The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-19
SERMON BY REV. E. 5. LINES
PRE1CHED BEFORE THE KING HTS
or THE GOLDEN EAGLE.
Many Members of the Order Present
The Friendship of David and Jonn-
than-Sermon Was "a Beautiful One
and Was Very Appropriate for the
OceR sion.

| ONTN
and Was Very Appropriate for the
Occasion.
Last evening at st. Pauls church, the
rector. Rev. e. S. Lines preached a ser
mon before the knights of the Golden
Eagle of this city. The text of the SER
mon was THE Soul of Jonathan Was
Knit With the Soul of David, and jon
athan Loved Him as His Own Soul"
Samuel 1:18-1. The preacher spoke at
first of the friendship and then as fol-
lows: | have told you again the story
of the friendship of David and Jona-
| than, thinking it appropriate to SER
vice which brings together the members
of a society which has as its object the
cultivation of friendship and brotherly
kindness and the protection Of its mem
bers from need by insurance and bene-
| fits. Men have always been coming to-
gether in societies and guilds and fra
| ternities to satisfy this need of sympa-
| thy and friendship. We sometimes think
| that Is characteristic of our own time,
so marked has this tendency been In re-
cent years. But in Rome two thousand
years ago there were guilds and fra
| ternities as numerous as with us, and
for a great variety of objects. The
Christian church at first appeared to the
Roman authorities like new secret So
ciety and they We're suspicious of it.
The first Christians lived as members
of the closest kind of fraternal society.
In Jerusalem they put all their posses
sions into a common treasury and no
! Jone called his property his own, and
| 'ample provision was made for everyone
! in need. This close relation could not
| continue as the church grew and spread
| out, but it is to be deplored that the
| sense of brotherhood has been so
weakened in the church that other
| agencies have come in to supply the
| lack AS Christians we have not kept
| the ideal of a brotherhood and family
which was given in the beginning, and
| so many societies like this which you
represent have come into existence. /
do not know that Christian churches
could fill out the purposes Of the benev-
olent societies which have an insurance
system without bringing much business
into the church organization and in
some measure obscuring the spiritual
character of the church. Insurance and
benefits must be ordered upon strict
business principles for the application
of which the church is not altogether
fitted. My duty is, continually to plead
with Christian people to bring into the
church relation more Of brotherly kind
ness and good will, to keep the ideal
and standard set in the beginning, to
make the church "a brotherhood and
family in Christ Jesus. As far as op-
portunity is given me my duty Is to
plead with all men to take and keep
their places in the church and make of
it what Christ intended, not allowing
friendly and benevolent societies I'M
duly to engross their time and zeal and
interest. 1t is doubtless true that thous-
ands of men in this community are
looking to fraternal socfeties rather than
the church for friendly association with
other men and may be largely account
ed for in this way. 1t is partly the fault
of the church and it is partly the fault
of those who ask of the church what
she cannot well give and who forget
the supreme Importance of religious
worship of religious instruction and of
the use of the means of grace. I pray
you all to remembersrthat the church
is in the world divinely founded in
stitution and society which Jesus Christ
purchased with His own precious blood,
and in and through which the life of
men in God, the spiritual life is to be
nourished and fostered,
Societies and guilds which have for
their object the cultivation of friend
ship, the encouragement of thrift and
provident habits the protection of the
sick and disabled, the improvement Of
their members are always to be spoken
of with respect. / know how much
good they do in this city. But great re-
Eponsibility comes upon their members
and especially upon their officers to
maintain their high character and their
usefulness. No organization keeps
high place without the constant effort
of good men who say that honor and
justice and kindness shall mark all that
Is done. NThe only reason for the exist |
ence of any society is that it makes
men better, that 1t increases the amount
of goodness and mercy and knowledge
in tha world.
But of friendship between men as
one of the objects of such society as
yours l wish to speak. God made us so
that we need friendship, association in
the relation of confidence and respect |
and love with our fellows There are
those who do not feel this need as keen
ly as others-men who live altogether
within themselves. They enter not into
the lives of other men and let no man
enter into their lives There are those
also who are somewhat misanthropic,
who believe that all men are moved by
selfish motives, that the only rule in
life is-every man for himself They
are incredulous of the existence of I'M
selfish friendship. But the hearts of
nearly all of us cry out for friendship,
for association with men whom we can
trust and who will trust us, to whom
in some measure we can open our
hearts. Friendship Is a sacred thing
an unselfsh relation between persons
who respect and trust one another. Only
a good man makes friend In any
proper sense of the word. Persons not
worthy of real respect may be COM
rades. Men may be associated in bust
ness for their mutual advantage Men
may as companions amuse or interest
one another. Persons of the same liter
airy or artistic tastes may be associated
for mutual improvement. But friend
shin means more than all this although