Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Address Of The V. H. And E. Sir Kt. Col. W. J. B. Macleod Moore, Of The Grand Cross Of The Temple, Grand Prior Of The Dominion Of Canada,
Order ; they merely regard it as a Masonic degree they can be advanced to , which will enable them to wear another Star or Cross , but the true meaning of which they are satisfied should be as unintelligible to them as Hebrew .
The question naturally arises " What is the modern Order of the Temple , and the object of the institution 1 " In general terms we can confidently state that it is exclusively devoted to the Christian religion , based upon the birth , life , death ,
and resurrection of Christ , without sectarianism , and designed to elevate man to that position morally and socially , which God intends man should aspire to and reach . It is actuated by the purest principles of Christian philanthrojiy , perfectly
unconnected with politics , aud although forming no part of mere symbolic . Masonry , is an adaptation of all the tolerant principles of craft Masonry to a system of Christian application , taking for its model the moral attributes of the illustriousreliiousand
, g , military Order of the middle ages , and although laying claim to a Knightly succession , yetwithoutavestigeremainingofitsori ginal mighty power and influence , now
represented by our peaceful aud powerful Christian Society , which teaches and exercises the fullest and most tolerant charity towards all men , and , from the principles of the religion in whose interest it has been perpetuated , it requires us to set our faces against vice and intemperance
, to uphold the ri ght , defend the weak and oppressed , and succour the destitute . Let it then be no idle boast to say , we belong to an order , the members of which in the olden time , the great , the good , the noble and the brave of Christendomwere onl
, y too proud to call themselves "Poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ , " and to the extent of our ability and the opportunities afforded us , deli ght to pay homage and follow the precepts of the Great Captain , whose sworn soldiers we are , and that too
by our own voluntary act . Of this there is no doubt , the vows are upon us , and whether we try to act in accordance with those vows or not , we can in no wise alter our position to that Great Captain unto whom sooner or later , as it pleaseth Him , we shall have to render an account . To you then , preceptors of the order , teachers and rulers , I most emphatically say it
becomes your bounden duty to observe the strictest caution as to whom you admit into your Preceptories . When men are banded together for any purpose , noble or otherwise , there will be those who will seek admission for purely selfish purposes .
Do not allow the expediency of increasing your funds or of swelling the ranks of your Preceptories to actuate your motives in admitting those who from mere curiosity or good fellowship seek to join us , and , as is too often the case , by their
conduct give cause to our enemies to revile and repudiate our illustrious order— - an order which lias ever raised the jealousy and hatred of that intolerant Church which does not admit the exercise of private judgment or the right of free thought , and would still keep the human mind in the darkness of error and superstition . The Romish Church has been
ever jealous of the Masonic Society and all others connected with it , dreading the dangerous opposition to her unlawful assumption of authority which the great secret organization condemns and bans . The animosity that suddenly sprung up
in the early part of the last century on the part of the Papal authorities towards Freemasonry may have been occasioned by their having only then discovered that their old antagonist , the Templar Order , was perpetuated within the secret recesses
of the Masonic Order , aud that then for the first time the thunders of the Romish Church were directed at the peaceable and inoffensive craft . This would g ive good reasons for believing that the Papal power had at least become satisfied that the
lemplar Order preserved among the Freemasons was a legitimate continuation of the old anti-Papal order that had been supposed to have been thoroughly crushed out centuries before . There is nothing in the teaching of Masonry pure and simple
to warrant the intense hatred towards it that has for the last hundred years been displayed by the Holy See . We must therefore look for some occult reason for this hatred , and what better reason could be found than that the Masonic Order had
shielded and preserved the Order of the Temple . In 1776 , the Jesuits , having discovered that the Templar Order was continuing its operations under the designation of the Kadosh , warned the Govern-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Address Of The V. H. And E. Sir Kt. Col. W. J. B. Macleod Moore, Of The Grand Cross Of The Temple, Grand Prior Of The Dominion Of Canada,
Order ; they merely regard it as a Masonic degree they can be advanced to , which will enable them to wear another Star or Cross , but the true meaning of which they are satisfied should be as unintelligible to them as Hebrew .
The question naturally arises " What is the modern Order of the Temple , and the object of the institution 1 " In general terms we can confidently state that it is exclusively devoted to the Christian religion , based upon the birth , life , death ,
and resurrection of Christ , without sectarianism , and designed to elevate man to that position morally and socially , which God intends man should aspire to and reach . It is actuated by the purest principles of Christian philanthrojiy , perfectly
unconnected with politics , aud although forming no part of mere symbolic . Masonry , is an adaptation of all the tolerant principles of craft Masonry to a system of Christian application , taking for its model the moral attributes of the illustriousreliiousand
, g , military Order of the middle ages , and although laying claim to a Knightly succession , yetwithoutavestigeremainingofitsori ginal mighty power and influence , now
represented by our peaceful aud powerful Christian Society , which teaches and exercises the fullest and most tolerant charity towards all men , and , from the principles of the religion in whose interest it has been perpetuated , it requires us to set our faces against vice and intemperance
, to uphold the ri ght , defend the weak and oppressed , and succour the destitute . Let it then be no idle boast to say , we belong to an order , the members of which in the olden time , the great , the good , the noble and the brave of Christendomwere onl
, y too proud to call themselves "Poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ , " and to the extent of our ability and the opportunities afforded us , deli ght to pay homage and follow the precepts of the Great Captain , whose sworn soldiers we are , and that too
by our own voluntary act . Of this there is no doubt , the vows are upon us , and whether we try to act in accordance with those vows or not , we can in no wise alter our position to that Great Captain unto whom sooner or later , as it pleaseth Him , we shall have to render an account . To you then , preceptors of the order , teachers and rulers , I most emphatically say it
becomes your bounden duty to observe the strictest caution as to whom you admit into your Preceptories . When men are banded together for any purpose , noble or otherwise , there will be those who will seek admission for purely selfish purposes .
Do not allow the expediency of increasing your funds or of swelling the ranks of your Preceptories to actuate your motives in admitting those who from mere curiosity or good fellowship seek to join us , and , as is too often the case , by their
conduct give cause to our enemies to revile and repudiate our illustrious order— - an order which lias ever raised the jealousy and hatred of that intolerant Church which does not admit the exercise of private judgment or the right of free thought , and would still keep the human mind in the darkness of error and superstition . The Romish Church has been
ever jealous of the Masonic Society and all others connected with it , dreading the dangerous opposition to her unlawful assumption of authority which the great secret organization condemns and bans . The animosity that suddenly sprung up
in the early part of the last century on the part of the Papal authorities towards Freemasonry may have been occasioned by their having only then discovered that their old antagonist , the Templar Order , was perpetuated within the secret recesses
of the Masonic Order , aud that then for the first time the thunders of the Romish Church were directed at the peaceable and inoffensive craft . This would g ive good reasons for believing that the Papal power had at least become satisfied that the
lemplar Order preserved among the Freemasons was a legitimate continuation of the old anti-Papal order that had been supposed to have been thoroughly crushed out centuries before . There is nothing in the teaching of Masonry pure and simple
to warrant the intense hatred towards it that has for the last hundred years been displayed by the Holy See . We must therefore look for some occult reason for this hatred , and what better reason could be found than that the Masonic Order had
shielded and preserved the Order of the Temple . In 1776 , the Jesuits , having discovered that the Templar Order was continuing its operations under the designation of the Kadosh , warned the Govern-