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Excerpt from Statutes of the Imperial, Ecclesiastical, Military and Masonic Order: Of the Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine and Appendant Orders of the Grand Council of the State of Pennsylvania "The Order of the Red Cross is one of those numerous branches of Chivalry which had their origin in the holy Wars, and the distinction worn by its Knights was the original badge of the Crusaders in general. "As this Order never was endowed with particular revenues, its members were for the most part persons of independent condition, or associated with one of the great Sovereign Orders of the Temple, or St. John of Jerusalem. "As however, the distinguishing characteristic and constitutions of this Order, though existing only in unwritten tradition, have been partially preserved to the present age, some Knights Templar, zealous in the united cause of Masonry and chivalry, have thought it expedient to revive it, on the footing of its ancient establishment, and that for various reasons: - "First. Because the original intent of the Masonic Institution has been greatly frustrated by the indiscriminate admission of persons of every description and character. "Second. Because it unfortunately happens that the sublime branch of our system known by the denomination of Christian Masonry has fallen into still worse hands, whereby the Test of Faith originally required of the Candidates for initiation has been dispensed with, the rites and mysteries of the Order degraded, and selection rendered indispensably necessary. "Thirdly. And this, indeed, is the most powerful reason which has induced them to bring forward this ancient Order. They earnestly wish to counteract the evil designs to which the privileges of the Masonic system have been perverted by men of unprincipled character, and to combat the enemies of Christianity and social order by the same secret and powerful means which they have made use of to effect their purposes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
