What Is Freemasonry?

Such is my answer to the question , " What is Freemasonry ? " Such are the beautiful teachings of the Craft . May its precepts sink deep in your hearts ,- may tlmy be perpetuated for all time and from generation to generation ,

The Knights Templars.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .

By Axi'iioNf ONEAL HAVE . { Conluiuc'l from pago 8 ) . BOOK IV . —CHAPTER XIL—Conid . The Papal Commission sat at Paris on the 7 th

August , 1309 , and ordered that the Templars should be cited to appear before it , on the first day after the Feast of St . Martin , in November . Messengers were despatched to publish the citations in Rheims , Rouen , Tours , Lyons , Bourges , Narbonne ,

and Auch , which were to be done , in the presence of the clergy and people , in all the cathedrals , colleges , churches , and schools , in the principal houses of the Order , and in those prisons where Templars were confined . On the day fixed , the

Commissioners assembled at the palace of the Bishop of Paris ; but , during several sittings , no person appeared in tho name of the Order . New citations were ordered to be made , and the Commissioners prorogued their sittings , as they

suspected that the former citations had been misinterpreted , or never published . It is not surprising that no one should have come from tho distant

provinces ; but it shews the audacity of the King , that in Paris , under the very eyes of the Commissioners , ho had neglected , or refused , to intimate the citation to the Templars . To the honour of these Commissioners be it recorded , that they

attempted to deal justly in the matter , and , doubtless , had the question been left to their decision , the Order would have been declared innocent .

But they were curbed in their investigations , and overawed by the presence of ' the unpi'incipled agents of the King . If the Templars had admitted before the Inquisitor and the Bishop of Paris the heresy of which the Order was accused , why did the

King fear to permit these self-condemned criminals to apper before tho Commissioners , when it was allowed them by the Pope , and this commission confirmed by letters-patent of Philip himself ? Till the Templars appeared before them , the

Commissioners refused to proceed . It is evident from this , that Philip wished only the shadow of a process , and had no desire to afford the gallant

Templars an opportunity of justifying their Order . At length the Commissioners appealed to the Bishop of Paris , who , out of pure shame , went to the prison where the Grand Master and several of the Grand Officers were confined , and made the

citation , at the same time causing that formality to be performed iu the other prisons of the city and of his diocese . We cau still judge of the spirit which animated the ministers of the King in their actions against

the Templars , by an event which occurred during the sittings of the Commissioners . They learned that the Provost of the Ohatelet had caused to be arrested several individuals who , it was rumoured , had come to defend the Order . The

Commissioners summoned the Provost to their presence , when he pleaded the King ' s orders , who had given instructions for the arrest of seven particular individuals , who had been denoauced as fugitive Templars , having abtindoned the habit of the

Order , and put on long dresses , and come to Paris supplied with gold to procure advocates and defenders for the accused . He had asked the arrested strangers if these circumstances were not true ; but , at the same time , he did not believe

them to be Templars . The Commissioners , upon this , proclaimed that any person who wished to defend the Order should have free entrance to their presence . At the same time , they caused this order to be publicly proclaimed before the

door of the Bishop s palace . The King ' s officers , however , were on the alert , and arrested all those suspected of interesting themselves in the cause of the Templars , and even tortured several strangers totally unconnected with the Order , as

belongiugto it . A strict watch was kept over the city , and no suspected person permitted to approach the Commissioners . The Templars at length heard of the doings of this Commission , and their despair gave place to hope , their sorrow to joy , as they

expected that these proceedings , done by the Pope ' s authority , would be conducted with a publicity and solemnity worthy of their misfortunes , when their innocence would be made apparent in the eyes of the whole world .

The Commissioners' demands became at length so persistent , that on the 25 th and 2 Gth November the King issued two letters-patent . The first ordered all the Kni ghts who had been arrested in the provices of France to bo conducted to Paris . The second bore that several Knights having demanded permission to defend the Order from the