The Portland daily press., 1894-12-25

DGlIOlb, NllSuss 1IONs a. l. ONAo - 2
is the response of Grand Master Hugh
McCurdy to the annual Christmas toast
of Knight Templars.
Headquarters of the Grand Master OF
/, Knights Templar, U.S.A.
Corurna, Mich, Dec, "a, 1860.
Ammo Ordinis ZIG.
10 all knights Templar, Greetng:-
With prayerful heart and bowed heao
let us offer our devotion to the giver OF
all blessings for the golden trultage
which this, the day of days brought E, TO
mankind to bless and to save. ms
toast which you offer us this morning
for our Christmas greeting ILLS my near1
with profound emotion for the welfare,
peace and happiness of you ana yours,
for whom 1 ask the richest peneolctloh
Of our Father in heaven aoaf M Ieshs,
"To our Most Eminent Grana Mas.ei
Hugh McCurdy; the head of American
Templar Masonry. who holds all Tempiar
hearts.n / accept from you as an oler-
ing to the high position nold. NIL
die the inner genial life of man, ana you
have flame that burns up all lower con
siderations. Not happiness but some
thing higher-not by hatterlng our %p
petites; only by awakening the nero.
ic that slum bers in every mans heart
can any religion gain followers"
No words can find more httlngiy 10
express the purpose of Templarism than
these words of Carlyle.
Templarism aims to kindle the inner
genial life of man. 1t inspires MIN TO
live, not for happiness, put Ior soIne.nA ny
higher. 1t would gain followers oy
awakening the heroic that rslum bers IN
every mans heart. To awaken the hero
ic Templarism points with unWaverlng
constancv to the greatest OF all heroes.
the Carpenter of Nazareth, worship OF
Him has always been, is to this hour, ana
at all hours the vivifying influence OF
loyalty to Him. The true Templar hope
is to be like Him-to live His life IS tne
genial flame that burns up all lower con-
siderations. 80,
Not simply to commemorate His blrth,
have the true hero worshippers OF our
order in every land gathered arouno
hearth and shrine this hour-but from
shop and farm, from pulpit ana pencn,
from school room and college hall, from
hearth STONE where brightly burns that
yule log, from the busy marts OF trade
have thew come on this glad Christmas
day each for himself to bow down In the
presence of this worlds greatest hero
the son of man, and to feel himself mace
higher by reverenclng tnaJ whlch
is above him. No nobler, no more
blessed impulse, swells in mans heart
than in response to which we have this day
gathered around our shrines. we are
here, Sir knights, on this joyous christ
mas day to slook upon picture which
represents the very beginning OF the
Christian religion upon which our order
was founded; the picture OF the holy
Family in the Bethlehem stable. Inc
social life of man began when the Son OF
Man entered into and became member
of that family. that typical group OF
human life. Men are social only as far
as He enters into and becomes part or
their lives. The son of Mary clasping
His childish arms about his mother S
neck, or holding his fathers hand on
the way to Egypt, this is perfect pc
ture of social life. Men clinging to Him
and Hope clinging to men-tney in Him
and He in them. this is the ideal social
life, the ideal Tempiarism. He. Sir
knights. is the head of Templar FREQ.
masonry-He alone is worthy to hold all
Templar hearts. The heart that beats
ever with His idea is the great heart OF
Templar freemasonry, and every Temp
lar Mason's heart.
Let us, Sir Knights, keep this Bethle-
hem picture ever before our minds-ever
in our hearts; for, more than any OF our
Ten,plar pictures, more than picture
of the resurrection or of the Ascension,
it reveals the open secret CT our order.
Not the picture of the s'epulchre, nor
OF The MOuuG Ol Uuo AStOuSlOls Ouu oAS
picture of the sta BILE and the cradle OF
Bethlehem represents the beginning and
the essence of Templarism. This is the
picture, Sir Knights, which should first
greet the eyes and inspire the heart OF
the pilgrim penitent when he begins his
pilgrimage. Keep this picture in MIND,
in heart, in asylum that it may tell the
story ever new, that
aIn the beauty of the lilies Christ was
born across the sea.
With the glory in his bosom that trans
figures you and me-"
The story which this picture is telling
in the value of the individual man, that
whatever value any family. any organlza-
tion of men has, comes from the essen
tial conditions of the personal SOULS COM
posing it. The organization is good only
SO far as it makes the individual good.
Here is where many social organizations
show their weakness in losing sight of
the individual while caring for the COM
bination of individuals. The Son of
Mary came to man, not because they were
rich or poor, cultivated or uncultivated.
He came to them because they were.men.
not because they were rich or poor, cul-
tiyated or uncultivated. He came to
them because they were men, not be
cause they were members of humanity
not because of their classhood, but be-
cause of their manhood. lie came to that
cradle because we were men. We come
to it again and again because He was
| the perfect man.
Hs was born. He lived and died more
perfectly to reveal the real value of man
as Child of God. To this end were we
born, for this cause came we into thi,
world, and into the great family of Tenn
plars to bear witness to this truth. The
truth of the incarnation, the truth of
mans childhood to God is the inspiration
of every true Sir Knight. 1t fills his
whole life; it is his creed, creed which
not only his life declares, but which his
whole living utters. clear perception
of this truth is the soul of Knightly
courtesy. First the soul of honor for the
man, then the special words of honor for
his class condition. Honor for the indi-
vidual man-this is the soul; honor for
his positlor-this is the body of courtesy
and kindness, and there is no Knightly
courtesy without such soul and body.
Consider how the world needs such
courtesy, such kindness. How man need
to know that the unit of value is the
individual. That man is more than any
family or organization to which he may
belong; more than any position which
he may hold, more than any word which
| ba nav sDeak more than any work that