The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-10-25

look u Him for wisdom, guidance, suecour, heip
and blessing Such Is an outline Of the primer
pies on which the Order Of Good Templars is
based. This Brotherhood is 2 great Temperance
Society. carefully organized IN accordance with
the spirit Of Christianity. =. IL stands alone, ana
unprecedented in It's moral aims and purposes
SOlidifed in It's peculiar constitution and govern
ment utilizing the good Of other and less Impor-
tart organizations 70 one cosmopolitan UNITY OF
and religious purpose and action attempt
inr only that which Is possible to men in the re-
mOyal Of stumbling blocks to spiritual lie, ana
the destruction Of physical agencies Of evil and
wrong, il depends on Divine guidance and bless
ing, and is second only as an existing institution
aud reformatory movement, 20 the great redempt-
i've and spiritual organization Of Heaven tor the
salvation Of human spirits and the Divine renewal
Of human hearts"
1.-THE objects at which we aim may be sum
med up under three heads we endeayor 70 lead
those who are not abstainers % become such TOR
life we seek TO reclaim and restore those who
have fallen and become the victims OF strong
drink we aim at so changing the current Of
public opinion on the subject of the drink traffic
as to secure by proper legislation its ultimate
suppression
i. The first aim Of Good Templarism is a most
important one, for all those who partake Of the
inebriating cup are in danger Of being overcome
by its power. The pledge which we adopt Is 10
abstain for life from all intoxicating drink. IhIs
is the keystone Of Templarism, and TO prevent
men breaking this pledge when once given, IS our
first end and aim. We endeavor TO convince all
men that alcohol even IN pure wines and liquors
is an enemy 10 life that il interieres mJurlOusly
with the functions Of the body, especially the
brain that its mischievous effects extend by the
operation of fixed laws to TIE mind, the social at
~fections, and the moral sensibilities Of the con-
sumer and that the appetite for drink when
once formed, is an insiduOusly Increasing one.
We believe that all moderate drinkers are in dan
ger Of being overcome, degraded and destroyed
by this insidious and mighty foe Of man. 1t has
been calculated that one out of every thirteen
moderate drinkers, dies a drunkard, and it cannot
be denied that all the drunkards now found in
our taverns, and brotbels, and warehouses, and
gaols, and lunatic asylums, once took intoxicating
drinks in very small or what are called moderate
quantities. But moderation paved the way for,
and laid the foundation of intemperance, and
what has happened in the case of so many IN the
past, may occur to others If they allow them
selves TO indulge at all in the intoxicating cup.
In order then TO save men from the curse OF in
Temperance we endeayor to lead them, and espe-
cially the young, TO take this pledge OF total alb
stinence for life, for We regard this as the only
really safe course for any one. IF it be urged
that many of those who are moderate drinkers
are well educated, our reply is that " thousands
Of well educated men and women, have fallen
victims to intemperance. Education, however
liberal, is no adequate protection, or positive
safeguard against drunkenness if the educated
drink at all" 1t is said by some in defending
the use of alcoholic drinks, that many of those
who use them are -strOng-minded and yirtuous.
but to this we are compelled to reply that many
strong-minded and once truly %virtuous persons
have, little by little yielded to the potent infuen-
ces of alcohol, and sunk down to mental debility
and moral pollution. There are those, again,
who tell us that many Of the moderate drinkers
are ~prolessed Christians, Members and Ministers
of Christian Churches, but to this our reply is
that hundreds of Church Members, and scores of
Christian Ministers have been hurled from posi-
tions of honor and usefulness, and consigned to
the depths of d%ishonOr, disgrace, and misery by
using intOxicants, and this Notwithstanding that
they at first took them in very small quantities.
In corroboration of what has Just been stated, /
will copy n few lines of a report Of the Trustees
of an : Inebriate's Asylum" in New York.
They say, in an appeal which they have issued to
the Churches and public, /" who can doubt the
vital importance of such an asylum, when even
before its first story has been completed, applica-
tons have been made for admittance, many of
which are from The patients themselves. Among
the applicants are % clergymen, 80 physicians,
- lawyers, ) judges, u editors, 4 army and ,
naval officers, 100 merchants, 50 farmers, 52l
mechanics, and 4l0 women most of them ladies.
What a summary Surely the demand is loud
TO the pulpit, the platform, and the press TO stay
the plague" Seeing then that our homes are
being robbed of their brightest jewels, our schools
of their lovliest flowers, our Churches of their
most promising and active members by strong
drink, we say, that man needs to protect himself
against an appetite which has proved fatal in so
many, and we arc bold TO advocate the lifelong
pledge Of total abstinence as n simple and sure
preventative against this wide and spreading evil.
2. Good Templarism seeks to reclaim and re-
store those who have fallen and become the vic
Tins Of strong drink. 1t is said by 4 writer on
the temperance movement. that there is good rea-
son to believe that IN Great Britain alone, there
are nearly q million persons. who are personally
injured by intoxicating drinks. Many of these
have been reduced to abject poverty, 10 dwelling
idiocy, to unutterable misery, and TO deep degra-
dation, and no less than 60,000 of them pass
away year by year TO the drunkard's certain
doom. During thespasJ year, (1S72) the Times
published two articles on " Habitual Drunkards,''
based upon the Report of 4 Committee Of the
House of Commons upon that subject. and in one
of those articles the Times says, - it is disheart-
ening to learn that those who have exceptional
opportunities of Judging. believe drunkenness to
be on the increase. Although we knew things
were bad enough, we had been inclined to console
ourselves with the idea, that time might be trusted
to palliate the greatest curse of the country.
Unless We are to make large allowance for tenn
porary circumstances, it would seem that such
hope IS illusory." Such being the case, there is,
a wide sphere for social reform in England. But
what of this Colony of New South Wales? With
a population of little over 500, 1000, there is q sum
of about 6, 900 900 spent annually in intoxica-
ting drink. There are about ESQ public houses
and $50 wine shops or a total of 800 to a popu-
lation of half a million, or one licensed house to
about every 200 of Our population. In the year
1870 there were 6,95S persons taken into custody
for being drunk in the streets; that gives one in
about every seventy-fve of the population. With
such facts before Us it is not difficult to form
some idea of the amount of drunkenness which
exists among ms. To rescue, reclaim, and restore
as many as possible of the fallen and perishing
ones, is one Of the objects of the Good Templar's
We are not content to look upon
g the tattered garments and inlamed eyes, and
footsteps, and the profound misery and
imminent danger !" of the inebriates around us:
our aim is to reach these people in their sin and
and earnestly, kindly, and persistently
by the help of God, " to raise them to positions
az saEarr hnnnr rirtna and nnsnurnnnt :, L