Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1850-08-23

and advantages of the Temperance cause.
Every man who is not re6aialn heart
against the genius OF our institutions, and
the true spirit of the present aye. We are
assured does and will acknowledge the
beneficial and happy results ol1the Tenn
IPerance cause, and use his honest and
faithful endeavors TO forward lis interest.
No subject of the present dbv, affords
so WIDE scone for the exerciseof phiian-
thropy in promoting the good oamankind.
Here every human feeling of Oh heart is
called forth into exercise to relieve and
save the inebriate. And we see 49,.
labors of the phiIanthropist in !; :
clal cause Tor near a quarter al5s of enc
f~~~C-~a@-----a-A------s - 1Ess Vi sue
! cess.
/ Scores and thousands of the unfortunate
victims of Intemperance in our country
have been snatched as firebrand. from the
idevouring element, and from the vortex Of
destruction, who have been reclaimed to
virtue and respectability dignifed in char
acter and elevated in morals. The tenn
IpeIance society which was call9d into ex-
istence by the popularity Of The age, and
the necessity of the times, and moulded
by the then circumstances, has undergone
various notifications and changes, in tue
features of its original social structure.-
The old total abstinence society which af-
forwards was identified with the Wash
Iingtonian Society, has indeed achieved
great and happy results in recalming the
IintemPerate and reforming the habits of
society. But notwithstanding iiat the old
society has accomplished great and i'm
mense good, time has proved it to be de-
flclent in some particular items necessary
to constitute such a society as shall stand
firm, and prove a permanent barrier a.
galnst the insidious and deceiifhl allure
ments Of intemperance.
From the want of systematic arrange
ment in the old society to produce regular
concerted action throughout all the ranks
of the society and to throw constant pro-
lection around its members, many of
those who had been temporarily saved and
RECLAIMED from life Of dissipation, in an
ReyiE saqH bt tttife~ as
washed to her wallowing in nasmire. -
Many, we say, through the want Of effort
and Of enterprise on the part Of the socie-
ty have become lifeless and inactive mem
bers. And their influence on society so
far as intemperance is concerned, may be
represented by the proverb in which they
are compared to the dead flies that caused
the ointment of the apothecary to send
forth noxious odor. Butln the. Order Of
the Sons of Temperance we have a socie-
! ty in which these defects are renedied-
we'll organized institution IN which all
the parts and members Of which i is COM
posed are united by the strongest afinities.
In this Order, which is formea on the
basis of benevolent and chari.A1e insti-
tution-reciprocity of duties, forF p the &C.
ment and band Of union. All areFeceived
and acknowledged, by the same rule Of
Fellowship, having common interest. and
equality of rank and condition. This So
ciety is exclusively American; having its
origin in our own happy COLUMBIA land
and from its first institution to thepresent
it has continued to flourish with tie great
est prosperity. But though it hasincreas
ed with unexampled success, yet Pts pros
: perity is not clogged by its multfudinou
: assemblage of members for it rftains it
vitality and it's purity, not as 9e stag
nant lake that becomes fetld for want Q
] action, but like the crystal waveslof SyIo
7 ans brook that seems to have been endue
1 with healing virtue by means OF the in
) ternaI commingling Of its own element:
: impaired to it by the angels visits. pr ratf
: er like the vast ocean, that contalks IN II
e deep bosom the elements of purfcatior
: and by the constant action of its own We
t ters becomes purer, tempering with healt
t and buoyancy the vital air that w ats owe
y its broad surface. SO can we cbmmen
the moral efficacy of this, our Orper.
It this Order every member, like the eIindivic
5, ual drops that unite to form the majest
e ocean. by the virtue of activity, exdrts r,
o fning and purifying influence thfpugho'
n the whole mass; though some pottons
= the same may have found entrante fro
;e some muddy rill, or sickly and stagnal
streamlet. So let the motto we bear ev,
r impel us 10 vigilanceand to activity whic
lie as it is the effective process of purl lfcatic
Y, in all the economy of nature, so is it Il
e true modus operandi' of regeneration
e the moral and spiritual world L@t it
a our high aim and purpose to keep mare
he with the auspicious movements of the ter
n perance cause that are being made by o
t. brethren in other sections of the countr
or Let US all be prompt to discharge our d
e. ties, which our society impresses upon !