Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-05-21

symbolizes plenty and the doctrine Of
the Resurrection and our new and
eternal life, as year after year it arises
from the bare grain with its waving
| beauty of life and its wealth of fruitagc
And with these three-W later, Flow
ers, Wheat-symholizing Frients6p,
Loce and Truth, you will dedicate this
building to the uses and needs of prac-
| tical benevolence: to the care and
maintenance and education Of those
| little ones, who in their desolaticn, are,
| fulness. the tender ministrations, the
faithful guardianship of their fathers
brethren.
Splendidly may this building rise:
long may it tand-an enduring monu-
ment to the vital and humanizing
principles of the Order, and an honor
to the wise and loving enterprise OF
the Odd Fellows of the Old North
State. Work, architect and artisan:
with an increasing zeal lay ye the
foundations deep and enduring. Let its
walls arise in strength and symmetry
Build that its walls to future gen
erations,
Your strength, your skill, your faith
fulnesS may Tell!
That all may say, when sto' ms and
centuries test them:
Ths men of old, their temples builded
well"
Ard when he wo; X is done and its
doors are open, let it be an abiding
refuge for tie Orders orphaned one ,
whore, amid PEOPLE virtuous. patri-
otic, charitable, illustrating in theii
daily lives the sturdy virtues of this
good old State, they rnay learn the
lesson of an upright lie and be taught
to walk in that safe and narrow way
that leads to happiness and God
1t is proper that on this occasion ]
should speak briefly in regard to our
Order: 1t Is the foremost fraternal Or
ganiz- tion in the land: strongest in
numbers and influence: dispensing a
larger oeneficence. throbbing with a
more abundant vita 'it,. Transplanted
from England to America early in the
century and hampered by the character
of its early surroundings, it struggled
for years against adverse fortune and
the difficulties that beset its pathway.
B 1T containing within its organism the
elements of final success, its outcome
AMI growth were Inevita bic. Tt had
within itself the vital principle of life
that could not be destroyed. 1t pos
sessed the constituent principles OF
better nature-:t taught and enforced
the resultant duties from the brother
hood of man-the necessities of Tan-
kind for sympathy-and so, beginning
it's sacred mission in the world, its
progress could have no more been OBJ
structed than you could have stayed
the course of the sun in the heavens.
Gradually overcoming all impedi-
ments, slowly, but surely, evolving it,
self from its original Environments
which clogged its course, it grew and
fourished, gathering strength with
each advancing year, until it stands
| the world, n the full, clear light ol
prosperity and peace and increasing
power. 1t has passed the stage of doubt
or criticism. 1t does not now need to
defend It's existenee or explain its
creed. 1t is known as one of the
great moral forces of the age, and to.
day it stands serene in the conscious
ness of its acknowledged power with
/ fratel nifty as the central essence of its
strength, and practical charity the out
ward and daily manifestation OF its
mission The world has no barriers
| that an impede its progress or stay its
onward march. 1t numbers more thar
SOB, 900 members; its annual income il
about 800, 900, it expends annual!
through it's regular channels for the re
lief of it's members more than So, ,000, 600
| Odd Fellowship is no rival of thu
Church. 1t is neither substitute
nor an equivalent for religion. 1t deal
with man S temporal welfare alone. L
seeks to improve and elevate his char
acter, but it quits him at the threshold
OF the grave. 1t is a purely human or
ganization, instituted by man, dealing
with human nature and the struggl
and advers1ties incident to human life
1t does not intrude upon the sacred do
mains of the church. 1t confines itsel
to It's own peculiar sphere of action ant
therein finds work enough to do. In
stead of being liable to any charge G
hostility or rivalry to the Church G
God, it is the handmade of pure re
ligion, which is to Visit the fatherles
and widows in th-ir aff1iction and t
keep himself unspotted from the world.
No man, it is true, can join it if he bt
, lieves not in the existence of Cod
i does close its doors to atheists, and {
} that it does not need to excuse itsel
| Ny friends, believe it to be my dut
!, and your duty aud the duty Of all me
to do some good in this world. l b.
] lieve there is a mutual and eorrelatiy
j duty resting upon each of US to contrib
) | ute in some way to the happiness an