CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A COLLECTION MADE BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 AND BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY OLNI MWgfii 1RCULAT10H :DUE 1 ■^f-x V / i'|-^ > innn APTHWi ^SSw GAYLORD POINTED IM U S A Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030283067 Cornell University Library HS993 -B41 1961 The brotherhood : olin 1924 030 283 067 THE BROTHERHOOD; PRESENTATION OP THE PRINCIPLES, ODD-FELLOWSHIP: WITH A BRIEF HISTOKY OF BIBLE MEN AND WOMEN, WHO DEVELOPED, IN IHEIB SEVERAL LIVES, THE PRINCIPLES THAT HAVE BEEN ADOPTED BY THE FRATERNITY. In 6U)W ports, toitl) on ' -£-iHW ??3 A'&n;- Entered according to Act or Congress In the year eighteen hundred and sixty, By Rev. THOMAS G. BEHARRELL, la the Uleric's Office of the District Court of the U. S., for the Southern. District of Ohio. CONTENTS. PAET FIRST. ODD FELLOWSHIP AS AN ASSOCIATION PAGB CHAPTER I. — Objects, Aims, Principles, Teachings 9 CHAPTER II. — Charity as taught in the White De- gree 1 • CHAPTER III.— Mutual Belief, as taught in the Covenant Degree 19 CHAPTER IV. — Friendship, as taught in the Royal Blue Degree 2 ^ CHAPTER V. — Love as taught in the Remembrance Degree • " • * ' CHAPTER VI. — Truth as taught in the Scarlet De- gree • *"• CHAPTER VII. — Manner of imparting instruc- tions — Symbolic 32 Chapter VIII.— Emblems of Odd Fellowship. . . 36 Chapter IX.— The Bible our Text-Booh 60 IV (lONTKNTH. lurtl Chapter X.—Thr Motto, " I'h'i'ixMn'r, !'<><'<' '""' Truth " (i2 CllAPTUR XT.— Our Wiitrfnnn-il, " In, (ltd in: Trust," , "i"- 1 ClIA Kit X\T.— Mutual, h'rlirf U CllAl'TKii X II I. — Mutual, /'It I if ration. 70 OilAl'TKii X\ V. — A. I'lca. against our Nannies, . . SO CllAi'TUit XV.— Tltf.rmlof War Contemplated. HI I'ART MKOOND. TJVIOH Off KMTNKN'J' IllUfjU MISN. CilA i"j'l'irt J. — History of Altraham K7 CnAPTER I T. — History of I mar. Jlfi ClIArTER T I T. — History of Jacob 100 CHAPTER IV. — 7 Union/ of Josqi'/t, 110 Cm A i"nai V. — History of Mows I 'Z'l ClIA I'THit VT. — History of Aaron ] 1)7 CirAl'TKH Vir. — History of Joshua, MO Chapter VIII.— History of David and Jonathan 1 [50 CllAVTKll IX.— Character of the (limd Hamarilan 103 CONTENTS. V VJJ3S PAKT THIRD. EMINENT BIBLE WOMEN, ETC. Chapter I. — TIm Degree of Rebekah 170 CHAPTER II. — History of Sarah, wife of Abraham 175 Chapter III. — History of Hager, handmaid of Sarah 178 Chapter IV. — History of Rebekah, wife of Isaac 181 Chapter V. — History of Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron 186 Chapter VI. — History of Deborah, wife of Lapi- dolh 190 Chapter VII. — History of the Motlier of Samson 194 Chapter VIII. — History of Naomi, wife of Eli- melech 198 Chapter IX. — History of Ruth, the Md.a6it.ess . . . 200 Chapter X. — History of Hannah, mother of Samuel 208 Chapter. XI. — History of Esther, the queen of Ahasuerus 211 Chapter XII. — History of tJie Five Marys 223 Appendix. — Alphabetical List of Proper Names of the Old and New Testaments, with tlteir correct pronunciation and explanation. . . . 235 INTRODUCTION. The fraternity of Odd Fellows lias proved itself to be an association suited to these times, and adapted to the interests of honorable men. Its (practical) workings are seen and admired by the world, and its growth is almost unparalleled in the history of or- ganizations. There is comparatively little reading matter in the form of books or reliable periodicals presented to the fraternity for their perusal, and it is with the hope of benefiting the institution that the following pages have been prepared and are now offered. I have divided it into three parts for convenience. In the first of which I have endeavored to present the objects, principles and teachings of the Order in such a way as to impress, if possible, more fully upon the minds of the obligated their duties, and incite them to a faithful performance of the same. I have also had it in view to give, so far as could be, in as brief chapters as follow, to .those without the pales of the Order a view of our institution, and break down any undue prejudice they may have against us. In the second part I have given a brief view of the lives of the Patriarchs and others, and those princi- ples exemplified in their lives, which have been adopted by the fraternity and are so impressively taught — as for example, Abraham's " Trust -in God," his Hospitality to a stranger — Brotherly love mani- V1U. INTRODUCTION. fested towards Lot his nephew in the division of the land for pasturage, and his pursuing the five kings of Chedorlaomer, when they had passed through the country as conquerors, and had taken Lot and his family as captives and their goods as spoils. He periled his life and those of his armed servants by pursuing the enemy and fighting with them — con- quering the kings and capturing the captives and returning them to their home — with his sorrow at the death of his beloved Sarah — purchasing the cave of Machpelah as a family burying ground and depositing her mortal remains there. \ The third part consists of Bible women from Sarah the wife of Abraham, who has been styled the Mother of Patriarchs and chief among the woman of the Bible, to the devoted Esther who risked her station as queen and even her life to save her periled people. These woman are referred to in Odd Fellowship for the imitation of the obligated and instructed Daughters of Rebekah. I have given in the Appendix simply a list of Scripture names, alphabetically arranged, with the proper pronunciation and also the explanation. This is for the special use of Odd Fellows (in learning and retaining). That the offering I thus make to our noble fraternity may be received and read, and do good, Is the earnest and sincere wish of The Author, Madison, Indiana. T G 15 PART FIRST. dDfrfr ^Ifomflfnp w an itarintfon. CHAPTER I. Man is made for, and adapted to association. " The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul." In a short time after he was created, under the boughs of a spreading tree in Eden, Adam laid him down to sleep. " And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man." For God had said of man, " It is not good for him that he be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him." Adam understood that he was made for association and said as soon as the woman was brought unto him, " This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." Association is presented to us in almost everything in animate and inanimate nature. In the beginning God created — " light and darkness," "day and night," " heaven and earth," " dry land and seas." " The greater and lesser lights." The earth was adorned with its various herbage innumerable spires of grass lifted their tiny forms to the newly-created light. Tall mountain cedars swayed 10 ODD FELLOWSHIP under the breezes of the creation-week, and the fruit trees began to unburden themselves. The newly created plants opened their petals and discovered their beautiful bloom ; unnumbered flowers of thousand tints sent their rich fragrance on the air of Eden. The inhabitants of the seas, from him who "maketh the great deep to boil like a pot," to the smallest moving creature whose native element is water, are formed for association. This is also true of the beasts of the earth and the creeping things, from those who carefully browse standing on earth, upon the branches of the tall forest trees, to those who are hunted even unto death, by the ingenious and indefatigable ferret. And from the huge alconda or the winding boa con- strictor of the serpentine race, to the smallest creeping things of earth, so small that the microscope must aid in their discovery. This is also true of the fowls of the air — from the eagle who soars aloft, and looking down on earth's mountains and the battling clouds in times of storm, covers her head near the boundary line of earth's atmosphere ; and who, as she poises herself in that far off region from earth, for the first time lowers her vision and talks in her own vernacular to her atten- dants — to the little humming bird, as it goes from point to point and intrudes its tiny bill into the centre of the opened petals of the varied flowers. But we seek effectually for association elsewhere amongst angels, who are higher in their order of being than man, it exists. They are united in companies for AS AN ASSOCIATION. 11 tie performing of work for themselves and others. On the morning of creation it is said, " Stars sang to- gether and'all the sons of God shouted for joy." When the Patriarch Jacob was on his way to Pa- dan-aram, " he lighted upon a certain place and tar- ried there all night, because the sun was set." And as he laid him down and slept, he dreamed, and " behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." Thus we observe a company of these holy intelligences under the direction of the great Master above, banded together to direct the attention of a periled traveler to his home on high. In the history of Israel it is recorded of one of her prophets, that he enraged the Syrian king by following the direction of the Spirit under which he prophesied. Elisha told the king of Israel the thoughts of Ben- hadad, disclosed his plots and designs so that they were thwarted, andfEsraAl^was- ..'continually delivered. The Syrian? iing" became^ sq^eriraged that he deter- mined to destroy the prophet. To accomplish his purpose he sent a company of soldiers to take him at Dothan. "When Elisha's servant saw the armed men approaching, he turned pale and with fear and trembling said, " Alas, my master, what shall we do?" But when the eyes of that frightened servant were opened, to his astonishment he - discovered that the mountain was environed with horses and chariots of fire. He saw in a moment that the host that was for 12 ODD FELLOWSHIP their defense was far more numerous than the war pre- pared company that had come to take them. This very interesting fact in sacred history plainly teaches us the importance of " Faith in God " in the time of danger and peril. Every initiate into the mysteries of Odd Fellowship, as taught to the cove- nanted brothers, lifts the eyes heavenward, and if he follows the directions given him — the prayer of a be- lieving heart enters the ears of the Lord God ofSabaoth. But this fact in history also teaches us that associa- tion, union, in action and effort for the accomplish- ment of their work, is constantly marking the conduct of angels, and we are led to believe that extensive good can not be accomplished without association. Hence the existence of the Independent order of Odd Fellows. As an association it is designed to, and well adapted for the accomplishment of extensive great good. Its aim is to lay the axe at the root of the tree of selfishness, and lead man to the exercise of the principle of care for his fellow-man. Its aim is to bind the nations of earth together in the bonds of a common brotherhood. It constantly recognizes " G-od's fatherhood and man's brother- hood;" and has a standing maxim known to all its votaries, viz. : The hand of an Odd Fellow is always open to supply the wants of the needy and distressed. Practicing upon this maxim, the fraternity will con- tinue to bless the world. The tree of Odd Fellowship was planted in Amer- ican soil less than fifty years ago, but in growth it J AS AN ASSOCIATION. 13 has gone far beyond any precedent that had been given. The few cycles that have rolled on since it took root in the soil of Freedom have been prosperous without a parallel. Its progress has proven that the soil and climate is congenial in this " Land of the free And thia home of the brave." Every year the tree has been getting larger. Its branches have extended and the foliage has become more dense, while its roots have taken a firmer hold, a stronger grasp on earth. Thousands upon thou- sands in various states of our wide-spread country are dwelling under its shadow. Then beside the initiated there are thousands of "Daughters ofEebekah," Widows of Odd Fellows and their lone Orphans, enjoying the refreshing shade of the tree. But of the Association of Odd Fellows, I will say, its members are banded together for the practice of Friendship, Love, and Truth. And if the instructions of the Order are observed, and its spirit entered into, these principles are practiced on the groundwork laid down by the great Teacher himself, — Love God su- premely and thy neighbor as thyself. It teaches God's existence and sovereignty, the obligation of his creature man to fear and serve him, with the great fact of accountability for conduct during the day life. Then says one, why is secrecy enjoined in it? Why is it that the member keeps his mouth closed? So that you can not learn from him after he has visited the Lodge-room, as to what has been done there. 14 ODD FELLOWSHIP A prudent, sensible man will say, though lie has no connection with the Order, — He is silent because he is pledged to secrecy.- i That is true. He has not only pledged himself, but he has renewed that pledge as often as he has entered a working Lodge to take a seat among its members. And while he has done so, he has recognized the "All seeing Eye" of God that scans the Universe at a single glance, ever upon him. And while he has renewed his pledge, the recording angel on high, pen in hand, dipped in heaven's indelible ink has made the register of the renewal. • Odd Fellowship teaches impressively of the fall of man and its consequences. It tells us of man in dark- ness and in chains. In the whole race this mournful spectacle is presented, and what is terrible in the thought, millions are unacquainted with the fact. They are moral maniacs, devoid of reason, yet they know it not. It talks to man of mortality, of death and the grave. It speaks of the shortness of time, of the cer- tainty of death, and of the necessity of a preparation. It tells of the elevated remedy for sin; the immortality of the immaterial man, and the resurrection of our bodies from the tomb. In its degrees Odd Fellowship teaches the necessity of brotherly love, the importance of relief of distress and consoling the afflicted. It impresses upon the mind for practice, the principles of temperance so- briety and chastity, of benevolence and charity.' It shows the propriety of covenants for mutual aid and AS AN ASSOCIATION. 15 gives a beautiful exemplification in the inimitable narrative of David and Jonathan. It teaches friend- ship full and .pure, as exhibited by Moses in seeking out his distressed and down-trodden people to relieve them. He refused any longer to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. He preferred rather to be one with them, than to be a member of the Egyptian court, or even heir to the crown ; and after he became the leader of Israel, he delivered this charge to his people con- cerning their distressed brethren : " If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him ; yea, though he be a Btranger and a sojourner, that he may live with thee." A distressed- brother should be recognized whether in darkness or in the light, and should be relieved. But Odd Fellowship not only teaches the practice of friendship thus, but the importance of the practice of universal love. It brings before the mind the blessed rule, " "Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them." It leads us to recognize all the family of man as kindred. They are all one great family, nation and race, allied by nature alike to the great Creator. Yes, the Order ranges the European with all his refinement, the sable son of Africa, the Asiatic, the Indian and the Jew, side by side. It shows us our brethren in the common family of man — east, west, north and south, and proposes to unite us all in the principles represented by the 16 ODD FELLOWSHIP chain. Truth the imperial virtue is the effect, the natural result of love. May " friendship " ever dwell in your heart, dear reader, so as to exclude intolerance, bigotry and every thing opposed to " love." May you be steadfast and immovable in the practice of every virtue, that you may be safely guided amid the temptations and snares and dangers of life, and finally " Come unto Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- salem ; and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of the just men made perfect, and to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all." CHAPTER IT. And by charity in Odd Fellowship we do not simply mean alms-giving, contributing to the poor and suffer- ing — this is good in its place. It is right and a part of the charity of Odd Fellowship. But Benevolence and Brotherly love are united with charity. T"o practice our charity there must be a heart to feel for others woes. .A sensitive chord in the nature, that can be touched by the sight of suffering and that will vibrate through the whole man, moving to good actions. The action on the part of the one thus moved would be like that of the good Samaritan, who raised up the suffering Jew, bound up his wounds, allayed his pains by pouring in oil and wine, then took him to comfortable lodgings. Brotherly love. In this we do not mean to cut off feelings and regards and kind acts from those not members of the Fraternity, for Odd Fellowship recognizes as to man, God's fatherhood, and man's brotherhood. "God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth." And yet Brotherly love as we teach it requires mutual regards and interest, especially in the welfare of each other as members of the great Fraternity. 2 18 ODD FELLOWSHIP The adage, " Love demands love," is recognized and exemplified. The ties manufactured here in "honor's Court" hind one to the other, and a generous sympathy is fostered, while all endeavor to aim at observance of the inspired rule, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them?" Our Charity then involves principles and feelings that can only have a home,in a heart under the influ- ence of divine grace. Charity is a noble virtue, and wherever it exists there is moral excellence. It in- spires to noble deeds and prepares the heart of its possessor for the enjoyment of real happiness. He who would as a member of this great Fraternity, meet his obligations to God, to the Brotherhood, and to the world as well as to himself, must adhere' closely to our requirements as to temperance, sobriety and chastity. Drunkenness ranks amongst the vilest cf the vices. It dethrones reason, and places man in- dulging in it below even the brutes that perish. It leads a man to squander his property and his charac- ter alike ; to destroy his health and beggar his family; to engender disease and doom himself to a comfortless old age, if he does not meet a premature death and fill an early grave as a suicide. I can not better close this brief exposition than by referring you to a passage in holy Writ, that should be graven upon the tablet of every heart. " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, for at AS AN ASSOCIATION. 19 the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an ad- der ; thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Drunkenness and evil concupiscence generally go hand in hand. " Touch not, taste not, handle not the cup of death." CHAPTER III. mutual §$mi While it is true that man is dependent upon God for life and its blessings, it is also true that there exists among men a dependence upon his fellow-man. We see this in the various relations of life. How very dependent is the little innocent in the ignorance of undeveloped mental powers, as it lies in its mother's lap and stupidly stares at her, unable to recognize in her its best earthly friend. How dependent with its swad- dled form, its undeveloped physical. And not only in early infancy, but all through the first stages of life. And what is true as to the first stages of life, is also true as to dependence on others in second childlwod amid the infirmities and weakness of the " weight of years." See the trembling form of the aged sire and dame as they stand upon the crumbling verge of time, with nature's dying fire flickering. The mind once a noble palace wherein was manufactured magnificent thoughts, now like a castle in ruins — a worn out and fallen temple whose walls are mouldered. " The 20 ODD FELLOWSHIP keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease be- cause* they are few, and those that look out at the windows be darkened. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way. And the almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail : because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets." Not only in childhood and old age does this de- pendence exist, but we see it in cases in every stage of life. In the midst of disease what necessity exists for sympathy, care and help from our fellow-man. And who is so healthy that he can surely say he never will be sick. In the midst of mental as well as bodily affliction, human nature requires, nay, it must have the sympathies of a human heart and the kind actions prompted by pure feeling, or it will become withered, dry and dead. This world is full of selfishness and violence, and hence its inhabitants are subject to adversity and dire trial. "We are constantly liable to the heartless per- secution and selfish wickedness of bad men. There have been many Cains since Adam's eldest son, and many murders have been committed since the blood of Abel stained the hill-side in the pasturage near Eden. There have been many Sauls at heart since AS AN ASSOCIATION. 21 Saul the son of Kish, as the first king of Israel medi- tated in his jealousy the murder of Israel's sweetest musician, the magnanimous man and mighty warrior, David, the son of Jesse. Ah, and there have been many Jonathans, with whom the Davids have entered into solemn covenants, for mutual relief for themselves, and everlasting kindness to each other's posterity. None are so rich that they can certainly say, they will never be poor and need the aid of those able to help them. It is well then, in a cold heartless world like ours, where the consequences of sin continually prevail, that men may agree to mutual relief and enter into cove- nants the most binding to practice it. And why not enter into covenants for this noble end ? The almighty God entered into a covenant with Noah that the world should not again be deluged with water, and confirmed that covenant by appointing the bow that spanned the arch of heaven as a constant sign and seal to Noah and his posterity. It is pointed to even yet as the taken. But the covenant for mutual Eelief is a covenant of friendship and love, like that exemplified in the inimitable narrative of David and Jonathan. "We would pledge the kindest possible ofiices to one another, and seal those pledges in honor and affection. The demonstration that was given by Jonathan was in part that of endeavoring to allay the fears of David that Saul the king was intent on injuring him, then pleading before the king for David, when he had given orders that he should be slain, and succeeding 22 ODD FELLOWSHIP in restoring him to the king's favor ; afterwards risk- ing his own life and passing .through the most immi- nent peril in the wrath of his father, who threw a javelin at him and broke out in a volley of the bitterest and most wicked language. He then made known to David whilst hid in a field, in the use of a bow and arrows with the services of a lad, the intentions of king Saul. And again, when months had elapsed and David's life had been hunted by Saul, Jonathan, gave the strong demonstration of his remembrance of their plighted faith, by seeking an interview with David in the woods, when they looked upon each other for the last time and mutually renewed their covenant. David gave evidence of his pledge of honor by committing his interests fully into the hands of Jona- than, and by giving him at each interview with which they were favored, the strongest possible evidence in words and actions that the covenant was still fresh in his mind, and that his faith in his friend had not at all failed. He gave evidence of it in that last interview with which they were favored in the woods skirting the wilderness of Ziph — and when the news reached him that Saul and Jonathan were slain in Gilboa, the covenant in all its parts came up fresh before him, and the strong ties of affection created by that cove- nant and Jonathan's conduct upon it, led him to cry out in the hearing of his aids, " I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan, thy love to me was won- derful, passing the love of woman." AS AN ASSOCIATION. 23 Then faithful to his obligation, when settled upon the throne of Israel he showed kindness to Mephibo- sheth, Jonathan's son. Now covenanted Odd Fellows are hound by strong ties to friendly relations, feelings and actions. They are to help each other, when help is needed ; counsel each other when in difficulty, warn each other when in danger. Bury each other when death has come, and show the utmost kindness and care for the widow and orphan children left behind. CHAPTER IV. itimiMf « tottfltt to tit* §0pt §S«. The question may be asked, |J And what is the definition of Friendship ? We would give as the answer, — It is " disinterested mutual regard." We have spoken in the preceding chapter of mutual relief, now let us speak of mutual regard, which is the friendship of Odd Fellowship. And we are not -to look at the evidence given simply, in health and wealth and plenty, in times of peace and prosperity. Therfit is easy to assume friendliness, nay more, to openly profess it. Indeed, it is possible for the external of Friendship to be performed, but the pure spirit to be lacking ; the profession to be a mere hollow pretension. But there is a sure test of Friendship, and that is adversity. In the individual case where Friendship is 24 ODD FELLOWSHIP professed, let the " olive yield no oil," let the means of support be cut off; let the ability to labor be de- stroyed ; let hunger and thirst, and cold and naked- ness, and unjust imprisonment be endured ; let the clouds gather thick and fast, let the thunders peal and lightnings scathe — then Friendship is tested. Adver- sity has come, and the amount of love, the depth of attachment can be, nay, will be shown. The true friend will be willing to give, up ease and pleasure to share in part the burden of his fellow. He will realize the blessedness spoken of in God's Word to him that gives, " It is more blessed to give than to receive ;" for a portion of his goods is freely given to him who is thus needy. Ah, the true friend will go even further than this at times : he will risk his life. The beautiful demonstration of Friendship given by Moses toward his down-trodden countrymen in bon- dage in Egypt is referred to. And the very name of the man is associated with true friendship, as well as with the decalogue or ten commandments which he received from Sinai, and the impressive rites and cere- monies of the Jewish religion. One of the most important charges Moses left, was a charge concerning distressed brothers, a demonstration of true friendship. " If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger and a sojourner, that he may live with thee." Moses evidenced the purest friendship for his AS AN ASSOCIATION. 25 brethren the Jews, when they were in oppression and affliction, and he the adopted son of Pharaoh's daugh- ter, occupying a high position at the court of Egypt. Amid the splendors of royalty and the luxuries of a prince's palace, he looked with a sorrowful heart upon the burdened. There was a tender chord in his soul touched by their sufferings, and that chord vibrated through his whole nature. He thought of his own humble birth, parentage, and household often, and sympathized in his heart of hearts with his kindred. At length his friendship for those of his own nation was tested, for as he was one day passing along not far from th% palace, he saw an Hebrew and an Egyptian in deadly fight. It was but the work of a moment, though he was a prince, and they in all probability were both day laborers, the one a slave and the other an Egyptian of the laboring class. He rushed to the scene, and with his sympathies all aroused for the Hebrew, he assisted him and the Egyptian fell in death, and they two buried him in the sand. Moved by feeling for his oppressed people, he fled the court of Pharaoh and for some time was exiled in Midian, when he became a shepherd and for several years performed the work and office of a shepherd for Jethro. He often thought of the Hebrews in their oppression, and longed for a way to effect their emancipation. At length the God of his fathers appeared unto him, and commissioned him to the work. His Friend- ship was tested in that hour, under the solemn and 3 26 ODD FELLOWSHIP glorious scenes at Horeb. But when tested it was proved true, and with his rod in his hand he went towards the land of Egypt. In company with his brother he stood before the monarch; and demanded the freedom of all the Hebrews. He risked his life amongst the Egyptians from day to day, by demanding the emancipation of the nation. He stood fearlessly in the presence of the king, and declared the will of God regarding Israel. But finally he led them out from under the hand of these oppressors, when his friendship for them was put to a severer test than ever, by their murmuring against him, and declaring that he had brought them out of Egypt to die. When they engaged in idolatry, and bowed down before the golden calf at Sinai, until God was very angry at them, and threatened to remove from them the symbols of his presence. The meekness and friend- ship of Moses was put to a severe test, but he cried out, " Lord, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin : and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." Notwithstand- ing their gross sin he would not give them up, he prayed for them and prevailed. He continued to develop his self -sacrificing friendship until they neared the second time the land of Canaan, when he died. Let disinterested friendship mark us in our course and conduct in life. Let us keep our eye upon " the token," that we may be reminded of the virtues of AS AN ASSOCIATION. 27 Israel's illustrious leader. May we bless our race as Moses did, and in death gather up our feet with joy- * CHAPTEK Y. l®n m ftmgbt to the &mmfox*m. How natural it is for parents to love their children, and children to love their parents. The great Creator has fixed a principle in human nature that leads to care, regards, and true affection in this relation. Paternal love is the same everywhere : the heathen mother does not sacrifice her child amid the super- stitions of false worship to a false god, for lack of feeling for it. It is not because she does^not love it, but because in her blindness she deems it necessary to appease the wrath of a supposed angry God, by giving up her child to a horrid death. It is to atone for her 28 ODD FELLOWSHIP sins and secure salvation for her family that she does it. The hearts of parents may be trampled upon by thoughtless children, they may break over restraints that have been thrown around them ; they may violate family commands and the commands of God ; they ~ may violate the laws of the country in %hich they live ; having become vicious and law breaking they may be arraigned at the bar of justice, fairly tried and convicted, and sentenced to endure the penalty for the violation, yet the parents will love them : so children will respect and love their parents. How natural it is for an ^ honorable and faithful warrior general to love his soldiery, and they in turn to love him. Upon the soldiers the general depends for conquest of his foe, and moved by this principle he would not for his life require a faithful soldier to go into unnecessary danger or fall in death upon the battle-field. And the love of the soldiery for their general is such, that at his command they will rush into the very hottest part of a battle and freely spill their blood to meet his wishes. They will go to the enemy's cannon-mouth or to 'the enemy's bayonet- point, for victory. How natural it is for a minister of the christian religion to love those to whom he ministers. As a faithful ambassador for God, the interest of his charge press his soul, and as a Shepherd under the great Shepherd, he endeavors in love to "feed the flock of Christ, over which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer, and the membership of the church love him' AS AN ASSOCIATION. 29 in turn. They claim him as their spiritual adviser, and seek counsel when needed, at his hands. How natural it is for members of the same associ- ation to feel themselves bound strongly together. Let us take for example the Brotherhood of Odd Fellowship. You have but to be satisfied that the- stranger you meet has been in " honor's court," that the mysteries of Odd Fellowship have been made known to him, that he has knelt at our altar, received our instructions under our solemn obligations, and you feel at once that you stand in the presence of an honorable man and a fraternal friend — that he is a brother. But universal love stops not here, as we teach it. It goes behind blood-relation, the distinctions of sect, party, binding associations, or nation. It recognizes all men as brothers — members of a common family, and children of a common parent. In all the shades of color, in all the grades of intellect and of refine- ment, and in all the classifications of human society we look upon our kindred. Amongst men there are many nations, and yet but one nation — the human race. There are many families, and yet but one fam- ily — the family of the great Creator. There are many countries, and yet but one country — the earth. Human nature is human nature the world over. The beggar in his rags, the convict in his cell, and the criminal incarcerated in the prison, like the crowned monarch on his throne, or the national or State Executive in his mansion, possesses it, and they are alike immortal. 30 ODD FELLOWSHIP Universal love requires us " to do unto otters as we would they should do unto us." Oh, if this was the practice of men everywhere, it would be hut a short time until the evils that afflict mankind would be annihilated, the nerve of sympathy in the human heart would become active, and all would seek the welfare of others as well as their own. And then the jubilee of this world would be sounded, and all parts of God's universe would join in the general shout of praise, " Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Be temperate, just to yourselves and all mankind. Be temperate in eating and drinking, temperate in the exercise of the powers of the body; do not abuse them so as to bring on feebleness of age ; temperate in the exercise of the powers of mind and passions of the soul; your minds will not bear abuse, and by all means your passions should be held in check. Be not hasty in forming your opinions, especially when derogatory to the character of the subject of them : and be, when formed, not hasty in expressing them. Govern your appetites, especially form not the taste for intoxicating liquors, for they dethrone reason, and unfit man for the duties of any and all the relations of life. Cherish the sentiment of true affection for all man- kind, especially for your Brethren ; relieve the wants, so far as it is -in your power, of all the distressed ; comfort the fatherless, seek after the pure and perfect love of God, which is the greatest of all the graces. AS AN ASSOCIATION. 31 CHAPTEK VI. limit, u teugftt to tfu $mltt. Truth as taught in Odd Fellow- ship is the result of Love, the subject of the last chapter. To the existence of " Truth in the inward parts," the element of love ,is necessary. We call Truth " the imperial virtue, " because of its importance, and the many excel- lencies involved in it. It involves conformity to fact, in word, thought and deed. It involves the strictest veracity or entire purity from falsehood. It admits not a word or act intended to deceive. It involves fidelity, faithfulness and constancy, with honesty of heart. Truth sanctions good of every kind and encourages it, while it condemns and conquers wrong, and it is mighty and will prevail. The battle between right and wrong may be a long struggle, a hard fight, but the right will conquer. The colors will turn in favor of Truth, for it is omnipotent, and omnipotence will triumph at last. "Truth is a cardinal or royal virtue." It is a chief, a fundamental principle, and in Odd Fellowship it is taught through symbols, and how impressive are some of the emblems and symbols used. How strikingly f ->y illustrate the duties of man, and how impres- 32 ODD FELLOWSHIP sively they teach the lessons of morality, virtue and religion. Truth living and acting in a soul possessing love to God and man, mates him confident as to his origin his position as one partaking of, and possessing a fall-en nature. His relation to the great Creator and Supreme Ruler as a redeemed creature, purchased with the precious blood of Calvary's honored sacrifice. It makes him confident of his responsibilities, his accountability for his conduct in life to the Giver of all his mercies. It satisfies him of the immortality of the immaterial man, of the tendency of these bodies to the grave, and of the resurrection at the last day. The true votary of Truth possesses a moral excel- lence that will commend him to the regards of all and give him a commanding position in society. It will give him a moral power in influence in every circle in which he moves. CHAPTER VII. S&* mmntx sn imparting %w\twX\m. In imparting instruction in Odd Fellowship, signs and symbols are used. A sign or emblem is some- thing by which another thing is shown or represented. A picture representing one thing to the eye and another to the understanding. A symbol is the repre- sentative of anyjnoral thing by the images or proper- AS AN , ASSOCIATION. 33 ties of natural things— that which represents some- thing else. This has been an impressive mode of teaching ever since the- fatal fall, when man lost his primeval innocence, and the dark pall of sin was drawn over every power and principle of the moral nature. Then it was that the blighting, withering curse of ini- quity settled down like a mighty incubus on the noble nature, the God-like mind, and man needed an im- pressive mode of instruction. The all-wise and mer- ciful dispenser of favors deigned to give to his errino- and fallen creature lessons of instruction in this way. We go back in the history of the world, and in the Patriarchal age there were altars, bleeding sacrifices, and fires that were sacred. In the Mosaic and Prophetical ages, in addition to the above there were relics, mitres, and sacred robes. There was an ark of covenant and a mercy-seat, with arching cherubims upon it. In that ark were deposited the "budded rod," the tables of stone t ,the pot of manna and other sacred things ; and over the ark with its sacred deposits, was the holy Shekinah or visible presence of the great Jehovah. In the lessons of instruction given by the prophets what a gorgeous train of symbols are used. Those lessons are some of them wrought up to a holy energy, and possess a daring grandeur, and exhibit a decree of unmixed sublimity, almost beyond any other por- tion of the sacred word. This symbolic teaching is well calculated to make permanent impressions upon the mind, and afiect the 34 ODD FELLOWSHIP heart for good. As it regards, inspired teaching, tnere is often such an appropriateness in the figures, em- blems and symbols used, that the casual observer even, can clearly see the great truth intended to be taught. In the Christian age which followed the Prophetical we observe the same thing as to the manner of im- parting instruction. This is true of man's Great Teacher, much of his teaching was parabolic. He gave allegorical representations of great spiritual and moral truths. He used things that are seen, to repre- sent things that are not seen. He directed the eyes of those that attended him, (and were enchanted with the words that fell from his sacred lips and with the works he performed, attesting the glory of his charac- ter,) to things that were temporal ; but whilst the eye lighted upon the temporal, the understanding was directly led to view the spiritual and eternal. And so striking were the lessons thus given, that even his enemies were led to exclaim, " Never man spake like this man." Behold the glory of symbolic teaching with regard to man's relation to God ; the great truth of immor- tality, atonement for sin, the existence since his crucifixion, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the glory that encircles his brow as he wears the mediatorial crown, and is looked upon from all parts of God's universe as the coroneted King of kings, and Lord of Lords, with the great fact that he will " come again." All this is taught in the " Holy Eucharist." This sacred memento left by the great head of the church, AS AN ASSOCIATION. 35 brings all these things up before the mind of the votary of religion. Yes, the simple elements of bread and wine wax sublime before the eye of the devout worshiper, for they are symbols of the mangled body and flowing blood of Calvary's honored victim. There is another expressive sign and symbol of man's freedom from the thraldom, power, guilt and dominion of sin. I allude to the element of water as used in the administration of Baptism. It is under- stood to be an act by which the name of Christ is taken, and the obligations of his religion assumed. It is a public devotional setting apart to the important work of serving God ; and how beautifully does it emblem the important work wrought in the heart, by which the moral nature is purified and fitted for an everlasting home in the pure air of heaven. Then we have striking and abundant example of symbolic teaching in the Patriarchal, Prophetical and Christian age. 36 ODD FELLOWSHIP CHAPTER VIII. tfctan* of #M MUmUf. INITIATORY. " The all-seeing Eye." — As an emblem it tells us that the gaze of him who fills immensity is upon us. God watches us in all our actions ; we can not escape the gaze of the omnipresent. " If I ascend up into heaven thou art there, if I mak'e my bed in hell behold thou art there ; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall uphold me." The impression that was made upon the mind of Hagar at the well of Lahai-roi, which led her to say, "Thou God seest me," should be made upon the mind of the Odd Fellow by this emblem. But the idea that exists in the mind of the poet INITIATORY. 37 and painter when he represents the Savior of mankind and the angels of God, with the saved saints, with a circle of rays surrounding the head is forced upon us as we behold this very expressive emblem with its enveloping blaze of glory. " The Heart and the Hand." — This emblem teaches us the importance of sincerity and truth in all our expressed feelings. The hand is open to denote giving, and the heart in the palm denotes cheerful giving. And may it not remind us of the great scrip- ture truth, with which experience accords, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." But we may also learn from it, that when an Odd Fellow greets a bro- ther, whether it be with a peculiar grip, telling his standing or attainments in the Order, or with merely a friendly grasp, he is to let his welcome to the greeted one co'me forth from his heart. And how much true humanity can be expressed in«a, friendly greeting, — -Ah ! and how much of the true brotherly feeling can be expressed, real fellowship told in the peculiar forms of greeting that we have learned. 38 ODD FELLOWSHIP " The Ax and Theee Links." — As the ax, tie woodman's implement and working tool is used to fell the forest trees, the emblem teaches us that truth which is the foundation of our great superstructure is to destroy the trees and herbage in the soil of our nature that brings not forth good fruit; and how much there is in us that should be destroyed that we may fill our calling and perform our high and noble mis- sion among men. The three links tells us of the three grand principles of our Order, viz.: "Friendship, Love and Truth," the chain that binds us in our great Brotherhood, which principles are so beautifully exemplified in our work. They are three principal pillars of our temple. INITIATORY. 39 "The Skull and Crossed Bones." — This emblem tells us of the irreversible decree of the mighty God regarding his creature man, " dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." "We hear a voice speaking to us from that sad memorial of man's mortality, telling us to prepare for the solemnities of death and the narrow house, to be in readiness when God executes the summons and so fills the decree, " Earth to earth, ashgs to ashes, dust to dust." But it also reminds us of our obligations to bear the remains of a departed brother to the tomb and deposit it in the speechless ground. It tells us that we are to give him a burial amongst us, that when we walk among the tombs, our eyes may light upon the sod under which he sleeps the " sleep that knows no waking until the resurrection morning." But we are also taught to bury the failings and imperfections of a 40 ODD FELLOWSHIP. brother with his body, yet permit his virtues to well •up in our memories, that we may cherish them in our hearts and imitate them in our lives, between his sepulchre and our own. " By faith Joseph when dying made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave com- mandment concerning his bones." When a brother expresses a wish to be buried by his brethren, with mournful pleasure we perform the last sad office. " The Bee-Hive." — As an emblem it teaches us the importance of persevering industry in the per- formance of good works. And as the " busy bee gathers honey from every opening flower," and having prepared her cell deposits it there for use in the coming winter, so we should industriously improve life and its blessings, that when the summer and autumn are past, the winter of our age may be crowned with abundance, and we may go down to our graves like a ripe shock of corn ready for the gamer. And WHITE DEGREE. 41 I may also say, this emblem teaches us to be faithful in all our work as Odd Fellows, to have all our con- duct marked with "Trust in God," and as a reward we shall have a passport to immortality, a right to a seat in the grand temple on high. This will assuredly be the lot of all who meet their obligations to God while on earth, with a compliance,to his will. Heaven's doors are only closed to the unworthy. The Guardian will admit for " an abundant entrance shall be minis- tered through the gates into the city." WHITE DEGEEB. " The Lamb." — It talks to us of the importance of innocence and purity in heart and life. It tells us of that Lamb under the Mosaic economy, the blood of which was sprinkled upon the door-posts of Israel's dwellings on the night that the destroying angel passed over them, but slew one in every Egyptian family. In the Passover feast the Lamb that was slain pointed the devout Jews to the days of their bondage in Egypt and their deliverance from oppression, and it 4 42 ODD FELLOWSHIP. symboled the Lamb of God that came to take away the sin of the world. The Savior of mankind, who has become our Passover " slain for us." " The Shining Sun." — As an emblem it speaks to us of God's impartiality in giving general blessings to all mankind alike. " God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of all the earth.'' The same air surrounds all, and the same sun shines upon all alike, so our general benevolence should be impartial. While we contribute and distribute to a needy brother, our hands and hearts should be ready also to give to the extent of our ability to all neces- sitous cases ; while we especially remember the frater- nity, we should do good to all men. "The Globe in Clouds." — As an emblem it di- rects us to a view of the vast field open before us for good works. It tells us to look at the misfortunes of our fellow-men in every direction with a pitying eye COVENANT DEGREE. 43 and heart, and to be moved to sympathy by the sight of human woe. It bids us to reach out the helping hand whenever it is in our power, and the gratitude of the assisted will bless us. Though the dark pall of superstition and ignorance now envelops a large part of the habitable globe, that pall is to be lifted. The fires of civilization, the blessing of the arts and sciences, and the refining power of truth is to be seen and felt from pole to pole. The mists that wrap our world in shades of death shall be dispersed. COVENANT DEGREE. " The Bundle of Rods." — As an emblem teaches us that in union there is strength. There is ability when banded in true fellowship to accomplish our benevolent designs. A separate rod is easily broken, but the bundle defies the strength of him who holds it. United together in the bonds of our brotherhood, we 44 ODD FELLOWSHIP. stand, and our enemies are defied ; we accomplish our work, as singly we could not. "We bless and are blessed. " The Arrows." — They are an emblem of our Order. Not because they were used anciently as weapons of war and as instruments for hunting and killing wild animals, but because the honorable prince Jonathan, the son of Saul, the first king of Israel, used an arrow in his ardent love for David, when hid at the stone Ezel. Jonathan had said to David, I will sound my father to see whether his wrath has gone down, and at the appointed time, I will come to thee to thy hiding-place, and shoot arrows as though I shot at a mark ; and if I say to the lad are not the arrows on this side of thee, then come thou, for there is peace : COVENANT DEGREE. 45 but if I say, behold the arroios are beyond thee, go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away. Thus we are taught to make all laudable efforts to save a brother when he or his interests are periled. "Quiver and Bow." — As an emblem keep the covenanted friendship of David and Jonathan still before us, and we are taught, as the quiver contains the arrows with which to charge the bow time after time, so we are always to be ready in covenanted friendship to give a brother needed help by warning him of danger when it is at hand, as Jonathan did in shooting the arrows beyond the stone ; or of encou- raging a brother, as David's friend would have en- couraged him, had he shot the arrow so that it had fallen ere it reached his hiding-place. 46 ODD FELLOWSHIP §mil -- ' ^^■M/mB "3^ " The Eainbow." — Tells us of the covenant that God made with Noah, that the world should not again be drowned. It teaches as an emblem that when dark clouds are in a brother's sky, his covenanted friend should fly to him, and with kind words and actions smilingly bend the rainbow of pure friendship around his heart. EOYAL BLUE DEGEEE. " The Eod." — As an emblem bid us render help to a weary wayworn brother, especially an afflicted one, as we hope to receive help in time of need from the" great father above, and draw on the never failing source of comfort in the times of extremity. "While it tells us of Moses the emancipator of down-trodden Israel, and of the mighty miracles he wrought to con- found Israel's oppressor. It also reminds us of that ROTAL BLTJE DEGREE. 47 rod and staff on which we may be permitted to lean when we are called to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It tells us of that support we may hope to have when enduring the throes of dissolution. " The Are." — Is an emblem and points us to that terrible calamity that fell upon the old world in its destruction by a deluge of water. Noah and his family were saved in the Ark with the animals by 48 ODD FELLOWSHIP. which the new world was to be peopled, while all the race of men and animals beside, save those whose element was water, perished. And while the Ark points to this fearful judgment of God, it may be con- sidered as a type of the salvation provided for the family of man. " The Dove." — Reminds us of the Holy Spirit that descended in the form of a dove and sat upon the head of the Savior as he stood upon the bank of the far- famed Jordan, after his baptism by John, which spirit was promised to the disciples by their Master after he should have ascended. It tells us we, too, may receive the visits of that comforting messenger, typi- fied by Noah's dove that returned to the ark with an olive leaf plucked off, thereby telling that the waters had assuaged from off the face of the earth. Yes, we may learn in its blessed influences on our hearts, that the waters of Jehovah's wrath are assuaged, and that the offended may be reconciled to the offender. BEMEMBRANCE DEGREE. 49 " The Serpent." — Refers us to Israel's chastise- ment for the sin committed at Hormah, and it points to the " Son of man" who was raised up on the cross. The fiery serpent was sent amongst Israel and all who were bitten died. God commanded Israel to make a brazen serpent and raise it up on a pole in the midst of the camp, and all the bitten Israelites that looked were cured. " As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. " Christ was raised up on the cross that he might be seen, and that virtue might come from him to diseased man, and the poison of the bite of sin be extracted. REMEMBRANCE DEGREE. " Scales and Sword." — United they emblem just prudence, which correctly weighs every action and motive, cutting off every principle in the nature which would lead to the commission of wrongs, and it teaches 50 ODD FELLOWSHIP. us that justice and mercy are to meet together, righteousness and peace are to kiss each other. The rich and the poor, the high and the low, the learned and the unlearned, the young and the old are to meet on a common level and unite in harmony in their work. "The Horn of Plenty." — Emblems a memory well stored with the teachings of Odd Fellowship, with ■ a disposition to gather in still more useful knowledge, and retain it for practice. But it also teaehes us that if want comes upon us, the Order will lift up her gates and pour in her treasures on us to meet our necessities. It tells us that " if the fig-tree fails to "bloom, the olive yields no oil, the flocks are cut off, and there are no herd in the stall, yet may we joy in the Lord and glory in the God of our salva- tion.'' If our wives and children are in widowhood SCARLET DEGREE. 51 and orphanage and in necessity, it tells us that our fraternity will supply their wants, and in genuine kindness lieht up their dreary abode. SCAELET DEGKEE. " The Coffin." — As an emblem tells us that we shall soon go down to the grave, shall be numbered with the shrouded millions, whilst our character, in influence still left on the stage of acting man, will be telling for the good or ill of succeeding generations. 52 ODD FELLOWSHIP " The Bible." — It is an emblem because it is our text book ; here we get our doctrines and rules for life. It is our guide amid all tbe dark windings of life, and we draw comfort, as dying mortals, from its teachings of immortality beyond earth's boundary line. To us its pages shine with living lustre. "4?ri'\\ x > " The Moon and Seven Stahs."— They represent good life, the effect of the divine favor. As the moon and stars reflect the borrowed light of day, or of its PATRIARCHAL DEGREE. 53 glorious orb the sun, so we are to reflect the glory of our supremely great and glorious God. " The Budded Eod." — It points us to the settle- ment of the vexed question as to who should serve in the important office of the Priesthood ; for God made Aaron's rod deposited in the honored ark to bud and bring forth almonds in a night. It tells us that he who raised the eloquent brother of Moses to the sacred office of Priest for Israel, will support and cheer those who trust in him. The support is told in the rod, and the cheering and comfort is told in the budding of the rod. PATEIAECHAL DEGEEE. "The Three Pillars." — In this emblem there is an illusion to the following text of scripture : " Faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of 54 ODD FELLOWSHIP these is charity." And we are taught that these three important virtues are grand pillars in the temple of Odd Fellowship. " The Tents."— Tell us of the habitations of the Patriarchs. The movable dwellings of the worthy ones of early ages, and they remind us that here we have no continuing city; this is not our abiding place, we are on a pilgrimage to the grave. But it further teaches us that hospitality should mark u8 GOLDEN RULE DEGREE. 55 in our course and conduct in life towards our fellow- men. " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." X " The Crook " tells us of the occupation of the Patriarchs. They were shepherds watching and guard- ing their flocks themselves, and that the good shejsherd watches and guards the members of his flock, he leads them from pasture to pasture and feeds them beside the still waters. GOLDEN RULE DEGREE. "Tables of the Law." — As an emblem it reminds of Moses the servant of God, who spent forty days within the foldings of the cloud that capped Mount Sinai when God came down upon it. And it brings 56 ODD FELLOWSHIP. up before us the decalogue or ten commandments, that as a moral code is perfect. Even those who reject revelation, and scoff at Sinai's smoke and cloud, and pealing thunder and scathing lightning, in the midst of which was the giving of the law, own that it is the best moral code ever given to the world. While human laws, being imperfect, are altered and repealed, no virtuous man has ever desired to amend or repeal the moral law. It presents a common basis of wor- ship and morals for the millions of our world. I " The Altar of Incense " refers us to the wor- ship under the Mosaic law, and teaches us the impor- tance of sending up to God the thanksgiving and gratitude of the heart in prayer and praise. As the curling smoke ascends from the incense altar, so we should see to it that our hearts are right in the sight of God, and that our devotional feelings, mixed with "faith in God," ascend on high and centre in the Savior of sinners. EOYAL PURPLE DEGEEE. 57 KOYAL PURPLE DEGREE. " The Scythe." — Reminds us again of death. As an emblem it presents us the idea of the king of terrors — a mower. He is passing through the world and cutting down his victims as the mower cuts the swathe through the grass field. " Man is as the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven." Human life is short. " The Hot/e Glass." — It, also, speaks to us of the brevity of human life. As the sands incessantly run, so every breath we breathe shortens our life. " Every beating pulse we tell Leaves but the number less." 58 ODD FELLOWSHIP. As the sands quickly run down in the glass, so life is soon gone and we go down to the grave. And since it is true that there is " no wisdom, nor device, nor knowledge found in the grave whither we go," " what our hands find to do, we should do with our might." " The Aek op the Covenant." — Reminds us of that sacred depository of the holy things that were to be kept for future generations in the holiest apartment of the temple. In the ark was placed a copy of the Law ; a pot of manna ; Aaron's rod that budded. On the top of it was placed the mercy seat, which formed a lid or covering, at each end of which was a cherubim, and their wings met and so formed an arch ; and above, and over the ark with its deposits and mercy seat, was the Shekinah or visible presence of God. Here was a presentation to the devout Jew of moral magni- ficence and grandeur. So does the moral character of the man who obeys all the divine requisition loom up in moral grandeur. Nothing is more noble or sublime in this world than a pure and stainless charac- ter. The emblem suggests to us the glories of 'royal purple degree. 59 Leaven — the grandeur of the Eternal King as typified in the Shekinah. "The Globe in full light."' — As an emblem points us to that glorious era when " The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them ;" " then the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie together, the lion shall eat straw as the ox." " Swords shall be beat into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and the people shall learn war no more." The whole family of man shall repose happily in the shade of the same tree, and be closely united in a common Brotherhood. And as this is the last emblem in the subordinate Encampment, we learn from it that we are now in possession of the mysteries and teachings of Odd Fellowship, and the whole world is before us as a vast field for aetion. 60 ODD FELLOWSHIP CHAPTER IX. Sft* §»:,? car Snt ?£M\. The Bible is a revelation from God the supreme ruler of the universe. It is a transcript of the divine mind. To man, for whom God gave it, it is as a light in a dark place. " As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." It is a light to the feet and a lamp to the path, and its precious truths guide man safely amid the labyrinths of this mortal state. In its history as well as its prophecy and poetry and epistles it is food for the mind. The Bible should be the Odd Fellows text hook, his constant companion. Prom it the fraternity draws its doctrines and selects its emblems. According to the directions marked out in it we should travel, for it is a moral map, showing the route to happiness and heaven. And in < him who travels by it " Trust in God" its author should be, ah! and it will be in- creased i for one development after another will be given in experience, corresponding with it as a guide. The Bible is a sure and safe director to men, for its THE BIBLE OUR TEXT BOOK. 61 needle, as a God-formed compass, always points and never varies to the everlasting home of the Patriarchs. How we admire the names and characters — the vir- tues and faith — of the good men of the Patriarchal and Prophetical ages, from righteous Abel who was murdered by his wicked and unprincipled brother to the last of the inspired Prophets. What illustrious ex- amples do many of them give us of unflinching and unfailing " Trust in God." But yet there are not more striking illustrations of " Faith in God " and virtues practiced recorded in the Bible, than is recorded of woman, from Sarah, who has been styled emphatically *' chief among the mothers of the Bible," who was the ancestress of the hosts of Israel and the wife of the illustrious Abraham the father of the faithful, to Esther queen of Ahasuerus, who risked her life and station to deliver her people when in the most imminent peril, and down indeed to the latest history of virtuous woman recorded in the New Testament. There are noble specimens of humanity and true womanhood recorded in the "Book of Books" and we would refer woman of the present generation to to them as examples worthy their imitation, much rather than to those who have signalized themselves by carnage and death and despotic rule. 62 ODD FELLOWSHIP. CHAPTER X. This is the motto of the Order. To the observance and practice of these principles the membership of the fraternity are bound. The motto is recognized and the effort is made to exemplify the principles in life. "We declare this in the dressing of the Lodge room, and in the instructions given in the different parts of the mysteries of 'Odd Fellowship, as we un- fold them. But we have inscribed this motto on our banners ; seen as we unfurl them in the breezes to the gaze of the world around us. The Friendship of Odd Fellowship is friendship not only with each other but with all men. It is not that mean, sickly, coun- terfeit thing that would be called friendship, (but is not by any means entitled to the name,) so much practiced in the world, the native element of which is selfishness ; that is truly but a name. By " friendship '' in Odd Fellowship we mean that close attachment, those strong regards, and kind feel- ings, which lead to good offices— to the performance of kind actions — that which leads us to help each other and our fellow men in time of need. This principle deeply planted in the Odd Fellow's breast — well rooted in the soil of his heart — leads him to do for a brother what he would have a brother do for him in like circumstances. FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH. 63 When he hears of a case of destitution he is prompted by this principle to relieve, so far as it is in his power, the destitute one. He will " feed the hun- gry, clothe the naked." If he hears of a desperate case of sickness, a tender chord in his heart is touched which vibrates through his whole nature and he rushes to the bedside of the afflicted, and with a tender heart and soft hand he ministers. The good Odd Fellow appears in the chamber of affliction as one governed by principle such as should move in the bosom of a man ; see him — " Watching by the couch of pain, Till the light of day shall wane ; Till the evening star is high. Till the midnight shadows fly, Silent, wakeful vigils keeping, O'er the restless sufferer sleeping. 1 ' And when death has done his work and the clay cold form, motionless is before him, he recognizes in it an emblem of his own mortality. He knows full well that the tenement before him, fast growing icy, is all that is left for earth ; of one who was born as he was born ; who a little while ago lived as he now lives, but now is lost to earth. With solemn reflections he turns from the scene, and in the exercise of friendship, at- tends to the wants of the bereaved. He endeavors to impart consolation to them in this their dark hour. He mingles true tears with the weeping wife, mother, sis- ter, or daughter ; moved on by this principle he per- forms all the last sad offices which nature requires. If it be an Odd Fellow deceased, he shrouds the ab- 64 ODD FELLOWSHIP. Bent brother's form in Ms last bed, the coffin, and re- members that they will never again be associated as they have been in the interesting duties of the Lodge room, and in the performance of kind actions for one another and for their fellow men. With a sad heart in company with his brethren of the order he bears the bier to the sacred depository for human dust, the grave yard, then softly lays the brother, lost to earth, in the clay-cold, narrow house, and as he does it, he looks on those about him and sees " gloom settling on each face, and sadness marking every eye." But as the funeral services are drawing to a close, thoughts of immortality crowd into the chambers of the soul ; and the lamp of the resurrection, lighted by the Lord of life, illumines the charnel house whilst each brother present casts his sprig of evergreen into the vault. Having closed the ceremonies the Odd Fellow mounds the earth above the departed one, then leaves the sister of Rebekah to soothe the disconsolate friends as none but a sister can. . It may be that the Odd Fellow returns to that newly made grave again with a free stone or marble, monument on which ia carved the name of the deceased, and with the name some emblems or chaiacters that are used in unfold- ing the mysteries of Odd Fellowship. It may be the daughter of Rebekah will visit that grave again in company with that bereaved widow, mother, sister or daughter, and shed another tear in sympathy as she reads the inscription upon the tomb stone and remembers the virtues of the lost one. FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH. 65 Bat she asks the sorrowing one beside her to assist in giving one more testimonial of regard for the buried one. She prepares a spot upon that mound, then plants an evergreen that may sing under the passing breezes a long, long requiem. This is friendship as taught and practiced in Odd Fellowship, and the character of man thus moved "to kind acts by pure friendship, looms up in grandeur and true moral magnificence, till even the wondering world admires. Friendship as taught in Odd Fellowship gives us an exposition of the text " Be not forgetful to enter- tain strangers, for thereby some have entertained an- gels unawares." Never have your door closed against a stranger seemingly in distress, but let him enjoy your hospitality ; give him a hearty welcome and so will he feel that he occupies the tent of a friend. And his character as he develops it, may exercise a very salutary influence upon you and upon your family. And, indeed, though his character be not as you wish, send him not out into the wilderness, for if the Great Father above in mercy has borne with him, surely thou shouldst. If God has permitted him .to dwell for years under the circling curtain of the heavens, surely thou canst bear with him for a night, by enter- taining him under thy roof. Let the stranger share thy hospitality and God the Great Father of mankind will reward thee ; for he that giveth but a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple shall not lose his reward. 6 66 ODD FELLOWSHIP. "Love" is the principle of action for the good Odd Fellow. It is the element in which he moves. The grand motive power to the efforts he puts forth for the promotion of good amongst his fellow men. It moves him to noble deeds of charity, to great works of benevolence. The beauty of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows is seen in this, that it teaches and impresses upon the mind, and moves to action on it, that law of the Eternal Lawgiver that we call the law of " Uni- versal Brotherhood." It teaches man his duty and his responsibility. It brings to mind the fact that he is by nature " in darkness and in chains." Grief has seized upon him as its victim, and passion has made him a slave. The links of the chain of sin have been entwined about him. He is led to look upon the de- veloped goodness of him whose eye is all-seeing in man's deliverance from sin's effects, and'as he looks, grateful thoughts crowd the mind, and grateful emo- tions swell in the soul. He is thus led to see the ground-work for love, to be practiced by him toward his benefactor. But the order of Odd Fellowship impressively teaches our obligation to " love one another." An Odd Fellow never said in his heart, as the murderous brother of Adam's much loved Abel said, "Am I my brother's keeper?" He could not say it and retain his character, for the very moment he said it he would cease to be an Odd Fellow. Then we are sure that Cain was not one either in principle or in practice. FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH. 67 If it be true, as the German translator of the " death of Abel " says, that Abel had a wife and children, the former upon his cruel murder was left a widow, and the latter, orphans. How did the members of that forsaken band need the principles of our order prac- ticed toward them. How did that woman need kind words and actions to comfort her in her loneliness. How did she need some one to bind up the wounds that had been made in her spirit, and pour oil upon the troubled sea of her soul. How did those little ones need an open hand and a heart in it to supply their wants, and some one to guide and protect them in early life ; shield them from harm amid its dark windings. There have been many Cains in our world since the first one. And much, very much, innocent blood has flowed since Abel's blood stained the hillside in the pasturage near Eden. Many a good father has fallen by the hand of the assassin. Many a good hus- band has thus been suddenly snatched from the em- brace of her whom he fondly loved and was proud to claim as his first earthly friend. And she has been left in their humble cottage to weep alone, while her little children unable to realize their loss, or under- stand the cause of their mother's sorrow have played in her presence with some sacred memento of their murdered father. The principles of Odd Fellowship carry help to the needy and distressed of every clime and circumstance. Love to man as inculcated, teaches us to look upon 68 ODD FELLOWSHIP. every man as a brother. It ranges before us the European with all his refinement and the sable son of Africa with all his superstition and degradation. The Asiatic and the wild roamer of the forests, the Indian. The Mohammedan and the venerable representative of Abraham. It tells us in all our actions toward them to keep in view the " Golden Kule ; " " Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do you even so to them." Truth is also a cardinal virtue, a standing, impor- tant principle with us. The good Odd Fellow pos- sesses truth in the " inward parts," and his aim is con- tinually to possess and practice it. He wants it graven upon the tablets of his heart as " with an iron pen," made permanent as the heavy impression stamped in the everlasting rock. For if the foundation is pure he knows that the waters issuing therefrom will be pure. "With a right heart, he will be able in his con- stant conduct to exhibit " truth." Like the never varying needle under the influence of the loadstone he will be always pointing in the light direction, which will be to the encampment above, and he will be wending his way to a position there. The Odd Fellow remembers well when the world was shut out from him for the first time in the Odd Fellow's Hall. The impressive ceremonies of initia- tion are fresh in his mind and he feels glad that the obligations of the order are on him. There is satis- faction to him in the thought that with many thous- ands he stands pledged to the practice of " Friend- FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH. 69 ship, Love and Truth." The promises he has made he will hold sacred ; no consideration that could be offered would induce him to prove recreant to hia trust. But the good Odd Fellow is faithful in helping a brother to stand the storms of life. If he sees dan- ger before him to whom he is fraternally bound like the virtuous and manly Jonathan when with his lad he went within an arrow's shot of the stone Ezel to inform his covenanted friend of his imminent peril ; he will inform his brother of the danger and so help, and that help will be given as none but a brother can give it. Ah ! and if some dark providence overtakes him by a casualty such as frequently happens, on the waves of old ocean, or on the waters of our navigable streams, in the burning or in some other way destruc- tion, of the vessel, he is ready if possible to help. Let him but see the evidence a brother can give in distress and he will raise both hands aloft and fly to the rescue. Odd Fellowship teaches us to imitate the conduct of those ancient worthies who had " faith in God," from righteous Abel, the record of whose death is the first line carved on the gravestone of the world, to the latest prophets, who sealed the truth of their teach- ings with their blood. But it tells us why we are to have " faith in God ; " viz. that we may find repose for the soul beyond the boundary line of time. For there is no real rest on earth. From the period when Time's lap receives us 70 ODD FELLOWSHIP. until the earth in a grave gives the body a resting place, teil and trouble and sorrow is the lot. The path of life is a narrow path and dangers are all around, obstacles continually crowd our way. We pass through dense forests at times when storms are raging, thick darkness presses about us relieved only by rapid lightning gleam for a moment, which leads us more sensibly to realize the absence of light. And to this is added the threading voice of a seeming angry God in the rolling thunder. The principles of Odd Fellowship lead us — To Bee in the author of the storm An everlasting friend, Benignly looking at our faith. Sometimes the sun will light our path, shedding down his mellow beams, will infuse a vigor not known in time of trial. The grass is green and flowers are opening their lovely petals to the eyes, and sending out their pleasant fragrance on the air. Earth unrolls her canvas and spreads out before the eye her untold beauties. Then her voice comes on the passing breeze to our ears and hearts "come, enjoy me." Odd Fellowship says, be careful, for in the green grass and amongst those highly colored flower planta at your feet and along your pathway, poisonous ser- pents may be coiled in ambush. Be not carried away by the "voice of the charmer though he charm never so wisely." Look out for dangers till thy journey ends. Shun the snare of the fowler until his hunting day is' past. FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH. 71 " Trust in God " and thou shall come unto Mt. Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- salem, and to an innumerable company of angels ; to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of "just men made perfect." At the banquet of Heaven the faithful shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, clothed with the pure robe, they shall recline at the board with other honor- ed guests afthe great supper of the Lamb and shall tune their harps in harmony with the melting melo- dy of Heaven. How much better the world would be than it is, if the banner of Odd Fellowship was unfurled to every breeze. If Friendship, Love and Truth was practised everywhere, and all mankind were reposing under the wide-spread branches of our tree. If all were united in one glorious principle, one law would bind all na- tions, kindreds and tongues of the earth. Then would wretchedness and disgrace soon lose its subjects. 72 ODD FELLOWSHIP CHAPTER XI. " In God we Tkust," is a motto in Odd Fellowship, and one of the first recognized in the Order. It ap- pears in plain characters over the chair of one of our principal officers in the lodge room, and under the first striking emblem of the Order, " The all-seeing eye." Every initiate into the mysteries of Odd Fellowship adopts it as his own motto ; ranging himself with the brotherhood, he becomes for his brethren what the il- lustrious Aaron became for his brother, viz : a spokes- man. He speaks for himself and the whole Fraternity, " In God we trust." It teaches us that God is the Supreme Buler of the Universe — the upholder and sustainer of all things, and that by him all things consist. " He holdeth the wa- ters, in the hollow of his hand, and meteth out heaven IN GOD WE TRUST. 73 with a span, and aomprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure, weigheth the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance — he ta'keth up the isles as a very little thing." It teaches that God is the Great Disposer of human events. " That he pulleth down one and setteth up another," and that upon him all are alike dependent. Our existence has been derived from him, and our life continued amid the dangers of this probationary state by his almighty power. But the motto teaches God's providential care for all his creatures, and his love and mercy in the supply of all our wants. It reminds us of the fact that " the very hairs of our head are all numbered," and that God cares far more for us than for the sparrow, that falls not to the ground without his notice. His eye is ever upon us and his watch- care over us. But it tells us that all our blessings come from God. Whilst in him we " live and move and have our being," the food that we eat, and the raiment that we wear, with all the endearing ties of earth, are blessings from his hand, and for them, gratitude should fill our hearts to him. It also reminds us of the fact that we are ac- countable, as rational and intelligent beings, to him, from whom we have received so much. His eye is ever upon us, and in his infinite and eternal mind, a per- fect knowledge of our character is had, a faithful record of our proceedings in life is made, and as our Judge, he will bring us into strict account at the last day. 7 74 ODD FELLOWSHIP. The motto reminds us of the promise's of God's word to us of good — temporal, for he alone can supply our wants ; spiritual, for he is the Author of grace that saves in time and in eternity. It inculcates as a motto, the importance of the exer- cise of " Faith in God " — developed by good works, as it appears in the ancient worthies of the Patriarchal and Prophetical ages, from righteous Abel, who offered an acceptable sacrifice, to the last of the Prophets. May we " trust in God " indeed. CHAPTER XII. fgtnfttal §rfM. Odd Fellowship is an association for mutual relief. And in a world like ours, where the effects of sin are scattered broadcast and abundant, and amongst a race dependent as ours is, and so easily injured, it is fortunate that associations have been formed to render help when help is needed. The members of this great fraternity, seeing the appropriateness of the adage, " love demands love,'' are banded together for mutual relief, in the various ways in which it can be given amid the casualties of life. It offers relief in case of sickness. No one is so healthy that he can surely say he will never be sick — he will never be so completely prostrated by disease MUTUAL BELIEF. 75 as to be unable to meet his own wants ; hence, depen- dent in the fullest sense upon others. Indeed, there are none but expect disease and utter prostration under it and dissolution in the end — if not cut off from life by a sudden death. Odd Fellowship furnishes a min- ister in the person of one of its votaries, in the time of sickness, whose station and work is at the bedside of the afflicted. And where does man appear so noble as at the bedside of the afflicted, bending over the couch of the suffering with true brotherly feelings, and watching with anxiety the failing form of the helpless ? Oh, where does he appear more worthy of the help- meet with which the great Creator has furnished him — woman ? If sickness is protracted day after day and night after night, the work of watching and ministering is con- tinued, for the true fraternal heart knows no weariness. Odd Fellowship offers relief in case of bereavement. When a friend has died whose loss we deeply deplore, the wounds inflicted on our spirits are quickly recog- nized, and the healing balm of friendship in unmixed sympathy is poured upon the wound. If a brother has died who has left behind him a widow and orphan children, the widow is cared for, and if needy, sup- plied, while her children in orphanage are clothed and educated. But if the bereavement is that of health, one after another of the Fraternity make anxious in- quiries, if indeed they do not regularly visit the inva- lid, and there in his presence, give unmistakable evi- dences of deep interest in his case. If the bereavement 76 ODD FELLOWSHIP. is that of property, by a casualty that often destroys in a very short time, such as fire^ flood, tornado ; or if it is by the inhumanity or dishonesty of some speci- men of our kind, the Fraternity looks at the bereave- ment, and if possible, lends a helping hand and relieves the wants of the injured. Odd Fellowship offers mutual relief under imposi- tion. If an article that I am about to purchase has been extravagantly extolled and its real qualities hid- den from my view, so that I am about to be imposed upon, it is possible for relief to be given me, and the intended injustice to fail. It is not only possible, but it is actually probable. I may say more. It is cer- tain, if a brother Odd Fellow's heart and hand is near me. But it offers relief in its benefits to all alike, in case of inability to labor or earn a living, so that the time in sickness is not entirely lost as to providing sustenance for himself and for those who are depend- ent upon him. CHAPTER XIII. Pitta! to&lUcatlott, Odd Fellowship is a society for mutual edification and improvement. It seeks to make all its votaries better by improving tbeir moral tone,, and hence in- creasing their moral power, watching vigilantly over the conduct of all alike. Whatever differences exist MUTUAL EDIFICATION. 77 among members outside their retreat, Odd Fellowship requires them to leave them in the world, and come" together around the altar of the Fraternity once a week, untrammeled by party feeling or anything that would mar the harmony of the brotherhood. Everything connected with our ceremonies, from the first sound of the gavel calling to the duties of the evening, to the last sound releasing us from the inner lodge duties, tend to elevate, ennoble and improve. The opening ode and the lodge prayer array before us the principles of our Order, the object of our meeting together, the goodness and mercy of God, manifested to us in continued life and its blessings. They bring before us also the subject of our feelings and care as Odd Fellows, viz: The brethren of the Fraternity everywhere, with the widow and orphan and the dis- tressed and suffering of earth. The propositions as they come before us, in the regular business of the lodge, from the first to the last, tend to remind us of the duties we owe to God, of the duties we owe to our- selves and to our fellow-men ; and the part we are called upon to act in the great drama of mortal human- ity now passing on the stage of life. The same is true of the initiatory ceremonies, from the time the world is shut out, until the instructions are completed, and the newly made Odd Fellow is pre- pared to make himself known as an Odd Fellow, and move in the ranks of the Fraternity, in the enjoyment of the privileges to which members are entitled. The lessons are all wholesome, and tend to elevate the 78 ODD FELLOWSHIP. learner — to improve his moral tone, and so increase his moral power. The lessons are of such a character and given in such a way, that they can not fail to make a deep and lasting impression upon the mind. They improve the mind and affect the heart for good in life. This is true of the work throughout, as every advanced member of the Fraternity knows full well. The lesson on Charity, in the first step, is one that is so impressively taught, that it can not easily be for- gotten ; and if there is a tendency to dissipation amid the intoxicating pleasures of the world, the lesson wells up in the memory. The impressions that were made by it freshen, and the wanderer is checked and brought back ere many steps are taken, and the soul not spell- bound by the music of the syren song. The lesson given on mutual relief is a very striking one, and the symbols and emblems are so presented and explained, that the mind grasps and the heart receives and retains for practice towards covenanted brothers the beautiful lesson. It is edifying to digest the Scripture example that is given, and then to bring into real life the knowledge acquired, by giving help to, or receiving help from a brother, when the neces- sity exists. And how often may the warning be given to profit, or the encouragement, by imparting light when we are in darkness ! Friendship is taught, and impressed upon the mind so beautifully in the history of the great leader of Is- rael, the emancipator of God's down-trodden people, that it can not easily be forgotten. The impression is MUTUAL EDIFICATION. 79 made upon the mind in such a way that it is not easily effaced. His love for his countrymen led him to give up his home in the palace, with all the pleasures of royalty, and his heirship to the crown. " He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the-pleasures of sin for a season." Love to God and man, as taught in the Book of Books, is impressively urged, and manifestations of that love demanded, in action that will be in unison with the profession of love. It is insisted upon that human brotherhood be recognized and love be practiced toward all men of every clime, and kindred and nation. The human heart should possess love for all the human family without an exception, for they are all our breth- ren, and " he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ?" It is equivalent to he can not love God whom he hath not seen. The divine command is, " Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." Truth is impressed tipon the mind so fully with symbols and emblems, as well as in the clear language of inspiration, that an indellible impression is made, and the heart affected for good almost invariably for all coming time. Friendship is taught again in another way, viz : by hospitality to a stranger. Beautiful illustrations are given in the Bible, in the entertainment given by the 80 ODD FELLOWSHIP Patriarchs. Abraham was thus hospitable. He re- ceived strangers, provided water to wash -their feet, prepared repast, and waited upon them himself. At one time, when three angels visited him, he killed and dressed and cooked a calf and three measures of meal, Sarah his wife assisting him. Love is taught again, and impressed and exemplified in religious toleration ; but the grand Gospel maxim, or Golden Rule, is presented, " Whatsoever -ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them." Truth is exemplified again, in rendering assistance as a guide to one who is in need, surrounded by dangers and in the midst of severe trials. And its importance is impressed, as it involves faith in God, as exempli- fied in the case and experience of the righteous, from Abel on down to those of the New Testament age — all these lessons tend to elevate and improve, and hence edify all alike. CHAPTER XIV. % glex xptet mv tfstmfcf*. In almost every community where there is a work- ing lodge of Odd Fellows, there are enemies to the Fraternity. Many are anxious to know .what is done in the lodge room and how it is done. This, however, can not be known, save by those who have come into the retrext by the door. But if we may judge of the A PLEA AGAINST OUR ENEMIES. 81 expressions given in many communities, there are a few persons whose strong convictions are that the ob- jects of the association are superlatively selfish — hence its character is bad. But there are those who boldly declare we are en- gaged in that which is dishonorable. Our Order is "Nazareth, and no good thing can come out of it;" but does not our work as certainly show that they are mistaken, as the astonished Jew was mistaken, who, half convinced that the Son of Mary was the Messiah, yet when he learned that Nazareth was his town, said, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" The despised Nazarene exhibited the finer feelings of hu- manity by administering to the suffering of all. His pure spirit was always moved under a sight of human woe. How deeply did he sympathize with the widow of Nain, as in sadness she was heavily treading the road to the burying-ground ! How did he feel with the sisters of Lazarus, bereft of their brother ! I fancy I see him, as he is approached by Martha in the out- skirts of Bethany. He knew full well the feelings of her stricken heart, as weeping, she said, " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." He felt for her, and sympathized with her, and in his first expressions declared the fact that her brother should come back. " Thy brother shall rise again." And see him again, when an anxious father ap- proaches him. He had watched day after day .with fond feeling at the couch of a lovely daughter. He had cooled her fevered brow and softened her parched 80 ODD FELLOWSHIP Patriarchs. Abraham was thus hospitable. He re- ceived strangers, provided water to wash their feet, prepared repast, and waited upon them himself. At one time, when three angels visited him, he killed and dressed and cooked a calf and three measures of meal, Sarah his wife assisting him. Love is taught again, and impressed and exemplified in religious toleration ; but the grand Gospel maxim, or Golden Kule, is presented, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.'' Truth is exemplified again, in rendering assistance as a guide to one who is in need, surrounded by dangers and in the midst of severe trials. And its importance is impressed, as it involves faith in God, as exempli- fied in the case and experience of the righteous, from Abel on down to those of the New Testament age — all these lessons tend to elevate and improve, and hence edify all alike. CHAPTEK XIV. In almost every community where there is a work- ing lodge of Odd Fellows, there are enemies to the Fraternity. Many are anxious to know .what is done in the lodge room and how it is done. This, however, can not be known, save by those who have come into the retreit by the door. But if we may judge of the A PLEA AGAINST OUR ENEMIES. 81 expressions given in many communities, there are a few persons whose strong convictions are that the ob- jects of the association are superlatively selfish — hence its character is bad. But there are those who boldly declare we are en- gaged in that which is dishonorable. Our Order is " Nazareth, and no good thing can come out of it ;" but does not our work as certainly show that they are mistaken, as the astonished Jew was mistaken, who, half convinced that the Son of Mary was the Messiah, yet when he learned that Nazareth was his town, said, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" The despised Nazarene exhibited the finer feelings of hu- manity by administering to the suffering of all. His pure spirit was always moved under a sight of human woe. How deeply did he sympathize with the widow of Nain, as in sadness she was heavily treading the road to the burying-ground ! How did he feel with the sisters of Lazarus, bereft of their brother ! I fancy I see him, as he is approached by Martha in the out- skirts of Bethany. He knew full well the feelings of her stricken heart, as weeping, she said, " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." He felt for her, and sympathized with her, and in his first expressions declared the fact that her brother should come back. " Thy brother shall rise again." And see him again, when an. anxious father ap- proaches him. He had watched day after day with fond feeling at the couch of a lovely daughter. He had cooled her fevered brow and softened her parched 84 ODD FELLOWSHIP. or recreant to his trust. I repeat it : If the Fraternity had no unworthy members in it, numbering as she does, she would be an anomaly indeed in the family of organizations. * CHAPTER XV. '®ft* « of mm. "And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people ; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and the people shall learn war no more." Who can glance cursorily even over the blood-stain- ed pages of history, and not feel an involuntary shud- der at "'man's inhumanity to man," as it has been practiced in all ages ? That bloody deed of Cain in the pasturage near Eden, is but one of an innumerable number that have been faithfully recorded by Heaven's scribe in the book of God's remembrance. The sheep that owned the righteous Abel as their shephefd, may have fled in terror from the spot where Cain lifted his arm, nerved with murderous purpose, to commit the dark deed ; but quite as dark deeds of blood as that first have often been committed in this disordered world. Nation has been arrayed against nation, tribe against tribe, family against family, and man against man. Extensive wars have been carried on in different THE END OF WAR. 85 ages of the world, which hare resulted in strewing the earth with slain, and thus national existence has been sapped, as the life-blood of a nation's warriors has crimsoned the beautiful carpet. Yes, in war the armies of earth in their desolating march have destroyed every thing beautiful before them — their battering rams have played upon the walls of their enemies' cities, and the dark pall of desolation and death has been spread over the thousands of inhabitants. Look at the history of our world for a moment. Through the dynasties of the ancient Egyptian Empire, from the first Pharaoh to the infamous Cleopatra, it is one continued scene almost of blood. Of the Babylo- nian Empire it is also true throughout its whole his- tory, from the time it was founded as a government and the first monarch reigned, until the Persian con- queror executed the decree of Heaven by entering her capital, putting her king to death, and proclaiming the empire conquered, and her captives free, and at liberty to return to their own land. The same is true of the Medo-Persian, Macedonian, and Eoman Empires, — > their rise, progress and fall was in blood. And is it not also true of modern nations ? It was said of the great Napoleon Bonaparte, " He clothed the earth with the terror of his name, and drenched all Europe in blood and tears." This world of ours has been a •war-world ever since the great Napoleon closed his eyes in death on the barren St. Helena, and two of the bloodiest pages in the book of the history of our race are those on which is recorded the war of the Crimea 86 ODD FELLOWSHIP. and the almost unheard-of cruelties practiced in the wars in India. But wars and rumors of wars sliall cease, and Odd Fellowship as an association is looking forward with pleasing hopes and ardent longings to the time when "the people shall learn war no more." PART SECOND. %wb nf fmiiunt 33'ible Mm CHAPTER I IfeteM of ; Abraham was distinguished for his "trust in God," and has been properly styled the " Father of the faith- ful." In Odd Fellowship we are referred to his expe- rience of " trust," and are called upon to imitate him. When aged, the promise of God was verified to him — of Sarah, his beloved wife, Isaac was horn. And when God would try the quality of his faith, he bade him go up to Mt. Moriah and offer that son as a sacrifice. This .command of the Divine Being must have fallen upon the ear and heart of Abraham with ponderous weight, but " staggering not at the promises of God," he made ready for the offering. 88 ODD FELLOWSHIP. The morning arrived when he should leave his tent and go to the designated place for sacrifice. His ser- vants that were to attend him had all things in readi- ness, and Isaac took an affectionate leave of his aged mother. Behold the three, as they stand within the tent, just before the journey is commenced. Abraham of the three alone knew the purpose of God regarding Isaac ; and how must it have affected him as he looked upon Sarah, knowing that she was looking upon her Isaac for the last time, the purpose of God being car- ried out I Surely paternal love swelled in his great heart, till he could hardly refrain from whispering in the ear of the mother, " Isaac may never return." But he did refrain, and with a heavy heart left Sarah in the tent. Abraham listened to the innocent, boyish talk of his son as they rode along, and every sentence of Isaac was like a dagger piercing his heart — yet with solemn looks and melancholy feelings he journeyed on, Isaac all the while wondering at the seeming sadness of his father. But he had been with his father in worship ; had stood beside him when offering sacrifices, and had witnessed his devotion, though he had never before attended him to Mt. Moriah. |f At length they arrive at the mountain, and Abraham bids his attending servants halt, and tarry whilst he and the lad go up and worship. In company with Isaac, he wends his way up the mountain side. The sacrifice he is about to make is pressing him more and more. H^agffection for his child is increasing. The HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 89 son of promise, as lie walks by his side, receives a glance from the father that seems to say, Can I give him up f Isaac my son is approaching manhood. I have looked upon him with fond feelings from his earliest infancy. He is the son of my old age, and the promised seed, in " whom all the nations of earth shall be blessed," but he adds in his soliloquy, He who gave me this son of promise has commanded me to make the sacrifice, and I must obey. His tempest- tossed soul is stilled, his relaxed muscles are strung, and his arm nerved to make preparation for the sacri- fice. Soon a rude altar appears upon the mountain, and the fuel is gathered for the fire, when all at once Isaac turns to his father, and says, " Father, here is the altar, and here is the wood, but where is the sacri- fice?" " My son," said Abraham, " God will provide himself a sacrifice." Abraham then made known to Isaac the command of God. He at once gave himself up, and submitted to be bound and laid upon the altar. Heaven permitted the fond father, when he had pro- ceeded thus far, to give his son what he supposed was a last fond embrace ; then nerving himself for the work, he drew back the knife to plunge it into the bosom of Isaac. Behold the scene ! The angels of God in heaven were looking down upon it with intense anxiety. They were bending over the walls or poising themselves upon their pinions, and fixing their eyes on Mt. Moriah, the altar, the sacrifice and the officiating priest, when the solemn silence was broken by the voice of the Almighty, saying, It is enough. Jehovah turning to a swift-wing- 8 90 ODD FELLOWSHIP. ed angel, said, Fly to that spot and stay the hand of my servant Abraham, that he slay not Isaac. The angel rushed to the spot and arrested the attention of the faithful servant of God. " Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not with- held thy son, thine only son, from me." A short time afterward the two with joyful hearts came down from the mountain, and with the waiting servants returned home, when we may suppose Sarah was made acquainted with the trial of her husband's faith. "Whenever I sec, what is sometimes to be seen in the best arranged and furnished lodge rooms, among the emblems used to unfold the mysteries of Odd Fel- lowship, the "Ram's Horn," I am reminded of this trial of Abraham's faith, and in imagination I see Isaac as he stands beside his father, near the fire and wood, tenderly and innocently asking him what must have been to him a very affecting question, " Where is the lamb for tlie burnt offering f" Just before the glisten- ing blade was struck and Isaac's life taken, the Patri- arch was stopped, and as he looked up, he saw on the mountain, a short distance from him, a fulfillment of the declaration he had made to Isaac, " My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." There in the thicket near, was a ram caught by the horns. Abraham has been styled, because of his " trust in God " and his many virtues, with his devoted life, the " Friend of God." When he left the land of Egypt HISTORY OF ABRAHAM. 91 and went to Canaan to dwell, he pitched his tent near Bethel, where rears before he had lived, and where yet was the altar on which he had often sacrificed to God. His nephew Lot was Jiving near him when he lived in Canaan before, and when he went down into Egypt, went with him, and this time also Lot attends him. The two went to Canaan to dwell. This gives us to understand that the mutual attachment of these two great men was strong. But as evidence that Abraham possessed toward Lot, and practiced it, " Friendship," and 1 may add, " Love and Truth," I need but to refer to h ; ~ oonduct toward Lot there. Their flocks had been multiplied exceedingly, and their substance was great — the land did not give suffi- cient pasturage for the flocks of each, and moreover, the men that had the charge of the flocks of each were quarreling. These things required a separation. Abra- ham was determined to separate friendly, and address- ing himself to Lot, he said, ' : Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herd- men and thy herdmen, for we be brethren." He then directed Lot's attention to the fact that the " whole land was before them " — the whole country could be overspread by them — he then waived his right of choosing a portion of the country first, and leaving the second choice to Lot. Intent upon peace and friendly feelings between them in the future, he bade Lot make the selection first. " If thou will go to the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." 92 ODD FELLOWSHIP. But we behold these principles carried out by Abra- ham still further toward Lot his nephew. When Chedorlaomer and the kings associated with him con- quered the armies of Sodom and Gomorrah, they pil- laged the cities and took the goods of Lot, who dwelt in Sodom, and he and his family were taken prisoners. One of the family, or servants of Lot, escaped, and went and told Abraham. He at once called together the servants born in his own house, numbering three hundred and eighteen — made known to them the cap- tivity and peril of his kinsman, and his determination to pursue the conquerors, then on the way to their own land with the prisoners and spoils. Abraham must have possessed indomitable courage to have meditated an attack upon these four victorious kings and their armies. His true affection for his nephew led him to risk his life and the lives of his servants. The motive actuating was a pure one. It had its birth in a pure heart, and was fostered by the generous feelings of a noble soul. True to his purpose, he followed the army that was elated with victory, and overtook them and smote them with a great slaughter. These power- ful kings fell before him, and their army was cut down by his trained servants as the grass is cut by the dex- terously swung scythe of the mower. Lot and his family and servants are re -captured — the goods retaken, and all brought back again to the country of Sodom. If Lot was lacking to any extent in good feeling for Abraham before, he surely was not after this bold and daring, effectual adventure to re- HISTORY OF ABRAHAJI. 93 lease him and his family from the hands and power of his merciless captors. A beautiful scene afterwards presents itself to us in the history of this distinguished Patriarch, in connec- tion with the further judgments of God, as they fell upon the cities of the plain. On account of their wickedness, they had been conquered, and their coun- try laid waste by the four confederate kings. Lot, living amongst them, though a righteous man, we have seen taken. But now the Divine Being is about to destroy them with fire from heaven. Abraham is made acquainted with the doom of the cities by one of the three angels in human form, who made him a visit and enjoyed his hospitality in an abundant and healthy repast, prepared by himself and his amiable wife. He had conducted the men on their way from his tent, when two of them went towards Sodom, while the other tarried in his presence, and made him fully acquainted with the divine purpose to destroy the cities. Abraham became deeply concerned for the inhabitants, and his feelings were not confined to those of his own relationship — the arms of his heart embraced them all — and he prayed earnestly for their delive- rance from the coming destruction. So earnest was his prayer and so strong his " trust " in God, that he was assured if there were fifty righteous persons in the city, the whole city should be saved. For fear there were not fifty, he asked if forty-five should save it — then forty — afterwards thirty — then twenty, and finally ten. God assured him that if there were but ten, for 94 ODD FELLOWSHIP. the sake of the ten he would save them all. He sup- posed that in the family of his nephew Lot there were at least ten persons, but in this he was mistaken ; yet God saved Lot and his daughters,. while fire consumed the cities and their inhabitants. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, died at the advanced age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, and with a sorrowing heart he sought of strangers a burying- place. He made the purchase of the cave of Mach- pelah, with the field in which it was situated, and there he buried her. After Sarah's death, Keturah became Abraham's wife, and she cherished him in his old age. Thirty- five years after Sarah died, he was brought down to death. Isaac and Ishmael together stood beside him, and closed his eyes and listened with interest to his dying words. Though Ishmael and his mother had beeh expelled from Abraham's family many years before -on account of Isaac, yet Ishmael cherished fond affection for his father ; and if there had been any hard feelings existing between the two brothers before, they mutually agreed to give them up, under the solemn circumstance of a father's dying, and they united, as dutiful sons, in the last sad office to their honored parent, who was an honor to human nature. They bare his cold remains to his family vault, and lay it to sleep the "long sleep " beside the mouldered remains of Sarah. Abraham was surely an extraordinary man, possess- ing virtues and excellences beyond any other person HISTORY OF ISAAC. 95 whose history the Bible records. He attained a state of moral excellence that but few, if any, have attained unto. He presents the portrait of a, perfect man. He walked before God and was perfect. Whilst we admire the almost stainless character, through a long life, of this Patriarch of Patriarchs, let us remember that God whom he served, who made him so great and so good, can and will, if we submit to him — loving virtue and following in its paths — make us holy, happy and use- ful, and when we die, " we shall sit down with Abra- ham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of our Father." CHAPTER II. Isaac was the child of promise — the son of Abra- ham's old age — and became an illustrious Patriarch. He was educated in the religion of his father — his training was of the purest kind. God said of his father,- " I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him." Sarah, the wife of the Patriarch, and the mother of Isaac, was strongly bound to him — she loved him with true maternal affection — for he was her only son, and given 96 ODD FELLOWSHIP. to'her when far advanced in life. And when she saw Ishmael mocking or making himself merry by ridicu- ling Isaac, she said to her husband, " Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bond- woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." Sarah desired that Hagar might be divorced — that some legal act might be performed, by which Ishmael might be excluded from all claim on the inheritance. This was painful to Abraham, for the bondwoman's son was his son, and for seventeen years paternal love for him had swelled in his heart, and he had been training him up to the service of that God who had promised that Ishmael's seed should be innumerable. G-od saw that the expression of Sarah was grievous to Abraham, and allayed his fears and stilled his troubled heart, by requiring him to do as Sarah had said; "for in Isaac shall thy seed be called" — "but of the bondwoman's son I will make a great nation, because he is thy seed." Isaac grew up, and when God would try the quality of his father's faith, he bade him go up to Mt. Moriah and ofi'er him as a burnt sacrifice. Abraham knew that God was able to make good his promise regarding his seed — and concealing the divine purpose that had been made known to him even from Sarah his wife — early the next morning he started with Isaac and the servants that were selected to accompany him. They traveled two days, and on the third Mt. Moriah appears in view. It may be that the same cloud of glory that afterwards went with the children of Israel from EgyDt HISTORY OF ISAAC. 97 to Canaan was settled upon that mountain and over the spot where the altar was to be erected on which Isaac was to be offered — thus marking it as the men- tioned mount and the place where remarkable types of the Lord and Savior of mankind were to be given ; for from Isaac, the promised seed, He was to descend. Abraham having arrived at the mountain, bade his servant tarry there, while he and the lad went up to perform acts of worship. Isaac, with the wood upon his shoulder, attends his father, who is bearing in one hand the fire-brand with which to kindle the wood of the burnt offering, and in the other hand, the knife with which he was to slay the sacrifice. As they neared the spot, rendered memorable by the transaction that followed — inimitable (save by the scene and circum- stance that it types), Isaac asked for the attention of his father — "My father." Abraham, for a moment aroused from his intense and painful reverie and deep devotion, said, " Here am I, my son." And Isaac said, " Behold the fire and the wood ; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Nothing can excel in tender affection and innocence this touching conversa- tion — and Abraham could not but have felt deeply affected — -and no wonder if, before answering the ques- tion, he embraced his son — laid down the fire-brand and tJie knife, and placed himself in an attitude to ac- company his answer with appropriate signs — as 7m eyes and hand were lifted with his heart to God, in prayer for sustaining grace and an unflinching faith, he answers 1 Isaac, " My son, God will provide himself a lamb for 9 98 ODD FELLOWSHIP. a Iwrnt offering." When they reached the spot where the devotions were to be performed and the sacrifice to he made, they erected an altar, and Isaac submitted to be bound and laid upon the altar— but just as the father's arm was nerved to plunge the instrument of death into the bosom of Isaac, the voice of the Cove- nant Angel fell upon the ear of the Patriarch — and scarcely was his attention arrested by that voice, until the glorious sentence, framed in heaven, was fixed in his heart, " Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anj thing unto him ; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." The uplifted arm of Abraham fell by his side, and gratitude fills his heart to God for his compassion to him in thus sparing Isaac. A ram caught by the horns in the thiclcet near by was observed, and Abraham slew the animal, and offered it as a burnt offering to God. And when Isaac was about forty years of age, Eliezer was sent to Mesopotamia, Abraham's " own country," to procure from amongst his kindred a wife for him. Eliezer, guided by the hand and providence of the Great Father, went to Nahor, and from the family of Bethuel, who was Abraham's nephew, procured in the person of the beautiful Kebekah, a " fitting wife for Isaac." The evening that the servant.on his return, having in charge the maiden of Nahor, was approach- ing the tents, Isaac was walking in the fields, as it may be he was accustomed to, and engaged in meditation — and as" he looked in the direction of the country to HISTORY OF ISAAC. 99 which they had gone to procure him a wife, his eye lighted upon the camels, and probably upon Kebekah with her maidens. About this time she saw Isaac, and asked who he was. On being informed that it was Isaac, her future husband, she lighted off the camel on which she rode, and quickly veiled herself, as a sign of " chastity, modesty and subjection." Isaac at once relieved the servant by taking her under his charge, and he brought her into the tent that had formerly been occupied by Sarah, his mother, in her lifetime — and he took her to be his wife, and loved her — »ind as the sequel proves, he realized in her a true helpmeet. Not long after this, we see Isaac performing the last tribute of respect due the dead from the living, in company with Ishmael. Abraham had died, and " was gathered to his people." They bear his mortal remains to the cave of Macpelah, and bury it from their sight with sorrowing hearts, as Abraham, many years before, had buried Sarah. Unto Isaac afterward were born two sons, Jacob and Esau, who each became the head of a mighty nation, the Israelites and the Edomites. When the second famine that visited the land of Canaan came, Isaac with his family went and dwelt in Gerar ; and while there, as his father had done before him, he denied his wife, saying, " she is my sister." In the case of Abraham, it was literally true — but it was not true in this case ; for the relation that Kebekah sustained to him previous to their marriage, was that 100 ODD FELLOWSHIP. of cousin. But possibly Isaac considered himself in some sort justifiable for these words, spoken with an intention to deceive, 'since he supposed his life would be periled by his claiming th^ relation he really sus- tained. We can but consider this, though a stain in the character of this great and good man. When Isaac became old, and " those that look out at the windows are darkened," his eyes became so dim that he could not distinguish Esau from Jacob. He received at the hands of his sons " savory meat," and pronounced upon them each a father's prophetic bless- ing. And although these proved the occasion of a breach between the brothers, in the blessings pro- nounced by Isaac, and Jacob was separated for many years from his father and his brother, yet he returned from the family of Laban, with his wives and herds, in time to see Isaac again before he died — and a recon- ciliation having been effected between Jacob and Esau, in union they comforted their father till he died, then they join in fraternal and filial affection, to do the last sad office for this amiable, accomplished and truly pious Patriarch. CHAPTER III. HfetoffM ot f to*. The Patriarch Jacob, as the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham, was a truly remarkable person- age,— whose fortunes were varied, but he proved him. HISTORY OF JACOB. 101 self, in his "trust in God," equal to every emergency; and though dark, portentous clouds at times hung over him, so as to make his life shady, through the mercy of the God of his fathers, he passed through all the storms and trials of his eventful life, and his last days may be said to have been his " brightest and best." He was possessed of a strong mind and a good heart. The former is marked in his whole life, and the latter is especially marked in all his pilgrimage, after the vronderful manifestation of divine grace to him at Peniel. And the strength of his mind continued until his work was all done. His intellect failed not until "the last sentence of instruction had died upon his lips, and his weeping children beheld him "gathering up his feet," and saw him breathe his last. And as he was " gathered to his people," i. e., entered at once upon a conscious state of happiness with them in the spirit land, we may suppose that mighty mind entered upon the enjoyment of a capacity and a growth far exceed- ing the capacity and growth with which it was favored at any time during its one hundred an ; Aaron, the brother of Moses and Miriam, was as- sociated with them in leading Israel out of Egypt, and from Egypt to Canaan. He was with Israel in their bondage, and suffered with them, while Moses, as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, was enjoying the pleasures of a palace and the honors of royalty. When Moses fled to the land of Midian, and became a shepherd for Jethro, the Priest, Aaron was still with his enslaved people, suffering from oppression. But when Moses, after his call to emancipate his people, left the land of Midian and journeyed toward the capital of Egypt, he met Aaron his brother, who was coming to meet him, under the direction of G-od, who had spoken to him in Egypt, saying, " Go into the wilderness to meet Moses ;" and so precise was he in following the instructions given him that he arrived 12 138 ODD FELLOWSHIP. at the sacred mountain just at the time his brother ar- rived there. They were glad again to look upon each other, and affectionately embraced. Moses then gave Aaron the words, signs, explanations and instructions that God had given him. Aaron having learned that G-od had selected him to be spokesman for his brother, entered immediately upon his work. Probably he spake better Hebrew than Moses, as Moses had been associating with the Egyptians until forty years of age, and after that with the Midianites, until his call to this work ; but possibly he had an impediment in his speech, though St. Stephen says he " was mighty in words, as well as deeds." Aaron called together the Elders of Israel, and spake unto them the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses. They desired evidence of the truth of what Aaron spake, and of the mission with which he and his brother had been charged. To satisfy them, Aaron cast the rod of Moses upon the ground, and it became a serpent — then he put forth his hand and took it up, and it became a rod again in his hand. He then put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, it was leprous as snow ; he put his hand again into his bosom, and when he plucked it out, it was turned again as his other flesh. He then took of the water of the Nile, and poured it out upon the dry land, and it became blood as it was poured out. While the Elders and people beheld these signs and heard the word of Aaron, they believed, and rejoiced in the prospect of deliverance from their oppression. Moses HISTOKT OF AAEON. 139 and Aaron then went in unto Pharaoh, and demanded the freedom of their people. Aaron spake boldly for them both, and wrought signs and wonders, but yet Pharaoh would not acknowledge their right to make the demand they made. One plague after another was brought upon Egypt, by the Divine Ruler, using these brothers as instruments in his hands, until finally Egypt permitted Israel to go out. Moses and Aaron, helped by their sister, then conducted them to the Red Sea, and through it (in a road cut by the Almighty hand) until they reached the other side, when they saw the hosts of their enemies closed in on by the returning waters, and they were destroyed. When Israel came to Mt. Sinai and camped, Aaron was with Moses on the mountain side, to hear the first audible words that were spoken, and to listen to the words of the law. In company with his sons and the seventy Elders, he tarried on the slope, while Moses went up to the summit of the mountain. Aaron, in company with Hur, was placed by Moses in charge of the children of Israel during his absence, and to them doubtful matters were to be referred, and by them difficult questions settled ; and it was because of the position of Aaron among them, that they came to him, and in a tumultuous manner, said, " Make us gods to go before us." Moses had been absent longer than they expected he would be, and probably much longer than he supposed he would be, when he bade the Elders to tarry at their station until he and Joshua returned. 140 ODD FELLOWSHIP. Aaron yielded to their importunities, and bade them bring their wives' and children's ear-rings. Having hrought them to him, he melted the gold, and then made a calf, and dedicated it as an image to the wor- ship of Israel's G-od — and they engaged in- gross idol- atry before it, insomuch that the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and to Moses he threatened to remove from the people the symbols of his presence and destroy them. Aaron himself in this matter was not without sin, and he would have been punished had not Moses interceded in his behalf. After the tabernacle was erected, according to the pattern showed Moses in the Mount, Aaron and his sons were set apart to the work and office of the Priesthood. ^ Previous to this, public worship was not confined to one place, and the eldest in every family officiated as Priest for the family. Now, there was a stated place of worship, viz : the tabernacle, and God had com- manded that the Priesthood be retained in the family of Aaron. Accordingly, Moses consecrated Aaron to the High Priesthood— anointed him with the holy oil, and invested him with his priestly robes and fix- tures—his garments " of glory and beauty." While the ordinary priest had on a garment closely fitting the body, a coat, a girdle, and a covering for the head, the High Priest had in addition, a robe, de- noting his superiority as the High Priest— an ephod, a breastplate, and a plate of gold on his forehead. The robe was of blue, woven from the top to the bot- HISTORY OP AAEON. 141 torn without seam, being fastened with a girdle, and variously ornamented. The sacred ephod, or ephod of the High Priest, was variously colored and orna- mented with gold, and had upon each of the shoulders a large button, in which was set a precious stone, and in the stones was engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was composed as a garment of "gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work." The breastplate was four square — " a span shall be the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof/' — and fastened by rings to the sacred ephod. There were twelve precious stones set in the plate, three in a row, and on each stone was engraved the name of a son of Jacob, as the head of a tribe of Israel — so that Aaron bare upon his breast, as well as upon his shoulders, the names of the various tribes. Upon the forehead was placed the figured golden plate, on which was engraved the motto, " Holiness to the Lord." This has been called the grand badge of the sacred office, and the motto was certainly appropriate for one engaged, as Aaron, in a holy calling. He served a holy God by ministering for the people in holy things. It is true that Aaron, after he had been thus conse- crated to the office of the high priesthood, and had served faithfully and_ efficiently for awhile, sinned against God by indulging in envy, which envy led him, with Miriam, his sister, to oppose Moses. But when God led him into the tabernacle, and opened his eyes to see his sin, he acknowledged with a penitent 142 ODD FELLOWSHIP. heart his fault, and asked forgiveness of Moses and of God for himself and for his sister, and their sin was forgiven. . But Aaron himself, as a priest and as the head of the priesthood, became the object of envy and bitter jealousies. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with two hundred and fifty Levites — men of influence, "famous in the congregation, and men of renown," turned against Aaron and his brother, and spake against them, because that the priesthood was confined. They were not satisfied with the spiritual work they were performing, but desired to set up a priesthood and a system of sacrifice of their own, of which system they themselves were to be the ministers. Moses, under the direction of God, required them, with Aaron, to appear before the Lord the next day, and they did, with all the opposition they had been manifesting to the priesthood and its operations. God condemned them in the sight and hearing of the people, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up these guilty leaders, with their families. " And after this, the question that had been Vexing Israel was settled. The murmuring against Aaron was stopped, by a clear proof that he was the chosen of God. Moses took twelve rods from the princes of the twelve tribes, and wrote upon each rod the name of the tribe to which it belonged, and upon the rod of the tribe of Levi he wrote the name of Aaron. Having o prepared the rods, he placed them in the tabernacle, and near the sacred sanctuary. The next day he en- HISTORY OF AARON. 143 tered tie tabernacle, and took out the rods and showed them to the whole congregation, and it was discovered that though nothing peculiar marked the eleven rods, yet Aaron's rod " was budded and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." This budded rod was laid up in the ark to perpetuate the memory of the miracle, and continues a standing evi- dence of Aaron's right to his office. This fact was so unquestionably miraculous, that we suppose no doubt could possibly remain in the minds of the people, or even of those that were not destroyed, that had been envious of the divine appointment of Aaron. Surely their doubts were all silenced and their scruples satis- fied ; for we hear of no further complaints. Aaron continues to perform the duties of his office with honor to himself, glory to God, and acceptability to the peo- ple, until his mission ended, and he was called from the priesthood here to the everlasting priesthood on high. ' The account given us of Aaron's death is peculiarly affecting. Because of the murmurings of the children of Israel at Meribah, for want of water, Moses and Aaron were perplexed. They inquired of the Lord, as they had been accustomed to in time of trial, and they were bidden to gather the children of Israel to- gether, and with the rod to «mite the rock before their eyes, and water should come forth, sufficient to meet their wants. They did so, and water came forth in quantities. But there was something connected with their conduct here, with which God was displeased. 144 ODD FELLOWSHIP. He complained that they haS not sanctified him in the sight of the people, and because of it, neither of them should enter the land of Canaan. Soon afterward, they journeyed from Kadesh to Mt. Hor, and there the Lord commanded Moses to make ready for parting with Aaron. " Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto Mt. Hor ; and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer, his son, and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there." How solemn the command! He who had been burdened, with Moses, for nearly forty years with the interests of a rebellious people — who had served for many years in the High Priest's office, and who alone had entered the most holy place — who had stood at the door of the tabernacle, time after time, and saw the glory of the Lord, was now about to die. The summons had come, and he himself was made acquaint- ed with it. After giving the Elders and congregation of Israel an affectionate farewell, in company with Moses and Eleazer, his successor, he ascended Mt. Hor — all the people gazing in sorrow at the trio r as they slowly made their way up the mountain side. At length they reached the spot upon the mountain surn^ mit where Aaron was to die. Moses, who had poured the' anointing oil upon his head, and so consecrated him to the work of the priesthood, years before — who had clothed him with the secerdotal robes, and designated him High Priest, now divested him of his vestments, and placed them, before his eyes, upon Eleazer, his son. Aaron witnessed the ceremony, and it may be, HISTORY OF AAEON. 145 assisted in it until it was closed. He looked a moment upon his successor^ and rejoiced, then laid him down and died, in the presence of God, his brother and his son. Thus the spirit of the faithful servant of God, like a bird uncaged, leaving that which has been its prison, left its clayey tabernacle upon the top of Mt. Hor, and hied away to the " Mountain of God." Whether the form of Aaron was coffined and sepul- chered by the brother and son, we know not ; but the sad intelligence to Israel of his departure was taken down by Moses and the newly consecrated High Priest, and given to the people. " And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for him thirty days, even all the houses of Israel." The grave of Aaron, like that of Moses afterward, was left unmarked, lest Israel, in the remembrance of him — his many virtues and abundant labors, should pay him divine honors. 13 146 ODD FELLOWSHIP. CHAPTER VII. Ilfeiwtj of |«te. Joshua was probably one of. the elders called to- gether by Moses and Aaron when they came into tha land of Egypt to demand of Pharaoh the freedom of their people. He heard the words of Aaron declaring the divine determination that their bondage should end. He beheld the miracles wrought attesting the truth of their mission, and. was satisfied that they were appointed of God. After the visitation of God's wrath upon Egypt in the plagues, and their prepara- tion for their exodus, Joshua was appointed as the captain-general of Israel's armies — which was a high and important position amongst them, and tells us plainly that he was a favorite with God and esteemed highly by Moses and Aaron. The first time his name is mentioned, however is after the Eed Sea had been crossed, and some travel had been performed in the desert. They had come to Bephidim, and after being encamped there awhile, the Amalekites made war upon them. The manner in which they made their attack was mean, and das- tardly. They came in unawares upon the rear of Israel, did not invite them to a battle or challenge to a contest ; but treacherously sneaked in on them when faint and weary with the fatigues of travel, and cut HISTORY OF JOSHUA. 147 off the feeble ones — that they might procure the bag- gage under their charge as spoils. Moses then* commanded Joshua to choose him out men, and lead them out to fight with Amalek, while he himself would go up to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. Here Joshua signalized his valor, by defeating and routing the whole army of their enemies. While Moses, and Aaron, and Hur were upon the mountain slope, watching the contend- ing armies, the former engaged in prayer for victory, and the two latter holding up his hands, one on either side of him. Joshua led his men steadily on in their victory, until Amalek was quite discomfitted with the edge of the sword. After the victory, God directed that a record should be made of it, and that in the ears of Joshua who had'gained this victory it should be rehearsed, that the very remembrance of Amalek should be utterly put out from under heaven. Proba- bly the reason why this rehearsal was to be made to Joshua was, God had determined that he should be the successor of Moses. Joshua had close acquaint- ance and very near intimacy with the leader of Israel. When Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the revelations that were then made, Joshua ascended with him, and though he did not go up into the midst of the cloud that capped the mountain, when God talked with Moses as a man talks to his friend " face to face. " Yet he went up to the highest station under the cloud, and just below its foldings, amid the majestic thunder and the terrifio lightning, he waited 148 ODD FELLOWSHIP. for forty days for the return of the honored servant of God. He appears in the manifestations ma,de of the Divine power and glory at Sinai, to rank nest to Moses himself; for the seventy elders, with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihuj tarried at a station on the moun- tain lower down than Joshua. He was filled with the spirit of wisdom, and so qualified for the arduous and responsible station of governor for Israel after Moses died. He was divinely appointed to this important work, and exhibited a piety, courage and integrity throughout his whole life truly commendable. Having received the divine com- mand to pass over Jordan and lead Israel to the conquest of Canaan, he led the hosts of Israel to the bank of the river, then bade the priests bearing the ark to go before — and as they entered the river the waters ceased to flow, the current stopped, and the whole multitude passed over. As a commander he led the fighting men of Israel, first against Jericho. God interposed and gave the city into his hands ; its inhabitants were all slaughtered, save Rahab the har- lot and her kindred, and she was saved because of the kindness she had showed to the spies which were sent out by Moses to look at the land, and the promise that those spies made her that she should be saved. Joshua himself was one of the spies, and, save Caleb, the only one yet alive. The others had brought back an unfavorable report and as a punishment were not permitted to go over, but died in the wilderness. He was satisfied, as the commander, that Rahab had HISTORY OF JOSHUA. 149 kept the vow she had made him years before, viz., to keep the approach of Israel secret from her people — and now it remained for him to fulfill his part of the engagement, and he did it faithfully. He acknowl- edged the obligations the Israelites were under to her, and on behalf of them tendered to her sincere thanks, and moreover, he rewarded her by giving her and her kindred, citizenship and a part among them. He continued to lead Israel against the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan until they were all con- quered, and the land was divided amongst them " as the lot of their inheritance." He retired not from active labor and peril, until the work was all done and the dangers all passed. He resigned not his office until the last battle for the conquest of the country was fought, and then he retired ladened with well earned laurels. He was their general when they fought their first battle with Amalek, and was the first on the battle-field. He continued in command until the last battle was over in the Canaan campaign, and he was the last to leave the field. He was then a patriot. His services were as near disinterested services to his country as any patriot's have ever been. When did a successful general ever retire from service with as little earthly reward — with as small emoluments as did Joshua. His work being done he delivered his valedictory in which he refers them to the gracious dealings of God with them from the days of Abraham's father. He exhorts them to abolish idolatry in all its forms ; and 150 ODD FELLOWSHIP. tells them of his own and his family's resolution, viz., to serve the Lord. They all solemnly promise to do the same. He then warns them against apostaey, they again solemnly promise obedience. He then brings the people into a solemn covenant — and his work is done. Soon afterward he died in a good old age, and his body was buried in his own inheritance — whilst the immortal man ascended to company again with the illustrious Moses. CHAPTER VIII. David was the son of Jesse a Bethlehemite, a descendant of Boaz. He was selected while a shep- herd boy to be the successor of Saul the first king of Israel, while Jonathan was the son of that king, and DAVID AND JONATHAN. 151 a prince in Israel. After David had been introduced to Saul, and had served him as a musician — had slain Goliah of Gath, the Philistine giant, there commenced a lasting friendship between David and Jonathan. The souls of the two men became joined: "Jona- than in soul was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." By this we understand that the most intimate friendship was cul- tivated and subsisted between them ; the friendship was reciprocal. No love was lost, and each was worthy of the strong feelings of the other. It has been said friendship produces an entire sameness ; it is one soul in two bodies — it is another self in a friend, and hence can not be destroyed by changes or chances. This is certainly true as it respects these two, when thrown together as they were in the palace of king Saul, their mutual love increased, and they entered into a cove- nant. Jonathan declared to David his sincerity by presenting him with his robe, his sword, bow and girdle. David conducted himself properly and gained upon the feeling of Saul even, so that he promoted him by making him the Generalissimo of Israel's army, or Field Marshal. But as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, the women of Israel came out to meet king Saul with joyful music ; but in the midst of joy and music they were heard by the king, saying to one another, " Saul hath slain his thousands and David his tens of thousand,'' i. e., Saul has been opposed by thousands in his wars and has conquered, but David has been opposed by a more 152 ODD FELLOWSHIP. fearful odds, 7ws tens of thousands and has conquered. The king was wroth, and brooding over it the next day, he determined to kill David. And while he was playing upon a harp for him he cast a javelin at him, but David avoided it — twice did Saul aim at him, but as often missed. The king then removed him from his presence in his envy and bitterness of feeling, and changed his position in the army ; his object being to rid himself of David, of whom he was afraid. Saul then proposed to make David his son-in-law, by giving him his daughter to wife. When Michal, SauPs daughter loved David, Saul said, " I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him." The con- dition of the marriage was stated by Saul to him, viz., That he should slay one hundred Philistines and produce proof that he had done it. He thought that David would surely fall before the Philistines ere he had accomplished this. But in this he was mistaken, the work was performed and the proof submitted, and Michal the king's daughter was given David to wife. Saul then addressed all his servants, and spake to them that they should kill David. And on this wise he spake to Jonathan also, his son, — Ah ! he knew nothing of the very intimate friendship,- and of the solemn covenant existing between Jonathan and Da- vid. Immediately after the delivery of this charge, Jonathan sought David, and finding him told him that his father had given his officers and soldiers a charge to kill him. And now said he to David, " take heed DAVID AND JONATHAN. 153 to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place and hide thyself." I will commune with my father and give thee the result, " What I see that I will tell thee." Here, in the interesting narrative, we begin to see the pure friendship of the one and the confidence of the other. David began to feel that his interests were as safe in the hands of Jonathan as they could be in the hand of an earthly friend. Jonathan presented the cause of David before his father, and soon had the pleasure to see that Saul's wrath was pacified, for he heard him say, " As the Lord liveth, David shall not be slain " — and he hastened to communicate the intel- ligence. Soon David was again in the presence of the king, serving him as a musician, and the princely Jonathan sitting near, listening to the mellowing and enrapturing strains. Again there was war with the Philistines, and David won for himself laurels by a great slaughter of the enemy. Then the envy and jealousy of Saul returned, and while David was making music for him, he cast a javelin at him, intending surely to kill him. David was watching, for he had learned that Saul could not be trusted, and " slipped away out of his presence." Tet the king sought his life by sending messengers to his house, before the light of the next day, to take him for death ; but by the influence of his wife, he was induced to save his life by flight, and Michal detained pursuit after him, by deceiving the messengers and her father. She well knew that David was innocent, and plotted his escape, 154 ODD FELLOWSHIP. and well did she effect her end. After David's escapo thus from Saul, he had an interview with the Prophet Samuel at Ramah. Soon it was noised abroad that he was there, and Saul sent messengers to take him ; they not succeeding, but being thwarted in their purposes, Saul went himself, and the same spirit that fell upon and confounded them, stopped him, and so he was pre- vented from'injuring the person of David. David seeing that the king had come thither, and that he was no longer in safety, fled from Ramah, and sought and obtained an interview with Ms covenanted friend, Jonathan. Jonathan was not apprised fully of his father's anger, and thought surely that Saul meant no harm to David ; for he had solemnly sworn to him that David should not die. And since his father was accustomed to show him all that he did, great or small, and had not shown him this, or made this thing known unto him, he said to David emphati- cally, " It is not so " — you are mistaken, David — he- surely would not do aught against thee without inform- ing me. David then apprised Jonathan of the, fact that his father knew of the inttmaie friendship existing between they two, and that he reasons thus : " Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved." " But truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death." David by this gave Jonathan to understand that the king had assuredly determined to destroy him, and that his life was in the most imminent peril. At this earnest address of David, the friendly feel- DAVID AND JONATHAN. 155 ings of Jonathan were roused afresh — he felt the strong cords that bound them tightening, and in the fullness of his manly soul, he said, " Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee." Then said David, " Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat, hut let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the third day at even. Jf thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem, his city ; for there is a yearly sacri- fice for all the family. If he say thus, It is well, thy servant shall have peace ; hut if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him." And Jonathan calling to mind their mutual covenant, agreed thus to excuse the absence of David, if his father in- quired after him. But, said David, " who shall tell me, or what if thy father answer thee roughly ?" We have seen the in- genuity and confidence of David in Jonathan, now wo are to see the ingenuity and good sense of Jonathan. " Come, (said he) and let us go out into the field " — and while there, Jonathan called on God to witness his sincerity, as he covenanted afresh with David, and acknowledged his convictions that the Lord had ap- pointed him to the kingdom of Israel, as the successor of Saul his father. The pledge he exacted of David was, that when he came to the kingdom, he would show kindness to him, if he was yet alive, and moreover, should continue that kindness to his family after him. David heartily entered into the covenant, and never 156 ODD FELLOWSHIP. afterward forgot it. It would have been passing strange if he had. After this full and fair under- standing between the devoted covenanted brothers, Jonathan said to David, " To-morrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast staid three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to [the place where thou didst hide thyself" — probably the same place where he hid himself ,when the officers and sol- diers of Saul, with Jonathan, were charged to kill him, and when Jonathan plead effectually for him, and had him restored at once to his place in the presence of Saul, and his service of musician for the diseased king. Thou " shalt remain by the stone Ezel. And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark, and behold, I will send a lad, say- ing, G-o, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee take them, then come thou; for there is peace to thee and no hurt. But if I say thus unto the young man Behold, the arrows are beyond thee, go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away." Having thus settled the plan, David and Jonathan parted — the one to hide himself for three days, during which time he must be in suspense, and the other to return home and ascer- tain what were the feelings of the kino- toward his fellow. The next day Saul sat in his seat at the table, sup- plied with the royal repast; and by his side were Jona- than and Abner, but there was one seat vacant— David DAVID AND JONATHAN. 157 was not in his place, and Saul wondered why it was so ; but as the missing one was a faithful servant, his con- yictions were that something had befallen bim — " he is not clean ; surely he is not clean." It may be Saul intended to kill him «that day — but God was taking care of him — and the friendship of Jonathan was a covering for the cave where David was hid. The day passed away, and no inquiry was made after him ; Saul in his disappointment, was mute — he " spake not any thing that day," and Jonathan wondered at his silence. The next day also David's place was empty. Saul could be silent no longer, and addressing himself to Jonathan, he said, "Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?" Now comes the tug of war — for Jonathan bad suspected, from the singular conduct of his father the day before, that all was not right — that David's- fears were well grounded. But in answer to the inquiry made, he said, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, let me go, I pray thee ; for our family bath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother he hath commanded me to be there ; and now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me go, I pray thee, and see my brethren." I granted him the privilege, and that is the reason why his seat is vacant. At this recital, Saul became exceedingly angry at Jonathan, and he broke out in the most bitter and hateful sar- casm. But he stood in the presence of the king, un- daunted by the reproach thus thrown upon him ; his heart warmed by unfailing love for him whose life was 158 ODD FELLOWSHIP. sought after, and his soul was strengthened by the renewed covenant they had made the day before. He heard the charge of his father to him, " "Where- fore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die." What ! thought Jonathan, David die — what has he done ? And looking up at his angered father, he said, "Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done ?" These questions enraged Saul still more, and in the fit of passion upon him, he threw a javelin at him to kill him. Now Jonathan fully un- derstood that Saul intended to kill David, and he left the presence of his father, deeply grieved that he was so malevolent, and that his friend David was in such imminent peril. The next morning Jonathan went out at the appoint- ed time into the field where David was, and a lad was with him, and taking a position not far from the stone Ezel, he shot an arrow. David, it may be, knew of his coming, and saw the arrow as it cut its way through air, and behold, it went from the shooter on the other side the stone — for he saw it circling for a fall beyond him — and yet it may be he thought, my friend may have shot further than he intended. It may be Saul is not angry, though this shot indicates it. But soon the matter was settled — for the well known voice of Jonathan fell upon his ear, as he spake to the lad, " Is not the arrow beyond thee?" Though these words appear to be spoken to the lad, who was near the arrow and about to take it up, yet they were addressed to David, and indicated that his life was at stake, and DAVID AND JONATHAN. 159 that a quick flight only would save him. Its import was, " Go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away." As soon as Jonathan had dispatched his lad with the bow and arrows, he approached the place where David had been hid. And David came out and again looked upon the form of his noble friend — his feelings overcame him as Jonathan met him and embraced him, and wept that they must now be separated. No wonder as David listened to the hurried recital of the scenes of the last three days, and saw how Jonathan's friendship foT him had been tried and proved ; that he had even endangered his own life to save his, that he exceeded in tears. His distress exceeded Jonathan's, for he was not only to be cut off from the society of his covenanted friend, to see him and enjoy his company no more on earth ; but he was to lose his wife, be cut off from his relatives and country, and be no longer permitted to enjoy the privileges of the church, and mingle with his people in the services of religion. And Jonathan blessed David, and putting him in mind of his covenant, again bade him farewell, and returned to the city — while David with a heavy heart arose and fled for his life. He procured bread from the house of the Lord, of Ahirnelech the priest ; and though it was the shew-bread which it was not lawful for any to eat, save the priests. Yet David was starving and no other bread could be procured at that time — therefore he eat of it without sin. And pro- curing the sword of Goliath the Philistine giant, that had been laid up here under the charge of Ahirnelech, 160 ODD FELLOWSHIP. he fled into the country of the enemy of Israel ; soon he found that he was not safe, and he made his escape and took up his abode in a cave. It was not long until his father and his brethren heard of him, and went to see him ; they threw themselves under him, as did many others. No sooner had his father's family thus come over to him, than as an affectionate son, he visited the king of Moab and procured a home and defense for his aged parents, until he should " know what God would do for him." Having thus arranged for his parents, he determined to defend himself from the attacks of Saul, which he did. When he came with his men into the -wilderness of Ziph, he was favored with an interview with his covenanted friend Jonathan, again. Jonathan having heard that he was there, arose and went into the wood to see him — we may reasonably suppose that this, like their former meeting, was an affectionate one. Jonathan well knew that his father had slain eighty-five priests, because of the bread and sword that had been furnished David from the house of the Lord. He knew that he was then hunting David to kill him, and yet he dared to come out to see him, and " strengthened his hands in God." In this interview he gave David to understand that he was more than ever convinced that God had appointed him to the kingdom, and that Saul his father should not find him, at least, to destroy him. Again these friends renewed their covenant, and took an affectionate leave of each other. ffwice, while Saul pursued David, it was in David's DAVID AND JONATHAN. 161 power to destroy him, but he would not. At En-gedi he out off the skirt of Saul's robe, and afterward showed it to the king, as evidence that he was not seeking his hurt ; and at another time, in company with Abishai, he entered the camp of Saul by night, and took away his spear and the cruse of water from near him, while he and his company slept, and yet did not harm him. Soon afterward the Philistines gather themselves together to make war with Israel, and a hard battle was fought between them, and Israel fled from before the enemy, and were slaughtered. Saul and his sons fled, and they were pursued, and overtaken and slain, and he was mortally wounded ; failing to procure the services of his armor-bearer to end his sufferings, "he took a sword and fell upon it.'' We can not but regret that Jonathan is dead, for he was worthy to have sat beside David on the throne of Israel, or at least, to have been his first aid in the affairs of the new government. Shortly after this slaughter of Israel at Mount Gil- boa, and the death of the king and his sons, intelli- gence reached David of it. And being satisfied that Saul and Jonathan were dead, he mourned their de- parture and made a great lamentation for them. From the language of the lamenting we gather that David called vividly to mind his friendship with Jonathan. Of Jonathan he said, " bis bow turned not back from the blood of the slain." He remembered the bow out of which the arrow was shot beyond the stone and the 14 162 ODD FELLOWSHIP. lad. Then it was that their covenant was made and confirmed, and the strongest expressions of true affec- tion were given him. As he looked hack upon it, and called to mind his feelings when Jonathan met him, after the lad had returned to the 'city — recited the trying scenes through which he had passed, and then bade him farewell. David in thought passed through the ordeal again, and exclaimed with a full heart, " I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me : thy love to me was wonderful, passing. the love of woman." And it came to pass in process of time, that David was afforded with an opportunity of showing kindness to the family of Jonathan his deceased covenanted friend. Jonathan left a son who was at his death five' years old ; when the tidings reached the palace that Saul and Jonathan were slain in battle, the nurse that had the child Mephibosheth in her care, took him up and fled, and in the flight he fell and became lame, probably dislocated a joint, which was never reduced, and the child became a 'cripple for life. Of all the family of Saul this one alone was left. Since there was but one, ITancy David was glad that, that one was a son of him to whom he had been so strongly attached. On learning where he was he sent for him. Mephibosheth entered the presence of the king, fear- ing and trembling, lest some evil was about to befall him. But his fears were soon allayed, as David an- swered his compliments by saying, " Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 163 father's sake;" I will restore thee the family estate of Saul's father, and thou shalt be its owner — and not only so, but thou Shalt " eat bread at my table." This was true kindness indeed ; the giving up the estate was but justice, according to the Israelitish law regard- ing descendents ; but here was an honor proffered of the highest kind, preferment the highest that a subject could enjoy. If he had not been lame, and so unfit for public employment, David in all probability would have made him, as Jonathan was proposed to be made, next to him in the kingdom. Thus this son of Jona- than was cared and provided for, he was treated by the king with the utmost respect and affection. CHAPTEK IX. "When a certain lawyer asked the Sa- vior of mankind the significant question, who is my neighbor ? he expected the Savior would answer, Every Jew, and the Jews only ; for that was the sense in which the selfish and jealous Jews understood the term; and this prominent trait in the Jewish religion was what the Savior condemned in his answer. His answer was given in an inimitable illustration, usually styled the parable of the good Samaritan. This man had performed acts of kindness to necessitous cases 164 ODD FELLOWSHIP. that came under his observation, of his own nation ; but he had confined his charitable acts to the Jews. The Savior, in this illustration, shows him that these acts of kindness should be performed to any person in distress, of whatever nation, kindred or religion. And how true it is that man ' is a dependent crea- ture ! Not only is there a necessary dependence in all alike, in every clime, on God ; but according to a wise and gracious appointment of the great Creator and Supreme Ruler, there is a dependence of the creature upon his fellow. This is seen in the various relations and conditions of life. What a dependence is seen in the innocent child, as it rests in its mother's lap, or nestles in her bosom ! And again, when the child grows up to strength and maturity, and the parent becomes aged, feeble and infirm — " the strong man bows, the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out at the windows be darkened — the grasshopper becomes a burden, and desire fails," be- cause the fire of life has gone down, and the winter of mortality approaches. Then there is a dependence of the parent upon the child. But in the various circumstances and conditions of life there is a mutual dependence. "We are looking to and depending upon each other, in our occupations. By the patronage we receive, the one from the other, we are enabled to carry on our avocations in life, and so secure for ourselves a maintenance and means for the accomplishment of good amongst our fellow-men. But amid the afflicting casualties of life, and in sick- THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 165 ness and want, we especially need each others' help. None are so healthy that they can certainly say they will never be sick, and in their sickness, helpless. None are so wealthy that they can certainly say they will never be poor and penniless. How many in the strength of life are suddenly prostrated by sickness or a severe providence ! How many have been stripped of abundance of wealth in the passing minutes of one brief hour ! We are taught that the principle of benevolence should be practiced by man in all necessitous cases, without reference to nation, kindred or religion. And the definition of true benevolence is, " Love thy neigh- bor as thyself," as the Savior himself gives it. And we are not to consider the object of our love in that harrow, contracted sense that the Jews did, and in the sense in which many down to the present clay consider it. My neighbor is a fellow-being — especially a fel- low-being in distress. In the parable of the good Samaritan, we have an account of the manner in which a Priest and Levite treated a poor suffering case of humanity. The prin- ciples practiced by them should be abhorred, for they manifest a shocking indifference — a cold, unfeeling, heartless spirit. Their conduct is enough to chill the coursing blood in the veins of any man possessing one fine feeling of humanity. I can not conceive that there is a meaner act on record in all the history of man — more shocking and heartless conduct, unless it be the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, and his 166 ODD FELLOWSHIP. indifference, when asked the question, " Cain, where is now thy brother Abel?" he answered, " I know not —am I my brother's keeper?" He had left Abel weltering in his blood on the hillside in the pasturage but a little while -before — and yet he answered, "I know not." No wonder that God set a mark upon the villain and murderer. And yet what will we say of these functionaries of the Jewish Church, who saw a wounded sufferer by the roadside, and were not even moved to sympathy ? The same principle that actu- ated Cain to answer as he did the question proposed, led these officers of the Jewish church to pass this wounded man and sufferer unmoved. The sufferer was a Jew, who was traveling from Je- rusalem to Jericho, a distance of about sixteen miles, who was met by robbers, who had taken his property and clothes, and as they supposed, had mortally wounded him — so that the tale of his wrongs would never be told. The blood was flowing from his wounds and he was groaning under the pains he endured, when he heard a foot-fall in the direction of Jericho. Hope quickly springs up in the breast of the dying man. He thought, surely help is coming — but how was he mistaken ! for as he raised his languid eyes, he saw a Priest passing along, and looking upon him without compassion. He groaned, and invited implo- ringly the attention of the traveler, but no sympathy was awakened — he went on his journey. I fancy that dying man complained that the Pri»t did not carry out the principles of religion, and meet in his case his THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 167 obligations to perform works of mercy — for surely lie tad reason to complain. But shortly afterward his attention was attracted by another traveler, and he thought within himself, surely here" comes help. The traveler proved to be a Levite — one who also assisted in the services of relig- ion. Like the Priest, he looked upon the dying man, and it may be, wondered the occasion of his suffering condition ; but his feelings were not aroused — for he asked no questions of the sufferer. He showed him- self to be in possession of a vile and hard heart, as he '' passed by on the other side." Is it possible that two men, professing to be servants of Grod, and assist- ing in religious service in his church,, could so far for- get their duty to God and man, as thus to withhold needed assistance to one thus in want and suffering ? It is. There lay that unfortunate Jew, helpless, and growing weaker and weaker from the loss of blood and his fruitless cries for help. I fancy he had almost given it up, and resigned himself, in his extremity, to death there in the public road. But another traveler came along, and with him, in the heart and hand and pocket, came that which the sufferer needed. This traveler was a Samaritan, and the wounded' man a Jew; and though the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings, his good heart was moved to show mercy. He broke over party prejudices and distinctions, and showed that his religion was not de- void of compassion. Like the Savior of mankind, in- structing and blessing the Samaritan woman at Jacob's 168 ODD FELLOWSHIP. well, this Samaritan relieved and blessed a suffering Jew. In his case we see love exhibited, where we might least expect to find it. As he passed along the road, he heard the groans, and looking, in the direction from whence the sound came, his eye' -rested upon the sufferer, and the sight of suffering affected his heart. That pale face and weakened form was a fellow-being in distress, and his sympathies were aroused. A tender cord in his nature was touched, and he hurried to the side of the suffer- er, and unlike the former travelers, he talked to the wounded man, and learned the story of his wrongs. No sooner had he learned from the lips of this dis- tressed Jew the facts in his case, than he felt that here was a call to do good, and he began his work — so like an angel — of compassion and mercy. He examined the wounds of the man, to ascertain their depth and extent— -he procured bandages, and bound them up, then allayed the pain by pouring in " oil and wine." How the heart of the sufferer must have been touched by these acts, especially when he saw that his benefactor was a Samaritan — a stranger of another people was doing for him what those of his own nation would not. But the works of mercy of the good Samaritan were but commenced. Having thus dressed the wounds, he was unwilling to leave him in the road, and he could not tarry with him, for the business on which he was demanded his proceeding. He'had a will to render further help, " and when there is a will, there is a way.'' He raised up his patient, THE GOOD SAMARITAN. 169 and with what help he could give himself, he succeed- ed in setting him on his own beast, and holding him there, as he led the animal along the road to the near- est tavern — there he procured help, and the sufferer was taken in and laid upon a bed. The host took him in charge, and the Samaritan paid the bill in advance. He took of his own means to compensate the host, charged him faithfully to take good care of him, and engaged to pay all other expenses incurred. This is what may be called genuine kindness — all that is beautiful and lovely combined. Self and pre- judice were sacrificed on the altar of humanity, good- ness and mercy. This Samaritan's conduct is praise-worthy, and by men in all ages should be imitated. The feelings should not be narrow or the heart small, but care and regard and affection for all should mark all in their conduct. Universal benevolence should be practiced ; then a great change would pass over our world — soon " one law would bind all nations, kindreds, tongues and people of the earth, and that law would be the law of universal brotherhood." 15 PART THIRD. Eminent 3HbU ^crtun, tit. CHAPTER I. The author of this degree is a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Indiana, and represented the Order in this State in the National Lodge, at the time the degree was instituted in 1851. The name of Schuyler Colfax is familiar to Odd Fel- lows and their wives, in all our borders. I can not tell why the degree was named Rebekah, except it was because of a circumstance recorded of Rebekah so much like the practical workings of Odd Fellowship. The circumstance I refer to, appears in her history when she was the beautiful maiden 0? Nahor. The faithful servant of Abraham, Eliezur, had been charged to go to Abraham's former country, and take unto Isaac a wife of his kindred ; and he wen* into the city of Nahor, and tarried at a well just outside the city limits, and while waiting there, Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, came bearing a pitcher with DEGREE OF EEBEKAH. 171 ■which to draw water. And as she approached, Eliezur met her and said, " Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher, and water my camels." He evidently wished to use the pitcher to draw water from the well that he might drink, and also give drink to his thirsty camels — but Bebekah would not allow it. She saw that he was wearied and fatigued with the long journey he had made, so she let down the pitcher and drew water, and presenting it to him, she said, " Drink, my lord, and I also will draw water for thy camels." Thus with the true feelings of a true woman she ministered to a weary traveler and watered his thirsty camels. This degree associates the wives of Odd Fellows with them in the high and important work of " visiting the sick, relieving the distressed, burying the dead and educating the orphan," and how happily is refined woman adapted to this work. She can enter the room of sickness, and approach the couch of the afflicted one with love beaming in her eye, and the sympathy of her loving and tender heart marked in her every fea- ture. She is peculiarly adapted to the sick room, and is recognized by the pained and suffering one as an angel of mercy. She can watch if it is necessary, through the weary hours of night — administer faith- fully the prescriptions of the family physician. She can press softly the throbbing pulse, calm the troubled soul under the delirious thoughts that press it while the disease is making its rapid inroads ; with a soft hand she can soothe the aching brow and send a thrill 172 ODD FELLOWSHIP. of inexpressible pleasure all through, the failing frame. She can kindle the failing fire when almost extin- guished, and with the sweetness and love of her nature detain to appearance the immortal spirit for a short time upon the earth-shore of the mystic river. She seems to possess the strange ability under G-od of fur- nishing oil to the almost empty lamp, so that its flickering is stayed and life continued a little longer. Florence Nightingale, in her noble work of attend- ing the schools for the poor, visiting the hospitals and reformatory institutions of England and Ireland, and other countries, was accomplishing a work that woman is happily adapted to, and though there is a degree of heroism in her plan, and in her executing that plan, to relieve the suffering soldiery in the Crimea, yet we can not be so much astonished at it when we remem- ber how much of the true woman had been exemplified in the history and work of Florence Nightingale before. She exemplified in her work of assisting to dress the wounds of the disabled and dying soldiers, giving them with her own hands the medicines and the prepared nourishment — the sympathy and love of woman. She honored her sex and our race while she poured words of comfort upon the ear of the dying, she recognized the fact that woman's work is to do good. Ah ! and she exemplified this truth, that though men need to be banded together to stimulate each other to works of humanity and benevolence, these things in woman are spontaneous. Find woman where you will and you see one, unless the feelings of her nature 'have DEGREE OF REBEKAH. 173 been blunted, ready for acts of kindness prompted by the feelings of her own heart — she will relieve the dis- tressed and minister to the suffering. Behold the examples we have recorded in the Bible. Rebekah would not allow the thirsty and wearied Eliezur to draw water from the well of Nahor, to quench his thirst and that of his jaded camels ; but she would perform this work herself for the stranger, and having done it she gave vent to the feelings of her womanly heart by offering him the hospitalities of her father's house, assuring him that he should be welcome and that plenty of straw and provender should be fur- nished his camels. Behold Kuth the Moabitess, as we may suppose her, when forming acquaintance with the family of Naomi, to which she afterwards became related as a wife to one of her sons. Elimelech is sick and nigh unto death, and though^ his family was of another nation from the one to which Kuth belonged, she was there to minister at the bedside of the suffering and dying man, and when he was dead she assisted in pre- paring for the burial, attended the disconsolate Naomi to the grave-yard ; and after the mournful service was concluded, went with her to her desolate home to assist and comfort her in her loneliness. After Kuth was married to one of the fatherless sons, she was a daily comforter to the'widow, having a constant home with her. But when Kuth herself was widowed, and Naomi had no further ties, binding her to the land of Moab, 174 ODD FELLOWSHIP. she determined to return to her own land, and made known that determination to Euth. It was, it may be strange and sad intelligence to her at first, hut when she looked at Naomi's poverty and sorrow she won- dered not. In her affection and feeling for her mother- in-law, she decided to go with her. Her sympathy and true love would not allow the aged woman to return to Judea, alone, and she left her native land, her mother's house, the circle of her relatives and friends, with all the endearing associations of early life, to accompany Naomi. And when she reached, to her the land of strangers, she became a daily laborer for support for herself and her mother-in-law. Look at the example of Esther ; she saw the peril of her people throughout the entire provinces of Aha- suerus the king, and she risked her station as queen, and even her life to save them in their peril. She went in unto the king uncalled for, and presented her plea in an ingenuous manner, and was instrumental in putting down Hainan their enemy and rescuing them in their peril. These and other Bible women are referred to as examples for the imitation of woman in all after HISTORY Or SARAH. 175 CHAPTEK II. fpgitetj tt M%®% Wik of ^tetow. Sarah was tlie wife of Abraham the illustrious Patriarch, the friend of God and the father of the faithful. She has been styled the " first among the women of the Bible," because she was the honored mother of Patriarchs. It was in her old age that Isaac was born the child of promise, he in whom " all the nations of the earth were to be blessed." When the promise was made Sarah of a son at the advanced age of eighty -nine years, like Abraham her husband, she had "faith in God" she staggered not at the promise. Her faith led her to the acknowledg- ment of the divine goodness as also to devout praise. When Isaac was born, in union with her husband she dedicated him devotionally to God, and afterwards true to her obligations as a mother, directed her son's feet in moral instruction in the pathway of virtue and peace. When Isaac grew up to manhood he was a noble specimen of humanity, a loving and dutiful son, and as such was a joy and honor to his mother in her old age. Sarah was a beautiful woman, not'only in the esti- mation of her husband, but she possessed a very pleasing person, and was really handsome in the judg- ment of others. When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees^ to go to 176 ODD FELLOWSHIP. Canaan, because of a famine in his land, he was led down into Egypt to sojourn awhile ; and on arriving there he charged Sarah to claim before the Egyptians phe relation of sister to him, as she could do it with some degree of consistency, being the daughter of the same father though not of the same mother. I know, said he, " thou art fair to look upon, and when they shall see thee, they will say, this is his wife and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive." And so it was, that when the princes of Pharaoh saw Sarah, they commended her for her beauty, " and Pharaoh en- treated Abraham well for her sake." She must have been exceedingly handsome in early life, if at the age of sixty-five, as appears here, the princes of the king of Egypt spake of her beauty to him, and he himself desired her for his wife. But soon the whole truth was made known to Pharaoh, viz., that she was Abraham's wife as well as his sister. About twenty-five years after this, Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took her while Abraham was sojourning for a short time there. As she was now ninety years of age, her beauty must have been impaired considerably, yet either on account of it, or the greatness of him whom she called her brother, the king of Gerar, wished to form an alliance, and took her to be his wife. God interposed and re- stored Sarah to Abraham. When Abraham dwelt in the plains of Mamre, as he sat one day at noon in the door of his tent, three weary pilgrims attracted his attention. They were coming towards him, to enjoy for awhile the shade of HISTORY OP SARAH. 177 his tent, and realize his genuine hospitality. G-oing beyond the common courtesy of even that age, Abra- ham went to meet the strangers, and bowed himself toward the ground, and entreated them to tarry with him for awhile. No sooner had they manifested their willingness, than Sarah stood ready to perform her part toward entertaining them. She quickly made ready three measures of meal, and baked it upon the hearth^ prepared the calf brought by her husband, butter and milk, with all things necessary for the repast ; then set them before the strangers, and they did eat. When she determined to send Hagar her' handmaid away with Ishmael, and so declared to Abraham, he was grieved ; for he loved Ishmael, and remembered the promise of God to make his posterity innumerable- There was something harsh to Abraham in Sarah's expression, " Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with my son." But Sarah was right as Abraham after- wards learned. She acted and spake regarding that matter under inspiration. At the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years she died in Hebron in the land of Canaan. Behold the Patriarch of Patriarchs as he bends in sorrow over her failing form, or see him when she is dead weeping over her cold remains, and asking of the children of Heth a burial -place, that he may bury his 'beloved Sarah out of his sight. He makes the purchase of the field of Machpelah with its cave, and in that cave he /78 ODD FELLOWSHIP. J placed tie coffined remains, reserving for himself a place in that sepulchre beside her; where together they should sleep until the thunder of the trump of God should wake them. CHAPTER III. Hagar the handmaiden of Sarah, was honored in being given unto Abraham to wife, and in being the mother of a child for him ; and though she may have had her faults, she surely had her excellencies. Being treated hardly by her mistress, she fled from her presence into the wilderness, and there in solitude and sadness she wandered until she was wearied ; and coming to a fountain of water, she sat down to rest and refresh herself. "While in a meditative mood, sit- . ting by the fountain, her attention was arrested by the Angel, who addressing her asked whence she came and whither she was going. She answered honestly, " I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah." The angel then bade her return and submit herself to her mistress, giving her the promise that she should be the mother of a numberless multitude. She unhesitatingly obeyed the instructions given her, and returned to the tent of Abraham. Whilst Hagar was wandering in the wilderness, and when she sat down to rest by the fountain, she felt HISTORY 01" HAGAR. 179 conscious that the " all seeing eye" of God was upon her, watching her in all her actions, for she said, " Have I here also looked after him that seeth me?" And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, " Thou God seest me." Having returned home, she remained seventeen years with Sarah. In the meantime Ishmael her son was horn, and afterwards Isaac the son of Sarah. And now another thrilling scene presents itself in the history of Hagar. The day that Isaac was weaned, Sarah became dissatisfied with her and determined to send her away. Abraham could not refuse, for it was made known to him as divine purpose, consequently early the next morning he provided Hagar with bread and a bottle of water, and sent her with her son into the wilderness. She had not traveled far, pressed in spirit as she was, until she lost her way. We do not wonder that she was sad and sorrowful as she looked upon herself without a home, and upon Ishmael her son having been disinherited by Abraham, as virtually an orphan ; neither do we wonder that she missed her way, failed to find .the fountain of water, if it was that she was seeking — she had named Beer-lahai-roi, when the angel of the Lord met her seventeen years before. And as she wandered about, the bread she had been provided with failed, and the water gave out. Hunger began to press them, and their thirst became extreme. She saw nothing but starvation and death for herself and her child, and in her extremity she bade Ishmael 180 ODD FELLOWSHIP. lie down in the shade of a shrub to die. She desired him to screen himself from the rays of the burning sun, and then she went off from him a distance, for she said, " I will not see the child die." And she sat and wept, until the fountain of tears was almost dried, and her heart could no longer gather ease, overcharged with sorrow as it was by shedding them. In this her greatest extremity, relief came. It may be the same angel that appeared to her many years before when alone, came to her now and assured her that the voice of the lad was heard ; then bade her go and lift him up, and while she was in the act of rais- ing the head of her dying child, the promise that had been made to her before the child was born was reiterated, viz. : that he should be the beginning of a great nation. Just at this time the angel of the Lord opened her eyes and she beheld a fountain of water, and softly paying the head of her child down, she went to the fountain and filled the bottle, and gave the lad to drink ; he survived and grew, and the promise of God concerning him was fulfilled. Hagar instructed her son in the religion of the Patriarchs, and taught him to practice the virtues that they practiced ; and we behold Ishmael years after- wards, though driven from his father's house when a boy, standing beside the dying Abraham ; and minis- tering to him in union with Isaac the child of promise — in that solemn hour when man is most dependent, while the last sands of the hour-glass are running down. Having closed the eyes of the father, HISTORY OF EEBEKAH. 181 the two in* company bear Ms mortal remains to the cave of Machpelah, and lay them beside those of Sarah. CHAPTEK IV. Eebekah was the daughter of Bethuel, of Nahor, a city in the country of Mesopotamia. She became the wife of the illustrious Patriarch Isaac, the son of Abraham. When Abraham was one hundred and forty years of age, he called unto him his faithful servant Eliezer, for the purpose of sending him on the embassage of procuring a wife for Isaac, who was then about forty years of age. He bade the ruler of his house go to his former country, and take of his kindred a wife for Isaac. In obedience to the wish of Abraham, Eliezer made ready, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. As he approached the city, he beheld a fountain or well outside its limits, and therrt he tarried, as evening came on. Being exceeding anxious in his embassage — for he had solemnly sworn to Abraham — he prayed earnestly to G-od to give him " gdod speed," to make his journey a prosperous one ; and while he was praying, Kebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, came out from the city, with her pitcher upon her shoulder, to procure water. As she approached the well, Eliezer left his camels and ran and met her, and said, " Let 182 ODD FELLOWSHIP. me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher." The request he made of her may have been for the use of the pitcher to draw water from the well for himself and also for his camels. This Rebekah would not al- low — knowing that the traveler was fatigued with the journey he had made, with the true feelings of a true woman, she said, " Drink, my lord, and I also will draw water for thy camels ;" and she hastened and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave the stranger to drink, then watered the weary and thirsty camels. ' Here is an exhibit in the daughter of Bethuel of pure friendship — the first link in the chain that afterward binds the beautiful maiden of Nahor to the devout son of Abraham. I suppose this circumstance in the history of Re- bekah, so much like the practical workings of Odd Fellowship, has given the name to the degree, so beau- tiful in its teachings, given to the wives of Odd Fel- lows. Eliezer, confident in his own mind that the Lord was prospering him, asked Rebekah of her kindred, and she told him. She then cordially invited him to tarry that night at her father's house, assuring him that there was room, and moreover, plenty of straw and provender for the camels. If the servant of Abraham wondered at the simplicity, innocence and benevolence of Rebekah, when she drew water for his ten thirsty camels, how must he have wondered still more at her cord ial invitation for him to tarry that night at her father's I Ah ! little did she think, when she waited HISTORY OF BEBEKAH. 183 upon him, and received at his hands the presents of an ear-ring and bracelets in gold, that the camels she had watered and the man from whom she had received these gifts, would the next day bear her away from her father's house and her native country, to be the wife of one she knew not, nor had even heard of; but so it was. Eebekah introduced the stranger to the household, and while the repast was being prepared, he asked the attention of Bethuel, the father, and Laban, the brother, to the errand on which he had come. He stated clearly the object of his visit, viz., to procure a wife for his master's son, and he told them of the dealings of God with him so far in his journey. " And now,'' said he, " tellme, will you give Eebekah to be the wife of Isaac ?" They owned at once that the thing proceeded from the Lord, and dare not speak against it ; they consented to the marriage. Early the next morning, Eliezer having made still further presents to Eebekah, to her brother and her mother, desired them to send him away with her to his master. At first they were unwilling to part with her so soon, but wished her to remain at least ten days with them ; but Eliezer pressed his suit, on the ground that the Lord had prospered him — hence, they referred the matter to Eebekah, empowering her to decide, and she said, " I will go." On the following morning, attending the stranger, she began her journey toward her new home, with the blessings of her kindred upon her. Isaac, it may be, was expecting the return of his 184 ODD FELLOWSHIP. father's servant from Mesopotamia with a wife for him, and on the evening of the day Eliezer returned, he was walking out in the field, meditating. What the subject of his meditation was, we do not know ; but as in all probability he was not far from the well Lahai- roi, which signifieth " the well of Him who liveth and seeth me," he was meditating on the being and attri- butes of God. But he chanced to lift up his eyes, and saw the camels coming. Just about this time Rebekah raising her eyes and looking ahead, saw Isaac, and turning to Eliezer, she asked, " What man is that, walking in the field to meet us ?" He answered her, " It is my master.'' She quickly took a veil and cov- ered herself, and lighting off the camel she was riding, she was introduced by the servant to Isaac. Thus these two remarkable personages for the first time look upon each other. They are at once united in marriage, according to the ceremonies that were then in use in the patriarchal families. The solemn and important contract made a few days before in the city of- Nab or, between Eliezer and the father and brother of Rebekah, was consummated ; for " Isaac brought her into his mother's tent, and she became his wife, and he loved her." Rebekah was honored, as the wife of Isaac, in being the mother of two noble sons, Jacob and Esau, who each became the head of a great and mighty nation. As it was with Abraham, so was it afterward with Isaac. Because of a famine in his own land, he went down to Egypt to sojourn ; and he dwelt awhile in HISTOKT OF EEBEKAH. 185 Gerar. Here we learn of Eebekah, what we nave pre- viously learned of Sarah, her mother-in-law, that "she was fair to look upon — a beautiful woman," and Isaac was afraid that the Gerarites would be so charmed with her beauty, that they would desire his death — hence, he charged her to claim the relation of sister to him, though she was, previous to their marriage, only his cousin. Eebekah exhibited many excellences during her life with Isaac, but we will not say she was without faults. Her husband may have considered her attachment to Jacob beyond her attachment to Esau a fault ; and her management to procure the birthright for the former, he may have looked upon as a development of that fault. But the purpose of God regarding the descend- ants of the two was thus brought about. " The elder shall serve the younger." Isaac buried her imperfec- tions with her body in the honored cave of Machpelah, and Jacob learned with sorrow, while in the family of Laban, his mother's brother, or after he returned to his own land with his family and effects, that Eebekah his mother was dead, and that her honored remains were mouldering in the family vault of his grandfather. 16 186 ODD FELLOWSHIP. CHAPTER V. Miriam, the sister of the distinguished emancipators of down-trodden Israel, Moses and Aaron, was a cele- brated woman amongst the descendants of the great Patriarch. While Aaron was three years older than Moses, Miriam was several years older than Aaron. She was of sufficient years to be trusted by the anxious mother with the ark in which her innocent and lovely babe had been placed, and sufficiently ingenious to manage the stratagem for the preservation of the life of the infant. She watched the spot faithfully when the ark rested among the flags by the river brink, un- til Pharaoh's daughter came with her maidens to wash. She saw them as they passed along the river bank, and as they neared the spot under her eye," her heart flut- tered, and the fountain for her eyes began a turbulent motion — for she thought they may pass that spot, and the attention not be arrested by the ark and its inmate. But her fears are suddenly relieved by the company halting, and one of the maidens approaching the spot to divine. Just at this point, without fearing to be considered an intruder, she approached the royal lady with her maidens. Yes, while they were looking with anxiety and a degree of sympathy, which is not strange for ladies, Miriam approached, and looked with seem- ing wonder and astonishment at the babe, on which HISTORY OF MIRIAM. 187 she had often looked before, and addressing herself to the Princess, she said, " Shall I go and call a nurse for the child?" She bade her go, and she went and called the child's mother and her own mother ; so that under the management of Miriam, who was shielded and guided by the hand of Providence, Moses' own mother became his nurse. Miriam had been trained up, as were Aaron and the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, in the religion of the Patriarchs. She has been very fitly styled, be- cause of her devotion to the God of her fathers, and her position among the women of her people, particu- larly the part she took in their religious exercises, — " The Virgin, Prophetess." She was the leader of the devotions of the Jewish women, and the first woman honored thus of G-od and his people, in all the history of the family of man. She acted a conspicuous part, we doubt not, in the preparations made for, and in the exodus "of Israel from the land of their oppression — for one of the Prophets (Micah) says — " For I have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam." From this we learn that she was constituted joint leader of the people, with her two brothers. It is quite likely that she was commissioned and qualified by the " I Am," who spake to her brother from the midst of the burn- ing bush, at the base of Horeb. And the work ap- pointed was to instruct the Hebrew women, while Moses and Aaron instructed the men. She regulated the times and places of their devotional acts, and led 188 ODD FELLOWSHIP. in those of them that were public. When they crossed the Red Sea, she led that vast host of women through, in the bed of the sea, between the wall of waters, en- couraging the timid host at every step she took — if in no other way, surely by her manifest " trust in God" in pursuing her way courageously until she reached the other side. She stood beside her brothers, and listened with ad- miration and a soul filled with rapture, " as God opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent." Pharaoh and his vast army, essaying to follow and capture the Hebrews and return them to their captivity in Egypt, were all drowned. And Moses and the children of Israel sang a song of vic- tory, " Sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." What glorious melody must a hundred thousand voices, all raised in harmony, have made, while singing this inspired chorus ! While Moses and the Hebrew men were drowning the roar of the waters of the recently closed Red Sea, with music such as mortal lips and hearts inclosed with mortality, had never uttered before, Miriam stood sur- rounded by a crowd of lovely maidens, with a soul fired with song, ready to respond to the eloquence and enrapturing music of the men. The last sound of the sacred anthem was spent, and the excited Prophetess closely attended by many maidens and followed by all the women of Israel, led off in the chorus of the HISTORY OF MIRIAM. 189 " She sounded the loud timbrel o'r Egypt's dark sea — Jehovah hath triumphed — his people are free." She was a tender and affectionate sister to Moses, and but onee, so far as we can learn, in all their trials in the wilderness, did she wound the heart of that brother. She was associated with Aaron in speaking against Moses in relation to Zipporah, his wife. Pos- sibly they thought his wife's relations had too much influence over him, ' since his father-in-law induced Moses to appoint officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, and Moses gave evidence of the fact that he thought much of Hobab, his wife's brother. Aaron and Miriam were alike guilty. Their brother did not attempt to reproach them for their unkindness to him ; but God directs the three to enter the taber- nacle, and there he charges their sin upon them. The punishment inflicted upon Miriam was severe. She became" leprous, " white as snow." Her affectionate brother forgave her, and earnestly prayed for her res- toration. His prayers were heard, the disease destroy- ed, and seven days afterward she resumed her labors as the leader of the Hebrew women. She bore her share of the toils, suffering and reproach heaped upon them as leaders of the rebellious hosts of Israel. With her gifted mind and warm heart, her noble and gene- rous nature, and her devotion to her God, she acted in union with her brothers in promoting and maintaining order and elevating her people. For nearly forty years she had thus acted her part, when the pillar of cloud and fire led them again to 190 ODD FELLOWSHIP. the borders of Canaan. And they encamped at Ka- desh, in the desert of Sin. Here Miriam died and was luried, and we may well suppose, from the part she had acted, the Hebrew women greatly mourned her departure. But her work was done — the infirmities of age were upon her, for she was one hundred and thirty years old. Her brothers both followed her to the spirit-land in less than one year — hence, neither of them attained her great age. CHAPTER VI. I. Deborah was a prophetess, and the wife of Lapi- doth. The sins of Israel were numerous and aggra- vating in the eyes of the God of the Patriarchs, after their settlement in the. land of Canaan. This was especially so after the death of Joshua, who was their leader — conducted them into the country, commanded them in their conquests, and ratified the appointment to the different tribes. The people revolted from the true God and his ser- vice and went into gross idolatry. On account of it the Lord was angry with them and delivered them into the hands of the "spoilers." When they repented, a judge was raised up amongst them, who delivered them out of the hands of their enemies. But after HISTORY OP DEBORAH. 191 the judge died, they returned to their idolatry and corruption, and again the Lord was angry with them and determined to leave the nations that were yet in the conquered country when Joshua died, and not drive them out hastily, that through them Israel might he proved. But Israel corrupted themselves, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went into the abominahle service of " Baalim and the groves." Again God's anger turned towards them, and he sold them into the hand of an enemy. They repented and cried to God for deliverance. He had mercy upon them, and raised them up a judge and deliverer in the person of Othniel. For forty years they had peace and prosperity, but when the judge died they relapsed into their former habits of wickedness and corruption, and again God gave them up — their enemies overpowered them, took them captives and took possession of the beautiful plain of Jericho, with the " city of Palm trees," Israel repenting, again entreated God to deliver them, and Ehud was raised up, who first slew Eglon the king of Moab, to whom Israel had been in service for eighteen years. He then led them against the Moab- ites, and slew them by thousands, and soon Israel was again in peace and prosperity. After him was Sham- gar, who also delivered them, and triumphed against their enemies. But after fourscore years, they again went into grievous sin's, and Jabin, king of Canaan, the captain of whose host was Sisera, greatly afflicted them. This was the most powerful king, and expert commander with which they had had to contend. 192 ODD FELLOWSHIP. Israel looked upon the nine hundred iron chariots of Jabin and the large well trained army led on by Sisera, and they were afraid and greatly troubled. They mightily cried unto God— in the remembrance of their former sins they were greatly penitent, and their inter- cessions to God for help were earnest and continued. Their prayer was heard and a star arose amid the darkness of the night vpon them, in the person of Debo- rah. Her influence in her country in this time of trouble is told in the following language. " At her word the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Deborah was raised up to judge Israel. And -this is the first instance of female government on record : save that of Miriam governing amongst the women of Israel during their tented state between Egypt and Canaan. The husband of Deborah seems to have had no hand in the affairs of the government, but she was at the head of civil and religious affairs. She called to her aid and appointed him general of the armies, Barak the son of Abinoam, and then declared to him the revelations God had made, that the enemy should be delivered into his hands. Barak refused to go unless she would accompany him. His refusal to go without her, was probably because he saw she was under divine influence — the spirit of inspiration was upon her, and he wished to know when and how to make the attack upon the enemy. She at once agreed to go and attend him to Kedesh, and with an army of ten thousand men Barak made ready for battle. As Sisera gathered the hosts of Jabin together against them, Deborah HISTORY OF DEBORAH. 193 gave to her general the word of command, with the promise that Sisera should he delivered into his hand, for she knew that the Lord was gone out hefore him and would fight for Israel. Having thus performed the part she was desired by Barak to perform, he at the head of his army went down from the top of Mount Tabor where he had been encamped, and she tarried to see how the battle went. She looked with intense anxiety upon the general and soldiery as they marched against the enemy ; she saw them as they neared each other, and commenced their attack ; she witnessed the confusion and disorder and destruction of the iron chariots and of the ranks of the enemy. It may be that she saw Sisera as he lighted off his chariot and fled on foot from the scene of action, and saw the re- maining soldiery as they wheeled and made an effort to escape, while Barak and his men pursued them in their flight, and cut them off until there was not a man of that vast army left. Even Sisera himself fell though he escaped from the battle-field, by the hand of Jael the wife of Heber, as Deborah had prophesied he should, " For the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hands of a woman." Under the inspiration with which Deborah was blessed, while she was yet on Mount Tabor, or after her return to the city of " Palm trees " she composed the song of triumph, usually styled the song of Debo- rah and Barak. The song in itself is a sublime com- position, and piety and true devotion shine forth in bold relief from its beginning to its end. 17 194 ODD FELLOWSHIP. I hardly know where to admire in her conduct this celebrated woman most, whether, when a judge of Israel in the ci/i/ of the plain, deciding difficult cases referred to her, and winning the hearts of the people, or when she settles the generalship upon Barak, and commands him to enlist ten thousand men in the service of his country ; or when she accompanies him to the scene of action and performs the part she does there ; or when associated with Barak her voice rings through the air upon the ears of her soldiery, and the delighted people made free by their wonderful victory in this song of glorious triumph. This sublime song as the production of Deborah, shows that she was a poetess. cy CHAPTER VII. We have not learned the name of this celebrated woman, but of her son we learn, that he was the greatest prodigy of human strength of whom the records of man speak. Manoah her husband was a great and good man, and is supposed to have occupied a high position in the country, and to have had a strong hold upon the feelings and affections of the people of Israel whom he served. This woman is said to have been celebrated for her beauty and moral excellencies, her great devotion in THE MOTHER OP SAMPSON. 195 the service of God, and there are few if any, that have been honored more of God than she. She was visited by the angel of the Lord and informed that she should be the mother of a son, who should be a Nazariteunto God from his birth, and should commence the deliver- ance of Israel from the hand and power^ of the Philistines. She was alone when the angel appeared unto her, but though a timid woman and alone, she was by no means alarmed at the strangely glorious visitant. There he stood before her, and asked for her attention to the message he had brought.