Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-05-08

AANNNAAA AAAN NAAhaA Oh NIEHL ms
tiau uati0us: Il nas to- some extent keen
q problem sincv; but uulcss totaIi, MIS-
interpret the principles OF tins aud similar
societies. Il viii not remain a question
for future generations To answer. You
remember that IN Opening this sermon
spoke ot the truth oi mans rrgencrated
humanity; this truth Christ rcvealrd I:
this truth we have To perprtuate collect
lively aud personally. and understanding
this We begin To know one reason al least
for our eNistcnce upon the earth. The
race does not anuihilate the individual or
the individual the race, but in some such
manner as the human and Divine DersOn-
ahtieS made the one Christ ST. the two
are u he merged each into the other and
that without any confusion or loss of dis
tinctivc life. This take IT is the most
far-reaching aspect of the originality OF
Jesus: that man should stand upon the
heights OF his own hlr, below the heavens
certainly, but vet above the earth. Now
this is not yet an accomplished fact by
any means. There are class distinctions
strong and bitter and such there will al
ways be in all probability; we do not
quarrel with them SO much as with the
excluding spirit that they generate. ANY
institution therefore which gathers with
ia its arms men of varying social and in
telleCtual calibre and places before them
the idea OF common humanity is helping
to obliterate the deep craven lines of
caste and to perpetuate the truth of the
unity OF man in the sight OfGod. For if
it be, as it most certainly is, fact, that
we, being created by one Con in the i'm
age OF that GoD, and redeemed one and
all by a sacrifice once for all offered, are
IN the mind and purpose of that GoD
generically corporate whole, we may
be positive that eventually His purpose
will be fulfilled, For who can stand be-
fore Con when He appeareth!" This
then ! understand to be the destiny or
conviction of this society: that having
appropriated the experiences of the past
ages, and fully realizing the individual
and the race to he distinctly indistinct, if
may be allowed a paradox, knowing
too the tendency OF man to unite and
combine, that taking the tendency and
terrifying it with the experience, it shall
apply it to the amelioratOn OF the world
on the principle and basis of Christianity.
say on the lines of Christianity advis-
eddy, because cold bare morality alb
stract in idea generally propagates itself
in an equally llfelesS manner. And again
| press this point for the JASON that a
religion OF morality as such is a practical
A natural law is for all
ordinary purposes omnip0tent, and one
OF the most undeniabe expressions DINA
ture i'll man is belief, more or less de-
fined perhaps, but still existent, i'll the de-
pendence OF his being upon a Power ON
niscient and supernatural. To ignore
this instinct or faculty is evidently to
work contrary to our natural constitu-
ton and consequently to anticipate fail
ure. Ne cannot estimate the influence OF
religion on the world. In many instances
It has added to hecatena of causes which
bring about the martyrdom of man yet
the pervcrsiOn OF an instinct is no argu-
ment againstits reality, but FRO contra a
proof OF its existence. Right and wrong
are after all nothing but our measures OF
with the supernatural, so
that il we eliminate the International
our final standard of Judgment is hut the
general consensus OF opinion on the NOR
atty OF given subject. Now it is by an
appeal to this religious instinct that the
Church makes Roadway rather than by
it is exactly the same With
this society if you will carefully consider
It. So then we arrive at this conclusion,
that the world is to be improved by the
PRONUNCIATION OF the law of unity, which
is an instinct OF the race and this is to be
done on the basis OF Christianity which
alone satisfies The desires OF human ma
ture. To this end therefor" was the soci-
ETY. OF Odd Fellows instituted, and for
this cause came it into the world that it
might bear witness unto the truth. Which
destiny and convection COP help it to
fulfill
And now come to the second part OF
what | wish to say to you. That is
- The expression of the conviction" The
society i'll the abstract can only set the
ideal before its members il devolves upon
t he individual to carry into actual effect
the ideas of the whole. And here permit
me to remark upon false notion that
permeates all such organizations as this
viz: that the mere fact OF joining and
will bring about some mirac-
ulous change in the life and character of
t he member. 1t most certainly will not.
man who is dishonest will never become
honorable except by a determination of
will, though we initiate him into our vari-
Gus orders with all the pomp and solem-
nifty of ritual conceivable. True the good
OF Others may cause him to re-
fleet and to rouse himself from a supine
disregard OF the right and moral, but
that is only secondary auxiliary, the
effort must come from the man even
though the motive come directly or indi-
rectly from Con. Now just as the society
i'll the aggregate has convection of Il
destiny and stands committed to an ex.
preston OF its principles by the very fact
of its existence, so the individual member
should be governed by the same idea,
that there is purpose tor him to fulfill,
q work entirely his own which no other
man but himself can accomplish and this
he must do or be failure and mistake.
When speak like this of man or col
lection of men do not by destiny mean
an arbitrary fiat of the Creator by " hich
the created degenerate into machines, but
mean that in whole and singly there
is possibility allowed us by COP, and the
full measure OF our being or as call it
the height of our life is the entering into
that possibility and making it our own.
This we see is exactly what Jesus did.
There was a truth to be witnessed to,
there was world hungering for the rev.
elation, and there was the Christ fully
conscious that of oil nkindthe mission
was His and His alone. And just before
His death He says in that sublimely pa
thetic prayer to the Father Il have fin
ished the work Thou gavest me to do"
md believe me this is no isolated incl
dent, no unparalleled case, but rather the
one grand example and reflection of that
which GoD demands OF each one of you.
This is what believe to be true origi-
nality. Not that man should attempt