Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-02

bekahs of the city. This sermon,
in part, follows:
We are very glad, indeed, to well
come to our worship this morning.
he said. the members of the odd
Fellow and Rebekah lodges of our
city.
1t is fitting that once year you
should meet as a body in house
OF worship, as it is your custom to
do, not only that you may have
opportunity to express your appre-
citation of and to do honor to the
memory of those of your nurhber
who have preceded you into the
unseen and entered upon the re-
ward of their labors, out also to
remind yourselves of what Odd
Fellowship stands for; of what it
means in the life of the world
There are organizations whose
members have said to me: MY
lodge is my church. If a man lives
up to what our order stands Tor,
that is all that is required of him.
We are doing indeed, the work of
a church" l never heard an Odd
Fellow talk in that way. 1t is true
that if, as Odd Fellows, wi live up
to what our order stands for, that
is enough; but we cannot do that
without being also earnest and de-
voted members of some church
As a matter of fact, we find that
our best members are those who
are earnest and devoted church
members; those who believe in the
Bible through and through; those
who have caught the spirit of Him
of whom the Bible speaks and who
are seeking to realize His ideals in
the life of the world.
This morning ! am gcirg TO
speak to you on one of the great
principles of odd Fellowship, what
seems to me, indeed, to he its basic
y>rinciple. Friendship
y Some one may say. how can
friendship be the principle OF an
order? Friendship is purely mat
ter of similarity of tastes. If peo-
pie like the same things, they are
naturally drawn toward each other.
If they don't, they find each other
repellant. How can an order have
for its basic principle something
which is altogether accidental?
Those who talk thus do not under
stand Odd Fellowship, nor do they
understand that to which Odd Fell
lowship owes its origin, Christian-
ity. Friendship is not accidental.
it doesn't depend on similarity of
tastes. 1t depends on character.
Some people are capable of friend
ship; some are not. Odd Fellow
ship takes men and women and
seeks to make them capable Of
friendship. What worthier service
could one render than that? And
let me say that there is nothing
which needs to be impressed upon
men more today than this fact,
namely, that friendship is a prin-
ciple.
Let rue Illustrate this truth in
three Of the great relationships of
life.
First, in religion. What is re-
hgion? Is it not knowing God as
the Great Companion of the daily
llfe. Is it not compaaioning with
Him. Is ii not entering into
friendship with Him? Religion! Is
It not, in the last analysis, just
friendship with God? Now, while
All recognize this, | think. as be-
Ing true, there are, nevertheless,
two views which divide men as far
AS the poles, religiously. One view
is that while religion is friendship
friendship itself is accidental
There are those who, in some great
rehgious awakening, find within
them releasing of emotion which
transports them, which floods them
with "a JOY unspeakab1e and full
or glory "Old things have passed
away Behold. all things have be-
come new" But anon. their low
leaves them. Doubts come. God
seems to them far off. With their
emotion goes also their religion.
Inere are those, however, who
while they view religion as friend
snip, view friendship, not as some
thing which is accidental, but as a
principal. They enter into friend
snip with the Great Spirit. What
ever their feelings may be or NAV
not be; whether their way is
bright with the brightness OF the
Shekinah glory" or whether il dips
into the shadows, and God is TO
them invisible. seemingly far away
-they know. at least, that God is
tilelr friend. just the same; that
Whiie right may be forever on the
scai1oid and wrong forever on the
throne, behind the shadows is One
VINO is keeping watch DER all His
own" Friendship to them ia not
something which is accidental
something which depends on the
eHlouons' 1t is a principle. They
nave an anchor which holds.
rake that relationship in life
which has well been called the
most sacred of all human relation
SHIPS the marriage tie. In seek
ing to find figure with which to
express the nature of the bond
winch unites the heart of the good
God to His people, the Hebrew
prophet could find none more an
propriate and none more sugges-
tive than this, and pictured his
Loo as saying: 81 will betroth thee
u unto me forever"
And the New Testament writer
used the same figure with which
70 descrlbe that new relationship
which the soul is conscious of en-
fering into with his Lord when
the divine within him is awakened
IN the marriage relationship.
friendship finds it's pinnacle, lis
Climax, so far as relationships he
tween human beings are concerned.
Now. here. too. there are two views
which divide men as far az The
poles There are those who re-
gard the marriage tie as the con-
summation of the divinast friend
ship, who, nevertheless, regard that
x1riendship as accidental, dependent
H0h circumstances. When the pla-
Nlnor OF the early married -lifs has
passed away, the husband or the
wife asks himself or herself, did 7
mot make mistake? Were we.
4after all, intended for each otherp
They separate. A divorce ia OBJ
tained. The husband or thewife,
X ~ the case may be, goes on mar
xying and divorcing one after an
other IL, HAPPILY, he or she may
find the ideal helpmate. They who
hold to this view would make mar