| Show I ELKS SERVICES HELD REV PHILIP THAOHER SPEAKS ON THE ORDERS PRINCIPLES Churches the Last Place Where Ho Would Look for the Practice of the I Golden Rule An audience which comfortably 1 filled the lower floor of the Theater last evening took part In and listened attentively to the Eks service whl has h-as conducted by Rev Philip S Thacher a member of the lodge and pastor of the First Unitarian society I Congregational reading and singing were entered Into with spirit and the solo Angels Ever Bright and Fair by Miss Lottie Owen and The Holy City by Will K Sibley were both beautifully rendered By request John P Meakin recited Ernest Faithful t by Judge C C Goodwin Miss Trma Watson gave two beautiful piano solos oRe Rev Mr Timelier delivered a brief sermon taking as his subject Our Principles and Practice Ills text was the Golden Rule and he said in purt The golden rule taught by lIo sour s-our thousand years ago vas for age3 like a diamond within a heap of rubbish rub-bish Jesus discovered it recut and polished Jt and set It In a royal din dcmt 1t1s the wonder of the world t The more It Is understood the moro it I Is admired I Everybody believes In Itr t but very few practice it Churches i are the last places where I should go I to look for the practice of this Golden Rule because their aim Is to save people peo-ple from an Imaginary hell < rand r-and get them Into an imaginary hcaveil Thb practice of the Gold h Rule would make a heaven now and here 1 tis hard enough to believe Jn the Golden Rule but a great deal harder to practice It So far as my I knowledge and observation go the 1 Elks are the only organization that tries to practice It Our principles like lovely flowers grow out of thIs noble root Charity rules all our actions We enable men to move over the llelds of life with the footsteps of angels gathering storms of sorrow In their arms and hushing them to sleep with a song We shelter the innocent hfcurt that evil would hurt carry cheer tb homes desolate with grief bless the Joy that sings to Itself make the path of duly smoother for the feet of the weary that men may live In the light of Joy and in the hope of an ever brightening future We practice justice towards the I living and the dead We look at what a man is not at what he does what I men do is usually worae than what they are Wo do not wait until they die before we recognize their worth We find that men are actually or potentially greater and nobler than they appear God nave us from the sin of undervaluing ourselves Brotherly love Is another principle lIt looks at grief with moistened eyes puts a heartthrob Into a handshake and a little of heaven Into a smile If I am sick or In trouble It Is not the minister making the stated visit for the purpose of saving my soul that helps me but If the brother with whom I have sat In the lodge conies Into my room like a burst of sunlight on a cloudy day what an Influx of light he brings with him His love Is not morose and melancholy Wo do not believe In men with pale faces and eyes red wlth weeping bUL In men with plenty of muscle In their arms plenty of color In their faces with the lungs of a racehorse the digestion of an ostrich and with an elasticity of spirit that refuses to be chained to gloomy memories or crushed by common com-mon cares We enjoy the good thing of life can laugh as well as pray We believe not only In the thorns that grow with the roses of life but In the roses which the thorns defend We shun all that would spoil and sour life Fidelity Is that quality of stu bility which enables us not only to practice our principles but to be true to ourselves Copied character Is no character Wo are ourselves let us be ourselves not second editions of some body else Living these principles we are doing something to hasten the time when all men shall live as brothers broth-ers for the good In us will spread through lie community I |
