Year: 1867

posed to accept the food for the soul US well
as the medicine for the body. And as you
| lift the dark veil of care from the widows
brow and wipe the tear from her eye in this
world, We believe it to be in accordance with
your principles to brighten her prospects tor
a future world. Hence may you labor tor
the salvation Of your members.


Nor would this he foreign to the example
Of the savior himself For his miracles
wrought upon the body, were to be but in.
troductory to the comforting Of blessings
upon the soul. He raised the widows son
to make the widow and her friends believers
m himself, as well as real worshippers Of
the true and living God. lie woke the
davghtcr Of Jaiius to show to her father
and his nation that the power Of life and
death resided in himself and to open up
the way for their asking still more blessing.
He called forth Lazarus from his grave to
show to his sisters and their friends that he
had the power Of resurrection aud was the
source Of all blessing in death as well as life.
And there was not one instance Of a miracle
performed upon the body, by which some
one was not led to believe, and open the way
for receiving blessing for the soul.


Thus when you GO to watch by the bed
side Of u sinking brother, to soften his
couch while he fingers to lift his trembling
form and touch his fcvered lips with the
cooling draught, it is your privalegc in u
peculiar sense to instil the gentle teachings
Of the meek and lowly Jesus. And when
you close his sightless eyes in death, and
straighten out his body and dress it for the
grave, it Is yours to point the widow and the
orphan to that God who tempcrs the wind
to the shorn lamb and will not suffer us to
be tried above that We are able to bear.
4, But in conclusion-t church lives
upon piety- the government lives upon the
intelligence Of her people and their obedi.
encc to law--and associations live upon p,iia.
ciple What the food is to the body what
thought is to the soul-what picty is to the
church-what law is to the government
such is principle to an association like your
own. Let not that principle, as those Of
the politician too often are, be but pack
horse to carry you into power, and to be
discarded whenever you have accomplished
that journey. But once the principles are
chosen, let the association stand or fall by
the principles. We have shown you that
the principle of charity is immortal. twill
not only be operative in time. i: will abide
througho all eternity.


Men may change; generations may pass
away; thrones may tottcr and fall and dy
nasties cease upon the earth; governments
ma; be revo!utionized; empires cease their
light and go out in the daknes Of anarchy
or the jarring world 10 bound in the bonds
of peace by the coming Savior-yet will
principle remain the same Right will TO
right and wrong will be wrong While God
remains God, the one will he approved-tho
other rcondemn-d. Ha,iagchosen right pr,n-
ciplcs we only need adhere to them and we Eil
blslfe. Having chosenyo ,rman principles
stand by it and you will stand. The tooth
of time which marks all things but principle
with age and decay, will leave you still un-
scathed. Charity will preserve you while
age follows in the track Of age. "For now
aJ.leM faith, hope and eharity-thcse three,
but tae creates OF these i. charity" Go on
then, Brethren Of the pystic tie; ''and Civ
ing all diligence, all, to your faith, virtue
aud to virtue, !tnowisdge to knowledge
temperance and to temperance patience;
and to patience godliness; and to godliness
brotherly kindness and to brotherly kind
ness charity. For il these things be in you,
and abound, they shall make you that ye
shall neither lie barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge Of Our Lord Jesus Christ But
he that lacketh these thingsi is blind and can.
not see afar off, and hath forgotten that he
was purged from his old sins" "If ye do
these things ye shall never fall 2, Peter,
|, 7-lO. Study to know the will Of God to.
ward sinful, utredeemed world. As you
discern Gods plans for the regeneration and
elevation Of the human race, fall in with
those plans, as the genius Of your institu-
ton qualities you to do. Then when God
comes to sum up the results Of human life
in the world, and to reward those who have
assisted in the elevation Of man, he will find
for you, some niche in the great celestial
palace, where you may observe in the society
of heaven the result Of the operations Of
your darling principlc-charity throughout
all eternity,


Then viii you be able to thank God forhis
preservation in time--for his approval 10
eternity, you have been preserved, Centuries
comprehend alone your secret history. Fiji
ty years have measured your existence in
the United States. yet they have been event
full years. A rebellion, the most gigantic
the world has ever seen, has appeared upon
the stagc Of human action performed Its
bloody drama and passed away. States
have been disorganized ,churchesin fragments
driven associations split never to be united
and even families divided but you are ono.
like the oak in the forest that has seen the
fall Of its fellows, your branches are still OK