Clear as crystal

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This simile means totally transparent, and can apply in both a literal and figurative sense. Metaphorically it means either a clear sound or very easy to understand. The literal version was used in the biblical test of Revelation 21:11, even in the Tyndale Version, first published in 1526, and seems to be the origin of the thought:

“Havyng the brightness of God. And her shynynge was lyke vnto a stone moste precious even a lasper cleare as cristall.”

The use of this comparison to sound came as early as 1740 in Memoirs: Being a New Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, by Benjamin Baddam, published by the Royal Society of Great Britain in London, on page 259:

“…but the sound that those which had been as clear as crystal before, had now lost a great deal of their transparency…”

Crystal-clear is
used to describe understanding by December, 1854, in an article titled ‘As
Clear as Crystal!’ which appeared in Punch,
or The London Charivari on page 44:

      “LAING delivers his Crystal-clear account of the directors’
stewardship…”

Today, more than
ever, we need to be clear and transparent in our dealings with others. Templars
should be examples for those who have trouble telling truth from lies in our
confusing society.

The best things in life are free

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This proverb means that things which cost money should not be prioritized ahead of relationships with friends and family, health and peace of mind. The root of this teaching is ancient. Jesus emphasized the importance of love for God and our fellow man above material assets. Democritus, who lived in Greece circa 400 BC, made the statement:

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.” 

This exact expression, however, was coined in a song by this title written by Buddy DeSylva and Les Brown with melody by Ray Henderson, which debuted in the 1927 musical Good News, describing the experience of finding out that a bond formed with another person is one of the best things in life. Lyrics include:

           “The best things in life are free                                                                                                     Now that I have discovered What you mean to me                                                                   The best things in life are free.”   

Priority is important in the life of a Christian Knight. May God help us to see life in the proper light.

nnDnn,

Sir Stan St. Clair, Priory of the Risen King

Pot calling the kettle black

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This idiom
refers to a person pointing out a flaw in someone else that he or she
personally has or is guilty of. This saying has been universal in meaning in
languages and countries around the globe for thousands of years. The fable of Aesop, The Snake and the Crab,
from the 6th century B.C. signified this principle. In more than one
biblical story the fallacy of this idea is brought out. One prominent example
is from the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:3:

“Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention
to the plank in your own eye?” (NIV)

The first person recorded as using the
actual phrase in English was the founder of the state of Pennsylvania, William
Penn, in his Some fruits of solitude, in 1693:

“For a Covetous Man to inveigh against
Prodigality…

Is money the root of all evil?

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We have all heard others say, “Money is the root of all evil.” This is a misquote from Bible, I Timothy 6:10, where St. Paul is writing to his protégé, teaching him the pitfalls of which he must be aware, that could derail his ministry. The King James Version says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The more proper rendering of the original Greek of this verse is that found in the New International Version, The American Standard Version, and The New Living Translation, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

In any translation, it involves ‘love of money,’ not money per se, which has no ability in itself, of course. The intention of the verse is to warn Timothy and future readers of the text against one of the ‘seven deadly sins,’ greed. In fact, the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible uses the word ‘desire’ rather than ‘love’—a bit closer to lust, which would be a quite proper rendering. A splendid way to interpret this is the fact that the lust for personal gain causes great corruption in human character.

As members of this Holy Order, we surely understand how important spiritual richness is and how unimportant hording up money and temporal things is in God’s overall plan. Let us strive to do good to all and reflect his light in a world filled with
darkness.

nnDnn Sir Stan St. Clair

Faith

Let sleeping dogs lie

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So many of our
old proverbs and metaphoric expressions are not directly from the Bible but
have their roots there and or have a spiritual implication. Let sleeping
dogs lie means once a scenario has played out it is usually better to ‘let well
enough alone’ than to try to change it and possibly instigate trouble and make
matters worse for all concerned. It is a quote and favorite saying from first
BritishPrime Minister, Sir Robert
Walpole (1676 –1745). But
Sir Robert is not the originator of the saying. A form of it was used earlier
by Geoffrey Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde, published in
1374.

Faith

Patience is a virtue

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One of the virtues of a Christian knight is patience. For many this is a difficult one to master. 

The idea that patience is a virtue can be traced back to the Bible, as it is
listed as a ‘fruit of the Spirit’ in Galatians 5:22, 23:

“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, long abiding, benignity, goodness, mildness, faith,  [benignity, or good will]

“23 temperance, continence, chastity;
against such things is no law.”

     Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

The first citation of this being used as a proverb comes from William Langland’s poem, Piers Plowman, 1377 and was expressed even earlier in Latin… Maxima enim…patientia virtus (patience is the greatest virtue). This means that the ability to wait for the fulfillment of a desire without complaining is important in the development of character.

Deus Vult   

Faith

Run the gauntlet

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One of the fine
courses offered by the Templar Academy is titled The Gauntlet. I feel that it
is important for every Templar to complete it. Running the
gauntlet is defined as going through a series of harsh criticisms at the hands
of one’s detractors. In medieval
days, gauntlets or ‘gantelettes’ formed part of the suits of armor and were
usually covered with plates of steel and were for both attack and defense. When
a member of the British nobility would be attacked he would throw down the
gauntlet as a challenge.

Leap of Faith

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According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Leap of faith’ is “a metaphor used by the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in his Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift(1846; Concluding Unscientific Postscript) to describe commitment to an objective uncertainty, specifically to the Christian God. For Kierkegaard, God is totally other than man; between God and man there exists a gulf that faith alone can bridge…”

Kierkegaard, who lived from 1813 to 1855, formed a philosophy based on the importance of the individual and individual choice.

This premise is, however, a basic tenant of the Christian faith, and in order to totally embrace Christianity, this leap is necessary. Faith is the acceptance of a principle or belief without hard scientific proof.

For Templars, each of us took a giant leap of faith when we made the conscious decision to begin on the journey to knighthood and beyond. Ours is not an easy journey, but if we have the virtues put forth by Dan Biddle in his excellent book Knights of Christ: Living Today with the Virtues of Ancient Knighthood, our journey will be one which draws us toward our passionate goal: becoming more Christlike and being of service to our fellowman.