounce the whole word. It is not permitted to utter this omnific word above the breath ; like the name ''Jehovah" or "Oum,”  it would shake heaven and earth if pronounced aloud. Zerubbabel next makes the new companions acquainted with the five signs used in this degree, and invests them with the badges of Royal Arch Masonry—the apron, sash, and jewel. The character on the apron is the triple Tau, one of the most ancient of emblems, and Masons call it the emblem of emblems, " with a depth that reaches to the creation of the world and all that is therein." This triple Tau is a compound figure of three T's, called' Tau in Greek. Now this Tau or T is the figure of the old Egyptian kilometer, used to ascertain the height of the inundation. It was a pole crossed with one or more transverse pieces. As on the inundation depended the subsistence, the life of the inhabitants, the Nilometer became the symbol of life health, and prosperity, and was thought to have the power of averting evil. It thence became an amulet, and in this manner was introduced among masonic symbols.

  Passing the Veils.—In some chapters the ceremony called " passing the veils" is omitted, but to make the account of Royal Arch Masonry complete I append it here. The candidate is introduced blindfold, his knees bare, and his feet shpshod, with a cable-tow round his waist. The highpriest reads Exod. id. 1-6, and 13, 14, and the candidate is informed that " I am that I am “ is the pass-word from the first to the second veil. He is also shown a bush on fire. He is then led to the second veil, which, on giving the pass-word, he passes, and beholds the figure of a serpent and Aaron's rod. The high-priest reads Exod. iv. 1-5, and the candidate is told to pick up the rod cast down before him, that the act is the sign of passing the second veil, and that the pass-words are "Moses, Aaron, and Bleazar." He then passes the guard of the third veil. The high-priest reads Exod. iv. 6-9, and the candidate is informed that the leprous hand and the pouring out of the water are the signs of the third veil, and that " Holiness to the Lord" are the pass- words to the sanctum sanctorum. He is shown the ark of the covenant, the table of shew-bread, the burning incense, and the candlestick with seven branches. Then follow long lectures to explain the words and symbols,  but their puerility may be inferred from the following specimen : — " This triangle is also an emblem of geometry. And here we find the most perfect emblem of the science of agriculture ; not a partial one like the Basilidean, calculated for one particular clime, but universal ; pointed out by a pair of compasses issuing from the centre of the sun, and suspending a globe denoting the earth, and thereby representing the influence of that luminary over the creation, admonishing us to be careful to perform every operation in its proper season, that we lose not the fruits of our labour." What a farmer would say to, or what profit he could derive from, this " universal science of agriculture," or whether he needs the " admonishing" symbol, I am at a loss to imagine. The triple Tau, according to the lecture, means templum Hierosolymce, also clavis ad thesaurum, res ipsa pretiosa, and several other thiags equally true. "But," continues the lecturer, " these are all symbolical definitions of the symbol, which is to be simply solved into an emblem of science in the human mind, and is the most ancient symbol of that kind, the prototype of the cross, and the first object in every religion or human system of worship. This is the grand secret of Masonry, which passes by symbols from superstition to science." How far all this is from the true meaning of the cross and triple Tau may be seen by reference to (49).



GRAND ELECT KNIGHT OF KADOSH


  The Term Kadosh.—This degree, the thirtieth of the ancient and accepted Scotch rites contains a beautiful astronomical allegory, and is probatly derived from Egypt. The term Kadosh means "holy" or " elect." (Every person in the East, preferred to a post of honour, carried a staff, to indicate that he was Kadosh, or elect, or that his person was sacred; whence eventually the name came to be applied to the staff itself, and hence the derivation of caduceus, the staff of Mercury, the messenger of the gods.)

 Reception mto the Degree.—There are four apartments; the initiation takes place in the fourth. They symbolize the seasons. The first apartment is hung with black, lit up by a solitary lamp of triangular form and suspended to the vaulted ceiling. It communicates with a kind of cave or closet of reflection, containing symbols of destruction and death. The candidate, after having been left there some time, passes into the second apartment, which is draped with white ; two altars occupy the centre; on one is an urn filled with burning spirits of wine, on the other a brazier with live coal and incense beside it. The candidate now faces the sacrificing priest, who addresses some words of admonition to him, and having burnt some incense, directs him to the third apartment. It is hung with blue, and the vaulted ceiling covered with stars. Three yellow tapers light up this room. This is the areopagus. The candidate, having here given the requisite explanation as to the sincerity of his intentions and promises of secrecy, is introduced into the fourth apartment, hung with red. At the east is a throne surmoimted by a double eagle,, crowned, with outspread wings and holding a sword in his claw. In this room, lighted up with twelve yellow tapers, the chapter takes the title of " senate “ the brethren are called "knights." In this room also stands the mysterious ladder.

   The Mysterious Ladder.—It has seven steps, which symbolize the sun's progress through the seven signs of the zodiac from Aries to Libra both inclusive. This the candidate ascends, receiving at every step the explanation of its meaning from a hierophant, who remains invisible to the candidate, just as in the ancient mysteries the initiating priest remained concealed, and as Pythagoras delivered his instructions from behind a veil. When the candidate has ascended the ladder, and is on the last step, the ladder is lowered and he passes over it, because he cannot retire the same way, as the sun does not retrograde. He then reads the words at the bottom of the ladder, Ne plus ultra. The last degree manufactured is always the we plus ultra, till somebody concocts one still more sublime, which then is the ne plus ultra, tiU it is superseded by another. What sublimity masonic degrees will yet attain, and where they will stop, no one can tell.

  The Seven Steps.—The name of the first step is Isedakah, which is defined " righteousness," alluding to the sun in the vernal equinox in the month of March, when the days and nights are equal all over the world, and the sun dispenses his favours equally to all.

  The second step is Shor-laban, " white ox " figuratively. This is the only step the definition of which is literally true, which, as it might lead to a clue to the meaning of the mysterious ladder, is thus falsely denominated figurative. Taurus, the bull, is the second sign of the zodiac, into which the sun enters on the 21st April. His entry into this sign is marked by the setting of Orion, who in mythological language is said to be in love with the Pleiades ; and by the rising of the latter.

  The tliird step is called Mathoh, " sweetness." The third sign is Gemini, into which the sun enters in the pleasant month of May. " Canst thou hinder the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ?" (Job.) Now, the Pleiades were denominated by the Romans Vergilice, from their formerly rising when the spring commenced, and their sweet influences blessed the year by the beginning of spring.

  The fourth step is Emunah, ''truth in disguise." The fourth sign is Cancer, into which the sun enters in June. Egypt at this period is enveloped in clouds and dust, by which means the sun, which figuratively may be called truth, is obscured or disguised.

 The fifth step is Hamal saggi, " great labour." The fifth sign is Leo. The great labour and difficulties to which the sun was supposed to be subject in passing this sign have already been alluded to .

  The sixth step is Sabhal, " burden or patience." The sixth sign through which the sun passes is Virgo, marked by the total disappearance of the celestial Hydra, called the Hydra of Lema, from whose head spring up the Great Dog and the Crab. Hercules destroys the Hydra of Lerna, but is annoyed by a sea-crab, which bites him in the foot. Whenever Hercules lopped off one of the monster's heads two others sprang up, so that his labour would have been endless, bad be not ordered his companion lolas to sear the blood with fire. The seventh step is named Gemunah, Binah, Jebunah, "retribution, intelligence, prudence." The seventh sign is Libra, into which the sun enters at the commencement of autumn, iadicated by the rising of the celestial Centaur, the same that treated Hercules with hospitality. This constellation is represented in the heavens with a flask fall of wine and a thyrsus, ornamented with leaves and grapes, the symbols of the products of the seasons. The sun has now arrived at the autumnal equinox, bringing in his train the fruits of the earth ; and recompense is made to the husbandman in proportion to his prudence and intelligence.

  The ladder will remind the reader of the ladder of the Indian mysteries, of the ladder seen by Jacobin his dream; the pyramids with seven steps'; and the seven caverns of various nations.



PRINCE Of ROSE-CROIX


  DISTINCT from Rosicrucian, and has various Names.— This the eighteenth degree of the ancient and accepted Scotch rite, is one of the most generally diffused of the higher degrees of Masonry. It is often confounded with the cabalistic and alchemistic sect of the Rosicrucians, but there is a great distinction between the two. The name is derived from the rose and the cross, and has no connection with alchemy ; the import of the rose has been given in another place. The origin of the degree is involved in the greatest mystery, as already pointed out. The degree is known by various names, such as " Sovereign Princes of RoseCrois," " Princes of Rose- Croix de Heroden," and sometimes " Rose cloix of the Eagle and Pelican." It is considered the ne phbs ultra of Masonry, which however is the case with several other degrees.

   . Officers and Lodges.—The presiding officer is called the " Ever Most Perfect Sovereign," and the two wardens are styled " Most Excellent and Perfect Brothers." The degree is conferred by a body called a " Chapter of the Sovereign Princes of Rose-Croix" and in three apartments, the first representing Mount Calvary, the second the site and scene of the Resurrection, and the third Hell. It win therefore be seen that it is a purely Christian degree, and therefore not genuine Masonry, but an attempt to christianize Freemasonry. The first apartment is hung with black, and lighted with thirty-three lights upon three candlesticks of eleven branches. Bach light is enclosed in a small tin box, and issues its light through a hole of an inch diameter. These lights denote the age of Christ. In three angles of the room, north-east, south-east, and south-west, are three pillars of the height of a man, on the several chapiters of which are inscribed the names of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Every lodge has its picture descriptive of its form, and of the proper place of its officers and emblems. On the east, at the south and north angles, the sun and moon and a sky- studded with stars are painted; the clouds, very dark. An. eagle is seen beating the air with his wings, as an emblem of the supreme power. Besides other allegorical paintings, there is also one of a cubic stone, sweating blood and water. On the stone is a rose, and the letter J, which means the expiring Word. The space round the picture, representing the square of the lodge, is filled with darkness, to represent what happened at the crucifixion. Below it are all the ancient tools of masonry, with the columns divided and broken into many parts. Lower down is the TeU'of the temple rent in twain. Before the master is a little table, Hghted by three lights, upon which the Gospel, compasses, square, and triangle are placed. All the brethren are clothed in black, with a black scarf from the left shoulder to the right side. An apron, white, bordered with black ; on the flap are a skull and cross-bones, between three red roses; on the apron is a globe surmounted by a serpent, and above the letter J. The master and the other officers wear on the neck a wide ribbon of black mohair, from which hangs the jewel, a golden compass, surmounted by a triple crown, with a cross between the legs, its centre being occupied by a full-blown rose ; at the foot of the cross is a pelican feeding its young from its breast ; on the other side is an eagle with wings displayed. The eagle is the emblem of the sun, the "sun of righteousness;" the pelican of course alludes to Christ shedding His blood for the human race ; the cross and the rose  explain themselves.

  Reception in the First Apartment.—The candidate is clothed in black, decorated with a red ribbon, an apron doubled with the same colour, and a sword and scarf. After much preliminary ceremony, he is introduced into the apartment, and told by the master that the word that is lost and which he seeks cannot be given, because confusion reigns among them, the veil of the temple is rent, darkness covers the earth, the. tools are broken, &c. ; but that he need not despair, as they will find out the new law, that thereby they may recover the word. He is then told to travel for thirty-three years. The junior warden thereupon conducts him thirtythree times round the lodge, poiating out to him the three columns, telling him their names. Faith, Hope, and Charity, and bidding him remember them, as henceforth they must be his guides. After a little more talk, he is made to kneel with his right knee upon the Gospel and take the following oath : " I promise by the same obligations I have taken in the former degrees of Masonry never to reveal the secrets of the Knight of the Eagle, under the penalty of being for ever deprived of the true word ; that a river of blood and water shall issue continually from my body, and under the penalty of suffering anguish of soul, of being steeped in vinegar and gall, of having on my head the most piercing thorns, and of dying upon the cross ; so help me the Grand Architect of the Universe." The candidate then receives the apron and sash, both symbols of sorrow for the loss of the word. A dialogue ensues, wherein the hope of finding the word is foreshadowed ; whereupon the master and brethren proceed to the second apartment, where they exchange their black aprons and sashes to take red nes.

   Second Apartment.—This apartment is hung with tapestry ; three chandeliers, with thirty-three hghtsj but without the boxes, illuminate it. In the east there is a cross surrounded with a glory and a cloud ; upon the cross is a rose of paradise, in the middle of which is the letter G. Below are three squares, in which are three circles, having three triangles, to form the summit, which is allegorical of Mount Calvary, upon which the Grand Architect of the Universe expired. Upon this summit is a blazing star with seven rays, and in the middle of it the letter G again. The eagle and pelican also re-appear here._ Below is the tomb. In the lower part of the square are the compasses,, drawing-board, crow, trowel, and square. The cubic stone,* hammer, and other tools are also represented.

  Reception in the Third Apartment.—But the second point of reception takes place in a third apartment, which is made as terrifying as possible, to represent the torments of hell. It has seven chandeliers with grey burning flambeaux, whose mouths represent death's heads and cross-bones. The walls are hung with tapestry, painted with flames and figures of the damned. The candidate, on presenting himself as a searcher of the lost word, has his sash and apron taken from him, as not humble enough to qualify him for the task, and is covered with a black cloth strewn with dirty ashes, so that he can see nothing, and informed that he will be led to the darkest of places, from which the word must come forth triumphant to the glory and advantage of Masonry. In this condition he is led to a steep descent, up and down which he is directed to travel, after which he is conducted to the door, and has the black cloth removed. Before hiTn stand three figures dressed as devils. He then parades the room three times, without pronouncing a word, in memory of the descent into the dark places, which lasted three days. He is then led to the door of the apartment, covered with black cloth, and told that the horrors through which he has passed are as nothing in comparison with those through which he has yet to pass ; therefore he is cautioned to summon all his fortitude. But in reality all the terrible trials are over, for he is presently brought before the master, who asks : "Whence come you?" "From Judaea." — " Wiich way did you come ? " "By Nazareth." — " Of what tribe are you descended ? " "Judah."—"Give me the four initials ?" "I.N.R.I." — "What do these letters signify?" "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." — "Brother, the word is found; let him be restored to light."

  The junior warden quickly takes off the cloth, and at the signal of the master all the brethren clap their hands three times and give three huzzas. The candidate is then taught the signs, grips, and pass-word. The master then proceeds to the instruction of the newly made Knight of the Eagle or Prince Rose- Croix, which amounts to this, that after the erection of Solomon's temple masons began to neglect their labours, that then the cubical stone, the corner-stone, began to sweat blood and water, and was torn from the building and thrown among the ruins of the decaying temple, and the mystic rose sacrificed on a cross. Then masonry was destroyed, the earth covered with darkness,the tools of masonry broken. Then the blazing star disappeared, and the word was lost. But masons having learnt the three words. Faith, Hope, and Charity, and following the new law, masonry was restored, though masons no longer built material edifices, but occupied themselves in spiritual buildings. The mystic rose and blazing star were restored to their former beauty and splendour.



THE RITES OF MISRAIM AND
MEMPHIS.


  ANOMALIES of the Rite of Misraim.— Another of those diversities, which may be called the constant attendants of the life of vast associations, is the rite of " Misraim." What chiefly distinguishes it from other rites, and renders it totally different from masonic institutions, is the supreme power given to the heads, whose irremovability we have seen abolished, in order to open the lodges to the forms of genuine democracy. This rite is essentially autocratic. One man, with the title of " Absolute Sovereign Grand Master," rules the lodges, and is irresponsible — an extraordinary anomaly in the. bosom of a liberal society to behold a member claiming that very absolute power against which Freemasonry has been fighting for centuries !

  Organization.—The rite of Misraim was founded at a time when there was already a question of reducing the number of the Scotch rite of thirtythree degrees, practically reduced to five. Then arose the rite of Misraim with ninety degrees, arranged in four sections, viz. 1. Symbolic, 2. Philosophic, 3. Mystical, 4. Cabalistic ; which were divided into seventeen classes. The rites are a medley of Scotch rites, Martinism, and Templarism, and the absolute grand masters arrogate to themselves the right of governing all masonic lodges throughout the world. The foundations of this system were laid at Milan in 1805, by several Masons who had been refused admission into the Supreme Grand Council. During the first year and for some time after postulants were only admitted as far as the eighty- seventh degree; the other three, complementing the system, embraced the unknown superiors. Thus masonic degrees often served as a mask for the most opposed individualities, and unconsciously favoured the views and schemes of astute diplomatists and ambitious princes.

  History and Constitution.—From Milan the order spread into Dalmatia, the Ionian Islands, and the Neapolitan territory, where it produced a total reform in a chapter of Eosicrucians, the "Concordia," estabhshed in the Abruzzi. It was not till 1814 that the rite of Misraim was introduced into France, where the pompous denominations of its endless hierarchy met with no slight success. Never had such titles been heard of in Masonry: Supreme Commander of the Stars, Sovereign of Sovereigns, Most High and Most Powerful Knight of the Rainbow, Sovereign Grand Prince Hiram, Sovereign Grand Princes, &c., these were some of the titles assumed by the members. The trials of initiation were long and difficult, and founded on what is recorded of the Egyptian and Eleusinian mysteries. In the first two sections the founders of the rite seem to have attempted to bring together all the creeds and practices of Scotch Masonry combined with the mysteries of Egypt; and in the last two sections all the chemical and cabalistic knowledge professed by the priests of that country, reserving for the last three degrees the supreme direction of the Order. Attempts were made to introduce it into Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland, and also into Ireland, and latterly into England ; but everywhere it is in a languishing condition. The Grand Orient of Prance has never recognized the rite as a part of Masonry, though it has three lodges in Paris.

  Rites and Geremonies.—The Order celebrates two equinoctial festivals, the one called " The Reawakening of Nature," and the other, " The Repose of Nature." In the sixty-ninth degree, designated as "Knight of Khanuka, called Hynaroth," particular instructions are given as to man's- relation to the Deity, and the cabalistic mediation of angels. In the ninetieth and last degree, the lodge is opened with the words " Peace to Men “ and the wish that all men might become proselytes of reason and true light. In this rite, altogether modern, we meet with gnostic and cabalistic words and conceits —a phenomenon which were impossible did not gnostic ideas permeate aU the veins of the masonic body.

  Rite of Memphis.—It is a copy of the rite of Misraim, and was founded at Paris in 1839, and afterwards extended to Brussels and Marseilles. It was composed of ninety-one degrees, arranged in three sections and seven classes. A large volume printed at Paris, with the ambitious title of ''The Sanctuary," gives an account of all the sections and their scope. The first section teaches morality and explains -the symbols ; the second instructs in physical science, the philosophy of history, and explains the poetical myths of antiquity, its scope being to promote the study of causes and origins. The third and last section exhausts the story of the Order, and is occupied with high philosophy, studying the religious myth at the different epochs of mankind.



MODERN KNIGHTS TEMPLARS


  ORIGIN.—We read that several lords of the Court of Louis XIV, including the Duke de Gramontj the Marquis of Biran, and Count Tallard, formed a secret society, whose object was pleasure. The society increased. Louis XTV., having been madeacquainted with its statutes, banished the members of the Order, whose denomination was, " A slight Resurrection of the Templars."

  Supposititious List of Grand Masters.— In 1705, Philip Duke of Orleans collected the remaining members of the society that had renounced its first scope to cultivate politics. A Jesuit father, Bonanni, a learned rogue, fabricated the famous list of supposititious Grand Masters of the Temple since Molay, beginning with his immediate successor, Larmenius. No imposture was ever sustained with greater sagacity. The document offered all the requisite chstracteristics of authenticity, and was calculated to deceive the most experienced palaeologist. Its object was to connect the new institution with the ancient Templars. To render the deception more perfect, the volume containing the false list was filled with minutes of  dehberations , at fictitious meetings under false dates. Two members were even sent to Lisbon, to obtaia if possible a document of legitimacy from the " Knights of Christ," an Order supposed to have been founded on the ruins of the Order of the Temple. But the deputies were unmasked and very badly received : one had to take refuge in England, the other was transported to Africa, where he died.

   Revival of the Order.—But the society was not discouraged ; it grew, and was probably the same that concealed itself before the outbreak of the revolution under the vulgar name of the Society of the Bull’s Head, and whose members were dispersed in 1792. At that period the Duke of CosseBrissac was grand master. When on his way to VersaiLLes with other prisoners, there to undergo their trial, he was massacred, and Ledru, his physician, obtained possession of the charter of Larmenius and the MS. statutes of 1705. These documents suggested to him the idea of reviving the order ; Fabre-Palaprat, a Freemason, was chosen grand master. Every effort was made to create a belief in the genuineness of tlie Order. The brothers Fabre Arnal, and Leblond hunted up relics. The shops of antiquaries supplied the sword mitre, and helmet of Molay, and the faithful were shown his bones withdrawn from the funeral pyre on which he had been burned. As in the middle ages, the society exacted that aspirants should be of noble birth; such as were not were ennobled by the society. Fourteen honest citizens of Troyes on one occasion received patents of nobility and convincing coats of arms.

   The Leviticon. — The society was at &st catholic, apostolic, Roman, and rejected Protestants; but Fabre suddenly gave it an opposite tendency. Having acquired a Greek MS. of the fifteenth century, containing the Gospel of St. John, with readings somewhat differing from the received version, preceded by a kind of introduction or commentary, called " Leviticon," he determined, towards 1815, to apply its doctrines to the- society governed by him, and thus to transform an association, hitherto quite orthodox, into a schismatic sect. This Leviticon is nothing but the well-known work with the same title by the Greek monk, Nicephorus. He, having been initiated into the mysteries of the Sufites, who to this day, in the bosom of Mohamedanism preserve the dismal doctrines of the Ishmaelites of the lodge of Cairo (133), attempted to introduce these ideas into Christianity, and for that purpose wrote the " Leviticon," which became the Bible of a small number of sectaries ; but persecution put an end to them. This singular MS. Was translated into French in 1822, and printed, with modifications and interpolations, by Palaprat himself. This publication was the cause of a schism in the Order of the Temple. Those knights that adopted its doctrines made them the basis of a new liturgy, which they rendered pubHc in 1833 in a kind of Johandite church ; but people only laughed at it.

  Ceremonies of Initiation.—The lodges in this degree are called encampments, and the officers take their names from those that managed the original institution of the Knights Templars. The penal signs are the chin and beard sign and the saw sign. The grand sign is indicative of the death of Christ on the cross. There is a word, a grip, and pass-words, which yary. The knights, who are always addressed as " Sir Knights," wear knightly costume, not omitting the sword. The candidate for installation is "got up" as a pilgrim, with sandals, mantle, staff, cross, scrip, and wallet, a belt or cord round his waist, and in some encampments a burden on his back, which is made to fall off at the sight of the cross. On his approach, an alarm is sounded with a trumpet, and after a deal of pseudomilitary parley he is admitted, and a saw is applied to his forehead by the second captain, whilst all the Sir Knights are under arms. The candidate, being prompted by the master of the ceremonies, declares that he is a weary pilgrim, prepared to devote his life to the service of the poor and sick, and to protect the holy sepulchre. After perambulating the encampment seven times he repeats the oath, having first put away the pilgrims staff and cross and taken up a sword. In this oath he swears to defend the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ against all Jews, Turks, infidels, heathens, and other opposers of the Gospel. " If ever I wilfully violate this my solemn compact,"" he continues, " as a Brother Knight Templar, may my skull be sawn asunder with a rough saw, my brains taken out and put in a charger to be consumed by the scorching sun, and my skull in another charger, in commemoration of St. John of Jerusalem, that first faithfdl soldier and martyr of our Lord and Saviour. Furthermore, may the soul that once inhabited this skull appear against me in the day of judgment. So help me God." A lighted taper is afterwards put into his hand, and he circumambulates the encampment five times "in solemn meditation;" and then kneeling down is dubbed knight by the grand commander, who says, " thereby instal you a masonic kjiight hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta, and also a Knight Templar." The grand commander next clothes him with the mantle^ and invests him -with the apron, sash, and jewel, and presents him with sword and shield. He then teaches him the so-called Mediterranean password and sign. The motto of the Knight Templar is In hoc signo vinees. In some of the encampments the following is the concluding part of the ceremony: — One of the equerries dressed as a cook, with a white nightcap and apron and a large kitchen knife in his hand, suddenly rushes in, and, kneeling on one knee before the new Sir Knight, says, " Sir Knight, I admonish you to be just, honourable, and faithful to the Order, or I, the cook, will hack your spurs from off your heels with my kitchen knife." He then retires. Sometimes the spurs are hacked off by another personage, namely the Commissioner in Bankruptcy. Some few years ago an unfortunate encampment pitched in Bedford Row, London. Though the knights, no doubt, were very brave agaiast Turks, infidels, and all that sort of gentry, they could not face their creditors, who thereupon compelled the Order to make its last stand in Basinghall Street—rather an inglorious end ; but, as one of the counsel observed, the Sir Knight a were probably all away in the Holy Land fighting for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, and so their affairs at home fell slightly into disorder.