The Georgetown news., 1856-01-03
OR TON:
Delivered at the Dedication of IempLGr's Hall
Dec. 31St, 1856,
DCC' OASCs AOOO'
BY REV. DAVID NC CLURE,

BY REV. DAN IL NJ O1N hE5
Chaplain of Georgetown Temple of Honor and
Temperance, No. II.
Worthy Chief Templar, Officers and Breth-
rea, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The occasion which has brought us here
to-day, is one of deep interest. We have
just witnessed solemn and impressive Ger
emony which formally dedicated this Hail
to the high, and glorious, and holy cause Of
Temperance. The occasion is calculated to
call forth our liveliest gratitude, and our
loudest congratulations. 1t is an event that
will be ever memorable in the annals Of
Georgetown, and in the history of the pro-
gress of virtue and morality.
Upon this day, that closes the year Of
our Lord, 1885, we officially, and publicly,
and forever blot out the nome, and the foul
stains hitherto associated with this build
ing. We come to witness the mighty up
roofing of this great Upas tree which has
so long been Staying its hundreds of victims
who have come beneath its poisonous shade.
Behold, brethren, it is dead; it no longer
exists to send forth its attractive, but its
death-itS soul-destroying influence In
its place. we here this day, have planted a
tree, young, but mighty in its growth, whose
root shall, we trust, take deep and everlast-
ing hold upon the feelings and affections of
these Templars and Sons of temperance
the soil in which it is planted d-whose tow
ering, majestic branches shall extend into
noble proportions, and whose fruit shall be
for the attracting and influencing of this en-
tire community,-healing one of its most
malignant diseases.
Those fiends, agents and spirits of the
bottomless pit, no longer hover over this
place to attract and decoy the youth from
the society Of the yirtuous to those whose
''steps take hold on hell" whose "house is
the way to hell, going down to the cham
bers Of DEATH
Here, no longer rcigns King Alcohol
who so long held his tyrant sway within
these apartments. He, and all his thousand
attendant imps, with all that is vile and un-
worthy Of our exalted nature, have taken
rapid fight before our true and valiant band
Of TemplarS; and henceforth, angels of
Temperance, Of Truth, of Love- of Purity,
of Fidelity, Of Justice, and Of Mercy shall
delight to take up their abode.
l say, then, this is proud day in the
history of Templar achievements. Words
are too feeble to give utterance to the emo
tions as they spring up in the breast Of ev-
cry lover Of morality and religiOn,--of every
one who regards the happiness, present and
eternal, of bis fellow man, and the honor,
band the glory Of God, the Father Of us ALL
But, we desire,-indeed, we were not
honored as your speaker, to spend the few
moments, we shall detain you, in giving ex-
preston to thoughts which have 10 practt-
cdi bearing upon the cause which is dear to
every one here assembled. The cause of
Temperance, for which we labor, is not a
poetic one. The evils we could depict con-
nected with lntcmperance, are not the re-
suit Of an excited brain, an oyer-wrought
imagination. Alas theyar realities; they
meet us at every turn; we behold them in
every community; they erist in This commt,-
nitW
W lille we express our gratitude to Him
who has enabled us this day to rejoice over
advantages gained, let us now rccollcct that
the battle is not oycr,-the victory is not
ours. A strong, mighty foe, such as has
enslaved so many millions Of our race, and
for so long time, is not to be yanquishcd
in day, nor by few, however hard they
may fight. The Knight Templars of chiy-
alrlc times, were true and brave men; but
years OF marshaling, and disciplining. and
dear-bOught battles were necessary before
the great object Of their mission was accom-
plished They never permitted themselves
to lay aside their armOr, to disband their
organization, and take their ease, while the
painful fact stared them in the face-the
Sepulchre OF Jesus, a dishOnOred, desecra-
ted thing. Keeping in view an evil which
appeared to them to cry to heaven for ven
geance, they ceased not their unheard-of
tolls, and priyationS, and dangers, until the
''place where they laid Him, the Lord OF
gIory,-was rescued from sacrilegious hands,
and the deyotiOns Of brave and true TEN
plars offered at its shrine They had vowed
unto the Lord to remove this evil; and
when accomplished, the VOW which was
registered in heaven, no longer bound them.
They had performed the work assigned
them, and now they return to their far dis
tant homes with trophies and songs of vic
tory. The armOr, the spear, and the lance
are lain aside, and their brave and noble
deeds of chivalry are the theme Of the trou-
badours song for more than two centuries.
Brother Tcmplar mighty, vengeance
crying evil now exists in the world You
have vowed your VOW isrecorded on high,
that you would devote your life to the
removing of this great evil. The special
work yor have undertaken 10 perform, with
the blessing of an approving God, is, the
rescuing of your fellow man from alcohols
deadly effects the removing from society,
by proper moral and legal restrictions, the
use and traffic of alcoholic beverages. AS
long as this evil exists; as long as there is
man upon whom the infdel enemy, alco-
hol, has laid his sacrilegious, polluting,
damning hand;-as long as the tempter
himself is allowed to prowl over our globe,