THE BUILDER OCTOBER 1917

THE ORANGE INSTITUTION
BY BRO. J.L. CARSON, VIRGINIA


The history of Ireland since the days when King John of England
(1199 to 1216) "built several forts and settled the English Colony
and Civil Government" there, has been one of turmoil and trouble.
Always the Celt against the Saxon, the Roman Catholic against his
Protestant fellow countryman.

From 1150 to 1550 no Irish were admitted subjects of, or received
benefit of, the English Colony or Courts, "Because !" says Butler
in his history of Ireland, "upon all occasions they declared their
malice and hatred against the English Colonists . . . whom they
mortally hated."

During the reign of Edward III it was declared high treason for any
of the English colonists to intermarry with the Irish, or to have
any dealings with them.

Thus for four centuries until the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
"Ireland had perpetual trouble and was overrun with misery,"
Protestant and Roman Catholic suffering alike. The rebellion headed
by the Earl of Tyrone was only subdued after the expenditure of
"nearly a million of money and much bloodshed" as also was the
second rebellion of the same Earl, during the reign of James I.
After these rebellions English and Scotch families settled on the
confiscated lands in Ulster, where they "Built good towns,
cultivated the land, and the country began to flourish." The very
Irish seemed to be satisfied. Roman Catholics and Protestants alike
enjoyed the free exercise of their rights, their religious
convictions and observances.

Unfortunately, this tranquility was not to last forever; in 1641
the Irish Roman Catholics suddenly rose in rebellion again; this
rising was "accompanied by horrid cruelties and abominable
murders," so much so that "three hundred thousand Protestants were
destroyed," sparing "neither sex, age or condition."

Oliver Cromwell with a firm and heavy hand crushed out this
rebellion, twenty-seven thousand Roman Catholics departed from the
shores of Ireland, and a new plantation of Scotch and English
families arrived in Ulster. These planters and their descendants
prospered exceedingly.

Although the conditions of peace seemed once again established, the
feeling between these Protestant and Roman Catholic peoples was
bitter in the extreme; therefore when the Earl of Tyrconnell became
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, reinstated Roman Catholics, evicting
the Protestants from the holdings they had received by grant or
purchase, things were ripe for a great upheaval. Led by that
notorious Jesuit Priest, Father Peters, the Roman Catholics
declared for James II. King of England, who had openly espoused the
Catholic Faith, and made treaties with the Pope and the King of
France.

The various histories of England tell of the events leading up to
the establishment of William III and Mary on the throne. The final
struggle for the crown took place on Irish soil. The Protestants of
the Ulster Plantation flocked to the standard of William, whose
party represented all we as Protestants hold sacred-- Civil and
Religious Liberty.

With the closing of the gates of Derry in the face of the Jacobite
army by the small Protestant garrison, who held the city under the
most trying conditions until relieved by the Williamite forces,
with the defeat of James' Army at Enniskillen and the Boyne, the
aspirations of the Jacobite party were forever overthrown.

The effect of these battles fought on the shores of the Erne, the
banks of the Boyne, and in the village of Aughrum, will be felt for
all time: representing the eternal struggle between Liberty and
Tyranny, the closing of the Gates of Derry by the Apprentice Boys
of the city, when the older inhabitants feared to take the
initiative, meant the closing forever in Great Britain of the
possibilities of Papal Supremacy in that Kingdom.

The Williamite triumph proclaimed to the world the principles of
Liberty in the life of a nation rather than the supremacy of
Protestantism, and the battle cry NO SURRENDER, raised in 1688 by
our loyal forbears, will ring throughout eternity.

For a hundred years the old feeling between the two religions
remained deep and bitter, as indeed it does today. They feel that
"Home Rule" means "Rome Rule," and Ulster that has always been
England's best friend and most loyal possession, refuses to be
alienated from the Empire, and handed over to an Irish majority,
dominated by Rome and governed by her prelates. "Rome never
forgives, never forgets." It was therefore felt by the Protestants
of Ireland that it was necessary to band themselves together for
"Mutual defence and safety." The organization of the ORANGE
INSTITUTION in the year 1795 was the result.

The name was selected in memory of "The glorious, pious and
immortal memory of William the Third, Prince of Orange" and the
motto of the war was significant of its purpose. "The Liberty of
England we will maintain; the Bible and the Crown we will support."

In this exceedingly short resume of the history of Ireland I have
tried to show the causes leading up to the establishment of the
Orange Institution. Now a few words about the Institution itself.

The internal construction of the Institution leads us to accept for
a fact the claim made that Thomas Wilson the founder was a
Freemason. I know the methods of recognition by signs, grips and
words, the system of Lodge Government, the vouching for visitors,
and a hundred and one other little details could only have been
introduced by a Mason. Tradition in the North of Ireland says he
was a renegade Freemason. Little, however, is now known of him.

The first Lodge was opened at Dyan, a very small village in the
County Tyrone, Ireland, and a Grand Lodge was immediately
constituted in Armagh in 1795, which soon afterwards removed to
Dublin. Lodges and Grand Lodges have been established all over the
English speaking world, and the Institution has done and is doing
a great work in a perfectly legal and constitutional manner. It is
keeping strict tab on the social and political encroachments of
Rome, stands for undenominational education and the freedom from
clerical domination of "The Little Red Schoolhouse." It is a
bulwark of English speaking Protestantism, the eternal enemy of
Romanism and Priestcraft. The membership today exceeds one million
five hundred thousand.

When the Institution first started there was but one degree, The
Orange; in 1796 The Royal Arch Purple degree was added; later under
what is known as The Royal Black Preceptory or Knights of Malta,
the higher degrees-of the order, were introduced, of which there
are quite a number. The Black Preceptory or Black Knights as they
are sometimes called resembles in formation the Knights Templar
Order in Freemasonry, and contains many of the elements of the
Masonic Knights of Malta.

Strange as it may appear, amongst many Masonic Knights Templar and
Orange Black Knights, there is a growing conviction that their
origin was a bid of the Roman Catholic Church to use these orders
for the purpose of overthrowing Protestantism in Great Britain.
Had the Church not fallen down on its propaganda results would have
been very different in the attitude of the Papacy to Freemasonry
today. Fortunately things turned out for the best. Papish in origin
the evolution of both these institutions has been helpful to the
Reformed Faith, so we as Masonic Knights Templar or Orange Black
Knights have cause to rejoice.

The Irish Black Knights grasped the Chivalric idea and incorporated
it into the Orange system, instead of Christ and His twelve
apostles using Joseph and his Brethren, ringing in Elijah and Baal
to offset Papal idolatry. The belief remains that these orders
sprung from a common origin. In the early days of the Institution
undoubtedly most Freemasons were Orangemen and many Orangemen were
Freemasons. This is a fact today in Ireland. But at the present
time the line of cleavage between the two orders is distinctly
marked and carefully maintained.

The Loyal Orange Institution is recognized as a purely political
Society, to which only Protestants are admitted, by ballot, and
into which all Protestants in good standing are welcome.

