The Jericho Road

The Jericho Road

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Title: The Jericho Road
Author: W. Bion Adkins
Release Date: October 20, 2004 [eBook #13816]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
JERICHO ROAD***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

THE JERICHO ROAD
by
W. BION ADKINS
Author of "Twelve Steps Toward Heaven," "The Anonymous Letter,"
etc.
1901

Like the rivers, forever running yet never passed, like the winds forever
going yet never gone, so is Odd-Fellowship.

DEDICATION
WORTHY AND GENTLE BROTHERS
I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK TO THEE, SINCERELY
HOPING THAT IT WILL AFFORD YOU MUCH PLEASURE AND
BE THE MEANS OF INCITING YOU TO GREATER EFFORT IN

BEHALF OF OUR BELOVED ORDER. MAY THY YEARS BE
MANY AND THEIR SEASONS ALL GOLDEN AUTUMNS, RICH
IN PURPLE CLUSTERS AND GARNERED DELIGHTS.

PREFACE
"I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written nothing
that I have not lived, and the story of this book is but a plaintive refrain
wrung from the over-burdened song of my life; while the tides of
feeling, winding down the lines, had their sources in as many broken
upheavals of my own heart." A book, like an implement, must be
judged by its adaptation to its special design, however unfit for any
other end. This volume is designed to help Odd-Fellows in their search
for the good things in life. There is need of something to break the spell
of indifference that oftentimes binds us, and to open glimpses of better,
sweeter, grander possibilities. Hence this volume, which is a plea for
that great fortune of man--his own nature. Bulwer says: "Strive while
improving your one talent to enrich your whole capital as a man." The
present work is designed to aid in securing the result thus
recommended. We send it forth, trusting that it will find its way into
the hands of every Odd-Fellow and every Odd-Fellow's friend and
neighbor, and that those who read it will gather from its pages lessons
which shall enable them to pluck thorns from their pathway and scatter
flowers instead.
W. BION ADKINS.
October 1, 1899.

TODAY'S DEMAND
God give us men. A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts,
true faith, and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; Men who
will not lie, Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public
duly and in private thinking. For, while the rabble, with their
thumb-worn creeds, Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps, Wrong rules the land, and
waiting Justice sleeps. God give us men!
--Selected.

TOMORROW'S FULFILLMENT
* * In the long years liker must they grow; The man be more of woman,
she of man; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the
wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in
childward care-- Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect
music unto noble words; And so these twain, upon the skirts of time,
Sit side by side, full summed in all their powers, Self-reverent each and
reverencing each. Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm;
Then springs the crowning race of human kind.
--Alfred Tennyson.

CONTENTS
Objects and Purposes of Odd-Fellowship
The Higher Life
Pithy Points
The Bible in Odd-Fellowship
Brother Underwood's Dream
The Imperial Virtue
Quiet Hour Thoughts
Love Supreme
Gems of Beauty
Husband and Father
Odd-Fellowship and the Future

INTRODUCTORY
On April 26, 1819, Thomas Wildey, the English carriage-spring maker,
together with John Welch, John Duncan, John Cheatham and Richard
Rushworth, instituted the first lodge of Odd-Fellows at the Seven Stars
Tavern in Baltimore, and it was given the name of Washington Lodge
No. 1. From this feeble beginning has grown the immense organization
of today. The Odd-Fellows claim a venerable antiquity for their order,
the most common account of its origin ascribing it to the Jewish legend
under Titus, who, it is said, received from that Emperor the first chapter,
written on a golden tablet. The earliest mention made of the lodge is in
1745, when one was organized in England. There were at that time

several lodges independent of each other, but in a few years they
formed a union. Toward the end of the century many of them were
broken up by state prosecutions, on suspicion that their purposes