Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-06
BURDETTE TELLS
OF DELIGHTS OF
HUMAN KINDNESS
DECLARES CHURCH UNITY is
ESTABLISHED FACT
SHOWS ILLUSTRATIONS TO HIM
FROM ALL cREEDs
Los Angeles Federation Postpones An
nual Meeting, but Persons Ans
nounoed TO Speak Address
Audience at the Temple

The large fair-weather assemblage
which had been anticipated yesterday
afternoon by the annual meeting of
the Los Angeles Church Federation
at Temple auditorium did not material
ize, owing to the rain. For this reason
the annual meeting was postponed with
the understanding the leading speak
ers announced to make addresses yes
terday should have the opportunity
to be heard by the audience. which
about half filed the large auditorium.
Rev. S. Il. Montgomery president of
the federation, was the leader, and w.
A. Packard was musical director.
Rev. Mr.. Montgomery called special
attention to the attitude of the feder-
alton as against all forms of gambling,
and the work it had accomplished with
regard to the anti-gambling ordinance.
The speakers were Rev. Robert j.
Burdette, Rev. Arthur 5. Phelps and
Rev. E. p. Ryland.
Rev. Mr.. Ryland was called for from
the audience to make an address, which
ne did in his own inimitable manner.
lie expressed his gratitude in being
able to return to Los Angeles and
again resume active work in the
federation.
DIR. Burdette spoke on the topic,
Taken by Surprise" He said in part:
I'VE have been talking about church
union for years. And the great op-
position TO it has largely come from
little fellows who because they can't
swim, are afraid they will be swal-
lowed out of sight In the great ocean
of Christian union and harmony. They
need not be afraid. They'll float. No
matter if the churches come together
in a maelstrom, the apples and corks
will 20 bobbing around on the surface,
down in the deepest hollows and cap
ping the stormiest crests of the shout
ing pillows.
Some Persons Never Rejoice
"There are some people who never
quite rejoice with the rest OF us be-
cause they are too heavy to fly and
too light to sink. So they never know
the ecstasy of the upper ether, be-
tween the earth and the stars, nor the
profound depths into which the soul
goes down sometimes, to find itself
alone with God.
1.-THE union of the churches? The
unity of the Spirit? The unity Of the
faith? Are we waiting for it? I'm sorry
for the man who is. Are we ready for
1t? I'm Just as sorry for the man who
isn't. They're both out of place and
time.
More than once in this pulpit-or
near tit isn't quite big enough to
hold even such a little fellow as my
self have denied the shallow philos-
ophy of a morbid poem beginning,
Laugh and the world laughs with
you; Weep, and you weep alone Any
man who has ever been in the test
ing crucible of trouble knows better
than that. ! have laughed with men,
and they have laughed with me, for a
life time. with the merry shouting of
children, we have danced to one an
others piping. Then one day last
spring, having danced and laughed all
NV life, / took a fall out of myself, to
see for myself If what men called pain
was a mortal error. or if 1t really hurt
so much as the people, writhing and
moaning in the white beds Of the hos
pitals declare II does. / discovered the
error was in falling down. Pain does
hurt. Neuritis is the crunch OF the
iron boot SciatiCa is sheaf of bla5-
ing arrows. A sprained back full or
surgical Latin may be snare and a
fraud, but it is no blooming delusion.
Suffers Pain
"I suffered pain with the indignant
amazement and jmpatience and re-
bellion of a man who has had life
of immunity. / hit the reef under full
IS steam ahead and had on a cargo of
aches that l couldn't jettison. 1
howled till 1 was tired and then I
groaned till my lungs got rested. l
pitched and tossed and rolled until |
got my second wind and then l did
every one of my stunts, hoWllng,
groaning, pitching, tossing and rolling
all at once. The gallery fell with a
thunder of encores, and l did II again.
"And what then? When / was act
ing in a way that should have driven
even my wife from my bedside? Why,
all the best and truest friends l have
in the world, many of whom I have
never seen. the men and women and
even the little children, who had
laughed most merrily with me, hur-
riea to my bedside as they had never
thronged TO my funny lectures. They
heard | was in pain; that was sick
and miserable and they came to the
door with words of sympathy, and the
tenderest friendship, and the strong
est encouragement Friends who hadn't
written for years stopped the stenog-
rapher in the busiest time of the busy
day to write me a letter with their
own hand and pen. Friends on farm
and ranch hunted up the old inkstand,
found rusty pen in the clock, and
wrote to me. Men in mining, hunting
and army camps sharpened the stub
of "a pencil and wrote on the rough
tablet paper, desked on their knees.
Could Not Weep Alone
"Had I wanted to weep alone
couldn't. They wanted to weep with
me ana moan IOr Iles rrOlll every
state in the Union, from every prov
ince of Canada, from England and
the continent, from China and Japan,
and the Philippines the letters rain,
rain, rained on me in refreshing
showers of the tenderest, sincerest
sympathy. The Episcopal bishop, be-
loved of everybody in Southern Cali
fornia. came to my bedside with the
dear blessing of the successor of the
apostles, and I gladly rested my pain
racked body on that apostolic prayer
and salutation-I, an Episcopalian, in
deed! / ate honey out of the rook.'
Mrs. Burdette used to save the
best letter of the day for what she
called my pillow And one night she
came to my bedside and read the pill
low letter. Strong in it's faith, buoy
ant in it's hope, sweet in its brotherly
solicitude, and signed by the secretary
of the Federation of Catholic societies
of Los Angeles county. And that night
pillowed my suffering in the COM
forting arms of the old Mother church,
that had soothed and strengthened sor-
rowing hearts and stricken bodies
in all ages of Christianity.
"Do we wait, then. while we pray
and hope for the unity of the church
in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our one
Lord? Why, men and brethren, it's
herel What do care for the denomi-
national badge on the collar Of MANS
coat. when finding me sore beset by
those robbers, pain and poverty, and
sickness. and he stops, after ordained
tod II nxyftn