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ALBERT ST. JOHN CHAMBRE 1834-1911

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BIOGRAPHY

From Stoughton History web site:

Obituary from The Stoughton News-Sentinel, December 2, 1911

The sad news of the death of Rev. A. St. John Chambre at his home, in Lowell, Mass., was received in this town Thursday afternoon and was received with deep sorrow by his hosts of friends and admirers in this town, where he was loved, honored and respected far beyond that of any former citizen whom can recall today. To the members of St. John Chambre Post, 72, G. A. R., the news came with deepest sorrow for he was indeed the patron saint of this noble organization, who through all the years, since its organization, has maintained a deep and abiding interest and affection for the Post and members, and their welfare. Post 72, G. A. R. was named after Chambre, who was one of its original charter members and its second Commander. He enlisted in the war from New Jersey as a Chaplain and came to this town immediately following his service, to minister to the First Parish Universalist Church in town where he was installed pastor April 1st, 1864 and from which he resigned April 1st 1872, to accept another pastorate. For many years he has been pastor of the church of St. Anne, at Lowell, Mass.

During his pastorate here he was very prominent and active the affairs of the town, taking a deep, abiding interest in all matters concerning the welfare of the town. In educational matters and in behalf of the Schools he was especially active. He served as cha man of the School Committee the town for years and was one of the chief advocate and promoters of the establishment of the Stoughton High School, at a time when the policy of establishment was a hard fought issue in the Community.

He was a member of Rising Star Lodge of Masons, and the oldest living Past High Priest of Mount Zion Royal Arch Chapter of this, town a member of Stoughton Lodge of Odd Fellows and a citizen, who was ever ready and willing to sacrifice his time and efforts for the. good of the Community.

He was born in London, England, 71 years ago, and came to this country when a young man. His father was a clergyman in the Church of England, and his mother was a Presbyterian. On the death of his father his mother brought him up in the Presbyterian faith. It was the revolt from Calvinism which led him to the Universalist Church He belonged to the conservative wing of that church.

Rev. Dr. Chambre was organized a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1881, by Bishop Paddock, and a deep friendship existed between them. Rev. Dr. Chambre was frequently mentioned in connection with an appointment as bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was chosen the first arch deacon of the Lowell archdeaconry at a meeting of Episcopal clergymen in Boston in May, 1894. The archdeaconry composed cities, and towns in Middlesex and Essex Counties and that portion of Suffolk County not included in the city of Boston.

He had been secretary of the Episcopal Church, succeeding Rev. Dr. Converse. He served in that capacity under Bishops Paddock, Brooks and Lawrence. He was also president for years of the Massachusetts Church Union.

He was president of the trustees of Dean Academy and was for, a time lecturer on ecclesiastical history in Tufts College. That college conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. While a Universalist, Rev. Dr. Chambre was president of the State Association. During the Civil War he was chaplain of a New Jersey Regiment and had occasion to call upon President Lincoln on behalf of a soldier boy doing double duty. Through his influence the President pardoned the man.

After his ordination as a priest the Episcopal Church his first was in St. Matthew's Church., South Boston, Later he was stationed in the Church of the Advent in Fall River and from there he went to Lowell. Chambre began the establishment of St. Anne's Episcopal Mission in North Billerica. Twice a month, except August, he preached in the mission. Members of the mission have publicly acknowledged his generosity in the mission work. Rev. Dr. Chambre was a thorough business man and was; one of the officers of the Lowell Institution for Savings. He frequently attended the meetings of the Board of Trade, and was a guest of the Shakespeare Club at the last anniversary. Although not a man of rugged appearance, he seldom complained of ill health.

He was prominent in Free Masonry, having been a member of Scottish Rite bodies, including Massachusetts Consistory, 32d degree, A.A.S. R. N. M .J. Sept. 21, 1908, he was crowned an honorary member of the Supreme Council, 33d degree. He has presided over his lodge and, Royal Arch Chapter and was deputy grand high priest in 1873. He has also been chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and prelate of the Grand Commandery, K. T., of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

His wife survives him. The cause of his death was angina pectoris. He was found dead in his bed Thursday morning.

Rev. Dr. Albert St. John Chambre served as a chaplain with the 1st New Jersey Infantry and the 8th New Jersey Infantry.

MEMORIAL

SUPREME COUNCIL, 1912

AlbertChambre2.jpg

From Proceedings of the Massachusetts Council of Deliberation AASR NMJ, 1912, Page 51:

In Memoriam: Rev. Albert St. John Chambré, 33°.

The sudden death of Rev. Albert St. John Chambré at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts, at the age of eighty years, on the morning of December 7, 1911, produced a profound impression of sadness in the minds of the whole community wherein he lived.

He was a quiet, modest, scholarly, dignified, priestly man.

A tireless, earnest worker as a clergyman, universally respected as a citizen, beloved by his parishioners as a persuasive preacher, a faithful spiritual adviser and a steadfast friend, he won and retained the sincere esteem of the ministers and believers in other denominations of the Christian faith beside his own.

He was by temperament somewhat of an ascetic, and when his features were in repose they showed traces of sadness. The death of his children, four dying within a few days of one another, and the long painful illness of his wife, who survives him, had left signs of care and mental suffering upon his countenance, which, nevertheless, was often brightened incidentally by a winsome smile.

He was a genuine gentleman, and in daily life in his intercourse with others he taught by practice as well as by precept the fundamentals of the creed of a gentleman.

Dr. Chambré was born in London, England, in 1831. In his boyhood days he was an attendant in the Westminster School in London, and a choir boy in his father’s Episcopal church.

By the death of his parents when he was quite young it became advisable for him to come to his relatives in America, who, in religious matters, were connected with the Universalist church, hence the lad was reared in that form of Christian faith.

In the late fifties he was ordained as a Universalist clergyman.

When the Civil War broke out, he left his parish in Newark, New Jersey, to serve as Chaplain of one of the New Jersey regiments, which belonged to the Third Corps, commanded by General Sickles. As Chaplain through the Civil War he commanded the respect and affection of the men who needed at particular times some special spiritual guidance.

It is said that one item of his experience as Chaplain brought him into the presence of President Lincoln as a petitioner for the preservation of the life of one of the soldiers who for some act of disobedience had been sentenced to be shot, and that pardon for the unfortunate man was obtained by means of the faithful Chaplain’s intercession.

At the close of the war he resumed his pastorate in Newark, and subsequently accepted a call to a church in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

In 1881, feeling after mature deliberation that he could accomplish greater results as a minister in his original church, he was ordained as a clergyman in the Episcopal church by Bishop Paddock.

In 1884 he came to Lowell as the successor of the venerable Rev. Dr. Edson, who for sixty consecutive years had served as the first Rector of St. Anne’s Parish in that city. Here Dr. Chambré labored faithfully until the day of his death, a period of twenty-seven years. He was a sincere, scholarly preacher, His ability was recognized beyond the confines of the city where he lived. He served as Archdeacon of the counties of Middlesex, Essex and a part of Suffolk, and he was also Dean of the Eastern Convocation.

In addition to these responsibilities, he was a Trustee of the Lowell General Hospital, a Trustee of the Lowell Institution for Savings, and for nearly twenty years was President of that Institution. He was also a Trustee of the Rogers Hall School in Lowell, in which school he cherished a special interest, and at the time of his decease he was Vice-President of its Board of Management.Dr. Chambré was an enthusiastic Mason. He not only believed in its precepts, but he practised them as they are taught in its Ritual and its symbolism. He was Master of an Army Lodge during the Civil War, and also a Past Master of Newark Lodge in Newark, New Jersey. In the Capitular Rite he was a Past High Priest of Mount Zion Royal Arch Chapter of Stoughton, and also Past High Priest of Miller Royal Arch Chapter of Franklin. In 1873 he was Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts. He was a Knight Templar and had served as Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templars of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was an honorary member of the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America, having received the Thirty-third degree in 1905.

By his untimely death the church wherein he labored so long and so earnestly has lost a faithful priest and counselor, the city where he lived has lost an honored citizen, and the Masonic Fraternity has lost a beloved and distinguished brother.May the memory of this good man, this noble servant of God, be an incentive to us to lead better lives, to work more zealously for the welfare of our fellow-men, and to build for ourselves spiritual temples, radiant in large measure with that celestial light which shines from the throne beyond.

Fraternally submitted,
Solon W. Stevens, Chairman,
Arthur G. Pollard,
Chas. A. Stoll,
Committee.

ADDRESSES

DEDICATION OF THE HALL OF NEWARK LODGE #7, DECEMBER 1859

From pamphlet published by the lodge, 1860:

ADDRESS BEFORE NEWARK LODGE #7, F & A MASONS,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEDICATION OF THEIR NEW HALL.
BY BROTHER A. ST. JOHN CHAMBRE.
DECEMBER 27, 1859.

Brethren of the Masonic Fraternity!

I hesitated to accept your kind invitation to deliver an address to-night, not from want of interest in your labors or cause, but from a consciousness of inability to do justice to this occasion — especially mid the manifold other duties demanding my attention. I am present, however, in the confidence that you will receive my remarks in the same spirit in which, they are offered—the spirit of “goodwill” and “brotherly love.”

From various causes,— the darkness of past ages, the lack of means for preserving records, the convulsions, the disorders, and the changes of the world — the ancient history of Free Masonry is wrapped in obscurity. The inceptional steps of the order are variously traced. Many detect them in the Eleusinian mysteries, the most ancient known to history. These were observed by the Greeks from almost time immemorial, and were doubtless received by them from the Egyptians. They especially flourished in Athens, into which they were introduced nearly fourteen hundred years before the advent of Christ. As the word “mysteries” implies, all the ceremonies in connection therewith were secret, and binding in their secrecy.

They were religious, according to the religious ideas of those ages, and were observed in a Temple specially dedicated to them; and those who would participate in their interests were initiated with strange attendant circumstances and gorgeous rites. Through these mysteries, also, the initiated were bound together by solemnities and obligations — rendered stronger and more binding as they passed from the minor to the higher degrees. We cannot stop to explain the nature of these rites. But tho mysteries spread throughout tho old world; and though at first doubtless attended with peculiarities not all commendable, seem gradually to have attained a higher tone, and to have taught and incited to amorality and culture higher than usually obtained.

Wo neither affirm nor deny that Free Masonry had its root in these ancient mysteries. Masonry itself properly dates from the rise of architectural powers, and as a distinct and separate secret order from the period of Solomon, tho great and wise king of thoOld Testament, whom we recognize as the first Grand Master. It is not impossible that the mystic nature of Masonry was suggested by the Grecian mysteries; but our knowledge and ideas of Masonry, as in connection with Solomon, are in the binding of the Craft in tho building of the Temple of Jerusalem. But without dwelling upon this, necessarily obscure, portion of our history, we tread upon surer ground, and clearer historic views open before us at a later day. For, beyond all doubt, the fraternities of Architects and Builders, in the earliest Christian ages, were spread over the whole Christian world. Up through them, with whatever force tradition carries, though necessarily in a broken and confused manner, the evidences of Masonry as a Fraternity, are traced to Solomon and beyond. Hence, from the latest dates, Free Masonry is of ancient origin. Nor has tho order been altogether unimportant, even in a scientific and aesthetic view. To the Craft, unquestionably, do we owe the magnificent gothic edifices of the middle ages, with their spires shooting up into the heavens as though they would lift up with them the soul and all its powers to God. And these edifices contrast most favorably with the architectural efforts of those ages in other departments, showing that tho Craft had been diligent students of their profession in its various details —a s even now laid down, though now as symbols of higher duties, in the Lodges of our own day.

The spread of Masonry we do not pretend to follow. It is sufficient to know, that the Order is now found throughout the entire world, in forms essentially tho same, though attended with local or other circumstances different from our own.

True, the Order has suffered varied and singular fortunes. It has been supported by the best and most powerful, and then persecuted by the same. It has been looked upon with jealousy and suspicion, and again trusted to the fullest extent. It has been prosperous and jubilant, and then under the shadows of adversity and in the deepest distress. But throughout all, we have yet to learn that the Craft have not borne themselves nobly, with rare exceptions. They have endured where endurance seemed advisable; they have suffered where suffering was demanded; and still they exist, and have existed, through all ordeals, holding fast their obligations, spreading their numbers, and enlarging their boundaries. To-day they stand high in the civilized world, and exert a powerful and beneficent influence,— their glory now being, not in their “operative” triumphs, but in their unobtrusive, yet magnificent deeds of charity—deeds done silently, but gladdening the hearts of unnumbered brethren, and pouring joy into the souls of their widows and their orphans. Yes, Free Masonry exists 1In reality its being and history is traceable through more than forty centuries of architectural remains, and in tho evidences ofits mysteries, in some form, from as far back. More than three thousand years since it shone resplendently in its “operative” triumph in the gorgeous Temple of Solomon. And the temples and other magnificent structures of the ancient world, and even down through tho middle ages, are, or have been, memorials of its skill and taste. It still lives ! though no longer “operative,” but simply “speculative.” It survives the wrecks of empires, the decay of nations, the blighting and perishing of earthly glories. The Temple of Solomon has long since crumbled into dust. Babylon, the proud city of tho old world; Egypt, in its almost boundless wealth; Greece, in its height of culture; and Rome, in its imperial splendors, are only now tho tales of the past and buried. But Free Masonry survives them all, as though with perpetual youth and vigor, adding fresh glories to its being from day to day, and standing ns a vast moral power — second only to Christianity, from which, certainly, it now receives its purest light and noblest exaltation.

Free Masonry now (under Christianity, at least), whatever it may have been in earlier ages, is, and has been for many years, as before intimated, a purely “ speculative ”— using that word Masonically — and benevolent institution. It is bound together throughout the world by secret ties, not for the sake of secrecy, but for the bettor and surer furthering of its principles, and to preserve itself from prying curiosity and the impositions of the evil-disposed. And touching this secrecy of the Order, we certainly see nothing therein at which the uninitiated should find fault. It is for self-protection, and for that alone. Nay, there is something noble in it, rightly viewed; for as a benevolent Fraternity, wishing not that the right hand should know what is done by the left, we do not desire that any, save ourselves, and those who are our proteges, should know or interfere with our affairs. As I view it, also, in some

SERMON FOR DE MOLAY COMMANDERY, BOSTON, ASCENSION DAY, MAY 1888

Sermon Before
DeMolay Commandery, K. T.,
by the
Rev. Sir A. St. John Chambré, D. D.
in
Trinity Church, Boston, Mass.,
Ascension Evening, May 10, 1888.

Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. - St. Matthew xxviii. 20.

Greater words than these with which the Master closed His incarnate life can scarcely be conceived. Forty days had elapsed since the disciples had felt the thrill of the joy of the resurrection, during which time the Lord had gone in and out among them, "speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Perhaps they bad almost come to think that in this way He was to remain with them forever; for not yet were their eyes fully opened, not yet did they understand that the mission of the Son of God could only be accomplished by His ascending to His Father and their Father, His God and their God. At length, however, "he led them out" from Jerusalem, "as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." The words of the text were spoken as He was about to leave them, and they must have come with wonderful power to their minds and hearts. One more and transcendent miracle was to be added to that life so full of wonders, and to the marvel of the resurrection. He was to ascend before them; the clouds should separate Him from their sight. He was to be received up into the splendors of the unseen world. A glorious ending of a wondrous life it might well appear to the disciples, when the first burst of surprise should be passed. But it would be the leaving of them in darkness and in agony, were not these words ringing in their ears, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Parted from them, He was yet to be with them -with them forever. Words of promise only to be accepted, only possible of acceptance, in view of all the past, and in view of the Ascension of which they were the witnesses.

Imagine, for a moment, such words from an impostor's lips,- one not divinely conscious of his divine power and mission, - one other than what Jesus Christ claimed to be, and what the church of all the ages has acknowledged Him to he. They would have been most unnatural words, most unmeaning, most sacrilegious. But spoken by the Master, they were most natural, were full of deepest and truest meaning, and could be, and were, accepted for strength, for encouragement, and for joy. The disciples knew Him now as indeed the promised Messiah who should bring redemption to Israel, and not Israel only, but also to the whole world; and they accepted Him, without doubt or hesitation, as IMMANUEL, which, being interpreted, is, " God with us."

For years there had been a training of the immediate disciples - a training by the Master. Gradually, but surely, they came to know Him and the power of His Gospel. Now the commission is expressly worded, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." They were to be His hieralds, His officers, His representatives, His knightly servitors, to win a world, lost in sin, to Him and to His righteousness. He would reign in the hearts of men as "King of kings, and Lord of lords"; and it was for them, and for those who should succeed them, to prepare the highway of the Lord, and to bring in the kingdom of God.

But what a prospect was open before them at this time!

Forty days before, the world-power, instigated by the malice and bigotry of the Jews, had crucified the Master. The whole world was arrayed against Him as He was lifted upon the cross and suffered its ignominious death. The world would not believe that He was risen, and would not credit the Ascension, and would spurn the leadership of one who had been nailed to a tree. The outlook was dark, was practically hopeless. Derision, poverty, persecution, martyrdom, must be the lot of those who should preach this Gospel. And all this was their lot, for the most part, and for centuries. Nevertheless, the work was undertaken. Consecrating themselves with utter unreservedness to the love and service of their Master, they began at Jerusalem, and went out through the world, lifting boldly the banner of the cross, and, with spiritual weapons, fighting the good fight of faith in the Crucified One. Beyond question, however, they would have hesitated, would have shrunk from the opposition, from the toil and the danger that confronted them, but for the promise, which they were sure would be literally fulfilled (in whatever unseen way), made by the Son of God, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." "I am with you." I, IMMANUEL! With God with them, and for them, there must not only be success all along the years, but, at last, victory the most complete. By anticipation, there was already emblazoned upon the banner of the cross which now was uplifted, the legend of Constantine, "In Hoc Signo Vinces." They went forth, therefore, nothing doubting, and in full confidence. They knew in whom they believed, and in whom they trusted. They knew that the conflict which they would wage with the powers of this world - powers of darkness and wickedness - was His conflict, and He would insure the triumph to His faithful followers, whatever might appear. to the world to be the fortunes of this holy war. It was with them from the beginning, as it has been often in the history of human experiences. A trusted general gives confidence to his troops, though they see him not, and cannot see him. They know that he is with them; that, though out of their sight, he is where be can direct, oversee, and overcome. He knows the whole field of conflict, where the enemy is strongest, where bis own troops are weakest. He can mass here, and uncover there. It is for them to receive his orders, and to act upon them, through whatever intermediate channels they may come; and, receiving them, and acting upon them, they go forth with assurance of victory; or, if to meet temporary defeat, to be sure that even out of that defeat triumphant issues shall be organized. There cau be no complete, no final failure.

Of a knightly soldier of the cross we have a splendid example in St. Paul, who is well represented as bearing the sword. He was what he was by virtue of his faith in Jesus Christ. It is no wonder, therefore, that at the close of a long and eventful life, in which be had endured "hardness," and suffered many things, and was at last a prisoner in Rome, chained to a Roman guard, be could still feel that his life was not a failure, but a grand success. He had carried the tidings of the Resurrection and the Ascension far and wide,  and quickened the moral and spiritual life of unnumbered souls, putting a new joy into human hearts, and a new song upon human lips, marrying two continents in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. His exultant paean is, while yet waiting his death by violence: "I am now ready to be offered. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them that love His appearing." But the splendor of St. Paul's. life is, after all, with whatever differences, but typical of the lives of thousands who have been ranged under the cross-marked banner, who did valiant service through often weary years, who persevered in noble thought and deed, and gaYe themselves as martyrs for humanity to God.

In a certain way, all human life is a warfare and a pilgrimage. Perhaps it were better said, a pilgrimage and a warfare - a pilgrimage for the attainment of an object desirable; a warfare to secure it, to overcome the obstacles in the way, and to beat down the oppositions that present themselves. I need not delay in the attempt to develop this thought, since it is one well recognized by the ritual of the Order represented here to-night, as it was recognized also by that mail-clad order of knights from which the Knights Templars of to-day legitimately trace their descent. Very widely, no doubt, does the Order, in its peaceful methods of the present, differ from the Order in its warlike actions in the past. But the foundations are. in substance, the same; and there is the same recognition of the Christian religion, and of the great central doctrines of Christianity as embodied in the Nicene Creed. Nay, there is, in substance, the same vow to defend and sustain these, even at the point of the sword, and with life itself, if need should be. Little call for this there may be under present conditions of Christian civilization ; possibly never again shall be. Nevertheless, life's pilgrimage must be undertaken, and life's warfare must be waged; the good fight of faith must be fought, and the crown must be won, and none knows better than the true Christian knight how much he needs the ever-present memory of the promise of his Master, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

The origin of Ternplar Knighthood is not in obscmity. A century after the death of Mohammed, the Moslem arms extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean. Ry the power of the Moslem sword all Persia and all Egypt were subdued, and all the North of Africa, from the mouth of the Nile to the western boundary of the continent. Africa was overrun. France was invaded, even Italy was penetrated, Naples and Genoa were occupied, and Rome itself was threatened. Only the dissensions which arose among the followers of the false prophet saved all Europe from their sway. and prevented the face of the whole world from being changed. In the tenth century, the Moslem power gave way before the Turcomans, who, however, adopted the Koran. They overran the Asiatic continent, destroyed the churches of the Christians, and appeared before Constantinople in 1084. Then came the appeal to the Pope from the Emperor Alexius, the exhortation of the Supreme Pontiff, the preaching of Peter the Hermit, the quickening of religious enthusiasm, and the arousing of all Christendom to arrest, if possible, the advance of the infidels, and to preserve, or to wrench from their grasp, the holy places of the East. Europe was armed, and precipitated upon Asia. For a time the Tmkish power was broken, the Christian empire of the East was saved, and the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was reared upon the ruins of the empire of the Sultan Soliman.

It was at this point, and long before the close of the wars that ended the Crusades, that the monastic and military Order of the Temple was called into existence. Its members were to check the power of the infidels, to fight the battles of Christendom on the plains of Asia, to defend Jerusalem and the holy places, and to protect the long lines of pilgrims who would make their way to the sacred shrines of their religion - the hill of Golgotha, the Mount of Zion, the garden of Gethsemane, and the tomb of their blessed Lord. How wonderfully, with what valor, under how many privations, with what noble self-sacrifice, the Order fulfilled the pmpose for which it was called into being, impartial history has testified. Suppressed at length as a military power recognized by the nations, - suppressed most unrighteously and most barbarously, and from greed of kings, - it lives now, for the most part, only in its peaceful Successors as we know them to-day. But the day was when the Order was the firmest bulwark of Christiauity in the East, and the chief and almost only power that saved Europe from Turkish desolation, and, perhaps, Turkish conquest and contempt. Living so far away from the times when the Templars were so great a power, - living when the deep religious fervor that characterized them has given way to a cold and calculating material philosophy, - we may smile at or deride their zeal, or question their motives, or ridicule their credulity. But when we call to mind the hardships they endured, and the dangers and sufferings and death in a distant land, and all without prospect of worldly gain, for only objects which they esteemed just and righteous and sacred, we must surely recognize the glory of their character, and realize that the impulses which actuated them were sublime. They worked for God, for religion, and for humanity, and they worked and builded better than they knew.

Not the least noble of the Masters of the Templars was that James De Molay, whose name your banners bear to-night. A member of one of the most illustrious families of Burgundy, he became Master in 1295, having been previously the head of the English province. His name is intimately associated with the Temple Church in London. Of his magnificent deeds in the East there is no time to speak. He was called to his high office at a sad time, when the Christian power in Palestine was disintegrating before the countless hordes of the Mohammedan forces; but the closing days of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and of Templar dominion in the holy land, were days of splendid effort and daring, directed, for the most part, by the brilliant De Molay. That he could not save that kingdom and conserve the prestige of the Christian faith in the Orient was due to conditions and circumstances which he could not control, and for the consideration of which this is not the opportunity. His return to Europe was amid the wicked efforts to suppress his noble Order, and his base betrayal, and imprisonment, and death, form one of the saddest chapters in history, which well illustrates the fickleness of popular favor, and the often terrible ingratitude of earthly kings. He died as he had lived, the chivalrous, heroic, Christian Knight; and it may very well be said, as it may be also of many another, the splendor of whose life is witnessed to us, that of such "the world was not worthy."

They were but typical lives, however, led by many a true knight of modern days - true knight though knowing nothing of the panoply of mail, and the rush and shock of the field of blood. Peace hath her victories no less than war; and in the tone of the daily life, and the triumph over " the world, the flesh, and the devil," many a man has proved himself the peer of the noblest and most lion-hearted of crusading hosts, has made a good pilgrimage, fought a good fight, and won the crown. Some such you think of while I am speaking - men who have dropped out of your own ranks (not a few during the past year)- knightly spirits who had well won their spurs, and right nobly emblazoned their shields. One, though not of this Commandery, yet specinlly honored of the whole Order of the Temple as once its Supreme Master, may well be named upon this occasion, William Sewall Gardner. An ideul knight, learned, courteous, gentle, true, and brave. Faithful in every trust, and in honor unstained, he was preeminently a Christian knight of the nineteenth century. The cross of his baldric and the cross-hilted sword he bore meant much to him, and kept before him always the sign and the seal of his hope and his redemption. This Ascension Day, we may believe, finds him with Christ in Paradise.

With whatever objects conjoined, the Knights Templars of old stood always for the defence of the Christian religion and for the practice of the virtues of the Christian profession. They protected the holy places of Jerusalem, and while they could, they prevented the profanation of its holy temple. All tl.Jeir rights and ceremonies (as are those of the Order to-day) were based upon their Christian faith and consecration, and as an Order they were true to their vows and faithful to their duties.

However differently, with the changed conditions of modern life, so also stands the Order to-day; certainly so it should stand. Need enough there is, also, for all knightly courage, and courtesy, and faithfulness, and earnestness. Against our most huly faith, our most holy convictions, and our most holy places, the assaults of the enemies of all truth and righteousness beat fast and furious, and every heroic power is needed to withstand tlrn onslaught and to repel the infidel hordes. For God, for Church, and for Society, every knightly soul may well wear his armor to-day and unsheath his sword. For each personal life this need exists - to stand by and protect, at any hazard, and with all faithful devotion, all holy thoughts, and feelings, and actions; to protect and preserve the sanctity of this human temple, which is the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost. For us, the kingdom of our God is here, and the holy land and the sacred places, and it is for us to preserve, to enlarge, and forever to protect. We are to do and to dare. to suffer, and to die even, to this end, if we would prove ourselves in any true sense the successors of the Templar Knights of other days. Not for ourselves only are we to be careful, - that never was the part of true knighthood, - but for others, especially for the weaker pilgrims of this life; bearing the cross for them, as our Immanuel bore the cross for us. Why not? Our "seven years'" warfare and pilgrimage will soon be over! They may be years of toil, of trial, of danger, of anguish, of even many defeats; but our flag, once unfurled, ONE is with us, "Immanuel," and His is the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Having proved our knighthood, even by death itself, we shall be raised with Him into the glory of His ascended life, to dwell amid the splendor1:> of a temple not made with hands, in the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all!

Then

"Fling out your banner! Let it float
Skyward and seaward, high and wide;
The sun that lights its shining folds,
The cross on which the Saviour died!

"Fling out the banner! Let it float
Skyward and seaward, high and wide;
Our glory only in the cross,
Our only hope, the Crucified.

"The cross-marked banner! Wide and high,
Seaward and skyward, let it shine:
Nor skill, nor might, nor merit ours;
We conquer only in that sign!"