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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 303
much of its symbolism from archaeology and claimed allegiance to the
other previously organized Masonic bodies or organizations.
Its membership Avas composed of the ruling classes, those high in
authority, both spiritual and temporal. And for a time it seemed to be
under the control of the bishops and prelates of the Church of Rome,
yet its office Avas rather of a Avarlike nature than otherwise, and the
Pope Avas one of its greatest patrons, and he used all his poAver to make
the order subservient to his wishes, an instrument to strengthen the
poAver of the church, and early in the tAvelfth century, at his dictation
and under his supervision, a code of rules and regulations to govern the
order Avas duly promulgated.
Though the Knights Templar flourished for a time and thousands of
the youth of Europe joined the order and marched victoriously to the
City of David, and those Avho survived returned with great pomp, yet
Avhen the excitement Avas passed and the sound reasoning of men began
to control their actions, and a careful research of the records of the
order AVIIS made it Avas found that its rubrics wei-c too broad and expansive,
too catholic in their nature to permit the rules and regulations
formulated by the hierarchy to be accepted for the government or the
order. When this became knoAvn an effort Avas made to produce a compromise,
but all propositions coming from that source Avere of such a
nature that they could not be accepted, and proved futile, and oppression
produced a breach that has never healed, a chasm that never closed,
a river that Avas never bridged over. f
AVhen the heads of the churches found that suasion and ordinary
pressure Avould not bring the order under abject surveillance and meek
obedience, a determination to rule or ruin Avas made manifest, the machinery
AA'as put in operation for its destruction, the bulls of expulsion
and excommunication AA'ere promulgated and SOAVII broadcast through
the land, and so far as the Roman or Greek churches kneAv, it was
crushed out through the anathemas issued by the ruling spirits and
poAver brought to bear upon the civil authorities. Yet it lived throughout
the continent and Great Britain; it survived persecution through the
bigotry, ignorance, superstition and ostracism of the dark ages; like its
confreres, it kept up the line of succession, and its good Avorks and moral
teachings and precepts Avere perpetuated and brought doAvn through the
ages of men, a cherished heirloom to the present generation, and its
history is of the brighest recorded upon the pages, to Avhich its folloAvers
and patrons point Avith pride and veneration.
Many of the early settlers oft Ohio Avere Knights Templar Masons
Avhen they came here, and early in the century subordinate commandcries
Avere instituted, receiving authority as did the other branches of
the order from the older states, and as they increased in numbers they
began to think that it Avould be well to have a grand commandery in
Ohio. Thereupon the proper application Avas filed Avith the proper
authorities of the Grand Commandery of the United States for authority
to organize a grand commandery, and October 24, 1843, the Grand
Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio Avas duly organized at Lan-