The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-05-07
SERMON TO ODD FELLOWS.
The S4th Anniversary of the Found
Ing of the Order Fittingly Observed
Chaplain Williams breaches a Spe-
ciai Sermon Appropriate to the Occa-
sion-SoHe of the Ways In Which
We Can be Helpful to Our Fellow
Man and do Good in the World.

Man and do GOOD IN the w ORD.
At the Methodist Protestant church
Sunday morning Rev. J. s. Williams
preached special sermon to the Odd
Fellows. The occasion was the cele-
bration OF the Sith anniversary OF
the founding of the Order. Mr.. Viii
liams chose for his text, Heal the
Sick" Matt. 1913, and his discourse
was listened to with rapt attention
throughout. After quoting a NUM-
Der OF texts bearing on this subject
and citing the instances in which
Jesus wrought miracles OF healing
the sick and afflicted, he said:
If .Ie-tI. were here. He would sympathize
with your physical ailments however bad
You might be a sinner. He hated disease.
He hates it yet.
These miracles Of healing were not solely TO
teach them to believe on Him.
Nor were they to help us to morallze on
them. Nor were they to teGch Us simply the
awful consequences of sin.
Jesus healed for the sake OF the sufferer. He
was human and he did not ike to see suffer
ing.
There is IT lesson in it all for us.
Ii you were ILL., you would lose sight of ev-
cry other consideration save your sickness.
ii your family were i'll you would think the
health Of your family above all other inter
ests.
How happy and cont"nted if We're only
well" says the patient.
How glad to have my folks we'll again,
Says the parent.
Every lie is as dear to a person as your
own is dear to YOU
There are many lives that go to waste. Can
We not preserve them and others through
them?
When John he Baptist sent unto Jesus for
proof OF his Mcssiahship, Jesus sent unto
Him: Go and tell John the things which We
do hear and sce-the blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and to
the poor the gospel is preached" Matt i: 10.
In John Gil must work the works of
Him that sent me while it is day; the night
cometh when no man can work This He
said when He was about to open the eyes OF
him who was born blind.
AS long as am i'll the world am the light
of the world
One of Christ's most touching parallels
teaches the lesson that caring for the sick is
n large part OF one ChsiStlan duty. Matt.
25:3J-''I was sick and We visited me.
"Inasmuch ye have done it unto one OF
the least OF these We haVS done it unto me.
Jesus taught in this that right in the thresh-
old of the Judgment place the question will
be asked about our care for the sick
Greater works than these shall We do
Ii he healed n hundred his disciples would
heal II thousand.
The very princill" OF healing Jesus who
had healing power gave it TO those who had
it not. He who had health gave OF it to those
who had it not.
The same principle is good to-day. The
good are to look after the bad The living
are to look after the dying.
This duty carries with it another dut V
The strong ought to bear the iufirmities OF
the weak.
Bear We one anothrrs burdens.
Whose hath this worlds goods and sect
! his brother have need and Slmtteth up his
bowels OF compassio toward him now dwell
eth the love OF God in that man.
The science OF healing was never so perfect
az it is today True there are many maladies
that yet battle the skill of science. But in
these cases, science and human Kindness soft
on the last days OF those who must succum
to disease.
The Independent Order OF Odd Fellows is
founded upon Christian principles.
One of its tenets is care for the sici-the sick
of its own. In this it peases the God OF Hea
ven. Our Order proposes to go farther aud
help to care for those sick who are not its
own.
To cooperate with the other Orders and
lodges of the town and furnish Il trained
nurse for those who cannot afford one.
trained nurse thus supported would be
administering to the suffering in Il way that
we cannot otherwise.
| Would save many life
Would preserve nnbrOken many Il family
| circle.
Would train many in nursing the sick who
| are now ignorant.
Would save many i community from an
| epidemic
| Would hasten the cure Of MANY
| Would make their cure mora permanent
Would aid the physicians who DO much
| charity practice.
Would he the starting towards a hospital
| Supporting Il trained nurse would be doing
| like the good Samaritan who took the unfor
tunate to the inn and left some money with
| the inn keeper and said Whatsoever thou
! spendeth more when come again Will re-
pay thee
These Orders could send II good nurse to n
sick one and say whatever there is needed
| more we will bear the expenses.
trained nurse would also bring about
better sanitary conditions She would in.
| struct the inmates of the home about the
| premises. She would sound the alarm tothe
| town authorities. She would sound it in
| a way that it would be heard whether needed
or not.
! Among the inaIenable rights mentioned in
| the Declaration Of Independence are life, lib
| erty and the pursuit of happiness.
| What is life without health? What is hap
| piness without health? What is libert yitsr
| without health?
If YOU would exert yourself al much cost tC
save the life OF IL mortnl-if YOU would make
| any sacrifice to set Il slave free. YOU can not
withhold your help and sympathy from the
| one who is dying with some disease, who Is
| imprisoned because OF disease.
Eek. 81: ,, T. Would the prophet say tc
us, ''Ie eat the fat We clothe you with the
wool, We kill the fatlngs, but We feed not the
| Sheep
| The diseased have We not strengthened
| neither have We healed that which was sick
neither have We bound up that which was
| broken, neither have We brought again that
| which was driven away. neither have We
sought that which was lost"
VS.. 10 and 16. Il myself will feed the flock
| and will strengthen that which was sick
You may think it a very small erthat
| we devote this time to such discussion this
morning.
But the preservation of the race is equal in
| Importance To the creation of the race. God
| the creator did for us what we could not do
The inventor OF the steam engine did wha
| the engine could not do. But after he had
made it, the engine does Il million times as
much rs the inventor can do.
The same cannot ba said OF us and ouT
| creator.
But it is true that He intended for us to
preserve our lives which He gave us and the
| lives OF those who can not save themselves.
The greatest henefacuors to human kind
are the army of physicians and surgeons and
| trained nurses and unframed nurses who use
| their best endeayors to alleviate the suffer.
| ings of the people
What army officer or private on the Eng.
| llsh Roster of warriors has attained the fame
| OF Florence Nightingale who in the face of op-
position gave her life to the alienation OF he
| suffering inflicted by these very wnr tigers,
In our own land Lee and Jackson and
| Grant and Washington and Longstrcet and
Greene all have monuments to their honor
! But there Is not enough granite in all our
hills. there is not enough iron in all our M oun
| talns to build the shaft that can declare to
| the coming generations our love for Clara
| Barton, who has done so much for wounded
| soldiers on all battlefelds. cndaugerng her
| life under the fire OF cannon and musketry
| and who has Administered to the storm strek.
| en- sufferers on the shores OF every side of this
| continent, and who went to the rescue OF the
| flood victims on the Mississippi.
| What has trained nurses done for yellow
| fever victims small pox victims, and the
| thousands who have been scourged bv the
| many curses that have come upon mankind
| Tl,., =.