We keep time by dates and events. They enable us to think
on the way we have travelled and to be glad and sad at what
they bring to mind. We may look back on the time we have lived
to recall how we were affected by what happened to us in the
short passage of the years. It is harder to imagine what life
was like for our forebears in other times. We are helped in
that by historians, and scientists in many fields of study
of human behaviour and activity, to acquaint ourselves with
the thinking and living of people who down the centuries have
left us a heritage to make us what we are.
The story of the past, even when it is in short chapters
for easier understanding, is complex in the extreme, often
puzzling with all the human virtues and vices in it. The end
of a century in which more scientific progress was made than
in all the centuries before, is itself a reason for commemoration,
and of appreciation by those who enjoy a standard of living
so much better than that of their family before them. But
the world is ill divided, and for those who have reason to
be thankful there are many more for whom life is a struggle
for very existence. Because there have always been the haves
and the have-nots, there remains the constant imperative on
the one to relieve the distresses of the other.
It is hard enough to highlight the happenings of the 20th
century with its wars, civil wars, calamities of nature and
horrific happenings in personal, community, national and international
relationships. Very much harder is it to consider the centuries
before except by cursory examination generally, and the concentration
on pivotal events which remain important to us as Orangemen.
And so in the millennium we concentrate on the Protestant
Reformation and the Glorious Revolution with their implications
for faith and freedom for us and all people.
Because these events govern much of our thinking and help
to mould our characters. It was from them and what they represented
that the Orange Institution came into being in 1795 set for
the propagation and defence of Protestantism and the making
of a society in which there would be "Civil and religious
liberty for all: special privileges for none". We look
back with pride on the work and witness of Orange Order brethren
who were true to the ideals of the brotherhood.
And in the knowledge that their contribution to society was
wholesome in religion and politics; that the benefits of membership
were tangible for they encouraged and helped the members to
be very good citizens. Their record in religion and politics
and in every lawful pursuit is most creditable.
While that has been acknowledged by sensitive observers of
the value and influence of the Order there have always been
those who opposed it for reasons that are stated to show greater
ignorance of the Institution than knowledge and experience
of it. They selected a few issues on which to mount their
attacks on Orangemen - their anti-Roman Catholicism; their
obsession with parading and their conduct when it contradicts
their lofty ideals.
A proper valuation of the Orange Institution would come from
an honest examination of its resolutions and statements; its
literature and charitable works; its neighbourliness and cross-community
activities. They show that in everything Orangemen are pro-Protestant
and not anti-Roman Catholic; that the antipathy of the Institution
to beliefs and practices in Roman Catholicism is shared in
the Articles and confessions of the Protestant churches.
The intention of the Order is to stress the value of the
Protestantism which expresses itself in commitment to Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour, the one mediator between God and
man, in the fellowship of His Church. There is no antipathy,
Orangemen to Roman Catholics. Sharing together is often an
everyday experience.
We cross into the new millennium determined to maintain our
stand for Protestantism and to work for the good of society
unselfishly and impartially. We shall increase our use of
modern methods of communication to ensure that the truth about
the Orange Order is known to people everywhere.
We are committed to the making of the good society, and in
Northern Ireland to devolved government with that peaceful
purpose which precludes from it those who have arms in store
and determine to keep them there for their own purposes.
We go into the new millennium with the hope and expectation
that the Institution will be strengthened in its pursuit of
all that is good and in its determination to assist the lawful
authorities in their efforts to produce and maintain a peaceful
and prosperous country.
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