Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-05-07


dreds of churches in that great city,
full OF wealth, full of pride, full of
every thing but divine Charity,
and no sermon had been preached,
like that of the unknown man Pease,
in the midst of the sunken and hru-
talized and deyilized humanity that
crowded, and crawled, and rotted in
that notorious receptacle of filth and
! misery. What had these hundreds
of churches been doing9 Why,
preaching sermons on Sunday to men
and women in broadcloth and silk
sending the gospel TO Asia sind Africa
and the Islands of the ses- answer
ing the cries of Gods poor and per-
ishing children with @ tract OK tes-
tament-while in their very miGst,
under the very shadow Of their pull
pits, rotten and tossed and seethed
black tide of heathenism and moral
ruin such as no foreign missionary
was ever called upon to stem
Very much such sermon as l
have attempted to describe, it has
been the mission of Odd Fellowship
to preach. Perhaps l ought rather
to say that it is itself such sermon,
not Just like it, but sermon from
The Same text, and breathing thessme
spirit, and of the same practical
character. Shall it then be said that
it is hostile to religion, and the ene-
my of the Church THAT good men
and women ought to frown upon it,
and hold it up before the world as
something TO be exeerated and shun-
ned? 1t seems to me that it is not welt
for any to quarrel with an institution
that has for its grand object The re-
lief of suffering and sorrow, and that
makes large provision for the widow
and her fatherless children Surely
-ueh an institution has claims not
only upon cur attention, but upon
our confidence and love. 1t may
have secrets which it will not pro-
claim from the housetop, nor whis~
per in the ear of an idle curiosity.
But it is no secret that it ministers
with tender words and offices OF love
at sick and dying beds; and that
when the grave has received the re-
mains of one whom it watched
over and wept over IN last sick ness,
it turns from its solemn funeral rites
to bestow its brotheIly attention and
care upon the living. II Is no 5 cret
that it il the friend Of educa1I9n, the
couservator of morality, the =" ron
of the arts, peaceful haven on the
stormy coasts of life the shadow OF
great rock in weary land that
il goes cut day by day into ;he the
dark places of the world with heal
ing its touch, and a redeeming pow
or in the hem of its garment, to
clothe, feed and foster, TO wipe away
tears and bind up broken hearts.
1t is pleasant thought, that never
has Odd Fellowship been so vigorous
and strong as to-day-never before
has its influence been so far-reaching,
potent and kindly. Everywhere, al
most, it is being born anew, getting
broader and taller, and striding up to
higher ground 1t also finds itself
surrounded by circumstances differ
ing greatly from those of the past,
and confronted by other issues which
it has no disposition to push aside
There are, too, in this new day, added
responsibilities, and demands for more
and better work. To meet and an
swer these we want, and must have,
better methods, more intelligent pur
pose, larger inspiration, and boiler
conservation. All this is appreciated.
None of us believe that we can con-
tinue to be simply what We have been,
we must be more or nothing. 600
onr-that is the watchword. Our
principles are grand and divine, but
they need to be enunciated in more
than words, to be repeated in more
formulas, TO be printed in more man
uels, to speak in more than notices
which We hang upon the walls OF our
lodge rooms what is wanted is, that
they be put into a life, that they be
embodied in institutions, that they be
harnessed and set to work in broader
fields than we ever yet have occupied.
] once heard an eloquent man de-
scribe a picture he would like to paint
if he were an artist After the lapse
of more than thirty years / can only
imperfectly recall his magnificent de-
scription. 1t was something like this,
put into my own words:
My canvass prepared, said he, and
pallet and pencil in hand, | would
paint here market-place, with great
warehouses, and ships from every
cline; and men should be seen hurry
ing 10 and fro with anxious faces, and
jostling one another, and trampling
down such as had fallen. | would
have Dishonesty and Fraud doing
their appropriate work, and as an apt
delineation would transfer to the cam
vass the story of the man who fell
among thieves, only ] would have
no good Samaritan. And all this
should be a representation Of the
seishness and avarice OF the world.
Here [ would paint a great human
heart, and l would cash it with knives,
and thrust it through with arrows; and
| would fasten the fangs Of serpents
upon it, and tear it with the beaks of
vultures; and it should be all swollen
and purple with agony, and great red
drops OF suffering should ooze from it
and fall to the ground.
Near by would paint widow in
her weeds of mourning, and at her
side two orphan children; and they
should be bowed with sadness, and
wasted and haggard by reason Of
grief and want.
Above this groupe there should be
massive thunder clouds dark as night,
and from the red lightnings should
leap and fash. And there should be
men hurrying by, bet they should all
be priests and levites; and there
should be no human eye to pity, and