The Templar Ideal.

THE TEMPLAR IDEAL .

An Address by Very Eminent Sir Hugh McCurdy , Deputy Grand Master of Knights Templars of the United States .

IS not the test of the true Templar that of inspiring in all within the circle of his life a higher Templar life , and a more earnest devotion to one common interest : the attaiument by each of the Templar Ideal ? Think of the possibilities which lie hidden in these words . Not that any

one of us has attained thereto , but this one thing we do in memory of the past , we are ever pressing on towards the mark of the prize of our high calling . The glory of Templarism is its lofty ideal—its standard , which it has never lowered for any man or cause . In every conflict , iu

the very thickest of the fight , it has always insisted that men and causes must come up to its lofty heights , and through all its varied history , Templarism has come down to us as untainted as the sunbeam comes through the mist . Whatever men may have been in tho past , whatever we

ourselves may be now , let us never lose sight of this truth , that our ideal embodies all the qualities of noble manhood . Sncb , in a few words , is the nature , such the history of our Knightly order . But , when one ' s ancestry is one of noble deeds , how strong the temptation to glory in it , aud to rest satisfied with illustrious succession of brilliant

namos . Are wo not thus tempted to live in the past aud with fondest recollections to linger around tbe place of our birth , the cradle in which we were rocked , our venerable mother , her old arm-chair , the old home ! Sweet pictures these , huug in the memory of every Sir

Knight . Sacred be these images , sacred the memory of tho days of our infancy , childhood and our old home . When we cease to love most dearly the home of our

birth , the dear old mother who tenderly nurBed our childhood , we cease to be Knights Templar , whatever we may call ourselves . But , while proud of our heritage , let us remember that no man has a right to receive an

inheritance save on the condition of improving it . As Emerson says : — "He who sits on the cushion of his advantages goes to sleep . " The true way to venerate an ancestor is to live his life , in his spirit , up to the full measure—not

ot his light , but of the light we have . Noble Knights have graced thc pages of our history ; but no man is a true Templar to-day who is not a more chivalrous Knight than any Bayard sans peur et sans reproche of mediasval

tiays . lurmng no pages covered with dust of centuries , but in the open book of to-day , we read tbe story of a better chivalry , a more refined courtesy , and the unbought grace of life .

If the modern Templar sees no more in Templarism than Bayard saw , he is something less than a modern Templar , for he has not kept the faith . He studies onr history in vain who fails to find therein an inspiration to nobler deeds and a hi gher life than anv therein recorded . Who of the

noblest of the sons of chivalry of the middle ages reached the ultimates of kni ghtly life and knowledge ? Has any one ever reached the serene heights of Templar ascension ? Every distinctive element of Knighthood is a growing element . Gentle manliness , a sense of honour , devotion to

auty , courage , hope , faith . If a man of the nineteenth century have these qualities he must have them for hirntu n because of any man ' s " I make , create and dub thee / ' The outward sign of knighthoo : ! man may wear h y virtue of the laying on of hands and touch of sword , out

neither blade of sword nor touch of hand hath power to impart the living spirit of knighthood . The command , Rise , Sir Kni ght , " is a perpetual order , not to one , but to all—not for one day , but for all time . It means that he who receives it , receives with it the Templar ' s faith that as HIS Divine Master hath ascended into the heavens so he also m heart and mind must thither ascend .

Because this has ever been the instinct of the . true -templar , not of satisfaction , but of perfection , the spirit ot chivalry in its finest essence lives among us to-day . I he t ypical knight of the middle ages has become the gentleman of this age . Tbe bar-vizored knijjht 0 f that

j" * y waited for the things to be revealed in us . Whatever o was his inspiration was this hope for us . Whatever vS ^ cellencos > ^ though the theme of poetry aud song , onl th Were ° n ' y the P romise of our Ia , 'g ° growthy the prelude of the prophetic song which we ourselves HOW sing ,

The Templar Ideal.

They lived in a barbarous , we live in a knightly land . They lived in the midst of enemies , we live in the midst of kindred spirits . We live in an age , not perhaps heroic in the mediaeval senso , but in tho age of geutlemen , in a sense of which the old time hero never more than

dreamed . This is the age of the noblest type of the true gentleman , as well as the most beautiful type of gentlewoman , our wards . The American gentleman ia the noblest type of true chivalry the world has ever known—here a type

of gentleman in which are richly blended a sense of personal honour , generosity , courtesy , Christian tenderness and helpfulness . Let us nob forget , however , that we

owe these ennobling virtues to the same influence that shaped the chivaly of the days of Bayard and Sir Sidney . In no other age of the world has there been so wide , so varied a field for the exercise of all these virtues as in

this present age . Tho idoal of chivalry has always been lofty , pure and generous . Valour , loyalty , courtesy and generosity have always beeu the characteristics of the true Knight . What scope to-day for the exercise of these virtues ?

Life in harmony with these is the Templar life ; whereevor these are lacking their knighthood is lacking . What beautiful fruits if we find these virtues growing upon all

branches of our Templar tree of life ! * * * * He keeps the Templar faith who grows in it . He alone grows in it who keeps his sacred regard for the anoient landmarks—the old home—the first principles .

Let us labour , Sir Knights , to build our Uvea into tho hope of Templarism . The true artist does not with fondest recollections linger upon the first touches of feeble youth ; but , leaving those , he presses forward to his masterpiecesome best thought that the world will not willingly let die .

When the summons of death came to Riphael , Italy ' s prince of painters , his brush was upon his grandest painting , " The Transfiguration , " yet unfinished . Each Templar is

an artist—his work the transfiguration of a noblo life , upon which men shall look to be inspired to a higher life , as men look upon Raphael's painting , catching therefrom his spirit —his idoal of a complete lifo .

Raphael's life was too short for tha completion of his masterpiece . No Templar ' s life can be long enough to perfect his ideal . Before that task shall be finished bis eye shall grow dim—the brush fall from his hand . But if this be his work , his ambition , men shall look upon bis life

to bo inspired thereby to live for a higher life . Let it bo our aim to act , to know , to think , to iive up to our professions , our own works , our own creed . Living thus , we shall be growing nearer the truth than by embracing with ever so much devotion the truth which comes

from others . Our conquests must all be made in the sign of the cross , because this shows us what is the highest call of man . This is a symbol which can never lose its significance . The symbol of firmness , gentleness , loyalty to duty , to the old law and the New Testament . And may the

mystic chords of memory , reaching from that symbol ' s rugged height , from the empty sepulchre , from the olive crowned Mount of Ascension , from many a hard fought battle-field , and many a lonely conflict in defence of its great

truth , reaching from the noble deeds of our own honoured dead to our every living heart and hearthstone , all over this broad land , touched by the better angels of our nature , bind us more indissolubly to the past , and inspire us with larger hopes for the future .

There is a regular system of what may be called tramp Freemasonry , and the chalk hieroglyphios one frequently sees iu closes , & c , are ( says a correspondent ) simply a description of tho tenants in a " land . " The early bird , who does tho grand tour in the morning or forenoon , leaves behind him , for the benefit of any belated

brethren who may happen to come after him , a succinct recital of how he was treated , whether hospitably or the reverse . They read the significant mark , and can tell at a glance whether a weary tramp ¦ up three flights of stairs will be repaid by abundant cold victuals , or , on the other hand , met by a mere bite ( from a dog ) . —Qlasgovi Evening News .

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