The Haughfoot Lodge And Speculative Masonry.

The sd day William Henderson was chosen Box Master till next St . John ' s Day . The sd day Jeams Claperton delivered an registered factory that was found in the deceast Walter Scot's chest .

The sd day the preses with consent of the lodge appoints a comittie , viz ., the late Box Master George Cairncross , Willm . Henderson present Box Master , Willm . Craig , John Donaldson clerk , with the said preses , to meet at Haugh

foot , upon the last Tuesday of January next , to adjust all old acpts , and give new pour for recovering the debts due to the lodge . The commission to five for intrants continued . ( To be continued . )

Masonic Orders Of Knighthood.

MASONIC ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD .

By > J < C . F . MATIEE , 30 ° , Knt . Comp . Royal Order of Scotland . My last paper was chiefly devoted to an inquiry into the authenticity of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantino , which as " a Masonic Order of

Knighthood , " possesses no claim to our respec t or attention , being in fabrication a forgery of the early part of the present century , and then only looked upon amongst Masons as a side degree , and in much the same category as the

Mediterranean Pass , Knight of St . Paul , Knight of Patmos , and a hundred other so-called Masonic ¦ Orders , or degrees , which are really so absurd in their internal and integral composition , that they do not deserve that name . An old Masonic writer , some of whose MSS . I have in my

possession , mentions with those above quoted , ¦ the "Red Cross of Constantine , " and states" these Orders are supposed to be the inventions of certain irregular and low encampments in Ireland , and have been created for the purpose of

giving greater dignity and importance to their begging brethren . " With nearly all of these socalled Orders , no ceremony is given . Among others , we find the Knights of Elysium , or Order of Death , Knights of Patmos or Order of Philippi ,

Knight of St . John the Baptist , Knight of St . Lawrence or Order of the Gridiron , Knight of S t . Paul , Knight of the Black Cross , Knight of the White Gross , & c . Some of these degrees are still worked in England in a spurious Chapter of S . P . R . > k , located on the borders of Yorkshire .

The beginning of the nineteenth century also gave birth to another degree called Knight of the Holy Grave or Holy Sepulchre , the former being

Masonic Orders Of Knighthood.

the title of the first " point and the latter of tha second . This degree is quite different from the one of the same name practised in America , and I believe in England ( under the Red Cross of Rome , & c . ) and takes its name and secrets from allusions

to the xxvii . and xxviii . chapter of St . Matthew . I understand the American ancl English degree claims to be descended from , and to represent the religious Order of The Holy Sepulchre or Saint Sepulchre , instituted by the Empress St .

Helena , the Mother of Constantine the Great , A . D . 326 , while St . Macarius was Bishop of Jerusalem . This great and pious lady , established this Order , to act as guardians of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem , and it was only conferred on priests , by the

Patriarch of that place , with the sole exception , that when a member of the Imperial Family , of Constantinople paid a visit to Jerusalem , his name was entered on the roll call of the guardian priests , and after watching the Holy Sepulchre for three days and three nights , a dispensation was

granted by the Patriarch , who permitted him to depart after binding him by a solemn vow , to return to defend the Holy Place in any case of imminent danger ; when the Greeks were driven , from Palestine by the Saracens , the keepers of the

Holy Sepulchre were dispersed , and the greater portion of them sought refuge at Constantinople In 1099 when Godfrey de Bouillon conquered Jerusalem from the Egyptians , he replaced the original Greek Monks , by Latin Canons regular

who were under the rule of St . Augustine . In 1110 his brother Baldwin , Count of Edessa , who had succeeded to the throne , permitted a certain intermixture of military organisation , in so far as the monks were allowed to cai'ry arms and

fight when called on . He also confirmed the right of their head , the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to create new members of the Order , and retained for their use the white habit , charged with a cross potent or , cantoned with four similar crosses of smaller size .

Baldwin also accorded to the Patriarch the privilege of sealing all the documents of the order ( which with sole exception above stated was strictly religious ) with lohite sealing wax . *