The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1893-04-27
THE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
BY scHMAHL & RUTER.
REDWOOD FALLS APR. n, 1898.

Nazareth who went about doing good.
Mr.. Hanscom here contended that
Odd Fellowship differed from the
church in that the latter works to save
souls, while the order was humane
institution, dealing with suffering hu-
mainly. 1t was mistake to put the
order in advance of the church. IF
with the spirituality of the church"
he said, .there could be combined the
practical charity of Odd Fellowship,
earth would be q paradise with no
spurgatory' between. We love man
because we love God; not God be-
cause we love man." He urged the
practice of universal charity, begin
ming with Odd Fellows and families,
and set the precepts of Jonathan and
the Good Samaritan before the audi
ence for copying.
believe this to be an age of pro-
gress not only in the arts and sciences,
but in morals and religion. l believe
we are approaching an age, however
distant, when crime and hatred shall
cease, and universal brotherhood shall
prevail. You may treat this as mere
| fanciful dream, but the careful student
of history marking the glorious chang
es of the past, looks down the vista of
the future and beholds the day dawn
when "the wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid and the calf, and
the young lion and the failing togeth-
er; and little child shall lead them"
To note the progress that has been
made, look at the history of Great
Britain, from the time of William the
Conqueror to the present. Mark the
development of liberty and human
rights, and the progress in civil and
religious freedom. Many of the
wrongs that then existed, too great to
be here mentioned, have been swept
away, they died hard and stubbornly,
but they have continually faded away
before the march of christian civiliza-
ton. Then think what wonderful adj
vancement has been made during the
last century in. every respect. Truly
God is turnf the thoughts of the
people to feel and care for the sorrows
and ills of this sin-cursed world.
Humanitarian institutions have
sprung up in every direction. Homes
for the orphans, homes for the aged,
homes for the soldier boys, hospitals
for the sick and charitable institutions
for the poor. Prisons have been re-
formed, laws have been passed to pre-
vent cruelty to children and the brute
creation. to regulate the hours of la
Dor, yea, to protect all the interests of
our homes and society. Add to this
the marvellous advancement which has
been made in educational privileges,
and am inclined to think that even
the most dyspeptic pessimist would
be led to admit that truth and right
eousness are advancing in the earth.
There is more love and pity in the
heart of man to-day than in former
years. Crime is not punished to day
with revenge, but with the hope of re-
forming the criminal. This Nation
did not deal with j. Wilkes Booth, or
Chas. Julius Guiteau, as did Paris in
l757 with fanatic named Damiens
who attempted to stab Louis XIV. He
was put to death by torture, in a pub
lie square of the capitol. For hours
every possible form of cruelty that hui
man ingenuity could invent, the poor
victim was called to suffer, in. the
presence of an immense crowd of no
bility and fashion, laughing, drinking
wine, eating lunches and joking on
the agonizing cries of the wretched
man, slowly dying before their eyes.
Where let me ask in the civilized
world could such scene be enacted
to-day? No where, unless it be in our
the South. We are told by jacques Cas-
anova that during the seventeenth
century there was scarcely a less virtu-
Gus man or woman to be found in the
fashionable circles of European cities.
This is not true to-day.
| Many of the customs and practices
of the past would not be tolerated to-
day. There is more of virtue and
chastity. The drinking custom is
condemned as wrong by all classes OF
society; the saloon man and the gut
ter drunkard alike would not tolerate
it in his minister. CrueI and inhuman
war is fast becoming thing of the
past; the sword is being beaten into
,, the plowshare and the spear into the
pruneing hook by the mystic hand Of
progress. National prejudices are
weakening and color lines fast disap
pearing. The sectarian bigotry anc
jealousy, once so bitter between The
different Christian denominations il
fast disappearing, and to- day there ii
an increasing desire on the part O
Gods people for Christian unity q.
we'll as fraternity.
The truth is, that the spirit Of fra
ternity and brotherly love is being ex
tended everywhere, and with gladnes.
we hail the day which is fast approach
ing, when the spirit of the blessed
l. =