Part IV.

CONCLUDING CHAPTERS
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FRANZ PIEPER, President of Concordia College of Ger- man Lutheran Synod of Missouri.
“Al this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, with a firm and steadfast resolution to perform the same, without any hesitation, mental reservation or secret evasion of mind whatever; binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots, and buried in the rough sands of the sea, at low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four: hours.” — Masonic Entered Apprentice Penalty.
“Binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my breast torn open, my heart plucked out and placed on the highest pinnacle of the temple, to be de- voured by the vultures of the air.”—Masonic Fellow
Craft Penalty.
“A}l this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, * * * binding myself under no less a pen- alty than that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from thence and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven, that no more remembrance might be had of so vile a wretch as I should be, should I ever knowingly violate this my Master Mason’s obligation."—Master Mason's Penalty.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the begin- ning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh’ a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it—John 8.
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GHA PTE R* 1:
The two great obligations of all lodges are to obey and conceal, to do what the order directs and to conceal the work of the society from those not connected with it. These are common to all secret orders. But there are other obligations which are worth our study and to them we devote a little time.
The chapter in Part Second which deals with Masonic oaths need not be repeated. We request the reader to review it, however, that he may the better perceive the force of this. The Oddfellow, in addition to the two cardinal promises of secrecy and obedience, above mentioned, promises not to wrong a lodge, not to take part or share in an illegal distribution of lodge property, not to wrong an Oddfellow or see him wronged without seeking to help him, and to keep his oath sacred, even should he be expelled from the order. The Noble Grand instructing the candidate says that this obligation is “the most binding of any that can be given or received.” In the three degrees
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which are conferred after initiation the same promises for substances are repeated.
The Knights of the Maccabees swear in addi- tion to secrecy and obedience not to defraud a member or tent (lodge) of anything or allow others to do it. He also swears to protect the widows of knights and their orphans.
The Order of the Eastern Star obligates its members to relieve the necessities of brother and sister, not to speak disrespectfully of worthy brothers and sisters, but to give them due and timely notice that they may ward off approach- ing danger.
The Grange, a farmer secret society, now al- most extinct, but recently large and powerful, obligated its members to recognize all lawful signs given by brothers or sisters, to assist them as they may have need, if possible, not to wrong or defraud brothers or sisters of the order or to permit this to be done by others if in their power to prevent it.
The “United Sons of Industry”. swear never to wrong or defraud a brother nor permit it to be done by others if in their power to prevent it; to recognize all lawful signs given by members of the order and give them such assistance as they may be in need of, so far as they are able, not to give the grand hailing sign of distress or the
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word which accompanies it unless their lives are in danger, to go to the relief of persons giving that sign, to warn brothers likely to be cheated and to favor the promotion of brethren to places of honor. : :
The Nobles of the Mystic Shrine swear on the Bible and the Koran not to aid in conferring the degrees upon anyone not a Knight Templar, or a thirty-second degree Mason of the Scottish Rite, not to swerve from justice or duty, to re- spect virtue, protect the innocent, assist the dis- tressed, promote the inculcation of honor and integrity, dispense reasonable charity and defend the honor of any fellow lodge man of that de- . gree. They swear to this under penalty of hav- ing their eyeballs pierced with a three-edged blade, their feet flayed, and being compelled to walk on the hot sands of Arabia until the sun strikes them with lurid plague.
The Good Templar promises temperance, se- crecy, obedience and that he will not knowingly wrong a member of the order or see one wronged. In the third degree the Degree Templar calls on the candidates to place their right hands on their hearts and so standing to renew the promise of secrecy and in addition to agree to protect and defend Good Templars so long as they live.
The Foresters promise not to wrong a brother
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or see him wronged if in their power to prevent it, to take no part in any illegal distribution of the funds or property of the Court (lodge), and that if they cease to be Foresters their obliga- tion to secrecy shall remain in force.
The Knights of Pythias promise secrecy and obedience as all lodge men do and farther, that they will not speak ill of a brother until satisfied that he has done something deserving it, to re- lieve fellow lodge men in distress, to warn them of danger if possible, not to insult or have illegal intercourse with the relatives of a brother and not to discuss the affairs of the lodge in pres- ence of persons not known to be members of the order.
It would be easy to multiply this list, but is unnecessary. The instances cited are sufficient to show, first, the Masonic origin of these vari- ous orders. Conceal and obey, not to wrong a fellow lodge man or see him wronged, not to cheat or defraud a lodge or a brother, not to be guilty of adultery with the relations of a fellow lodge man. These are the staple obligations which in painful and wearisome iteration the in- itiate in the various orders is required to assume.
Second. They show the Satanic origin of the orders. The moral law requires righteousness and forbids sin. It does not obligate man to do
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right by a part of the human race, but by all men. To bind men not to strike, steal from or slander members of a secret clan or clique is distinctly a lawless proposition. It is also, of course, in- sulting to the individual, but that is a matter of minor concern. If Methodists were sworn not to steal from Methodists, Presbyterians not to steal from Presbyterians, and Congregational- ists not to assault, blackguard or rob Congrega- tionalists, even lodge men would see the devil- ish character of the obligations. But when a secret pagan church asks men thus to swear the god of this world has so blinded their eyes that they see no impropriety in it.
Third. They show how dangerous to civil lib- erty such organizations are. The law of the State echoes the law of God and requires equity. The law of the lodge is based on favoritism. The sanctions of lodge law are more fearful than those of civil law. Civil law, even in cases of murder and treason, punishes only by death; lodge law adds to this torture or dismember- ment. The result is that many lodge men con- sider their obligations as secret society men su- perior to their duties as citizens. Wherever this is the case you have an incipient treason. _
The fact mentioned in a preceding chapter that a judge in Iowa recently declared that a
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large proportion of the testimony given in our courts at the’ present time was perjury naturally results from this state of things. A man with two conflicting oaths on his conscience cannot keep both, may keep neither perfectly and will be very likely to pay no attention to any part of an oath except the penalty. As lodges are train- ing schools for murder so also are they for per- jury. As John Quincy Adams said: TaN tree bearing such fruit should be cut down.”
There are certain men who are in lodges “for revenue only.” They wish patients, clients, cus- tomers, votes, and in order to get them are will- ing to turn their backs on Jesus and affiliate with his enemies. Such persons will find nothing ob- jectionable in their lodge oaths and will be sur- prised that others should. But all patriots and Christians will look with dread upon the long procession of young men who are swearing them- selves into lifelong slavery to the lodge and are agreeing to conceal the vices and crimes of their fellow lodge men on condition that those fellow craftsmen shall do the same for them.
It is inexpressibly sad and horrible to think of thousands of men who should be good citizens and Christians swearing not to steal from lodge- men, not to strike lodgemen, not to slander lodge- men, not to commit adultery with the relations
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of lodgemen! How does the Holy Spirit look upon such oaths and the persons who take them? How will Christians unequally yoked in such fel- lowship look ipon them when the petty ambi- tions of earth are over and the solemn light of eternity is shining upon their souls ?
R. A. TORREY, Evangelist and Formerly Dean of Moody Bible Institute.
“A Masonic Lodge is the strangest medley of priests and murderers, deacons and whoremasters, church members and gamblers, decent men and loafers, drunk- ards and rowdies that the All-Seeing Eye looks down upon.”—A high Mason and a worthy man quoted by Judge Daniel H. Whitney, Past Master of Belvidere Lodge, Illinois.
“Tt is a lamentable fact, yet nevertheless true, that about all the mean men of a city or town can be found by reading the names in a Masonic directory of the place. * * * Beside, the leading lights in every lodge are bad men. They are brutish, licentious, unprincipled men. To be made a Mason is to be their tool. They want you for your money and the good you can do them. Ofttimes these leading lights are the most dan- gerous members of society. * * * Woe be to that Mason who refuses to bow to the high priests of his lodge. I have known poor men in the order perse- cuted, driven from their situations, their families brought to the very verge of starvation, and they them- selves treated in the most barbarous and hellish man- ner by these high-handed brothers, because they refused to second their villainy..—From Behind the Bars, pp. 239, 240. The author was a Mason of Jersey City, N. J.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers : ~ for what fellowship hath righteousness with unright- eousness? and what communion hath light with dark- ness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?—II. Cor. 6.
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CLAP T ER. TL.
There is one section of the evidence about lodges which is necessarily drawn from those who have become connected with them, and this is of such importance as to require special at- tention. This testimony is not needed to prove that modern secret societies are evil. That is abundantly shown from the religion, the history and the philosophy of the orders. But a com- plete view of the subject demands a study of the inside as well as the outside, and we can only secure information about the inner working of the organizations from those who have become connected with them.
It is objected to such testimony that the per- sons who give it having sworn to conceal what they reveal are unfit to be believed and that their testimony must therefore be rejected. This ob- jection we wish to examine; and first:
The persons who have come out from the se- cret lodges and have revealed the hidden works to the public are almost without exception among the best persons who were in the orders. Samuel
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