Knights Of The Red Cross Of Constantine.

prominent in his system of Masonic Knighthood , though a chapter is devoted to "Observations on the Orders of Knights Templar and Knights of Malta . " lu the second edition of tho " Freemason's Monitor , " published in lSO'i , Bro . Webb devoted several pages to the " Red Cross " degree of tho Commandery . It would seem , therefore , that aa late as the

yo : ir 1797 Bro . Webb had no knowledge of tho "Rod Cross" degree now connected in thia country with the Kni ghts Templar degreo , and that the connection between the two degrees was made -within the period 1797-1802 . Col . VV . J . B . MacLeod Moore , Grand Prior of the Kuighfcs Templar of Canada , haa referred to the " Red Cross degree of the Commandery "

as tollows : — " Id does not appear to mo to be any way requisite to take this degree in Masonry for obtaining admission to the Order of tho Temple , although insisted upon in the United States ; it has no connection whatever with Knights Templar , a purely Christian rite , and is , indeed , only au adjunct to the Royal Arch , and not recognised in England as

a degree of Masonry . * * * * The Grand Master of the United States admits that it is a modern innovation . " ( Proceedings Great Priory of Canada 1858 , p 35 . ) " In Scotland and Ireland -it -is not insisted upon as a passto tho Templar , Royal Arch Masons being alone eligible ; why it should have been in any way mixed up with the Order of the Temple ia difficult

to explain . " ( Proceedings Great Priory of Canada 1862 , p 53 . ) " 1 would wish it clearly understood that this degreo is in no way connected with the Ancient Order of the Temple , nor is it recognised by the Grand Conclave of England , being merely a continuation of the Royal Arch , referring to the rebuilding of the Templo of ifembbabel ; and there is no reason why it shonld bo made an

Appendant degree . " ( Proceedings Great Priory of Canada 1870 , p 121 . " I obtained , some yeara ago , authority to communicate the degree of the United States ' Rod Cross , ' or ' Babylonish Pass , ' to Canadian Templars , for tho purpose of preventing any difficulty in visiting the United States Encampments where this degree is a pass to their

lemplar system , but is not compulsory with us , nor do I think it would be of any advantage to graft it on our purely Christian Order . This degree is now in Canada placed under the control of , and given in , Councils of Royal and Select Masters . " ( Proceedings Great Priory of Canada 1871 , p 135 . ) " * It haa no connection whatever witb the Templar Order , and is

neither a chivalric , nor , strictly speaking , a Masonio degree . * * * * The emblem of the Red Cross introduced in the degree is evidently a mistake , confusing it with the Christian Red Cross of the Constantine Order . * * * * The American ceremony has been occasionally practised in our Preceptories , or the essentials communicated , fco enable the members to visit the Templar Commauderies in the U . S . A ., where it is the prerequisite to their Masonic Templar Degrees .

* * * I had authority to confer it from the Supreme Grand Master of the General Grand Encampment , U . S . A ., the late Eminent Sir Knight William Hubbard , and I shall continne to authorize Presiding Preceptors by virtue of their office to communicate tho degree . It never obtained any foothold with us , and was seldom or ever conferred as a separate degree , properly belonging to the A . and A . S . Rito of 33 ° . " ( Proceedings Great Priory of Canada 1888 , p 434 . )

Though tho remarkable event in tho lifo of Constantine , which occupies such a prominent place in the Red Cross degree , is well known to you , it may not be improper at this time to present briefly tho statement of Ensebius , who declared that'he received the account from the emperor himself , and which is as follows , viz .: — Constantino , leading hia army from France into Italy nefiinst

Maxentius , his rival for the throne of tho Roman Empire , suffered tho deepest anxiety , and felt tho need of Divine aid . Though educated in the Pagan faith , he had been attracted to Christianity Desiring positive proof of Christ ' s divinity , he prayed earnestly that such evidence would be revealed to him . On a certain day , while the army was on tho march , the form of the Cross appeared very luminous

in the heavens , and bearing the Greek inscription " Fn Touto Nika , " which signifies in English , " Conquer by this . " In the night , while asleep in his tent , the same form of the Cross appeared again to Constantine , with a vision of Christ , who directed him to adopt that symbol as his military ensign . Constantine obeyed the command , and thenceforth the form of the Cross adorned tho standards of his army . After the victory which niade

him the sole ruler of the Roman Empire , Constantine placed the Cross in the hand of tbe statue erected in his honour at Rome , ( ihisobius' Ecclesiastical History , aud Life of Constantine . ) The learned Dr . Milner , anthor of the " History of the Christian Church , " iu commenting upon thia account , says : " He who U detarimiied uot to believe Christianity to bo divine , will , doubtles ? , disbelieve this miracle from tho same spirit which has induced him to burden his heart against much mure striking evidence . With such

'in ono I would not converse on tbe subject . But tn thoso who admit tlie diviuo origin of Christianity , if any such doubt the truth of the miracle , I would say that it seems to me more reasonable to admit ' _ i divine interposition iu a case like this , especially considering the important consequences , than to deny the ve ' racity of Eusobius ' or of Constantine . " ( Miltier ' a History of the Christian Chnrch , Vol I 507

PU , 503 . London , 18-47 . ) The learned Di : Grow remarked on this subject : "Coristruitm " , resolving to rely only upon tho God whom his father worshipped ' prayed to know , by aome special sign , who Ho wa ? , and that He would afford him His help . Whereupon he was honoured , as Paul Wus , with a celestial vision . He saw iu appearance , over the snu at mid

-day , a figure made with light of a golden colour ; which b .-ij----composed of tho first two letters of Cristas , that is of Christ , and navuig a resemblance of a Cross , was a visibly sign of the Son of iai MAT ? '*' . * And berowithal this inscription , 'Touto Nilca , ' that ' y ! ' overcome- ' And tho whole army , Which were then l . » 'n thuu- march with him , saw tho same . And by a aouuud viaiou

Knights Of The Red Cross Of Constantine.

in tho night ha was commanded to take tho said bgure tor bis ensign . Upou which , applying himself with great concern to tho Christian- * for the meaning thereof , they took tho occasion to preach Christ crucified and His religion to him so as to confirm him therein . " ( Grew's Cosmologia Sacra , p 368 . London , 1701 . ) Tho historian Gibbon says : " In one of tho marches of Constantine ,

ho ia reported to have seen with his own eyes th ) luminous trophy of tho Cross placed above the meridian sun , and inscribed with the following words : 'By this conquer . ' Thw am * izing object in tie sky astonished the whole army , as well as the emperor himself , who was as yefc undetermined in the choice of a religion ; bat his astonishment waa converted into faith by the vision of the ensuing night .

Christ appeared before his eyes , and displaying the same celestial sign of the Cross , he directed Constantino to frame a similar standard and to march with un assurance of victory aguinit Maxentius and all his enemies . " Gibbon ' s " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , " chap . XX . ) Gibbon adds ( chap XX . ) that tho sacred monogram glittered on thc helmets of the soldiers of Constantine , was engraved

ou their shield . ' ' , was interwoven into thoir banners , and adbrned the p-rson of the emperor . And that the principal standard whioh displayed the triumph of the Cross was styled tho Labarum , a long pike , intersected by a transversal beam , from whioh hung a silken veil ; the summit of the pike supporting a crown of gold whioh enclosed the mysterious monogram , at once expressive of the figure of

the Cross and tha initial letters of fche namo of Christ . These initial letters are the Greek characters " X " and "P " ( " Chi " and " Rho " ) , and their union forms the mysterious monogram adopted for the name of Christ , and which constitutes the Cross of Constantine . The early Christians adopted this monogram as a symbol of Christ , and its use as such has coutidued to the present time .

The inscription En touto mka is the ancient motto of oar Order , and it has been appropriated in its Latinized form , " In hoc signo vinces , " by another Order of Masonic Knighthood . Col . W . J . B . MacLeod Moore , Grand Prior of tho Knights Templar of Canada , says : "Ifc is a great mistake to suppose thafc tho motto ' In hoc signo vinces' was ever that of tho Ancient Templar Order ,

or that the ' Passion Cross' was ever borne on their standards . This motto is taken from tho vision of Constantino the Great , and is adopted in tho Masonic degree of ' Rome and Constantino . '" ( Pro « ceedings Great Priory of Canada 1887 , p 327 . ) According to Sir Bernard Burke , the insignia of a Knight of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine consists of a Cross containing

the initials I . H . S . V . ( " In hoc signo vinces , the Latinized form of tho Greek " En touto niha " ) , while the two Greek letters A ( Alpha ) and O ( Omega ) in the centre , together with a Cross resting npon tho letter P ( Rho ) , are to represent God and Jesus Christ ( Father and Son ) the beginning and end of all things . ( Burke ' s " Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour , " pp 181 , 182 . )

The object of Constantine in founding Constantinople was to build a city near the centre of his vast empire , and in which no pagan temple would be permitted . Rome was the stronghold of paganism . Within the walls of that city more than four hundred temples proved the devotion of her people to the ancient faith . Tho great patrician families , as well as the populace generally , clung to tho superstition

that for more than tea centuries had bsen the religion of the State . But the transfer of tho empire to the hands of Constantine , aud tho removal of the capital to Constantinople , shattered tho fabric of Paganism . History declares that , about sixty years after tho death of Constantine , " The decrees of tho Senate which proscribed tho worship of idols were ratified by the general consent of the Romans , the

splendour of the capital was deface ! , and the solitary temples were abandoned to ruin and contempt . Rome submitted to tho yoke of the Gospel . " ( Gibbon ' s " Decline and Fall of fcho Roman Empire , " chap . XXVIII . ) Constantine proclaimed that the new capital was dedicated to Christ . The dedication took place 11 th May in the year 330 , and the

pillar erected to commemorate the event still stands , after the lapso of more than fifteen centuries . ( Walsh ' s Historical Sketch of Constantinople , p v . London , n . d . ) The Encyclopaedia Britaunica says of Constantinople : ¦— " No happier selection was ever made . Tho natural advantages of the sito aro probably unsurpassed by those of any other capital , either in the Old

or in tho New World , and its political importance is evidenced by the frequency wifch which ifc has bsen fche koy fco the situation in European diplomacy . " Iu tho twelfth century , when , as Sir Bernard Burke says , sober history fixes tho period of the establishment of the Order of Constantine , " Constantinople was the emporiam of everything that was

grand aud boantiful in the arts , science and literature of tho world . The city contained , it is said , two millions of inhabitants , aud was adorned wifch tbe noblest specimens of statnary and architecture . " ( Walsh ' s Historical Sketch of Constantinople , p ix . ) It waa tho great depot for the trade of E . tsfcern Europe , and was filled with fcho riches of tho earth . The historian Hallam , referring to fchas period

( A . i > . 1204 . ) speaks of Constantinople as "decked with tho accumulated wealth of ages , and resplendent with the monuments of Roman empire nnd of Grecian art ; " adding , " Her populonsness is estimated beyond credibility ; ten , twenty , thirty-fold thafc of London or Paris ; certainly Far beyond the united capitals of all European kingdoms in thafc age . In ni : iguiliceuco she excelled them more than in numbers .

Instead of - ** ie th itched roofs ' , the mud walls , the narrow streets , the pitiful bniidiiig . * * of those cities , - -he b ; td Kj- u-blo and gilded palaces ' , churches and monasteries , tho work . * of akilful architects through uiiio centuries , gradually sliding from tho severity of ancient taste into the more various aud brilliant combination :- of Eastern fancy . In the libraries of Constantinople wero collected the remains oi !

Grecian learning ; her forum and hippodrome woro decorated with thoso of Greciiiu sculpture . " ( Uallam ' s Middle Ago ? , Vol . IL , pp 126 , 127 . Boalo- * , ISfiS ) . In tho first decade of the thii-iesufch century , the Crusaders , on their mar-.-h to the Holy L-md , attracted by the splendour and wealth ot" Cyusiuufciuoplt ; , seized and plundered tha city . It ia -jaicl th ., '