The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-05-07
but his was a wise folly. His was a

W ISC 1OllS, LUZ III oppCOih6 W IilCh
through the Cross, he was appealing
to them through their highest inspira-
ton. For man may reject prudence,
he may reject wisdom, he may reject
fortitude and justice, but he will not
reject love. And so the disciple glor-
les above all in the Cross of his Mas
ter, because it was the symbol of the
widest and the deepest love.
The patriarch of old once saw in his
sleep ladder standing upon earth,
and the top thereof touching heaven
and angels of God ascending and de-
scending by it. The only ladder be-
tween earth and heaven in the Old
Testament, was a ladder Of angels: in
the New Testament the Cross has be-
come the" ladder of saints. The SYM
Dol of shame was changed by the touch
of Christ's flesh into a ladder of SAL
walton.
The Cross is not only the ladder of
salvation but the sign-post of history.
There is no epoch of history more pic
turesque than the Middle Age and
the most striking events Of that epoch
have been the Crusades, whether we
regard the feature of chivalry the ex-
ample of unanimity or the spirit of
self sacrifice. In the East the Mussul-
man had succeeded the Roman as the
foe of Christ; but where the Roman
ruled the Moslem devastated. 1t is
not remarkable that the proclamation
of the Holy Land should have stirred
the Christian heart, but it is most re-
markable that at this time it should
have stirred Europe to such depths of
CO. operation and of sacrifice. History
records the closing words of the Pope
who preached the first Crusade which
word itself means IAN expedition of
the Cross" Wear this sign upon
your shoulders and your breasts; let
standards; it will be to you the surety
of victory or the palm of martyrdom;
it will increasingly remind you that
Christ died for YOU" And under what
ever aspect the Crusades are studied
they will be found to have been a
blessing to humanity. They not only
restored the Son of God in the land
in which He was born; they not only
rolled back from Europe the threat of
infidel invasion-they worked their eff
feet not only in the history but in the
morals of Europe. They bred that
spirit of chivalry in hall and bower
that stately courtesy of manners
which, like the architecture of Athens
and the eloquence Of Rome, this mod
ern world seems helpless to match.
They bred a spirit Of international
comfy which modern humanitarian-
ism has yet to copy; they bred above
all that spirit of self sacrifice which
led the peasant to leave his hut and
the baron his hall, the lover his sweet
heart, and the miser his hoard, for a
disnterested purpose and q sacred
goal.
The Cross has been not only the
standard of Christendom but the sign
manual of it's liberties. There is q
country over the sea, the mother Of
civil freedom, and its people point to
early days for the document, the char
ter of it's rights. 1t is a document
still extant, yellow with centuries, most
venerable as the prototype of subse-
quent concessions.
And with what do you think is this
document, this Magma Charta of Eng
fish liberty stamped? Not with the
royal arms, for the king from whom
it was forced was a tyrant, not with
the royal arms, nor yet with baronial
crest, but the seal of this document of
peoples rights is the Cross of Christ.
Nor is it only on political parch-
ment that the Cross is found. There
IL SpOl, lily 1IICIO, dDOtC lHc Dlue
waters Of Lucerne in Switzerland
There many lovely scene invites the
footsteps of the enchanted traveller;
but if he has a heart to feel, as well
as an eye to see, no place will WOO
him like the grave of William Tell.
There the blessing OF. Heaven mingles
with the loneliness of earth and the
Cross of the Redeemer sentinels the
patriots grave.
And even in this our day in that
land once the eldest daughter of the
Church, but now apostate to the Chris
tian faith, the bravest decoration
which the French soldier aspires to Ia
the Cross of the Legion of Honor
The Cross has figured not only on
the breast of the soldier, not only
above the grave of the hero and in the
title deeds of liberty, but most of all
in the hands of the missionary. The
Cross has civilized the savage.