Semi-weekly herald., 1909-05-27
more easily grasped and thar the
Knights OF Rythias may be encouraged

TO work them out in his life. The
work of the order is not in opposition
to the work of the church, but In hlr
many with II. performing for The body
In a measure. what the church per
forms for the soul.
In the early centuries the church
did much to provide food, shelter and
raiment as well as employment and
care for the sick among her mem
bers' The church has too much de
parted from thar practice and herein
f. where the fraternal order now sup
plements to certain extent, the work
of the church.
The statement has frequently been
made that II a Knight Of Pythias would
live up TO the teachings of his order
he would be Christian. He would
be a good man Herein is one weak.
ness of fraternal orders as of any
other institution which sets before Its
members high ideal.
The tendency is ito serve In the old
ness OF the letter" rather than Sin
the newness of the spirit" Too often
we are content with going through the
ceremonies of the ritual rather than
enter into the spirit of the order.
When there are limitations, when the
order is doing some distinctive work
OF helpfulness, then there is a greater
manifestation of the real life. This
is because the work Is being done with
a genuine fraternal spirit rather than
in ceremonial perfunctory way. Here
as in every other case, The letter
| killeth, but the spirit giveth life"
1t has often been said "our laws
| are no better than those who admin.
lister them The same is true of all
fraternal orders. Though the teach.
ings and principles of the order may
| be ever SO excellent, the order will be
no better than its constituent mem.
bers.
Every lodge has within itself a
splendid opportunity to be potent
factor for civic righteousness and So
cial purity.
Mr. Ripley then took up some of the
tenets of the order. He said:
1T is not only true of the Knights
OF Pythias, but of the Masonic, Odd
Fellows and other orders, that they
| will not initiate man engaged in the
saloon business. Now, l am not go
| ing to criticise those engaged in the
liquor traffic, for / love my fellow
| man. but the traffic is the curse Of the
| age. With these orders refusing 10
| admit saloon keeper why should a
| member of the order patronize and
keep up such places. | believe that II
the Knights of Pythias, Masons and
spirit of the ritual and refuse TO pat.
| ronize a business which precludes the
ad@ission of the proprietor. that the
curse would be removed from our land
| within ten years.
| What is true of the liquor traffic
is true of other matters that should
| be given consideration. The rituals
of these orders demand the sanctity
of the home of members. If this is
good for the order to which one be
longs why is it not good for every
mentioned would live up to the rituals
they would drive the white slave traf
fic from our borders and the members
would be living example of the rltua
! to which they subscribe. A great need
is the living incarnation and embodi
men, of the principles of the order
My brother, you belong to an order
| with precepts taken from the holy
| Bible. The ritual is emblematical o.
The life of Christ Jesus---the sum o.
every virtue and our. ideal Let oul
lights so shine that the public will
point and say there goes a man who
is the embodiment of every Pythiar
precept,' living up to the ideals of oui
order.
with the members OF our ordel
living up to the principles Of the or
der great good will be accomplished
a higher citizenship attained Ma,
God bless each and every one of you
! The remarks, which are necessarily
condensed in the above summary, were
given the closest attention by IN,
members and audience. The lodge
then engaged in ritualistic exercises
for possibly twenty minutes, and II
proved exceedingly interesting TO the
| outsiders In attendance. This was
followed by closing ode by the choil
and closing proclamation by the chan
cellor. commander.
The exercises closed at and 1,
was about o'clock when the visitors
gathered at the Strater with many II
the local lodge members with them
The MANAGEMENT served $50 dianar
for the Silverton contingent to enable
them TO take the train for home which
arrived an hour late. The visitor y
We're escorted TO the train and gwen
parting grip that meant in reality
charity. friendship and benevolence
The Herald feels safe in stating that
the Silverton members returned hcne