addition should not be made; I am opposed to changing the old Ritual.' These views prevailed and the matter was dropped."

It is to be regretted that this matter was intentionally left in uncertainty. The Code was intended to make the law as definite and certain as possible, and yet here is a confession that a vital principle, which it was proposed to make as clear as day, was deliberately remanded to the region of doubt and uncertainty.

We agree with Sir Knight Carson that the Holy Trinity is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion to-day, and that it is beyond doubt that it has been so ever since the second century. It was formulated in the Nicene Creed, which was adopted at the Council of Nice in 325, and perfected at Constantinople in 381. It is embodied in the Apostles' Creed, which is to-day recognized throughout Christendom and used in all of our Asylums. Knights Templar throughout the length and breadth of the jurisdiction of the Grand Encampment are required over and over again to repeat it.

The forms for the institution of Commanderies and the installation of officers, which were recently promulgated under the authority of the Grand Encampment, are nothing if not Trinitarian. They embrace the Apostles' Creed, slightly emasculated it is true-"the Holy Catholic Church" being omitted, but retaining everything else - the Gloria Patria, the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum, all of which are intensely Trinitarian. No one can conscientiously take part in either of those ceremonies who does not accept the Holy Trinity as part of his religious faith.

Templary was established in Pennsylvania before Webb got up his so-called American system. It brought with it a belief in the Holy Trinity, and we have adhered to it as an immovable and imperishable landmark. Every applicant for Knighthood and membership has been and is required to make a distinct profession of his faith in it.

So long as belief in the Christian religion is required, so long, in our judgment, must we believe in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three persons and one God. We have no more right to eliminate the Trinity than the French Masons had to dethrone God and place in His stead a creative principle. Doubtless there are some good men, who reject the Trinity, who would make serviceable members of the Order; so also doubtless are there some good men, who deny God altogether, who might make useful members of the Fraternity. It is not, however, a question simply of good and useful men. The physical qualification rule excludes many such, and there is no injustice in excluding others by a rule of religious belief. We do exclude the Jew; why not also the anti-Trinitarian?

We have said this much from an earnest sense of duty. We desire to maintain the purity and strength of the Christian religion, and we cannot contemplate the effort to strike down the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, as one of its elements, with

out a painful conviction that through the liberalizing tendency of the age, of which Grand Master Hurlbut has caught the spirit, the time may not be far distant when an assault will be made upon the doctrine of Christ's divinity, to be speedily followed by another Age of Reason, when all our altars shall be overthrown and our Temples polluted by the preaching of unbridled Atheism.

He concludes as follows:

I concur most cordially with the sentiments expressed in the report on Foreign Coroespondence, and with the remarks just made in reference to the belief of Knights Templar in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. I have always contended that our Order rested upon that foundation or upon nothing; that all of our symbols, lessons and ceremonies declare our belief in the Holy Trinity.

Having this strong conviction, when I was called on some years since to prepare the Code of Statutes of the Grand Encampment of the United States, I incorporated a clause requiring a candidate for our Orders to declare his belief in the Trinity. When the full Committee came together to consider the Code there was some discussion as to the necessity for this explicit declaration. I remember that Sir Knight Drummond argued as he states in the extract just read from his address; but I also remember that the majority of the Committee held unqualifiedly that belief in the Trinity was requisite to gain admission to our Asylum; and it was considered that this belief was affirmed by a declaration of faith in the Christian religion; hence a further avowal upon this proposition was unnecessary.

I am surprised that Sir Knight Drummond should leave the impression, which his remarks might convey, that the Committee on the Code designed to "palter in the double sense."

The requirement of a specific declaration of belief in the Holy Trinity was omitted from the Code simply because it was deemed an unnecessary addition to an avowal which unquestionably implied full faith in the Trinity. I feel quite sure a majority of the Committee on the Code had no other thought.

Sir George W. Kendrick, Jr., of Philadelphia, was elected R. E. Grand Commander.

Sir Charles E. Meyer of Philadelphia, was re-elected E. Grand Recorder.

TENNESSEE.

The Nineteenth Annual Conclave of this Grand Commandery was held at the Asylum of Coeur de Leon Commandery No. 9, in the city of Knoxville, commencing on Thursday, June 9, A.D. 1881, A.O. 763.

Sir Joseph Henry Fussell, R. E. Grand Commander.

Sir Morton Boyte Howell, E. Grand Recorder.

Twelve subordinate Commanderies were represented. Nine Past Grand Commanders supposed to be present, six being represented by proxy.

The Grand Commander uses the following eloquent words in opening his address :

I have the honor to congratulate you upon your advance to another station in your Templar life. As the soldier upon the field of strife guards well the approach of the enemy, so at this point will you, as dauntless Soldiers of the Cross, with the noble doctrines of Templarism and under the government of our Lord Jesus Christ, with wisdom gather about you. the bulwarks of Eternal Truth that the enemies of the Order and of the Christian religion, may see that your city is set upon a hill, and cannot be hid. While it should be a subject of especial gratitude to an over-ruling Providence that we are permitted to meet in Annual Conclave, and that death's alarm has but seldom been heard at our Asylum demanding admission, yet his noiseless, unbidden, untiring tread has told us the certainty of his coming, as slowly a cloud of sadness drifts over us, when at roll-call-from three esteemed Fraters late of Memphis No. 4, and one from Murfreesboro No. 10, no answer comes but the reverberating echo along down the dim arches. Oh! Sir Knights we know not the hour we may enter the "mellow light" that guides our nearing footsteps to the grave! And daily heeding the admonition, "Be ye also ready," let us rest in the hollow of His haud who alone is able to guide us through the shadowy vale of death. And as the mariner upon the waste of waters with vessel directed to a point on the distant and unseen shore watches with the jealous eye his log-board and compass, so should we moving down the stream of life to the great ocean of Eternity, with the eye of faith fixed upon the home beyond, ever keep us the man of our counsel the chart of Divine Truth, traced by the finger of inspiration.

Thy word is Truth!

A correct knowledge of the past, the better enables us to provide for the future. I therefore now call attention to such of my official acts, as will assist you, I trust, in making wise provision for the year upon which we are about to enter.

Much of the address is devoted to an account of the knightly pilgrimage into Ohio, and the reception given the visiting Sir Knights. He says of the members of Reed Commandery:

R. E. Sir J. Kelly O'Neall, and the members of Reed Commandery vied with each

other in doing honor to the Pilgrims, and we were the recipients of that unfeigned courtesy and hospitality that can spring only from warm and generous hearts. After the feast, (for such it was) we were shown points of interest about the city, then driven to the "National Soldier's Home"- this great monument of a Nation's charity, and the pride of the great Commonwealth of Ohio-where we were cordially received by Sir R. E. Fleming and Dr. Weaver, who escorted us through the grounds clearly and beautifully marked at every point by a government's tender care, by flower, shrub, park and majestic building to the towering shaft of the soldiers' monument.

The Grand Commander suggested the following, which suggestion the Grand Commandery endorsed by a resolution to that effect:

That the Commissions of all Representatives of this Grand Commandery near other Grand Jurisdictions expire with the date of the next Triennial Encampment; and that hereafter all such Commissions shall expire with date of succeeding Triennial Encampment. It is an honor indeed, to be the Representative of any Grand Jurisdiction, but this honor should be distributed among deserving Knights, and not concentrated upon a few. And it would add much to the interest of these occasions, and to the Representative system, could each Representative give us a full report from the Grand Jurisdiction he has the honor to represent; or at least be able to give such important measures as may have been adopted.

The Grand Commander reports no decisions made during the year but such as have been decided by statute law, and concludes his address as follows:

of

With you, Sir Knights, I leave my labors as your Grand Commander. Remember that the strength and worth of our institution depend not upon the grace nodding plumes, not upon brilliant scenes and dazzling display; not in numbers, but upon humble, pure, spotless, holy lives, breathed out at the foot of the Cross in heart-felt devotion to our Great Emmanuel. Then will it defy the bloodiest persecution, and withstand the fiercest assaults of the sword, and wildest scenes of the fagot, and falsehood's bliting curse, and win the great battle against the corrupt flesh. For remember

"Greater is he that is with us

Than he that is against us.

Remember that on the rugged road of life are weary Pilgrims here and there. Have you no silver and gold? Then withhold not the far better gift of kind acts and sympathizing words, and thereby as he bears his load with fortitude undaunted, brighten his spirits, revive his hopes, and let your smiles fall like sunbeams upon a sad heart.

"Oh! brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother,
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.

To worship rightly is to love each other;

Each smile a hymn, each kind by deed a prayer."

Believe me sincere, Sir Knights, and accept my acknowledgments for the many attentions marked with kindness such as has characterized all your intercourse with me since by your generous partiality I have had the honor to hold this responsible position.

Feeling my great need of ability and experience, I feared that errors might be committed, and therefore relied, and without disappointment, upon the generous and hearty support of our Fraters throughout the State.

The sole object of my labors has been the good, and advancement of Christian Knighthood in my jurisdiction. As I surrender to you the emblem of office, I bespeak for my successor that aid and kindness which has characterized your conduct toward me.

As I stand upon the beach and see the pebble fall far out from shore, and the tiny wave marks the fall, and wave after wave rises and goes down; and when the little stone has found a home far down in the ocean's bed, the wave piles up the sand upon the shore: so, as you proceed with the important duties of this Conclave cast out upon the bosom of Templarism, thoughts and acts clearly marked by wisdom and harmony, and guided by justice and modoration, so that the future of the Order may, under the blessings of God, be advanced, even when these forms have passed away; and when Heaven's immortal spring shall arrive, may man's majestic beauty bloom again to you bright through the Eternal years of Love's triumphant reign.

After the adjournment of the Grand Commandery, the Sir Knights enjoyed themselves with reception, banquet, ball, etc., and had a good time generally.

A sword presentation and dance closed up the proceedings, and are thus reported:

Thus closed what may be called, without "odorous comparison," the most successful Grand Conclave ever held by the Grand Commandery of Tennessee. To the Knights and citizens of Knoxville, the visiting Knights, and all who accompanied them, could not refrain from expressing their unalloyed gratification. Not an untoward circumstance occurred; all was pleasant and happy. Many who had met as strangers parted as warm friends, and the hearty hand shake and fervent "God bless you," as the train was ready to move, showed how this intercourse of two days had cemented mutual regard.

The "peripatetic system" has worked well in Tennessee, and the strongest