Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-08
THE IDEALS OF TIE PAST
LIVE AGAIN IN TIE PRESENT
The Knights Templars Fought for the
Holy Places and Modern Men Fought
for Holy Things

|
nation traverses that vast stretch of time
as one sees the uniformed Knights Tenn
p,ars in the streets of the city today.
This order goes back in tradition to
the Crusades, when gallant and devoted
men, inspired by a sublime idea, were
marching across Europe with banners
! flying to rescue the Holy Sepulcher from
the infidel. 1t calls to mind Godfrey de
Boullon, Frederick Barbarossa, Richard
Occur de Lion, Baldwin, Frederick Au-
gustus, st. Louis and a long list of pic
turcsque and romantic heroes, the tales
of whose lives have embroidered the
pages of history with fascinating ro-
nance which has not, with all the years,
lost its power to send the blood tingling
through the veins of youth.
1t was in 1119 that nine devoted men
under the lead of Hughes de Payens and
| Godfrey de Saint-Ademar formed a mill
tary band to protect the pilgrims in Pal
estine. They took the name of Knights
of Christ They soon began to be called
Knights of the Temple, for the reason
that quarters had been assigned to them
| in the palace at jerusalem known as Solo
mons temple. The order survived in its
| original form for about two centuries. 1t
| increased in membership and in strength
until it had great power. In order to
supply the pilgrims in the Holy Land
with what they needed it established
banking system extending across Europe;
and for a time the Templars were the
| bankers of the. whole continent. Its
headquarters for more than seventy-tive
years was in Jerusalem. Then it was
moved successively to Antioch, Acre and
| Caesarea When the Christians were
driven from Syria the capital was set up
in Cyprus.
The standard Of the order, which we
shall see frequently this week, was a
barner half black and half white, bearing
the Latin inscription, "Non nobis
| Domino" the first three words OF
David's famous psalm beginning, mot
unto US, o Lord, not unto US, but unto
Thy name give glory" The successors
of the men who were inspired by these
words and did valiant service because Of
it are now part Of the great Masonic
order. Every one of them is protesting
Christian, for only such are permitted to
wear its uniform. Today it bears upon
its banner the design and inscription
which Constantine saw in the sky while
fighting for his rights to the throne as
emperor of Rome, flaming cross and
"In hoe signo vinces" ("By this sign
shalt thou conquer").
The order survives, though for a pur-
pose entirely different from that for
which it was founded. The Holy Sepul-
cher was rescued from the infidel by the
Crusaders and kept from him for gen.
Grafton or two, but he reconquered Jeru-
salem and held it until last year, when
General Allenby's Christian troops forced
the Turks from Jerusalem and took pos
session of the city and it's sacred places.
Europe was moved by great idea in
the Middle Ages. 1t raised armies, it
led men to endure hardships and suffer-
ing without murmuring. 1t inspired
preachers with a sense of the Importance
of their mission, and it kept sweet and
holy things which but for it would have
rotted in the general corruption of the
period.
The idealism of it stirs US nowadays as
we think of the romantic past. The
lapse OF centuries has wrapped those
years with mantle of enchantment and
we regret that, they are gone forever.
We sometimes say that their like will
never return. But is this so?
If one will consider for a few mo-
ments what has been happening since
1914 one will thpk better of his own
time than to say that it cannot be COM
pared with the years that are gone. Our
young men who went to Europe were
called "Pershing's crusaders" and why?
The holy places of civilization were
not in the possession of the infdel, but
they were threatened by barbarians. A
war was started to reduce the world to
the dominion of the most brutal and
conscienceless power that had ever at
tempted to set up its rule over subject
peoples. The freedom of man was at
stake The right of peoples to govern
themselves as they pleased was threat
ened. The honor of nations had been
violated and an attempt was making to
establish the proposition that the
plighted word Of an empire was to be dis
regarded with impunity if that empire
thought there was profit in dishonesty.
The fire which has burned in the hearts
of free men in these pregnant years is
as sacred as that which was lighted at
the candles Of the altar when the Cru
saders turned their faces toward Jeru-
salem six hundred years ago.
The burial place of the Great Demo-
crat who preached the fatherhood of God
and the brotherhood of man was not the
prize for which men were fighting. 1t
was desire for the preservation of the
thing, the sacredness Of which this Di-
vine Man taught, that led our millions
and the millions of French and British
and Italians to consent to risk their lives
We must not allow ourselves to forget
this, nor must We belittle our own
generation by saying with sad coun-