The Lamar register., 1922-04-19

In every human life that battle is
fought; and those who win elsewhere,
often suffer ignominious defeat and
disasterous rout, and discontinue and
shameful downfall in this encounter.
To achieve it, the Knight Templar
must first attain solid conviction,
founded upon reason, that he hath
within him n spiritual nature, a soul
that is not to die when the body is
dissolved, but is to continue to exist
and to advance toward perfection
through all the ages of eternity, and
to see more and more clearly, as it
draws nearer unto God, the Light of
the Divine Presence.
And this will encourage him to per-
severe by helping him to believe that
his free Will is entirely consistent with
Gods Omnipotence and Omniscience;
that He is not only infinite in power.
and of infinite wisdom, but of infinite
mercy, and an infinitely tender pity
and love for the frail and imperfect
creatures that He has made. To be
true, under whatever temptation to be
false; to be honest in all your deal
ings, even if great loss should be the
consequence; to be charitable, when
selfishness would prompt you to close
your hand, and deprivation of luxury
or comfort must follow the charitable
act; to judge justly and impartially,
even in your own case, when baser
impulses prompt you to do an injustice
in order that you may be benefited or
justified; to be tolerant, when pas
sion prompts you to intolerance and
persecution; to do that which is right,
when the wrong seems to promise the
larger profit; and to wrong no man
of anything that is his, however easy
it may seem so to enrich yourself. In
I'll these things and others Knight
Tcmplarism teaches and encourages
your spiritual nature to assert its
rightful dominion over your appetites
and passions.
Let US also remember there can be
no genuine Brotherhood without mu-
tual regard, good opinion and esteem,
mutual charity, and mutual allowance
for faults and failings. It is those
only who learn habitually to think bet
ter Of each other, to look habitually
for the good that is in each other, and
allow for, and overlook, the evil, who
can be Brethren one of the other, in
any true sense of the word. Those
who gloat over the failings Of one an
other, who think each other to be ma
turally base and low, cannot even be
friends. and much less Brethren.
And now in conclusion, as members
OF the modern order of Knight Temp
lars, let US be inspired by the chivalry,
faithfulness and christian fellowship
Of the Ancient Knight Templars. Let
us give practical effect to the funda-
mental doctrines OF uplift and advance
"'ent taught us by christianity, and
labor for the abolition OF war between
nations. that great enemy Of the Hu-
man Race, and have It decided to be
Illegal and an outlaw the same as pir-
acy, and stand for the enforcement Of
our laws. striving to bequeath to our
children a better world than it was
when we were born therein.
Let us constantly bear in mind, that
with the passage of the age and oc-
casien that gave birth 20 the ancient
order of Knight Templars, its advent
urous and warlike spirit has passed
away, but its moral and beneficent
character remains; "bright in all its
primative beauty and loveliness, to in
cite us as in the days of its greatest
glory to that spirit of refind and NOR
al chivclry which should prompt us to
press onward in the cause of Truth
and Justice, stimulating us to exertion
in behalf Of the destitute and oppress-
ed, to uphold and defend pure and un-
defiled religion, and to do all in a
brothers cause that may become men,
Also let US remember and cherish in \
our hearts the truth that they taught,
"the triumph of immortality; that
though death has its sting, its inflic-
fInw. h..A f.