an ignorant public."
However this may be, Long does not seem to have been at any time a
member of this body. This is how the "Mother Council of the World" is
said to have come into existence, and Charleston has established Supreme
Councils 33 deg., between 1811 and 1846, in France, Ireland, Scotland,
England, and elsewhere.

There is no foundation for the legend of the Charleston Templar relics,
namely, the skull of Jacques de Molay and the Baphomet, beyond the fact
that one of the grades, the 23 deg. of the old Rite of Perfection and the
30 deg. of the modern Rite, uses a representation of the Papal tiara in its
ceremonies and also of the crown of France, in allusion to Pope Clement
V. and Philip le Bel.

I can find no Mason, of what grade or rite soever, who has ever heard of
Pike's Sepher d'Hebarim, his book called Apadno, or lectures in which he
imparted extracts unacknowledged from Eliphas Levi; they may rank with
triangular provinces, Lucifer _chez lui_, the skull of Molay, and the
Palladium; in other words, they are lying myths. Nothing which Pike has
or is known to have written has any Luciferian complexion. He has
collected into his lectures a mass of mystical material from rites like
Memphis and Misraim, but it is alchemical, theosophical, or dealing with
ancient symbolism, the mysteries, pre-christian theology, &c. As to Pike
himself, a Mason of high authority observes in a private letter:--"He
was one of the greatest men who ever adorned our Order. He was a giant
among men, his learning was most profound, his eloquence great, and his
wisdom comprehensive; he was a scholar in many languages, and a most
voluminous writer. He was an ornament to the profession to which he
belonged, namely, Law; he fought the cause of the red man against the
American government many years ago, and prevailed in a large degree. I
believe he was a true and humble servant of the One True and Living God,
and a lover of humanity."

Having regard to all these facts, it is much to be regretted that the
Catholic Church should have warmly approved and welcomed the extremely
unsatisfactory testimony which connects Masonry with Diabolism. When the
report of Diabolism first reached the ears of English mystics, and it
was understood that the Church had concerned herself very seriously in
the matter, I must confess that a hidden motive was immediately
suspected. A recrudescence of mediaeval Black Magic was in no sense
likely to attain such p