St. John's Day Services

On Sunday afternoon last, in accordance with its usual custom of attending divine servicee on tbe Sunday nearest St. John 's Day, 40 members of Anu Arbor Comrnandery, No. 13, K. T. , attended service in St. Luke's chureb, Ypsilanti. The number of Templars in line was abont evenly divided between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanri. As they marched froru Phoenix lodge rooms to the church they made qnite au imj o;iug sight. The beautifnl ritual of the order peculiar to St. Jobn's Day was reuderscl in a most inipressivB manner. The offertory, a tenor eolo frora "The Prodigal Son," was sung by Mr. 1 ton Eider in a grand manner. He w; s I ccompanied ou the organ by Mrs. Eler. Besides the Knights Templar a arge congregation wsa present at the ervices. Rev. William Gardara, rector of St. Luke's, delivered the sermón. It was a fine, scholarJy address. In the first art he spoke of the missiou of Jesus to ;he world as foretold by John the Bapiist. In the second part he spoke more direotly to the body of men wbo had asernbled to observe the day, He said : "My dear brethren, who are come hither to celébrate with us the great eaohing and mission of the Baptist, to affirm your faith in the spiritual revoution of which he was the forerunner, members of the honorable and auoient body of Masons, standing too as Knights of Templary, committed, swords and purse, body and soul to the gospel and kingdom of Jesus, to you let me say a f ew words. You stand for much of the life of America, to the politics of commerce, the religión of America. You kiiow as well as we priests of the church that the safety of America, her stability, her prosperity, are not to be found in her commerce, her loyalty to the political ideas rooted in the republicanism of 1776 men. You know that intellectual culture carried to the finest perfection, civilization carried beyond anything known in Qreciau or Roman civilization cannot gnarantee the integrity in commerce, purity and sweetness and beauty in the home, morality and justice and righteousness in public offices. I say again, if mankind could be saved by intellect, the Roman and Greek civiïization would have saved itself and saved the world. 'Not by might nor by power, but by the spirit of the living God.' " 'In hoc signo vinces,' the battle cry of Templarism, means mnch to our America. Not a word in Templarism, not a word in Masonry but is clearly square with the gospel of the Son of God. I do not desire to say one controversial word, but I am impelled to say this - I believe the Roman church will understand and recognize that a man may be a devout member of the church and yet wear the uniform of a Masón and that the ban she mistakenly places on Masonry will be removed before we make many more years of history. If she does not I ana afraid the manhood of America will be lost to her, the true handmaid of the church in our modern lifë, not the church it is true, not the divine. And yet Masonry is divine, for every true Mason stands for the spiritual and divine side of life. The argument that Masons are not consitent is simply the argument against all life. We are none of us consistent. The best life has its lapses, 'In hoc signt) vinces' as true Knights you should be as lights in the darkness of ibis world. "The creed of Christendom we have recited together should make you in the truest sense missionaries to and in our American life. Some of you it is true live a long way from your principies and when yon want them you have to go and hunt for them. I have known Masous of whom I have been tboroughly asharned, Masons for the honor of it, the profit of it, the pleasure, but recreant to every teaching and principie of Masonry, Masons in tbe lodge room but not decent men outside; Masons who never darken the door uf God's holy house, yet who would have a fit of sickness were they not in their place on lodge night, Masous who are very religious when the beaitiful ritual is being recited in the asylum, yet who never bend the knee in devotion in God's house; Masons whose hearts glow witli the most ardent charity in a theoretical way, yet who are never kuown to do a deed of kiudnses; Masons who are purity incarnate if words mean anythiug, yet whose actual living is a shame to their manhood. All this argües not against Masonry, but against the man wlio belies and graces Masonry. The same argument has been used against Christianity because of the vicious lives of those who cali themselves Cbristians. MasoDry is not a cloak, it is a guide, a rule, a law of life. It is not a city of refuge for the lawless, it is a historio order based upon the two great laws of the Gospel, love to God and love to man. Every true Masón should be a light bearer for the kingdon, 3honld be as salt of this, our American life."