St. Paul daily globe., 1884-09-15
ODD FELLOWSHIP.
Grand Chaplain Venable's Sermon
to the Sovereign Grand
Lodge.
1T Ministers to the Physical Suffer
ings and Leaves the Spiritual
to the Church."
The Services at st. Paul's Church Yesterday,
and the Programme for
To-Day.


avenue, was filed to its utmost capacity with
an audience which embraced many of the
delegates of the Sovereign Grand Lodge and
Odd Fellows of Minneapolis. The church
was very prettily decorated with flowers in
honor OF the occasion, and the selections
rendered by the choir were especially fine.
The order of services observed was in ac-
cordance with the announcement in yester-
days GLOBE.
that the offertory of the occasion would be
turned over to Rev. j. w. Venable, of Ken
lucky, to be applied as he should see fit. Mr..
Venable said, in accepting the offertory, that
he should devote the contribution to mission
work In his charge in Kentucky
to aid in building the fourth
church established by him in that state, and
that he should take pleasure in turning the
money over as joint offertory from the
members of ST. Pauls church, and the
bretheren of the 1. o. o. F.
THE GRAND cHAPLAIN's SERMON, ''BENEvo-
LENCE.'
Grand Chaplain Venable took for the text
of his discourse the 10th verse of the thir-
teenth chapter of st. Paul's Epistles to the
Hebrews: ''But to do good and to commun-
icate forget not; for with such sacrifices God
is well pleased.''
The following is brief synopsis of his
discourse:
No precepts, he said, in the epistles of st.
Paul, are given with such emphasis as the
injunctions to do good to one another, to be
kind; to be hospitable. These commands
had had a wonderful influence upon the
primitive church, and some of the sacrifices
made by the early Christians should put
modern churches to blush. Many sold
| their lands, even homes, that
they might give to the poor. The Apostles
held themselves in readiness at all times, to
go anywhere or to make any sacrifice for
their fellow men, and if you follow them you
will see them travelling in foreign lands,
among idolaters, separated from their friends
and without the comforts of life. This was
the spirit of true benevolence impaired to
the Apostles by our Lord. People now have
an iudistinct idea of doing good, and even
with an understanding it is difficult for them
to carry out the principles Of benevoleace. 1t
is hard for the lofty to stoop to the lowly (;
for the avaricious to be generous. Selfish
ness is then the most difficult of all impulses
to subdue. This love of self is the founda-
ton of the religions Of delusions, and the
crimes Of men. Christianity furnishes the
only protection against it, and in the religion
of the pagans aud the philosophers there
is no such provision. There is always some
| thing for everyone to do to help his brother,
One can give a day, another dollar; one
can speak, another listen; one can direct,
the other can execute; one can pray, the
other can say amen; one can do this, an
other that, ana all can do something. Christ
says ''go work in my vineyard now," and
there is always opportunity. Parable
after parable is given to show that
we all have gifts for which we are trustees
and must make account
ODD FELLOWSHIP
is not a religion, but it does not interfere
with the functions Of the church. It's motto,
frienship, love, truth, is the foundation
upon which it rests, and the commands ''re-
lieve the distressed, bury the dead, visit the
sick aud educate the orphan" are the precepts.
See the results at the meeting of the
Grand Sovereign lodge at Providence, R. L.,
in September 1888, 1t was shown that ST.
|
lows during the past year upon benevolent
objects. These are mere figures. Who can
determine the amount of suffering alleviated
by this money and by the efforts of the half
million Odd Fellows scattered in every state,
territory and provincel have
heard some object to Odd Fellowship
upon the ground that it interfere with the
church. This Is a mistake. The church
administers to the spiritual needs of man
Oddfellowship to the physical needs. Christ
ianity and the work Of benevoence go hand
in hand. In England, for example, where
professionalism took its great and first stand,
we see numerous institutions and societies
devoted to deeds Of charity and kindness,
considering that the United States is
yet in its infancy, there is no country freer
and more hopeful than our own in this re-
spect.
In conclusion, If you would have delight
full employment, see how much good you
can do for others and then the blessings OF
heaven will be assured to you. ''To dc
good aud to communicate forget not; fol-
with such sacrifices God is well pleased.