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ORDER OF RED CROSS Our story goes back to the period of the Royal Arch, in the reign of King Darius, when the Jews were returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. A grand council was convened at Jerusalem to deliberate upon the unhappy condition of the country and devise means to secure the favor of the King and his consent to their proceeding with the rebuilding of the city and temple. Zerrubbabel participated in this council, represented by the candidate, and offered his services to travel to the Persian court and remind the King of his former promise to aid the Jews in the work. When Zerrubbabel's turn came he proclaimed THE ALMIGHTY FORCE OF TRUTH. The King was so pleased that he told Zerrubbabel to ask what he would and it should be granted. Zerrrubbabel then reminds him of his vow to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the holy vessels which were taken from the sack of King Solomon's Temple, and to rebuild the house of the Lord. The King then makes a decree accordingly, and to perpetuate it he forms a new order founded upon TRUTH, the order of the Red Cross, which is then conferred upon Zerrubbabel. This is an order founded upon TRUTH, and is a proper preparation for the Order of the Temple. |
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Here we bid farewell to all the degrees having to do with the building of King Solomon's Temple, its destruction, and the rebuilding of the city and temple, and we go forward to the period of the Crusades when the orders of Knighthood were formed to recover the holly Sepulchre and to protect the pilgrims who went to visit its sacred shrines. |
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KNIGHTS OF MALTA and MEDITERRANEAN PASS The members represent soldiers of the Cross, and the Order is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The candidate humbly solicits to be admitted to the privilege of the Mediterranean Pass to enable him in safety to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, and also to be enrolled as a Knight of Malta. The ceremonies of the Mediterranean Pass refer to the shipwreck of Saint Paul upon the island of Melita or Malta, and the viper that came out of the fire and clung to his hand, as related in the Acts of the Apostles. |
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ORDER OF THE TEMPLE We now approach one of the grandest and most impressive orders in all Masonry, the true capstone of the YORK RITE. The candidate represents a knight of the period that succeeded the Crusades, who had made a vow to visit the Holy Sepulchre, and seeks admission into the ranks of the Templars the better to fulfill that vow. As a trial of his worthiness there is enjoined upon him seven years of preparation to penance, as a trial of faith and humility. Beautiful lessons of the death and ascension of our Saviour are inculcated, and the candidate is at last received into full fellowship, in the most solemn manner. The ancient order of the Temple was suppressed and its members dispersed, and the warlike spirit of the Order has passed away; but there remains a spirit of refined and moral Chivalry which prompts the members to be ever ready to defend the weak, the innocent, the helpless and the oppressed, and at last to be greeted a Brethren, and received into the "widely extended arms of the blessed Emmanuel." |
