Ah! my friends, always keep in mind this truth, “One hour of justice is worth seventy years of prayer.”

Call not this, then, a Godless institution, rioting in selfishness and infidelity, as it has been denominated by certain super-excellent Christians, who appear to have fully persuaded themselves that no good can possibly come from such a Nazareth.  For, with the constant and unvarying light of the Holy Bible, that illuminated lexicon of the sweet Beyond, and of the approaches thereto—­that trusty talisman of all hopeful hearts—­that competent counselor of the wisest and the best—­that inspirer of joy and satisfaction born of no other book—­that precious presager of immortal life beyond the river—­that divine guide to faith and practice, can by no means fail in the ultimate working out of its sublime purposes.

In the ranks of Odd-Fellowship there are many of the truest, noblest, sharpest and most holy men in the civilized world.  None of these have been able to make that “Godless and selfish” discovery.  This brilliant achievement is reserved for those favored mortals that never saw the inside of an Odd-Fellow’s lodge, and are entirely ignorant of its character and practical workings.  The order has increased largely in wealth, power and influence.  Large cities and towns, which formerly paid little or no attention to us, now eagerly welcome us to their hospitalities.

Judges and governors vie with each other in doing us honor, and well may we be proud of the position the order has attained.  Just think of it a moment:  when you clasp hands with an Odd-Fellow here in your own home, you are really clasping hands with one million men who have obligated themselves to stay with you through every trial and misfortune.  Wonder no longer, then, at the growth and stability of this great fraternity, or that its votaries cling to it with such unshaken and unswerving fidelity.  Ah! it is no light matter, no small privilege, to be admitted to membership in such an organization—­so freeing one’s self from the surgings of self-seeking and selfish considerations—­free from the trammels of prevailing prejudice and passion—­free from the false educational influences that warp the mind and drive charity from the heart.

Our order’s emblem is the three links,

Friendship, love and truth.

Friendship, love, truth—­golden links these, that not only bind together their obligated votaries, but that recognize and embrace, because of worthiness and plighted faith, that behind the back as well as face to face, have a defensive, kindly word and a brother’s generous deed; that, amid the upheavals of communities and the crumbling of nations, systems and governments, swerve not from their course, and are corralled by no arbitrary bounds, and that, whatever the dialect, the nationality or the religion of men, read upon humanity’s brow the inscription written by the finger of infinite love—­a man and a brother, a woman and a sister.