Part I.

CLEARING AWAY THE BRUSH.
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JONATHAN BLANCHARD.
ASP The -R: -'T:
REASON FOR DISCUSSING THIS SUBJECT AND FOR THE PRESENT PUBLICATION.
Il
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.— I Thess. 5:21.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world—/ John, 4:1.
And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the. sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not dis- cern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right ?—Luke, 12:54-57.
And he saith unto them, Whose ts this image and superscription? They say unto him, Cesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.—Matt., 22:20, 2%.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet pres- ent with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your re- membrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.—John,
14:25, 26,
When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew i# unto you.—John, 16:13, 14.
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Gra PT ERT:
Secret societies have existed in the world for thousands of years. India, Egypt, Greece, Rome and the northern nations of Europe all had their ‘mysteries.’ These secret organizations were re- ligious in character and have furnished in part models on which modern secret societies have been constructed. The History of Initiation traces these likenesses and shows in some cases what is almost or quite lineal descent. These ancient secret orders belonged to the ruling classes and were part of the machinery by which kings, priests and soldiers ruled the toiling multitudes whom they enslaved. It would be an interesting study to explore the caves, to traverse the woods and mountains in which the candidates for the mysteries passed through the ceremonies which entitled them to places among the “initiated” and separated them from the “profane ;” but this we may not now do.
In our time and country, however, secret soci- _ eties have received their largest development and still they continue to increase. One has said: “It would have been as easy to take the census of lice
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14 Modern Secret Societies.
in Egypt as to name the lodges of our day.” Various reasons may be assigned to account for this fact. We are a free people and men may unite with any lodge to which they can gain ad- mission and may make a new lodge if they can- not enter one already formed. We have more money among the people than any other nation. Others may have had as much wealth as we, but in no nation was it ever so widely distributed. We have more leisure than the inhabitants of other countries. The hours of toil being shorter, the right of assembly unlimited, the instinct for companionship being strong, it is natural that men should organize and the same love of power and religious tendencies which caused the mys- teries, operating freely upon larger masses of men have developed the more numerous secret orders of our time.
We have or recently have had in our country well defined groups of lodges. There are the re- ligious like the Freemasons, the Oddfellows, the Jesuits and the Knights of Pythias; the political like the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Know Nothings and the Union League ; the patriotic like the Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Veterans; the temper- ance like the Sons of Temperance, the Good Templars, etc.; the industrial like the railway
Modern Secret Societies. 15
brotherhoods and the mechanics’ unions; the in- surance lodges like the Modern Woodmen, the Royal Arcanum, etc.; and the social, of which college fraternities are an example.
That these orders differ in many respects is. obvious from the classification. Some of them are more, others less elaborate in ritual and re- galia, but all are secret and this constitutes a reason for putting them into the same list. That they are very numerous all intelligent persons know. It is equally obvious that the cost in time and money of maintaining them is very great. It is also evident that the individual, social, po- litical and religious influence of these orders is important. Men do not gather year after year in large numbers at vast expense without being af- fected for good or evil. Lodges, like all other organizations with which men unite, affect them for better or for worse and it is the duty of all persons who wish to be intelligent respecting the age in v‘tich they live, to understand the secret society-system. Especially is this true of all who are by the call of God engaged as moral and réligious teachers. A minister who desires in any full way to be a guide to his people must have clear and well-defined views respecting lodg- ism. All those who look to him for guidance are cer-
16 Modern Secret Societies.
tain to be solicited to unite with secret orders. Both men and women will be urged to unite with them and special efforts will be put forth to gain the most influential, whether by reason of wealth, social standing or mental character. If any lodge denies this solicitation, all well in- formed persons know that it speaks falsehood.
Now it is the high office of ceachers and preachers to be guides to the souls of men and it is plain that no man in our day can fulfill this duty in one most important respect unless he is in- formed himself respecting this vast net-work of secret orders which overspreads our country and seeks to dominate the social, political, and ligious activities of men.
A few words should also be said in refers to this publication. There are many books on secret societies written by members and by those opposed to such institutions. One who buys and reads them would come to an understanding of the secret society question. But these books deal generally with a single order and oftentimes with only one phase of that order. The result is that to secure the information desired would be ex- pensive in both money and time. On a matter of so great and universal importance it is to be de- sired that there should be a brief, yet compre- hensive work, dealing in a thorough manner with
Modern Secret Socteties. 17,
all fundamental questions involved, yet so inex- pensive that all may own it and so shcrt that all may have time to read and understand it.
That such a work may be prepared the author is firmly convinced, for the differences between lodges are incidental, while the resemblances are essential. It is possible for any one who wishes to be thoroughly informed as to the. right or wrong of lodgism and the duty of an honest man concerning it, to gain the desired light with- out an unreasonable expenditure of money or time.
The author could wish that the task of prepar- ing this important work had fallen into abler hands, but such natural insight as he has has been aided by over thirty years of study and reflection and he truly trusts that the result may, by the blessing of God, be of service to many of his fellows.
He professes to be a free seeker after truth, desiring nothing but the good of men, the ex- tension of the church of Jesus Christ, and the glory of God, Nothing is herein written which is not sincerely believed to be both true and im- portant. Added light on any topic treated will be welcomed, whether it comes from those who agree with or those who differ from him in judg- ment. With these convictions he enters upon his
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18 Modern Secret Socicties.
task and prays that the Holy Spirit, who is freely promised to all humble and obediené believers, may guide him and those who read into all truth.
aoe ER” TE.
WHY IS FREEMASONRY MADE SO PROMINENT IN THIS DISCUSSION ?
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There are certain other widespread organizations— such as Freemasonry—which, we suppose, are in their nature hostile to good citizenship and true religion, be- cause they exact initiatory oaths of blind compliance and concealment, incompatible with the claims of equal jus- tice toward man and a good conscience toward God; because they may easily, and sometimes have actually, become combinations against the due process of law and government: because, while claiming a religious char- acter, they, in their rituals, deliberately withhold al! recognition of Christ as their only Savior, and of Chris- tianity as the only true religion; because, while they are in fact nothing but restricted partnerships or companies for mutual insurance and protection, they ostentatiously parade this characterless engagement as a substitute for brotherly love and true benevolence; because they bring good men into confidential relations to bad men; and because while, in theory, they supplant the church of Christ, they do also, in fact, largely tend to withdraw the sympathy and active zeal of professing Christians from their respective churches. Against all connection with such associations we earnestly advise the mem- bers of our churches and exhort them, “Be ye not un- equally yoked together with unbelievers."—Part of a paper adopted by the Illinois Congregational Associa- tion of Churches.
eA Pye RT,
Secret societies, as has already been remarked, are legion, and the thought is sometimes ex- pressed that undue prominence is. given to Free- masonry by those who are discussing the lodge movement. There are certain reasons for this prominence which it will be helpful to recall. In the first place, the Masonic order is, next to the Jesuits, the oldest of modern secret societies. The Society of Jesus was formed by Ignatius Loyola about 1540, and was the mightiest agent used by the church of Rome in checking the progress of the Protestant reformation. That order, though banished for its interference with civil govern- ment from almost every country in Europe, still exists and is one of the most powerful political agencies of our time. As it is the representative of a foreign church, so it is composed very largely of foreign-born persons and is essentially alien in its membership, as well as its principles. It camps in our country as the Turks do in Europe.
Freemasonry, next oldest of modern lodges, was organized in London in 1717 and will soon
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22 Modern Secret Societies.
be two hundred years old. It spread from Lon- don over the world and is stronger in the United States than elsewhere for reasons mentioned in the first chapter of this work. Freemasonry is secret like the Society of Jesus. It is also re- ligio-political or politico-religious like the Romish order, but it differs from it in that its officers and members are largely native born. Its members, instead of being confined to one church, are scat- tered among all religious bodies.
It has had a peculiar history in our country. In 1826 members of the order murdered a man who was publishing its secrets to the world. This fact becoming known, determined and long contin- ued efforts were made to bring to justice the murderers. The state of New York, where the murder occurred, went so far as to appoint spe- cial counsel to assist the regular officers of the law in ferreting out and bringing to punishment those guilty of this crime.
These efforts proved in vain. Ministers of re- ligion, officers of the law and men in all the walks of life united in successful endeavors to prevent any adequate punishment of Freemasons for the crimes of abduction and murder.
These offenses were in the process of time made known to the population of the United States. Men who were leaders in state and national af-
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fairs were interested regarding them. Thurlow Weed, Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, William Wirt, John Marshall and Daniel Webster all shared in the effort to break the power of this lodge which had committed the high crimes men- tioned above and successfully attempted the pro- tection of its bloody agents when their punishment was demanded by the courts.
Religious bodies were deeply affected. Many ministers of the gospel had belonged to Masonic lodges and left in horror when they learned that the order‘called for murder as a means of pro- tecting its ceremonies, obligations and penalties from public scrutiny. Others who had been so corrupted by the order as to justify all crimes committed in its defense were compelled to leave the lodges in order to save the pulpits where they secured their bread. Associations, conferences and other bodies adopted papers declaring mem- bership in Masonic lodges inconsistent with a credible profession of the Christian faith and in general, lodgism was cast out of the church of Jesus Christ.
Legislatures of states, as well as courts of jus- tice became involved in the discussion of the Masonic order. Committees with power to com- pel attendance and answers were created and laws were passed in Rhode Island and Vermont pro-
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24 Modern Secret Societies.
hibiting under penalty the administration of lodge oaths. The legislature of Pennsylvania, guided by Thaddeus Stevens and Governor Ritner, had an exhaustive report on the subject, but the bill failed to become a law.
The result of this widespread agitation in so- ciety, the churches, courts and legislatures was that Freemasonry became known to the great ma- jority of thinking people and the lodges went down like trees in a hurricane. Robert Morris, an eminent Mason, says that forty-five out of fifty thousand Masons left the lodges, most of them never to return. The public opinion which condemned Freemasonry at that time has never wholly died away. Here and there an old man lives who was personally acquainted with the transactions of those stormy days from 1826 to 1840. These old men and those whom they have taught are usually decidedly opposed to all secret societies, and a widespread feeling exists that honest men have nothing to gain by membership in them.
The result is that though Freemasonry has slowly crept back to power, it is still suspected and condemned by a large proportion of our citi- zens. | Whole churches forbid membership to those connected with lodges and thoughtful men in all walks of life agree with Wendell Phillips,
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who said: ‘Secret societies are not needed for any good purpose and may be used for any evil purpose whatsoever.”
It has followed that Freemasons have organized and controlled the swarm of little lodges which are born and die like the flies of a summer time. These inferior orders are baited with various pre- tenses to attract those who are indifferent or hos- tile to lodgism. Patriotism, temperance, socia- bility or love of home are drafted into the service of secretism. Men are told that these lesser or- ders are not secret societies and that the ostensible purpose is the real one. When these persons present themselves for admission they find an obligation to secrecy and an initiation like that of the Masons. The result is that the better class of men leave them, while a minority go on to the greater lodge which has manipulated the lesser for its own purposes.
For this reason it is needful to pay particular attention to Masonry. It uses the little lodges. It organizes them. It puts into them the essential evils of its own constitution. One who becomes heartily a member of the smaller will go on to the greater. The real nature of the minor and the major orders is the same. But the principles of lodgism are more fully developed in Masonry. The lesser lodges are usually transitory while
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26 Modern Secret Societies.
Masonry, like Jesuitism, abides, waiting, work- ing,
“Still as the breeze,
And dreadful as the storm.”
GH AE TER’ IIT
IS IT POSSIBLE TO KNOW WHAT LODGES ARE WITH- OUT UNITING WITH THEM?
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The learned, zealous and indefatigable brother, the Rev. George Oliver, dates the origin of Masonry even prior to the Creation, and traces its germs back through the mists of antiquity to the honeymoon of Paradise, gravely informing us that Moses was Grand Master, Joshua his Deputy, and Aholiab and Bezaleel, Grand Wardens.
Other Masonic writers, more modest, fix its origin at a somewhat later date; as, for example, Bro. Mitch- ell, who, relying wholly upon what he terms “the well- attempts to prove that the institution was founded at the erection of Solo- mon’s temple at Jerusalem; or as Thomas Paine, who pretends that it existed among the Druids * * * * or as another numerous class of authors, who assert
”
defined tradition of our rituals,
that it originated during the period of the Crusaders, among the Knight Templars or other chivalric orders.
These various opinions only show how unwise it is to assert more than we can prove. There is no record, sacred or profane, to induce us to believe that the Fraternity has been derived from any of these sources. * * * Let Freemasons give up their vain boasting, which ignorance has foisted into the order, and re- linquish a fabulous antiquity, rather than sacrifice com- mon sense.—‘The Origin and Early History of Mas- onry,” by G. W. Steinbrenner, Past Master. (Pages 19, 20.)
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