Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-05-29
MIR. PHILLlPS,S SERMON.

The following is the sermon preached
before the Old Dominion Commandery,
Knights Templar, in ST. Paul's Church
by Rev. P. P. Phillips last Thursday
night:
Text-St. Matthew %; 35, Sc. 81
was hungered and ye gave me meat;
was thirsty and ye gave me drink;
was stranger and We took me in
naked and ye clothed me; | was sick
and ye visited me; was in prison and
ye came unto me-" This day in the
Christian church is set apart for the
commemoration Of an august, unique
and transceudent truth, and event in
history. 1t is the Ascension Day of
our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. say it was an august event,
but when we think of it every event in
our Saviour's life was wonderful. His
birth, it stands apart by itself. His
words and daily life, as far as we have
the record of them, while human,
there hung about them an atmosphere
not altogether of this world. He talk
ed like other men but His words had
| the ring of something not ofthis world.
He died like other men, yet His death
stands forever apart from any other
death that has been, for it did not close
His visible life. Forty days after His
deathHe was living among His disciples,
known, seen, talked with, handled,
and when His life here was to end ii
was not by second death, but in the
glory of the bodily ascension into the
heaven and home and throne from
which he came to this earth The as
cension thought of to-day is Christian
| doctrine. 1t is cardinal and funda-
mental article of our Christian creed.
He ascended into Heaven. If any one
believes in the ascension Of Christ
it may generally be said that
he believes in the Divinity
of Christ. The two trusted are iCsepa-
rable, and your choice OF to-day for this
public service in q christian church,
men and brethren, shows one truth
about your organization. 1t is pro-
fessedly christian body. If we had
nothing else by which to judge We
might reasonably be assured by your
observance of the day set apart to honor
| Christ's ascension, that, as an order,
YOU believe in His divinity; and that
belief ranks you as a christian body.
The history of the rise OF the knights
| Templar assures us that our conjecture
is not wrong. Some of the most thrill
ling stories of christian fortitude and
valor are associated with its history.
We may almost say that it was born in
the blood OF martyrdom, and martyr
dom largely in devotion to what christ
ians hold most dear. And so, l, as a
christian minister, welcome you into
this christian church, and TO this christ
ian service as fellow christian soldiers.
know that such welcome may sound
strange to some. We thought, say
they, that Masonry admits Jews and
Turks who deny the fundamental doc
trine ofour religiou-the divine person
ality of Jesus Christ. The first degrees
of Masonry may do so; for they, many
think, arose before our christian era,
but while not distinctively christian
they are full of the thought OF the eX
istence Of the true God. No lodge can
be in session without the open Bible
in the most conspicuous place, so that
all eyes may see it. No atheist can
enter the doors, and the members are
taught the most glorious truth OF
our christian revelations as the corner
stone of the earliest Masonry,
the doctrine of the hope of the
resurrection of the body. But the
Knights Templar are peculiarly and
distinctively the Christian part of Free
masonry. Pardon me if have spoken
TOO long on this theme. My purpose in
standing here is not to praise nor 10 re-
buke. 1t is rather my part, as minis
ter Of Christ, to warn. would fail in
my conception of my duty if did not
do so. am Mason, though not in the
high rank to which you belong, and l
am glad that can speak, as you are
well aware, from my personal know
ledge of the Oldest order Of Masonry,
the foundation on which all that has
followed in the course of centuries has
been built, which gives form and shape
to all the structure laid upon it..
Masonry deals with the highest moral
principle of religion-belief in God.
In so far it is religious organization.
1t may be more than merely religious.
1t may have purposes and aims that
are not essentially what we call re-
| ligion. But they are commendable and
moral. Still the deep foundation is be.
lief in personal supreme God, the
architect of the universe, the great
builder and sustainer-he who sees.
In this truth rest our duties to Him, to
our brother, who is our brother because
the child of the same God, and to our
selves as made in the image of God,
and accountable to Him for the right use
or abuse of the things which He has
given us. In other words the Christian
obligations of brotherly kindness and
truth, truth in act, truth in word, truth
clean and white, in the very soul, truth
so pure that we never look any man in
the eye and finch beneath his
gaze. These obligations are binding
upon every member of the Ma
sonic body, ruthlessly binding by
virtue of his obligation. l have
taken a text for my address to
YOU, men and brethren, and you saw
at once the reference TO your work, and
the reason of your existence as an or
ganization. II was sick, and ye visit
ed me; hungry, and We fed me; naked,