The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-03-08

service. Love is the stream, a freshet,
bursted banks inundation ana ruin-some-
times. Friendship Is the confined stream
flowing rythmically, smoothly for the ac-
complishment of its purpose and work.
LOVE is THE HIGHEST.
Now the qualification of the statements
ia in the term sometimes and that quail
iication Is largely i'm its relation to male
and female, but, understand If you please,
we are not eXalting friendship at the eN-
pense of love, for love Is the highest at
tainmcnt in that ii is the mightiest fac
tor, the most powerful element, the great
est thing in all the world. Friendship is
generally the relation sustained by man
toward mar and woman toward woman
but love, controlled and in It's highest
sense, is the sweet, tender. sacrificing
consuming devotion of woman to man
and man to woman | can conceive how
we may place ourselves in the reciprocal
condition and the element as thus under
stood in its dual relation may be taken
in its high sense and applied as a stand
ard for human life generally apart from
sex and the contingencies of sex relation.
| The pattern Is set for us In Jesus Christ
| of Nazareth: Greater love than this hath
| no man that a man lay down his life for
his friends'-that is moving beyond the
| relationship into the domain of love to
| reveal unto those who We're only in the
| outer court of its temple how 1t was pos
| sible to enter into the inner court of the
very holy place of love, which could be
satisfied with nothing short of a complete
| surrender of physical life to illustrate the
| truth of loves intensity.
| That is the relation we are to sustain
to Cod Possible? Why not, when Paul
says, II count not my life as dear unto
| myself and the Seventh Chapter of Acts
| with the Eleventh of Hebrews reveal its
| absolute truth Now, if this definition is
| correct high standard is before you; as
members Of a fraternity whose foundation
is asserted in Friendship and Love, you
are to manifest it to those who presuma-
bly, are one with you, and yet not SO
selfish in its display that none others shall
see or enjoy it. Your love must link into
your friendship in such ways that 9TH
| ers good shall be your joy. The Good
Samaritan is an illustration of how this
| love can be operative and as he looked
| upon the face of the poor, beaten Jew,
| feeling the throbbing impulses of pity,
| the determination of mercy, the resolu-
| ton of helpfulness What We're these
| things in their accumulation and in their
| action but the highest manifestation of
! love as thus asserted and as thus under
| stood. To reveal love your opportunities
| are many. That sick brother, haggard
| with pain, link your friendship to him
| and YOU awaken the fire of his hope to
| forge a new link of love.
| EACH WILL BE STRONGER.
That brother who in friendship ties
| worked with you won cries from the
| want side of life. Help; the oil and wine
| of your sympathy and the two-pence of
| your helpfulness will weld a love link to
| the link of friendship and each will be
| stronger for the presence of the other
AI.aN .l, l,,.
| If necessary, know the truth of the Psalm
| lists statement: This poor man cried and
the Lord heard him and delivered him out
| of all his troubles
| The third link constituting this trinity
of principles is Truth. What is Truth
| Truth is absolute honesty. We may con.
ceive of friendship and yet know that
| truth may not be supreme therein: we
may know of love where truth is not al
| ways recognized, but absolute honesty in
| spires friendship and leads to love. Il
| love is the greatest thing in the world
| truth is greater than the greatest, for i
| is the method by which Inheritance is de
termined to the kingdom of heaven. Je
| sus Christ says: eye shall know The
truth and the truth shall make you free.
He who is made free by such knowledg,
understands that he is not bound will
the trammels of worldism he walks il
a different atmosphere, he has ascendeC
to higher plane and amid attitudes o
thought holds communion with the def
mite. TO the connected links of friend
ship and love, truth is the link in tn
hands of God. 1t is seen in justice by tn
word of God. 1t speaks of the brevity o
life and the certainty of death and as
serts in its revelation that all life in truti
must be life in God
BY the very logic of the case the clos
adherent to truth is a true follower o
4. l.. I.
. ent in God, is from God for the benef
of man and he who lives in truth live
in GOO and lives to Jesus Christ, VIII
is tne witness to the Truth" You ma
be brs hrtn in friendship and fraterna
, IL lCvo, and yet not know God, but h
VINO lives in truth and links friendshi
and love into truth must know God. "a
! the paths of the Lord are truth" iii
: truth reacheth unto the clouds Let IL
not truth forsake thee; bind it about tn
neck, write it upon the table of thin
, | heart, so shall thou find favor and goo
unders landing in the sight of God an
, man" And Jesus Christ, by His own as
= | sertion is not only THE Way and tn
Life but The Truth hence we repea'
. he who links into truth links into God.
g MEANS BETTER LIFE.
= Then to be brethren in this your societ
e means better life in all respects. 1t it
| only a name to you, If having the nam
u you lack its principles if 1t has not mad
: its chain sufficiently strong to link you [
i things eternal, then you weaken you
cause and lessen your influence, but
you are trying to live to your principle
! then your individual lives, your homes
= your community and your church wi
l. find an uplift from our brotherhood
t care naught about the secrecy of you
i lodge room, that is your business, an
{ as much your right as | have a right
= keep some of my home life secret to thos
) around me, but | do care that theI
{ should be open life to reveal that you al
Il not men of paper alone, but of acts, an
n every extended hand of friendship, an
every manifestation of love by which
fellow-man is sutained in need and wiC
: ows and orphans better furnished an
o equipped for life's struggles and conflict
}, and every revelation of truth by whC
u you Nink yourselves to God; by thes
= you will help to hasten the time whe
/ man to man the world Der shall brothe
T. be and when
s. Beneath Messiahs sway
II Every nation, every tribe,