Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-24
HARMONY LODGE.
Listened to Address By the Rev
 Charles E. Granger.

z Tn accordance with their usual GUS tom, Harmony lodge, F. and A. M, 0b- served St Johns day yesterday by ex ercises at their hall and in the evening services at the Third Congregational church, accompanied by members of the order from Naugat tuck, Watertown and other places. The Rev Mir Grang- CT preached the sermon. He spoke in part as follows;
 We assemble tonight to commem- crate the birth of as great q human as history ever produced. For ages the church has celebrated June 24 and Au- gust % as the day of birth and death respectively of John the Baptist John the Baptist is widely known as the forerunner and proclaimer of Jesus Christ, to whom he held the relation ship of distant cousin, his mother, Elizabeth. and the Virgin Mary being own cousins.
 John was not only q strong human --he was a strong saint. He possessed much of the divine, aye, he was a prophet, i'll the largest and fullest sense and more than prophet. The prophets could say, '.The Kingdom of heaven will come, !" but John could say, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.v Repentance and cleansing from sin was his repated cry, to prepare more for the coming of the divine one. As he was truly great, he was truly good, which brings us to recognize that no one is truly great who is not truly good. But John is not the only exam pie; he is neither the first nor the last, the alpha nor omega, the beginning nor the end, the pioneer nor the lnal. Time would fail us to name even the list of those who have at once been great and good. These are the strong arms which magnify any life-strengtli of character Godliness of heart. Aye, these arc the hands that God hath taught to fight for us, to the eternal triumph of our better and truer selves, and the eternal glory Of our souls. Can 1t be that any of us have failed to grasp this truth-can 1t be that we have come short of a recognition of this spirit of the wise in all ages? Will we not learn this valuable truth from the example of the past? that in our lives there will be q dovctailing, an interlocking. q co-existirfS of the grandest and divinest Of charactcris- tics-strength of character, pity Of heart. No one is ashamed of strong character; no one should be ashamed of purity of heart, and say this in TO SGlSc iO dJtiQSlLC lOA PlStJt A0i ~ htNAs no apology, but because of our miscon- ception It needs large acceptance i'll our lives.
 In the mountains of Pennsylvania I once saw an eagle swoop down from the skies and fasten its talons in the back of young mountain goat, weigh ing, perhaps, twice or three times the weight of the eagle. Up, up, the noble bird went md sailed away to it's nest in distant peak, to feed its hungry and crying wound. Amazed, I stood and gaped at the exhibition Of strength, for the goat was heavy and making q desperate struggle for liber- ty. But what mate goodness and tldel- ity and love was there also shown. Yea, 'the eagle hasteth to prey" and .sthe young eagles shall eat it.
 Even so should there be in our lives muscular piety, harmony of strong being and good being not weak and worthless weeds, but stalwart and usc- ful cedars ip the Lebanon of life.