The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-05-02
GOTH Hntlfp<r$ary
Mesaba Lodge No. 222, l. O.
O. F., Attend Divine Ser
:.. vices IN a Body.

r.. vices IN a Body.
IN CONTEMPLATION.
In commemoration of the Goth an.
niversary of the institution of the
order of Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, which occurred on the 25th
inst, the members of Mesaba Lodge
No. 222, on Sunday last attended
divine services in a body at the
First N. E. church, the sermon by
the pastor; Rev. A. r. Rowson, be-
ing dedicated as memorial to the
order.
Mesaba Lodge No. 222 was insti-
tuted on November 18th, 1894, under
a charter from the Grand Lodge of
the state of Minnesota, with char
ter membership of but thirteen.
But, like the permanence which has
marked the growth of the Order as
a whole, this handful has increased
many fold, and today numbers in
it's ranks membership of seventy
of our most prominent and influ-
entail business men and citizens.
The path of the local lodge has
not been strewn with roses, and it's
phenomenal growth shows the mas
ter hand Of a united effort in the
manner in which all obstacles have
been surmounted. During the fire
which swept Virginia on the 7th of
June, 1900, the lodge lost their char
ter, elegant hall furnishings and
paraphernalia, with no insurance.
On December 1st, the same year,
the lodge reorganized under dupli-
cate charter issued by the Grand
Lodge, and with an elegant lodge
hall in the Hawkinson block, is
again in a prosperous financial con-
dition and it's continued growth is
assured.
The memorial sermon by Rev.
Rowson was noble effort, the
many points being we'll borne out,
and that it may be preserved to an
intellectual public we herewith re-
produce it as follows:
! In my sermon this morning Iwish
to give particular emphas asis to three
truths which, whether held in the
ory or,praotice, may well be regard
ed as the fundamental principles of
Odd Fellowship when exhibited in
its noblest expression:
BROTHERHOOD.
I notice first OF all your exemplifi-
cation of the essential qualities of
brotherhood. In the epistle to the
Romans, Chapter XIV, verse 1, we
read: "We then that are strong
ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak, and not to please ourselves"
st. Paul here intimates in a general
way the binding obligations which
strength holds to weakness; and in
substance declares that the various
relationship in which men stand to
one another are to. be interpreted in
the spirit of unselfshness, forbear-
ance and love.
The thought of God, according to
the general teaching of Scripture, is
that all men are brothers, and that
the enrichment and salvation of the
race largely lies in propcr recog-
milton of this interdependence of
men, families and nations. Any in
stitution, therefore, which tends to
lift man out of his narrow individ-
ualism, to inspire him with deep
er sense of his personal obligation
and responsibility, to broaden his
charity, to excite his sympathy and
to quicken his zeal, is so much of
contribution to the general ad-
vancement, ,enlightenmenta and elor-
ification of the race.
Now one design of the founders
of your Order was to bring men to-
gether, to organize them into a So
ciety, to unity their interests. to cul
tivate friendship, to inspire deep
er reverence for truth. to teach men
to be generous, chivalrous and self
sacrificing, to smooth the pillow of
pain, to dry the tear of sorrow, to
Tighten the widows burden and to
hush, by the manifold ministries of
the cry of the orphan. I
rejoice, therefore, to recognize in
your Fellowship" a spirit which
Perceives somewhat of the deeper
significance of fife, as revealed in
the obligations which you hold to
each other as brethren. You stand
before the world as pledged men,
committed to the interests of the
brotherhood, your strength conse-
Grated to the service of the weak.
History tells us that previous tn
the year 1872, when your noble Or
der was first initiated in Manches-
ter, Eng, various isolated LODGES