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Article PROVINCIAL ← Page 5 of 7 →
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Provincial
which has come as close as . can . be imagined to the . principles we espouse ; It has adopted openly the name of - Temperance " as its distinctive mark , and we believe its members have distinctly agreed that on no occasion , public or private , shall intoxicating drinks be introduced at any of its meetings or banquets . We need not say that the men- who have gone thus far must be strongly indoctrinated with teetotal truths , for we can scarcely conceive a man excluding from the banquets of his Lodge that which he would admit to his private table . On this account we
congratulate our friends on the formation of this new Lodge . We do not expect that we shall find in it an auxiliary to help us in propagating the principles of our society . Nor do we expect it to join us in our temperance agitation . Everything must be put to its right use . A Masonic Lodge is not a temperance society , and can never do the work of one ; but the recognition of temperance principles by such a Lodge will do much to attract public attention in their direction , and will indicate to the world that temperance has gained some footing amongst this large and influential body in the community . It must not be supposed that the
formation of this Temperance Lodge has been brought about by any schism or disagreement in the Masonic body . The chief inducement appears to have been that the promoters had real and conscientious objections to appearing in any way to countenance the drinking customs of society . The introduction of intoxicating drinks at banquets and other meetings was repugnant to the feelings of men who had pledged themselves to discountenance the use of such drinks under any and all circumstances . By the world an objection of this sort would be set down as fanatical or bigoted , but by the Masonic body , composed of the most liberal and . intellectual men in the
community , the opinion seems to have been treated with that respect to which the conscientious scruples of all classes are fairly entitled . To have agitated a question of this sort in an existing Lodge would doubtless have led to confusion and perhaps worse , and after -all the few would have been outvoted by the many . Little good , but much harm , would have resulted from such a course . We think , therefore , the teetotallers did wisely by fairly and openly founding a claim upon that part of the published declaration of the Masonic body , that " a Mason is particularly bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience , ) ' and asking permission to form a
new Lodge , wherein , without offence to others , they can give effect to their scruples . The assent was readily granted , and we believe the new Lodge has the hearty friendship and goodwill of all the leading officials in the district . This is the more gratifying because , although we desire most earnestly to see our principles in the ascendant , we can never approve of any attempt to force them upou unwilling recipients . We are amongst those who believe that one of the chief obstacles to the spread of total abstinence is the prevailing fashion of introducing drink on all possible occasions . Men abhor to be thought singular , and we have
heard thousands of well-meaning people declare that they have no love for the drink , but yet cannot abstain , because they feel a difficulty as to how they would resist the prevailing customs of society . By a bold man , the difficulty , if it deserve the name , is easily settled , but the majority of the people are not bold in resisting a prevailing custom , for hundreds of men who would face the most terrible physical dangers , would shrink like scared children from the ridicule or jests of companions with whom they desire to stand well . Hence we regard every movement , whereby the custom of drinking is interfered with , as a clear step
gained in our onward progress . Whether it be at a Mason ' s banquet or a mayor s dinner , let the habit of using drink be once broken , and one obstacle the leas remains in our path . We think then that the formation of the Temperance Lodge is a satisfactory indication of the signs of the times , and we rejoice that another blow has been aimed at the drinking customs of our land . We believe that the Lodge will be advantageous to the Temperance cause . At the same time , wo think the
advantages will be reciprocal . We believe there are several thousand teetotallers in the United Kingdom who entertain a favourable opinion of the Masonic body , and who would gladly have offered themselves as candidates for membership , had they not been deterred by a knowledge of the fact , that they would be brought into closer contact with the drinking customs than they desired . The barrier being removed , wo doubt not that Temperance Lodges will spring up in all the larger towns throughout the country . The existence of this desire is well vouched
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial
which has come as close as . can . be imagined to the . principles we espouse ; It has adopted openly the name of - Temperance " as its distinctive mark , and we believe its members have distinctly agreed that on no occasion , public or private , shall intoxicating drinks be introduced at any of its meetings or banquets . We need not say that the men- who have gone thus far must be strongly indoctrinated with teetotal truths , for we can scarcely conceive a man excluding from the banquets of his Lodge that which he would admit to his private table . On this account we
congratulate our friends on the formation of this new Lodge . We do not expect that we shall find in it an auxiliary to help us in propagating the principles of our society . Nor do we expect it to join us in our temperance agitation . Everything must be put to its right use . A Masonic Lodge is not a temperance society , and can never do the work of one ; but the recognition of temperance principles by such a Lodge will do much to attract public attention in their direction , and will indicate to the world that temperance has gained some footing amongst this large and influential body in the community . It must not be supposed that the
formation of this Temperance Lodge has been brought about by any schism or disagreement in the Masonic body . The chief inducement appears to have been that the promoters had real and conscientious objections to appearing in any way to countenance the drinking customs of society . The introduction of intoxicating drinks at banquets and other meetings was repugnant to the feelings of men who had pledged themselves to discountenance the use of such drinks under any and all circumstances . By the world an objection of this sort would be set down as fanatical or bigoted , but by the Masonic body , composed of the most liberal and . intellectual men in the
community , the opinion seems to have been treated with that respect to which the conscientious scruples of all classes are fairly entitled . To have agitated a question of this sort in an existing Lodge would doubtless have led to confusion and perhaps worse , and after -all the few would have been outvoted by the many . Little good , but much harm , would have resulted from such a course . We think , therefore , the teetotallers did wisely by fairly and openly founding a claim upon that part of the published declaration of the Masonic body , that " a Mason is particularly bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience , ) ' and asking permission to form a
new Lodge , wherein , without offence to others , they can give effect to their scruples . The assent was readily granted , and we believe the new Lodge has the hearty friendship and goodwill of all the leading officials in the district . This is the more gratifying because , although we desire most earnestly to see our principles in the ascendant , we can never approve of any attempt to force them upou unwilling recipients . We are amongst those who believe that one of the chief obstacles to the spread of total abstinence is the prevailing fashion of introducing drink on all possible occasions . Men abhor to be thought singular , and we have
heard thousands of well-meaning people declare that they have no love for the drink , but yet cannot abstain , because they feel a difficulty as to how they would resist the prevailing customs of society . By a bold man , the difficulty , if it deserve the name , is easily settled , but the majority of the people are not bold in resisting a prevailing custom , for hundreds of men who would face the most terrible physical dangers , would shrink like scared children from the ridicule or jests of companions with whom they desire to stand well . Hence we regard every movement , whereby the custom of drinking is interfered with , as a clear step
gained in our onward progress . Whether it be at a Mason ' s banquet or a mayor s dinner , let the habit of using drink be once broken , and one obstacle the leas remains in our path . We think then that the formation of the Temperance Lodge is a satisfactory indication of the signs of the times , and we rejoice that another blow has been aimed at the drinking customs of our land . We believe that the Lodge will be advantageous to the Temperance cause . At the same time , wo think the
advantages will be reciprocal . We believe there are several thousand teetotallers in the United Kingdom who entertain a favourable opinion of the Masonic body , and who would gladly have offered themselves as candidates for membership , had they not been deterred by a knowledge of the fact , that they would be brought into closer contact with the drinking customs than they desired . The barrier being removed , wo doubt not that Temperance Lodges will spring up in all the larger towns throughout the country . The existence of this desire is well vouched