Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Illinois - University Library

Jv^ifi^^^KPT 1- Nov. 16. 1897. GRAND \
LODGE OP ILLINOIS. 25
Sermon Preached Before the Sovereign Grand Lodge of
Odd Fellows.
Sunday Morning. September 19. at the Central Baptist Church. Springfield, 111.,
by the Pastor. Euclid B. Kogers.
Luke 10:30-37: "And Jesus answering said, a certain man went
down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped
him of his raiment and wounded him aad departed, leaving him half
dead.
"And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and
when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
"And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and
looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was;
and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and went to him
and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on
his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
"And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence
and gave them to the host and said unto him, 'Take care of him; and
whatsoever thou spendest more, when 1 come again I will repay thee.'
•'Which, now, of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto
him that fell among thieves?
"And he said, 'He that showed mercy on him.' Then said Jesus
unto him, 'Go thou and do likewise.' '"
As you've walked the galleries where the masters of art have hung
their works, you have stopped and others have stopped, and looked
longer at some pictures than at others. All pictures do not have an
equal attraction, but before some crowds gather and look and gaze,
and in the presence of its wonderful art, they are lost in admiration
and in awe. The Bible walls are hung full of pictures, but not one,
perhaps, of them all so attracts attention and admirati on as does this
picture of the Good Samaritan. Crowds have stood before it admiring,
studying, loving, losing time and place and self as they drank in the
story of this masterpiece.
In the first place, I notice that this picture is a Bible picture,
and was painted by the Bible's Hero, Jesus Christ. Power in its
mightiest sense, compassion at work, pity that helps, love at white
heat—all of these were boru of God, and have had their highest exemplification
in the speech and life of the Son of God. Some men
seem to think that all of these qualities that go to make up the best
that there has been in the best men of all the years, had its birth in
some lower clime than Heaven. Men—good men, kind men—are apt
to forget God as they dwell upon the mercy, and courtesy, and helpfulness
of their fellows. I claim that everything that is good and useful