neither have all the law-givers of all the lands, and of all ages, been
able to produce a code of law and ethics that was universally and as
implicitly followed as that of the law-giver, Moses.
The Bible is an emblem of Odd-Fellowship, because it is the
Odd-Fellows' text-book. Here we get our doctrines for faith and our
rules for practice in all the relations of life. As Odd-Fellows, we
believe the Bible is the word of God, because in their enmity humanity
has never been able to destroy it or rob it of its power; nor have any
who reject it given us a book to take its place. The intellect and
culture of our day can not improve the teachings of Christ, nor set
before us a nobler ideal life. As Odd-Fellows, we believe in this
beautiful emblem, because our hearts attest its truth. We need not be
told that the landscape is beautiful, or that the song of birds is
sweet. When we see the one and hear the other, we know it. As the eye
discerns the beautiful, and the ear discerns sweet sounds, so the heart
of man discerns the divineness of the Bible teachings and sets its seal
to their truth. As Odd-Fellows, we believe in the scriptures, because
the experiences of all true believers, of whatever name, or age, or
country, prove it to be the "bread of life" and the "water of life" to
a needy and suffering world. Age by age the evidence of experience is
accumulating, and growing stronger, and for a soul to distrust the
revelations made unto it, and the divine leading of the human race, is
as though the eye should disbelieve in the sun shining at mid-day. We
recognize the Bible as a precious boon to man, the gift of the Great
Father above. It is a "light to our feet and a lamp to our path." It
is a compass whose never-failing needle directs us safely across the
desert sands of life, and through the dark labyrinths of an evil world,
and its precious promises gives us comfort while we bear the burdens
and endure the sorrows, pain and anguish incident to human life.
Since our organization is founded on the Bible, we should, as
Odd-Fellows, become more conversant with it. Many evils creep into our
lodges that could be avoided if we used the Bible more in our talks for
the good of the order. Intemperance is an evil that does us much harm.
What does the Bible say in regard to it? Proverbs, xx, 1, says: "Wine
is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby
is not wise." Proverbs, xxi, 17: "He that loveth pleasure shall be a
poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich." Ah me! what
dead courage, what piles of bleached bones that was once the
concentration of all that was great and lofty and true. What
aspirations, ambitions, enterprise and resolutions--what genius,
integrity and all that belongs to true manhood--have been swept from
the tablets of time into oblivion by King Alcohol and his horrid half
brothers, the gambling hell and the brothel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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