G. C. Sir Knights, assist me to resume the duties of this grands christian encampment. To order, as Knights Templars. (All draw their swords and rest the points on the left hand.) Sir Knight, First Captain, what is the first duty of Knights Templars met together in arms?

F. C. To see the grand christian encampment, well guarded both within and without and the sentinels well posted.

G. C. Sir Knight, First Captain, are the guards and sentinels well posted on their respective duties and this grand christian encampment secure?

F. C, I will issue your commands to that effect. (First to the second captain.) See that the guards and sentinels be well posted on their respective duties and that this grand christian encampment be secure.

The

S. C. Trumpeter, sound the alarm. (This being done and answered by the sentinels the second captain reports to the first,) guards and sentinels are properly posted on their respective duties and all is well.

F. C. Grand Commander, the guards and sentinels are properly posted on their respective duties and all is secure.

G. C. What is it secured with ?

F. C. Faith in Jesus Christ, peace and goodwill towards men. (To which should be added, who are christians of our sect R. C.) G. C. Where is the second captain's place in this grand christian encampment?

F. C. I the North west.

G. C. (To the second captain) Your christian duty, when there placed?

S. C. As Christ arose at high meridian and ascended into heaven to bring glad tidings to the believing world; so it is my duty to preside in the North West, to call the Sir Knights from the field to refreshment, that the Grand commander may have the pleasure and the Sir Knights the profit consequent.

G. C. You have a second duty?

S. C, To receive, obey and disperse all general orders from the Grand Commander and the First Captain, and to see them duly executed. Also, to guard the entrance of the grand christian encampment, that none pass therein, but those who are duly qualified.

G. C. Where is the situation of the First Captain in this grand ehristian encampment?

S. C. In the South West.

G, C. (To the first captain.) Your christian duty, when there placed?

F. C. Joseph of Arimathea, being a just and a devout man, went to Pilate to beg the body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which being granted, he wrapped it up in clean linen and laid it in a new sepulchre wherein never man was laid, and clo~

sed the entrance thereof, which closed the first day of man's salvation. And the first captain guards this sepulchre.

G. C. You have a second duty?

F. C. To receive and dispatch all general orders from the Grand Commander to the second captain and see them punctu-ally obeyed.

G. C. (To the Past Grand Commander.) The Grand Commander's place in this grand christian encapment?

P. G. C. In the east.

G. C. His christian duty, when there presiding?

P. G. C. Very early on the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the Sepulchre. And lo! there had been a great earthquake and an angel of the lord descended from heaven, rolled back the stone which covered the entrance to the sepulchre and sat thereon. Which opened to us life from death for as by the first man Adam came death; so by the second Adam came life everlasting. So it is the Grand Commanders place to preside in the East, to superintend, govern and regulate the grand christian encampment, by projecting schemes and plans for its general welfare, and to see that all orders and distinctions are preserved and duly executed with every becoming warlike enterprize. To order the sound of the alarm, to call the Sir Knights from refreshment to the field, to fight the battles of our lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. and, after the Grand Prelate has offered up his prayer, to open the grand christian encamp→

ment.

The Grand Prelate prays thus:-O thou great Emanuel and God of infinite goodness; look down upon this conclave with an eye of tender compassion and incline our hearts to thy holy will, in all our actions, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (He then reads the first six verses of the last chapter of the Gospel ac ́cording to St. Mark.)

G. C. (The knights in the posture of the Grand Sign) As our blessed saviour's resurrection from the dead opened life and salvation unto men, and as all those who sincerely believe on him may rest, assured of eternal life through his name.-the life of grace with all its comforts here; the life of glory with all its unutterable blessedness hereafter, both being effectually obtained by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who hath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. So, in his names of Christ our Prophet, Christ our Priest, Christ our King, I now open this grand christian encampment, for the dispatch of such business as may come regularly and duly before us.

P. G. C. So mote it be,-The swords of the G. C. and two Captains are then placed in the form of a triangle, on the floor, opposite to the G. C. All the other Knights sheath their

swords.

In some encampments, the G. C. merely pronounces that it is

his will and pleasure that this grand christian encampment be opened for the dispatch of business, Which is repeated successively by the two captains and a master of the ceremonies, that, the encampment be open. After which, the G. C. pronounces it open in the three names of Christ.

The ceremony of closing is a mere repetition of the ceremony of opening, with the exception, that the Grand Prelate reads the six last verses of the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark after the following short prayer: May the blessing of our heavenly captain descend upon us and remain with us now and evermore. Amen.

P. G. C. So mote it be. And the concluding observations of the G. C. are thus; (the knights in their grand sign posture:) When our Saviour's agony was at the summit and he knew that all things were accomplished, having received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. He then bowed his head, gave up the ghost, surrendered that life, which otherwise could not have been taken from him, as a ransom for many, and freely resigned his soul into his his father's hands. The work of redemption completed, the full atonement made, all the types and prophecies fulfilled, the laws magnified by a perfect obedience unto death, the justice of God satisfied, and salvation to sinners secured. Thus was our great surety laid under the arrest of death and consigned to the silent mansions of the grave, that he might make the clods of the valley sweet to us prepare our bed of dust perfumed with his own glorious body, and comfort us in the reviving hope of following him through the grave, the gate of death, into a joyful immortality. After our blessed Saviour's example, may we, by faith, when time with us shall be no more, cheerfully commend our departing souls to our heavenly father's keeping, until the happy resurrection morn, when fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, our sleeping ashes shall be reanimated, that we may then be taken to dwell with him in his eternal kingdom, where all terrestial things will close. So, in his names of Christ our Prophet, Christ our Priest, Christ our King, I now close this grand christian encampment, until the time that you are next summoned to attend by my orders from the Grand Registrar.— P. G. C. So mote it be.

The particulars of the form of initiation shall be introduced in the Catechism, for the present, we will suppose a candidate initiated and receiving a lecture from the grand commander.

G. C. Sir Knight companion, as you have passed the first de-grees of masonry and have been ballotted for, admitted, and dubbed a Knight Companion of our most christian and sublime order, you are to mark and learn all those parts of our rules and mysteries which you will find to be ingeniously calculated to form and qualify you to engage in services of great moment. We have been informed, that you earnestly desired and sought to be

admitted initiated and united to our christian order, and that from free and disinterested motives, abstracted from pecuniary or secular views, so we kindly entreat you ro receive the instructions which we do now or may hereafter inculcate and enjoin. However strange and difficult our ceremonies may first appear we trust that you will persevere with unremitting zeal and expect that you will be modestly inquisitive and uniformly attentive, in order to acquire such pleasing instructions as will be most expedient to forward the great purposes of rational and social con

verse,

From what has been suggested, it appears, that the order of knights Templars is universally acknowledged to be the most sublime and refined and the most catholic and efficiently useful department of Freemasonry. Its votaries are formed into a select body, self-existing and self-dependant only, being under no subordination whatever, the great and immutable scheme of christian morality excepted.

As we are orderly assembled for the most valuable of all purposes, so we are likewise enlightened in a peculiar† manner and strongly connected in the bonds of brotherly love, governed by certain and allowed rules, supported by decency, guarded by secrecy, skilled in mystery, both delightful and instructive, posessing the affection of each other and seriously devoting ourselves thereto at stated times and seasons, apart from all temporal concerns; conversing together without dissimulation or reserve and abounding in mirth, affability and good humour. We conceive you to be well informed in the three great qualifications which are essential to form the character of a grand Mason, morality, secrecy and brotherly love, and shall not therefore rehearse them here.

We expect, that you will join with us in all things in labour and refreshment, in silence and mirth, always rejoicing with us in prosperity and sympathizing with us in adversity, and to be, like the rest of your brethren, obedient to the Grand commander, or his deputy. respectfully attentive to all the presiding officers, decent and diligent, while in the encampment, and always ready either to give or to receive instruction. You are on no account to disobey the summons of your encampment; but, if your time will possibly allow, be punctual to the hour appointed. To all these promises, we expect that you will cheerfully comply, and we sincerely wish you much success in the issue of your la bours.

As an earnest of your desire to fulfil the respective duties which you have just heard proposed, you will be pleased to attend to the Grand commander, who will question you on the great subject of christian charity, that great scheme of brotherly love, * I think it has been a very mutable scheme. R. C. Very peculiar manner indeed!

R. C,

which has been framed by the all wise providence, to procure for mankind, and more especially for masons, the highest happiness. In the course of your answer you shall have requisite assist

ance.

G. C. Wherein doth christian charity or the love of which you have just now heard consist?

Noodle. In doing all the good offices for, and shewing unfeigned kindness towards my brother. If he be virtuous, it will make me to esteem him. If he be honest, but weak in judgment, it will raise my compassion to commisserate and aid him. If he be wicked, it will incline me to give him pious admonition and timely exhortation, in order to reclaim him: and if he reform, it will augment my happiness. But if, through perverseness and selfwill, he continues in an idle course and evil habit, it will excite my pity to pray for him, and, if possible to administer to his necessities. I will at all times throw a veil over the reproach he may deservedly incur; but if his character shall at any time suffer violence without a just cause, I will then exert my best abilities to wipe off every unjust aspersion, by openly vindicating his character in a fair and honourable way. If, from birth, honour, state or wealth, he is my superior, it will teach me to be attentive, tractable, obliging and modestly submissive. If he be my inferior, it will make me affable, courteous and kind. If he be my equal, it will teach me to preserve equity and candour towards him, in a social way. Lastly, if I receive good. from him, it will make me thankful and desirous to requite it. If I receive evil at his hands, it will make me slow to anger, easy to be entreated and of long forbearance, when impelled to exact restitution. In this last act of infliction, mercy shall always triumph over judgment, to my brother's edification and enlarge

ment.

-

G. C. I thank you, Sir Knight companion, for the ready earnest which you have so cheerfully given of your intention to serve your brethren, with respect to your abilities and their several necessities and conditions in life. First captain be pleased to call upon our Sir Knight Companion, the second Captain, or whomsoever he or you may depute, to read aloud the rules of our grand christian encampment, in order, that the Knights companions may be more fully informed of their whole duty and become better prepared to acquit themselves agreeably to the honourable and friendly confession, which our worthy companion and the rest of the knights have already made.

F. C. (to the second captain.) Sir Knight Companion, the Grand Commander has signified his pleasure to me, that the rules be now read, which have been subscribed by all the Sir Knights Companions of this grand christian encampment;