Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-05-31
Helena, Montana, Thursday, May 81, 1883.

| Our work to-day is not that of the knights
of old. We have no Holy Sepulchre to guard,
unle ess, indeed, in these rocky hearts of ours,
we hew shrine,
Where in pure embalmed cell,
None but Christ may ever dwell"
But we have warfare before us, though the
ground is changed. The grand impressive GER
emonies of our Asylum are not play. Our
symbols still have meaning St. Bernard
words at this late day may have an application.
Our confidence, Sir Knights, is in the Lord of
Hosts. 1t is in His cause that we are still
called to fight. But the foe is a more subtle
one than wild Arab or cruel Saracen, and its
enmity more deadly. Turning from the mag
nihcent record behind US, we look at the stemer
warfare always in front of us. What less does
the sword at your side signify? We wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principali-
ties, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wick
edness in high places. What less does that
central symbol, the cross, mean? Tear this from
among our symbols, and the sword, indeed re-
mains. But with the emblem which inspires
US, our enthusiasm also disappears, for the Tenn
plars were known pre- eminently as 'Warriors
of the Cross" Think, in corroboration of this,
of the motto of our Order; it should be upon
every grand standard, inscribed above the red
cross that is there: "By this sign, conquer"
Locking back to the vows which were among
the first terms of admission among the Knights
of the Temple, we are not in thus speaking,
getting away from the spirit which characterizes
the institution through and through To
crusade we have pledged our lives and endeav-
ors. OF the purpose of that crusade the cross
leaves us not for moment in doubt 1t is the
symbol alike of the Christian and the Knight.
AS men and Masons it teaches us to love only
holy, heroic things. 1t is continual reminder
of the service in which we have engaged, that
asks the highest powers we possess, and puts a
strong check over the low, and crushes out the
mean; and every conquest we have ever gained
owe the wrong that is in ourselves or out in the
world around us, has been under this sign and
in the name of Him who has consecrated it,
His cross" it was said among the Knights of
olden time, sis the symbol of your salvation
Wear it a red, bloody cross, as an eternal
mark on your breast, pledge Of your sacred
and irrevocable engagement" Under it we
have entered upon warfare which will not
stop short Of the utter conquest on one side or
the other, of the combatants.
On the page Of the Holy Scriptures which
tells Of the first encounter on earth of good and
evil, there is prophecy, broad and determinate,
of a final victory. at shall bruise thy head"
it said to the serpent, "and thou shalt bruise
his heel" The promise is fastening on to its
fulfllment. Be loyal, Sir Knights, to the cross;
be loyal to the motto that floats above it; be
loyal to the risen Christ, who gives its efficacy
to the one, and puts all its meaning into the
other. His is the winning side in the great
conflict. Keeping your place there, you fall in
with that long unbroken procession-a militant
host, winding up from the dim, early dawn, un-
til it is lost in the skies the great host trium
plant.
And by your speech and your conduct you
viii aid in the last task assigned by our Lord
to His followers. The witness that has been
given unto Him in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, you will bear in your life,
though you go to the uttermost part of the earth.
RESOLUTIONS OF HELENA COMMANDERY NO. 2,
X. T., ADOPTED MAY IS, 1883.
Be ii ResOl5'ed By Helena CoDsnzauae7y No. 2,
Knights Zemblar.
+ That the hearty thanks of our Sir knights,
and collectively, are due and are
hereby rendered to our Rev. Brother and Com
panion Sir Knight F. T. Webb, for the eloquent
and appropriate discourse delivered for their
benefit on Ascension Day, May 3, 1883, and
beg his acceptance of testimonial of our CRATE
ful remembrance of that occasion.
Resok0ea further, That our Rev. Brother be
requested to furnish copy of said discourse
or print, and that this Commandery authorize
he printing Of one hundred copies thereof in
pamphlet for preservation and distribution