Extracts From The Minute Books Of The St. Paul's Lodge. Birmingham.

of it . They put themselves forward as being better than their Saviour , whose first miracle was to turn water into wine for the use , but not abuse , of the guests of a marriage feast . Temperance becomes every man , but total abstinence is folly , aud the latter view is self-evident when we find such howling preachers as Dean Close and Mad Allen , to be the two great tritons amongst the minnows of this association , so grandly put forth as being connected with the Churchof England . That church

, has survived many worse follies than this , and it is no proof that because some few in its pale prostitute its naaie to their folly , that the Church of England has anything to do with such nonsense . . The tales are as wishy-washy as water drinkers can make them , and the periodical an utterly worthless catchpenny .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . KNIGHTS TEMPLAR . 10 THE EDITOR OF THE FEEE 3 US 0 yS' 3 UGAZIXE AXD MASONIC 3 IIRE 0 R . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —In the course of a friendly call , made on Tuesday , the 30 th ult ., on one of the Grand

Officers of the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templar of England and Wales , that officer , in conversation with me , broached the exact theory advanced by a correspondent ,, who signs himself " Scrutator , " iu THE MAGAZINE of the 4 th inst ., consequently I have no doubt , on _ my mind , as to the authorship of the communication which appeared in your columnson the latter date

, mentioned , under the heading " Knights Templar . " I propose , with your permission , to reply to some parts of "Scrutator ' s" letter , which is not founded on the most conclusive data , and in which there is much mystification between two separate Orders bearing a similarity of name .

I have no knowledge of How ' s Freemason ' s Manual , and , therefore , do not pretend to argue about what is stated in it . For my purpose it is sufficient that I gather from " Scrutator" that he thinks he belongs to the Order of the Temple , and exultiugly asks if our Order is recognised by the Masonic authorities P Then he tells us that Grand Lodge and the Supreme Grand Council

repudiate and ignore us . Not a very politic avowal , certainly , and , if such is really the case , he reduces us at one swoop to an illegal , armed , secret society , unmentioiied and unknown as Masons , and , therefore , incompetent ; to claim exemption under the Secret Societies Act , passed on the 12 th of July , 1798 . I am sure such a reductio ad absurdum must be particularly distasteful to every

Masonic Knight Templar . After such avowals of repudiation which , I presume , are made to show the want of connection of the Order of Masonic Knights Templar with Freemasonry , the Statutes of the Order completely upset this view of the case , for they declare , at page 31 , that no one " shall be installed a Knight , in any encampment , unless

he shall have been proposed and seconded in some meeting of the Encampment , aud his Christian and Surnames , and the place of his abode , and his description , profession , or avocation , and the name , number , and place of meeting of his Royal Arch Chapter , shall have been inserted in the summons for the meeting of the Encampment at which heis intended to be installed . " So that

if the Grand Lodge , or Supreme Grand Council , repudiate and ignore us , yet we cannot be installed unless we belong to a Royal Arch Chapter . A pretty conclusive proof , to me , that the order to which we belong is Masonic . How any words of mine , such as those quoted by "Scrutator , " can be made to bolster up his very peculiar views , I am at a loss to conceive . I used them in

connection with Craft Masonry , if I recollect rightly , and cannot remember ever having jumbled up Templary , Rose Croix , ' and the Ancient and Accepted Rite , all in one . I hope I know better than to do so .

Why the late Grand Vice-Chancellor should be blamed for leaving off just where he ought to have begun is a mere expression of bad taste seeing poor Sir Knt . Masson has gone , I hope , to the Celestial " Conclave , and cannot reply for himself . Sir Knight Shuttleworth , too , ought to be very much obliged to "Scrutator , " who is so complimentary to him as

to suggest that he " strayed " in the right direction , in some of his previous communications , when it is notorious thatthe Grand Vice-Chancellor has not simply " strayed , " but become completely and entirely bewildered by losing his way altogether , and no amount of " straying " about can put him on the right track again until he reads history , like an historical student should , from the

most authentic sources . Some of " Scrutator ' s" assertions are so novel and illogical that , rather than be accused of putting my own construction on his language , I feel bound to quote one of his extraordinary paragraphs . He informs us that : — "The Scotch Templars claim an uninterrupted descent from Walter de Clifton , Grand Preceptor , of Scotland , in 1309 , and

afterwards Grand Master to Prince Charles Edward Stuart , elected Grand Master , in 1745 , and his successor Sir Knight John Oliphant , of Bachilton , who died in 1795 . Freemasonry , Sir Knight Masson tells us , was practised by the Monks during the dark ages , and to them we are indebted for its preservation . Edvvy , King of Northumberland , was converted by his wife , and baptized by Paulinus , afterwards Archbishop of York , in that city , A . D . 625 , in a temporary wooden building . erected for

the purpose , and in the following year he laid the foundation of the first stone Cathedral . These historical facts confirm the Masonic tradition that Edwy sat as Grand Master Mason at the earliest Grand Lodge ever held in England , and Masonic lodges

and encampments continued to meet in York as late as 1787 . Those Knights who had been previously initiated in Palestine would naturally join the fraternity , by whom they were most joyfully received . " How Walter de Clifton , in 1300 , could be afterwards Grand Master to Prince Charles Edward Stuart , iu 1745 , is one of those mysteries which only a " Scrutator" can know , and moreover , Prince Charles Edward was not a

Knight Templar until September , in the year 1746 , when " he took his profession at Holyrood House" ( see FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE " Notes and Queries , " present volume , page 256 , under the heading of "Prince Charles Edward Stuart a Knight Templar . " ) Again , if we read the above till our eyes ache , we cannot discover a single proof of its assertions . Because

the monks practised Masonry , or Edwy was converted by his wife , and laid the foundation of York Minster , does not , and cannot , confirm the Masonic tradition of his being Grand Master Mason , nor do those facts , which took place eleven hundred and sixty-two years previously , prove "Scrutator" to lie correct when he makes chem the basis for stating that Masonic lodges and

Encampments met at York so lately as 1787 . Truly such deductions must be made by the most searching of Scrutators . It is also affirmed that" the Knights who returned from the Holy Land naturally joined the fraternity , and were most joyfully received . For this we have the voucher of " Scrutator , " and as a trifle of eleven centuries is a mere nothing to himpermit me to tell him that no one could

, ever have known it , at least none of the present generation , " Scrutator" alone excepted . Your correspondent goes on to state that when the Order was suppressed , they joined the Freemasons , addinu ' : —

"And these knights have transmitted to us the true Order of Knights Templar , stript , it is true , of all its outward power and wealth , but retaining all its religious purity . " This may be true as regards the Order of the Temp le , but certainly cannot hold good as respects the Order of Masonic Knights Templar , for the " religious purity " of the Order of the Temple' was Romanist , and that of the Masonic Knights Templar in this country is Anglican . The Duke of Sussex never was Grand Master of the Order of the Temple ; he was Grand Prior of Eng land