Transcript of addresses from the Grand Orient banquet, 1894 July 22

Handwritten portions of addresses by the Grand Orient of France and Supreme Council of Belgium, regarding the tolerance of Masonic institutions. Includees an address by Deguaire-Grobel, member of the Council of the Order and of the Grand College of the Rites of the Grand Orient of France. Deguaire-Grobel states that the Grand Orient of France has been often misunderstood, claiming that the aim of Freemasonry is to assure the acceptance or denial of belief in God. He closes by asking for tolerance and respect from other Masonic bodies. A member of the Supreme Council of Belgium also spoke to the importance of tolerance and the uniqueness of Masonic institutions in the emphasis of a feeling of solidarity of all men, regardless of religious, social, or political views. He also addressed the negative attacks on Freemasonry by the Pope. The document closes with a portion of a speech by B. Latin [sp?], vice-president of the Grand Orient of France, at the banquet of July 22, 1894 in which he compares Christian and Masonic ethics stating that Christian ethics went against the best laws of nature by exalting fasting, celibacy, and mendicancy and preaching inequality of mankind, while Masonic ethics embrace oneness with humanity. He also argues that the Grand Orient of France has been misunderstood in the elimination of "Grand Architect of the Universe," claiming that deist philosophy dominated in the previous century, while naturalists, positivists, and atheist doctrines now taking form. The Grand Orient embraces a standard of tolerance by including both atheists and deists in membership.