Ancient And Accepted Rite.

The " Supreme Grand Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite" was next proposed , and much regret ivas expressed that none of that distinguished body had been able to be present . The toast Avas received with every expression of respect and esteem . HI . Bro . Sanderson next proposed the neivly elected member oftlie chapter to the 30 degree , the 111 . Bro . Terry , Avhose id promotion ivas a matter of congratulation to himself and

rap to the chapter . Bro . Terry briefly aud modestly returned thanks . The M . AA ' . S . afterivards gave the health of the newly perfected Sovereign Prince , Bro . Beecroft , ivho replied in suitable terms . The evening AA-as agreeably enlivened by the vocal efforts of Ex . Bro . MacCall and others , and it Avas at a late hour that the brethren separated .

The Knight Templar, Past And Present: His Mission And Its Modern Objects.

THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR , PAST AND PRESENT : HIS MISSION AND ITS MODERN OBJECTS .

[ The following is a condensed report of a Lecture on the above subject , delivered before the Members of St . Andrew's Priory , Sydney , New South Wales , by Sir Knight J . S . Moore , Chaplain . ] M . E . Prior , Sir Knights , and Brethren , Historythe silent witness of national progress and

, decay , of action and reaction in human affairs , of eras of peace and epochs of convulsion , presents one scene to the eye of the student more startling in its effects—in its masses of lig ht and shade—in its extraordinary enthusiasm and more extraordinary superstition—than any other in her varied panorama : I allude to the moral phenomena exhibited in Europe and the East in the eleventh century .

As the first thousand years of the Christian era drew to a close , the gloom of an appalling delusion darkened the intellect of Europe . The facile tongue of the interpreter of prophecy had already unequivocally announced the day of wrath was at hand . From A . D . 950 to 990 , frantic preachers declared from pulpit and market-cross , in

private houses and on the public highways , that the Sixth Angel of Revelations had sounded his trumpet before the torrent of Mahommedanism swept over the Christian empires of the East , and that " the consummation of all things " was at hand . I have elsewhere , and in poetic form , embodied the progress of Mohammed and his successors ; let me quote

a few passages : — Prom grim Caaba , and ibs mystic shrine , To Mecca marched he , like a fiery orb ; And then , as sweep simoons ' cross desert wastes , He passed in lurid conquest—crimson glory ' . Oh ! how the nations bent before his sivord , Like ripened corn beneath the reapers' steel !

And why all this ? Why cloth success still wait Upon his blood-stained path , if not to show That heaven permits such aivful visitants To punish men forgetful of its laws . And the prophet brought such influences as these to stimulate his followers to action :

Prepare ye noiv , the fierce enthusiast cries , Prepare ye noiv for deeds of rare emprize ! Your guerdon ' s sure whether ye live or die ; For living , earth shall all your joys supply , But better still ( and greater the delight ) For him ivho falls amid the glorious fight . On wings of fire to Paradise he'll move ,

And seize fruition in the heaven above . There in the gardens of eternal Spring , AVhile birds of Paradise around you sing , Each , with a blooming liouri by his side , Shall quaff the bliss of Life ' s celestial tide , Breathe fragrant gales o ' er fields of spice that blow , And gather flowers immortal as they groiv ; Ecstatic bliss shall all 3 'Our powers employ , And every sense be lost in every joy !

Under such influences Mahommedanism spread , and Christians looked upon it ( trembling tho while ) as the outpouring of the penultimate vial of God ' s wrath . Distorted imaginations revelled in the gloom they had created . Men , full of this phantasy , awaited " the day of wrath " with as gloomy a certainty as we do the approach of death . They expected that , at

the close of the Chiliad ( or thousand years ) , the the Saracenic Antichrist would be smitten , and the day of general judgment follow . Some of the more imaginative prophets threw a slight irradiation on these dark anticipations—they taught the doctrine of the millennium , or the reign of the glorified Christ on earth for a thousand years , during which period the exalted visions of

Isaiah and the the empassioned desire of the Roman sybil were to be accomplished . The Adamite paradise was to be restored—the lion was again to lie amicably alongside the lamb—and children were to make pets of vipers and rattle-snakes . But this poetic hope threw a pale light only on the funereal imaginings of general society ; for general society stood within the

gloom of the supected Day of Judgement . As the tenth century drew to its close , the shadow became darker and denser . It was universally believed , " says Mackey , " that the end of the world was at hand ; that the thousand years , of the Apocalypse were near completion , and that Jesus Christ would descend upon Jerusalem to judge mankind . All Christendom was in commotion .

A panic-terror seized the weak , the credulous , and the the guilty , who in those days formed nineteen-twentieths of the population . Forsaking their homes , kindred , and occupation , they crowded to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Lord , lightened , as they imagined , of a load of sin by their weary pilgrimage . To increase the panic , the stars were observed to fall from heaven , earthquakes to shake the land , and violent hurricanes to blowdown the forests . All these , and more especially the

meteoric phenomena , were looked upon as the forerunners of the approaching judgments . Not a meteor shot athwart the horizon that did not fill a district with alarm , and sent away to Jerusalem a score of ; pilgrims , with staff in hand and wallet on their back , praying as they went for the remission of their sins . Men , women , and even children , trudged in droves to

the Holy City , in expectation of the day when the heavens would open , and the Son of God descend in his glory . " An old chronicler says that men awaited " the coming '' in an awful silence . But tbe state of Christendom , just described , was followed by an active upheaving of European society , the most sudden and tremendous in

the records of history , and singularly like those marvelous phenomena of geological science , in which a period of apparent repose is followed by one of vast convulsion ¦—the level lands being rent , mountain ranges formed , and long slumbering volcanoes suddenly rendered active , Fancy a whole continent starting from the midnight horrors of the dark delusion I have described , and

becoming a vast brotherhood—sworn to hurl back Oriental power from Christian lands ; and above all things bound to rescue the " holy places "—the Zion of the Old Law and the Calvary of the New from the hands of infidels . The groivth and progress of this delusion , in which enthusiasm almost spontaneously awakened enthusiasm , are so interesting tbat I cannot refrain from giving you

¦ —following Charles Mackey—a rapid resume ol them . [ Here the lecturer gave a outline of events preceding the First Crusade , and made a few reflections on the Crusades generally . ] But these reflections lead me aivay from the subject proper of my discourse this evening . I have not to deal with the Crusades , nor to dwell on the good or evil that resulted from that movement . My theme , on the present occasion , is tho heroic associations that sprang up during ( and from ) the Crusades , and the effect of those associations on European progress and