The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-06-06

Christ should be desecrated by the inf
del, and be forbidden ground to TIL,
, faithful.
But knighthood and Christianity have
now learned that there are other thing.
far more sacred and important than the
places where Jesus lived and died
They have therefore abandoned the
thought of rescuing those spots from
offensive owners. But has knight-er
rantry ceased from the earth? Is 1t t.
be found only in the romance of the
middle ages, or in the symbolism OF
modern brotherhoods? Is there not in
the life of the present day place and g
demand for as true a type of chivalry
as any that we can dream of in the
days Of Godfrey or the Round Table?
For many centuries noble souls have
fought for the mere forms to which the
scent of chivalry seemed to cling. A
holy sepulchre, a holy empire, a holy
church a holy confession of faith, a
holy book and even holy form of vest
ment or sacrament have all at one ime
or another been the objects of defence
by knightly valor and warlike crusade.
! We now forget which sides won or lost,
as we are apt to forget Wheeler 1t was
Godfrey or Conrad III. or Louis VII,
whether it was Frederic or Philip or
Richard the Lion-hear who captured
the Holy Sepulchre, or who failed after
| getting in sight Of it, These are but the
| symbols of extinct battles. More and
more the world is learning that it is the
soul of man that is the great battle
/ field Wbprp obivoIr 11111ut moot tie O St
test, and where knightly valor must
vindicate its true worth. That is a les
son which the Master himself taught
! plainly enough in the sermon on the
mount and in his saying that neither in
| Jerusalem nor In this mountain, but in
spirit and truth must men worship
the Father. That is also the plain
| teaching of Cur text. 1t Is not Saracen
or infidel whom Peter bids destroy lest
they desecrate the holy places, but he
bids us challenge the things which war
| against the soul are those which slim
ulate the senses.
When the senses are stimulated they
tower up and overshadoW everything
else whether present or future That is
the way they war against the soul;
therefore beware of them, and abstain
from feshly lusts; abstain from an
overweening desire for the possession
and enjoyment of those things which
are merely and wholly material. Those
are the things which cause unseemly
behavior, and quickly give on ca bad
name They also give a bad name to
the Christian profession when its devo-
tees are found exemplifying these
things. 1t is intimated in the text that
Christians have been spoken against ON
these grounds, and so have not only
brought themselves into evil repute but
have damaged the power of Christianity |
among those who are witnesses, and |
are judging of the value by it's effect on
them. |
At those very points therefore it is ne |
cessary to reverse the Judgment of on
lockers by good works, and lend them
to glorify God instead of railing at Him
when the critical time of Judgment
shall come.
Here is just the point where Chris
tian chivalry finds it's field of glory and
valor in these days, Pilgrims and
knights in whose hearts burn the flame
of loyalty to Jesus Christ are wander
ing, through a world by new and
ways, and never expect to meet
again these strangers and pilgrims who
chance to be their fellow travellers to-
day. But these very strangers are just
the men who make up the great world.
They are forming their Judgment of
what is best in human life by what
they see about %lem. If the knights of
the cross of Christ are passing along
the Jericho road as priests and Levites, !
and not as good Samaritnns, then all
that the cross stands for is condemned
The cross stands for the noblest chival-
ry whether it bears the stamp of
or the humber name of
There is something more than days
wages to work for in this world, and it's
opportunity lies largely in the fact that
t is a transient state that we are pass
ng through If after we have passed
N one has been led to reflect that here
vas a true knight of the cross, I feel /
Encouraged by what he did and said to
enew my fight for that same nobility
" life; l see more reality and worth in
rirtue than ] ever did before; good
ervce has been freely rendered to me
md if there is a spark of honor in me
must pass it on in the same spirit,
While the knight who has served me
.oes on rendering like deeds to others
yho have need, and other thoughts in
he same mood. Have we not promo
ed the good more than by anything else
hat we could possibly have done?
In the old days of the crusades it
tas common for bad men who had
ebtS and sentence for crime hanging
pom them to take the cross, and SO be
bsolved from all his other obligations.
he service of the cross may have been 1
ell or poorly rendered, but even at
he worst it overshadowed all the de-
ects of the former life. That is the
My and the true atoneHent for our
ormer follies and sins, that henceforth "a
he spirit and chivalry of the cross
hall overshadOW them with service
} much nObler that in it's honor and /
lory the other is forgotten. II
The graces. of hospitality and chart
7 are Christian graces, and it does
ut destroy their grace to have them
ndered officially and Systematically; !
1T it does destroy their grace and eff
,acv if they lose the flavor of chival-