Odd Fellows Monitor & Guide (1881)

S$107.00

Odd Fellows Monitor & Guide (1881)

S$107.00

Title: Odd Fellows Monitor And Guide Containing History Of The Degree Of Rebekah And Its Teachings, Emblems Of The Order And Teachings Of Ritual, Revised And Illustrated In Three Parts
Author: Rev T G Beharrell
Publisher: Robert Douglass, 1881. Scarce. Sold by subscription only.
Condition: Hardcover, blind-stamped cloth with all-seeing eye motif and design on board. Severely soiled and shaken binding, hinges cracked, but clean interior.

A book and a manual about the secret society of “Odd Fellows” that was prominent in Europe and the US in the early to mid 19th century – this one talks about the “Degree of Rebekah” (some rank within the society concerned with exalting the feminine principle).

Two interesting excepts:

The Fraternity of Odd Fellows has sometimes been
objected to on the ground that it is a secret society.
It is a secret society, if the term secret is properly
qualified. Odd Fellowship has secrets, and its mem-
bers are all pledged to keep them. Its secrets con-
sist in its passwords, signs, grips, emblems, etc. , with
their import and the manner of giving them ; with
the instructions inculcating the principles of the Order.
Notwithstanding the opposition in some quarters to
the Fraternity as a secret society, we insist that she
has the same right to secrets and their use that the
church has to her secrets and their use. The Church
has secrets that the world can never know. The
world is not to be engaged in the plans and operations
of the church, or to be consulted and advised with as
to her intentions and work. Would two contending
armies each advise the other of their plans? Cer-
tainly not; for that would tend to thwart and render
ineffective each army.

The All- Seeing Eye.
This emblem presents, as one of its first thoughts,
the idea of secrecy. The fellowship into which we
come on admission into the Order of Odd Fellows is
a secret fellowship, in that it has secrets which are
only known by those who have been admitted
among us. In Odd Fellowship there are pass-words
and signs and grips, each of which have great im-
portance to those who receive them. There are
obligations solemn and binding, and they are secret,
and in their secrecy is hidden their charms. Here
are our impressive lessons, and the efficacy of our
Order. Destroy them, and the fellowship, with all
its appropriateness, is gone. Though the outside
world is ignorant of the lessons we have received
and the obligations we have taken, yet God is not
ignorant. This impressive emblem tells us that
the All-Seeing Eye of God is ever upon us. If we
were to prove recreant to our trust, and violate our
solemn obligations, the men of the world might
not know it ; we might pass with them for men of
honor and respectability. But there is one whose
eye never slumbers nor sleeps, whose presence fills
immensity, and whose gaze penetrates even the
dense darkness of the darkest night. For the light
of day and the darkness of night ” are both alike
to Him with whom we have to do.”