The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-06-19

have thought it thing to make
bigots and thing to make dupes.
They have thought the church an
asylum for the feeble-minded. There
are doubtless men in this community
who think me an incurable imbecile,
because I find myself forced, by what
mind God has given me, to see the life
and will and character of God imaged
in the life and will and character of
Jesus Of Nazareth. There will always
be those to think-and religious men,
toO-that every secret order is sort
of Malta, made up of persons who go
about seeking whom they may devour.
But, as they see this order of yours
making you better men of business,
better husbands, better fathers and
better and more manly men; as they
see it Wiping away tears and lifting up
those who fall; as they see it leading
you to visit the widow and the father
less in their affection, and bending
you toward the ChriSt-like life rather
than away from it, leading you to-
ward the true worship of God and not
toward unbelief in God,-then these
men will no longer look at you as if
you were carrying concealed weapons
and plotting all sorts of dreadful
things in the barred secrecy of the
lodge. We judge by the fruits, and
we are not afraid of the fruits of the
knightly spirit. We are not afraid of
the spirit which works for the seen
brother, and for his wife and little
ones when he is gone.
And this leads me to that of which
you perhaps expected me to say more
this morning-the meaning to your
order of this second Sunday in June.
This is the day which you consecrate
to the memory of the once seen broth
er who has passed to the unseen Faith
er. For the angel who leaves behind
him the empty places in our homes,
and the very empty arms of the liv-
ing, that angel leaves empty places in
your ranks. And to-day your eyes
and hearts are on those empty places.
l need make no argument for immort-
ality to you, for, if you believe in your
order, you know that the knightly
spirit is something that cannot die.
You know that the graves which hold
the bodies of your brothers are not
blind alleys. You know that the
fine something which bound you to
those vanished brothers, lives on in
higher ranges of development. And
SO your memory of these brethren gone
is not hopeless, despairing memory.
1t is over their clay, not over their
knightly spirits, that you will wreathe
your flowers to-day. Those spirits
have stood, many of them, and heard
the words: II was an hungered and We
gave me meat: was thirsty and We
gave me drink; [ was a stranger and
We took me in: Naked and We clothed
me; was sick, and We visited me: I
was in prison and ye came unto me.
Inasmuch as We have done it
unto one of the least of these my bre-
thren, We have done it unto me- And
so remember these brothers gone to-
day, not without tears, indeed, but
not without hope. Remember them
to-day and all the days, and let the
memory make your knightly spirit
grow, make your hearts larger, make
your lives more pure. The once seen
brother stretches forth his hand to
draw you nearer to the unseen Father.
Grasp that hand as the little child
grasps the hand of his mother. Hold
to that hand until the day shall come
when you shall look again into the
eyes now closed and see the perfect
knighthood shining there, the day on
which your earthly battle for love and
brotherhood shall be ended and you
shall go
ITO where, beyond these voices, there is peace