sympathy and confidence of the
masses which is immeasurable. We stand for principles that are the
incarnation of God's infinite thought and throbbing love. We are
equipped for conquest. What answer shall the force make to the cry
from the field? As loyal Odd-Fellows, let us take our answer from the
Great Commander. What answer did He make to a dying world? What did
he come to do? He came to lift fallen humanity. He came to bind up
the wounds of those who were bruised and bleeding. He came to speak
words of cheer and sympathy to hearts bowed in sorrow. He came to
break the chains of bondage and restore mankind to its former beauty
and greatness. Our mission is identical with His. Our work is
identical with His work. We are His representatives. Our highest
destiny is the working out of His purposes. The world with all its
boasted progress has not advanced beyond the need of a Savior. It is
the same at heart now as it was when the blessed feet of Christ trod
its hills and valleys. Men change, but man changes not. The same
problems are confronting us as confronted them. It may be trite, but
it is tremendously true, that our primary and ever-present duty is to
seek and save the lost. We are to win them to faith in high and noble
ends, and having won them to faith in our mission is not enough. They
are to be instructed, cultured, enlarged, inspired, ennobled, until man
looking in the face of man shall see the face of Christ shining
through. He is to be the accepted Lord and law-giver in every realm of
human thought and activity. He is to rule in the family. He is to
rule in business. He is to rule until the demon of hate, malice and
injustice has been throttled. He must rule in the affairs of state.
He must rule in society, until the watchers at the gate shall announce
to Him who sitteth upon the throne: "Thy kingdom has come and thy will
is done in earth as it is in heaven." Christ is the solution of man's
most difficult problems. He came to save men. How did He go about the
task? He gave himself. We can accomplish our task only as in burning
earnestness we give ourselves. What depth of humiliation, what
self-devotion, what unmeasured sacrifices, what unspeakable suffering,
what unfathomable anguish, what toil and anxiety, what love and pity,
what loneliness and sorrow, are crowded into those three words, "He
gave himself."

If we as an order would give ourselves to the principles taught by o