Norwich bulletin., 1914-04-27

The Middle Link. Dr. SloCum's subject was "The Middle Link,'' and his text was Cor 1913: NOW Abideth Faith. Hope. Love, these three; and the greatest of these is love" Among other things Of the tEree beautiful links of your order. the middle one-love-is the greatest It reaches two ways; Through the first link, friendsship to- ward man. and through the third link. 1 truth. toward God. If I may change 1 the text, Friendship, love, truth. 1 these three; but the greatest or 1 these is love-"
 I Three Strands.
 l The middle link is composed of many strands. all forged together into a compact of wonderful sweetness ana 1 strength Three of these strands de- i serve our special consideration; com passion, fellowship, service.
 1 II. the story of the God Samaritan, which is classic in Oddfellowship, it | is related that one man who looked up on the suffering stranger had cornpas- sion. And he was the very man who l might be expected to cherish prejudice and hatred. The others who were fei- I low countrymen and who were also 1 devotees of religion. passed by on the I other side.
 This man, who has the compassion, 1 a and the Jews had been in a deadly i feud for two hundred years. The cruel and relentless caste system Of 1 India is the only modern illustration Of these two adequately sets forth l tne inter sity and bitterness of the alienation of these two peoples. For a Jew to touch Samaritan, or Samaritan to touch a Jew was defie- ment, either way. Aand yet here was a man who saw. not his enemy but his brother; who heard, not the groan of a Jew, but the cry of a human being. l Prejudice was great, but compassion was greater.
 All Meet as Brothers.
 IL is one of the conspicuous char acteristics of this noble Brotherhood of Oddfelows. that anything like caste is entirely lacking and cordially de- spised. In the lodge room and every where else, the rich and the poor meet on precisely the same plane, and they meet as brothers. A cordial prin- ciple of the order, is that expressed is that famous line of Burns "A mans man for a that And all this Is made possible through compassion.
 There are thousands upon thousands 1 of OddfelloWs who cannot attend the lodge meetings but who continue their support, because they believe in the 1 principles and practices of the order. They know that they are adding to
 the worlds good by relieving it of some of its hurt. A great host of people will rise up to call you blessed l because, when they were sick, you 1 came upto them, when they were in | need. you Icinistered to their necessi- ties.
 Against Avarice and Hatred. Henry Drummond called love the greatest thing in the world. Converse , ly, it would seem that hate is the worst thing in the world. ShyloclS } in The Merchant of Venice allows
 that it is his hatred of Antonio, rath- l CT than his good for gold. that drives him to insist on the pound of flesh
 The campaigns of Oddfellowship have ' been against ayar1ce and hatred. and , many victories have been the result
 Old, but still inexpressibly beautiful
 is the story concerning Beecher ano
 the ragged newsboy. The little fellow
 was out at the heels and elbows, an6 7 the night was bitter cold. Buying 2
 paper of him MT. Beecher said tG him, You may keep the change, my l little man." Then with compassion :. | in his eyes and sympathy in his voice 7 the great preacher added the tendel l inquiry Are you not cold ?" Tear l started down over the little pinchet
 face as he answered, Well sir, I wa.
 cold before I met you, but I an B warm now.
 Towards God and Men. r Another strand of the middle linl r is fellowship. The very word car a ries with it the suggestion of bene 6 ficient activities. The beautitude c = the merciful is that he in turn shal
 receive mercy. It is here that "
 begin to enter the mysteries of re
 demption- The ambition of the grea
 Apostle was that he might knoN $ Christ and the power of his resur
 rection and the fellowship of hi
 suffering This strand of felowshi reaches out through the first Hnl 'f 1 which is friendship, to our fellow meI
 Out through the other link which i
 truth, 1t reaches up toward God him o self. So it is by fellowship that W k come to know our fellow men, O 1t the one hand, and God, on the oth
 CT, it is by fellowship that we be
 come identified with men. and lear l. their sorrows and joys, their prob 8 leEns and their perils. and best of al st their possibilities. We must not liv ,f aioof from the people who make up th 1t great current of life.
 n Jesus himself was the greatest ex
 ample of fellowship More than one
 did his enemies discover with rag
 that he had gone to be the guest wit . a sinner. The common people hear D. him gladly, because it did not talk
 them ling to discover tha. he had inter To tified himself with their interests. H at lived on the highest mountains but
 
 was ever occupied with broken heart le His mission was to seek and to sa, " that which was lost. For the sell is satisfied he had no medicine: but $: the sick he gave himseif-the gre; or Physician of the soul
 n In the story of the Good Samarita oI as soon as compassion was arouse io fellowship began. The merciful g. l. down from his horse and become bls D. with the deeds of mercy. The su, of0 hos I1
 ly due to the spirit of fraternity tn
 sion of the order is not selfish, bl as aHruistic-
 ill Service.
 r. This brings us to a brief consider re don of the third strand of the lii ns which we are discussing this morl 10 ing, namely, the strand of service V T have somewhat anticipated this is O. ne thought about the other qualities
 love.
 -l Paul says of love that it is patier
 Kind, free from envy, humble, court
 ous, unselfsh good tempered, opt
 mistic, eternal. In our service for O
 fellow men, which this order bids
 perform, we shall find constant oppo
 tunity for the expression Of the
 characteristics of the middle link,
 livery day brings with 1t sor
 ehanee to help, If your service ca
 not be great, then let it be small; ef
 let 1t be real service for the help
 men and the glory of God
 The little ley in the Sunday sehe
 said that Jesus game inte the world