CHAPTER VI.

Does opposition to lodges injure those who . offer it? At times undoubtedly it does, so far as earthly prospects are concerned. God has made no promise to his children that they shall be exempt from trial and persecution; on the contrary, he has assured them of both.. “If ye were of the world the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
These are solemn truths and they forbid the Christian to look for peace and prosperity alone while in the pathway of duty. But there are other truths also and the full view is obtained by comparing both rather than by devoting ex- clusive attention to either. The same Holy Word from which I have quoted declares that ‘“Godli- ness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” Of the one who meditates in God’s law it is declared that “whatsoever he doeth shall
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prosper,” and Jesus said that “the meek shall inherit the earth.”
If then lodgism is evil and anti-Christ, we may expect opposition to it to awaken hatred in wicked men, but not to interfere, on the whole, with the well-being of persons or organizations who op- pose it. All manifestations of godliness will cause evil persons to rage, but a divine hard and wisdom will secure God’s followers from essen- tial injury. Their property may be destroyed, their lives taken, but God will be the strength of their hearts and their portion forever.
Allowing then for apparent, not real excep- tions, we answer that speaking the truth concern- ‘ing secretism will not injure the witnesses who utter it. They may prosper in business and churches may grow in members and power while being faithful to this and all other present truth. The Christian conduct of merchandising, of the law or medicine or mechanical industries or agri- culture is entirely consistent with great pros- perity. “The meek inherit the earth.” There is, however, so strong an opinion to the contrary that we devote a little time to the subject. It is ob- vious that on this and all other topics of present interest the truth must be spoken in love if we expect the best results. God has promised to bless courage and faithfulness, and He does, but
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He has not promised to bless harsh and censorious thoughts, feelings or words. He cannot show approval of such/defects without denying Him- self. Thus he will not do it. Someone says: “If you see many clubs and stones under a tree you may be sure that it bears good apples or has a wasps’ nest in it.” We are in danger of charg- ing to God’s truth the results of our own folly, ill temper and indiscretion.
Another element in the case is the courage with which the truth is spoken. God is a king and his messages are to be delivered with bravery as well as gentleness. Many a man has ruined his fortunes because he held important truths and dared not utter them freely. Men of the world hated him for his opinions. God was disgusted with him because of his cowardice.
Still a third difficulty is the discerning of times and proportions. The organ of God’s word has thousands of pipes and harmony results from the proper balancing and blending of their tones. If we blunder as to times and seasons we should not lay that up to the account of the truth but to the account of our own ignorance, haste or imprudence.
If we will reflect I think all will admit that often the brave, humble witness is cared for very tenderly by his Heavenly Father. It is beautiful
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to observe that when Stephen was being stoned he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. When Christ had overcome the bitterness of death He sct down on the throne of power but when His servant suffered He rose as one interested in the result. Not a stone struck the body of the martyr that was not felt in the heart of Jesus.
It is certain that more and more the comferts of life are falling to the lot of Christians. The homes, modes of conveyance, and public buildings in Christian lands are vastly superior to those in pagan parts. The churches which have a dis- position to hear a testimony to the truth are in respect to conversions and male membership far superior to those of other classes. The only churches of which the writer knows which have proper proportion of male members on church roll and in Sabbath-school are those which instruct their members as to the character and tendency of secret societies. One who will attend Sabbath services in a good Reformed or United Presby- terian church or in the Swedish Methodist or German Baptist or Swedish Mission, will, I think, be greatly surprised at the number of men, young, middle-aged and old, in attendance, unless he has been conversant with these churches. How desti- tute ordinary Protestant churches are of young men, all students of the subject well know.
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- Pastor Groen of Holland, Mich., in a recent address gave valuable testimony on this point. He said that in his church and in those near at hand practically all the young men were held for the church. He mentioned one! case in which a man refusine to leave some lodge which he had joined was excluded from the church and soon returned. How much better than to have had him half in the church, half in‘the lodge, yoked un- equally with unbelievers, periling his soul for a little earthly advantage, of little value to the church even while in it!
Our Lord spoke sound philosophy as well as Christianity when he said, “No man can serve two masters.” He does not say “ought,’’ He says “can.” He expresses the impossibility of a di- vided allegiance. In the end even when men try to serve two masters, they choose, and one is loved while the other is hated.
Persons who will study the praver-meetings, Sunday-schools and other Christian societies in towns where lodges flourish and in places where churches require their members to abstain from such -orders; will soon see that bowing to the world is not only poor Christianity but poor pol- icy as well. If men or churches are willing to lose their lives for Christ’s sake, they will save them; if they seek to save them by uniting with
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the world, they will lose them. “Be not de- ceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man | soweth that shall he also reap.”
Geren BR Vik,
CAN WE RELY UPON THE REVELATIONS OF THE SECRET WORK MADE BY SECEDERS?
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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to for- give uS our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- ness.—/ John, 1:9.
And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and as a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever if be that 2 man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing.—Lev., Bele As.
[wo men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulter- ers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote uzon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted —Luke, 18: 10-14.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.—II. Cor. 3.
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Can we rely upon the revelations made by se- ceders? We have spoken on this subject from one point of view, but as it is important we spend a few moments looking at it from another.
The time has passed when honest men who have been members of the greater lodges deny the truth of the published rituals. They now deny inferences but do not question facts. For example, they admit the penalties of throat-cut- ting, beheading and disemboweling, but affirm that they mean nothing. They admit the obligations to partial benevolence, partial charity, partial chas- tity, partial honesty and the like, but claim that those who administer and those who receive these obligations are not thereby induced to sin or jus- tified in it.
There are, however, ignorant or dishonorable persons who still declare that the testimony of seceders from secret societies is worthless, that the only way one can become informed as to the ritual of a lodge is to join it, and that if he shouid feel that the organization was a sinful one and
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that he ought to testify against it, his word could not be believed. In view of the fact that there are a few such people, we invite your considera- tion to the following facts:
1. It is the duty of all honest and worthy men to seek by all legitimate means the removal of all things which dishonor God or injure men.
2. An oath or obligation to conceal and per- petuate things which would thus dishonor God or injure men is a sinful and wicked oath. In- stead of favoring such things men should expose and destroy them.
3. Men who take such obligations knowingly are guilty of presumptuous sin; those who take them ignorantly are in a secret fault which is to be repented of and forsaken when known.
4. As long as such oaths are not broken, the sin involved in them is not repented of and cannot be forgiven. This is the position of President Charles G. Finney. It seems harsh but is whole- some and will result in the liberty of all who be- lieve and obey it.
5. A man who takes an oath to conceal the work of an order cannot be believed when he speaks concerning it until he is willing to break his‘oath. It is absurd to believe what a man says concerning an order when he openly declares that
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' he considers himself bound to keep the truth from you.
6. Instead therefore of it’s being impossible to credit what seceders say about secret orders, it is entirely possible to believe them if they are truth- ful men, and it is on the other hand impossible to believe the statements of adhering members of such orders until they are willing to break their oaths.
Another line of argument which conducts to the same end is this. Lodges when initiating men affirm before the oaths are taken that these oaths do not conflict with any of the duties which the candidates owe to family, country or God. On this assurance the candidate proceeds and the validity of the oath depends upon the truth of this statement, which is really, though not verb- ally, its condition. Men who have seceded from lodges declare that the oaths, instead of interfer- ing with none of their duties to home, country or God, interfere with all of them, and that they cannot possibly be loyal to family, church and fatherland without renouricing these secret or- ders. This being true, it is their obvious duty to speak the truth concerning the orders and to break the oath which was obtained by an assur- ance which they have found false.
_Of course, men who do not think the oaths sin-
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ful are not bound to break them, but they cannot rationally ask to be believed by outsiders so long as they admit themselves bound to conceal the work of the lodges to which they belong. An oath not to reveal may consist with truth, but an oath to conceal is virtually an oath to lie. Herod swore to give a girl what she asked. She asked for the head of a holy man. Herod was not bound to commit murder. He was bound to break his oath. He sinned when he took it.
Another line of argument of great weight is this: When one testifies against himself, to his own discredit, his witness is doubly strong and in the absence of contradicting proofs should be believed. All seceders add this great weight to their evidence. They say, “We passed through these ceremonies. Ve were blinded, stripped, haltered, led about, sworn. We saw the box of bones, were in pretense killed and buried, jumped on the spikes, were bound to the stakes.”
The persons who bear this testimony are not the worst but the best men who have been con- nected with these orders. Many of them are Christian workers, like David Bernard, Charles G. Finney, Colonel Clarke, Wm. S. Jacoby, Joseph Travis and scores of others. They bear their testimony knowing that they will be maligned by the baser element ‘in.the lodges and that possibly
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their business interests will suffer because of what they say. It would be difficult if not impossible to name a consideration which strengthens evi- dence which is wanting in this case. We repeat, the testimony of seceders when they are men of good character is to be received and no lodge man is to be believed when he-contradicts them respecting the inside work of lodges. One who is sworn to conceal the work of an order and who admits that his oath is valid, cannot be believed when he speaks concerning it. A man who wishes to be believed must put himself into a position where he can speak the truth.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hith- erto, and I work.—John, 5:17.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.—/ohn, 6:28, 20.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth i righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.—Isa., 45:22, 23.
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea—Hab., 2:14. '
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Matt, 7: 7, 8, te
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.— Rev. 19.
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This little book is, as intimated, a compendious discussion of a tremendous subject. Idolatry has been the great sin of the world and it is so still. It is not a solitary transgression but leads to every vice and crime that has ever cursed the world. Paganism is the ruin of the race. If aman obeys the first commandment he will obey all the rest; if he disregards God he will never properly re- gard man.
The worship of demons is characterized by these great lines of demoralization. Such wor- ship makes men false, cruel and unclean. These signs of evil faith are not wanting to the lodge systems of our day. Men are killed. in initia- tions, are killed because they speak the truth about the secret ceremonies through which they have passed. Lodges and chapter houses become brothels and the persons who control and live by these orders do not hesitate to lie to sustain them. Then, as if to provoke heaven to the uttermost, the vile and wicked men who belong to them are set to carry the Bible or say prayers or do some-
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thing else of religious sort in the ceremonies and are all sent to heaven when they die. Men who fear God should have no fellowship with organiza- tions of this sort. To “come out from among them and be ye separate” is the first duty of those who have become entangled; to stay out and re- main separate is the first duty of those who have never been ensnared.
The second duty is the duty of protest. In New Brunswick three grogshops were dehauching a community in violation of law. One young man, single-handed and alone, closed them up and sent their keepers flying for fear of farther penal- ties. In Rockford, Illinois, three men stopped the racetrack gambling which a large number of business men and blacklegs wished carried on. Wm. Morgan in 1826 revealed Masonry and it lay as one dead for twenty years. The redemption of the world hung upon the faith and courage of the Redeemer. Had He failed all would have been ruined.
Just so now, in every community what is needed is some brave heart to lead the way. Others will follow and evils will be blotted out and righteous- ness established if only there be the leader. The heart of humanity bears witness even to the truth of God. Even devils believe and tremble. No
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great system of evil ever yet prevailed against the testimony of true witnesses.
Fear of pecuniary loss, fear of social ostracism, fear of political disadvantage, fear of personal violence, fear of death, desire-for-pelf or place or power, these are the things that paralyze the lips of men and permit God-defying, man-ruining in- iquities to flourish even. under the altars of God.
Jesus commissioned his disciples as witnesses. He says of Himself that He came to bear witness to the truth. The Holy Ghost also is declared to be a witness and He codperates in testimony with His followers. In the Revelation it is said that the victors overcame “by the word of their testimony and the blood of the Lamb.”
“Get but a truth once uttered,
And: ’tis like a star,
Which drops into its place,
And which, once settled in its placid round, Not all the tumult of the earth can shake.”
This duty of testimony is on all Christians alike. The pulpit cannot shirk it onto the pew nor the pew onto the pulpit. Seceders cannot leave it to those who have never united with lodges nor the latter to the former. Many brave souls have perished in the moral conflicts of the ages becattse
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those who should have stood by them have waited in cowardly silence or ignoble ease until the truth was crucified.
Wesley’s motto: “All at it, always at it,” is the motto for the church in its struggle with evil. It is said that the breastworks are so much more attractive than the firing line; that so many pre- fer to warm themselves with Peter among the enemies of Jesus, rather than stand forth by His side as witness for Him.
A third duty is that of faith for the triumph of the truth. Unbelief is usually considered by men a misfortune or at most a trifling fault, while God puts it among the basest of crimes. That it is the cause of all evils, that it is the mother of all sins and abominations, each thoughtful man can see, Satan began his assault on the race with an appeal for unbelief: “Hast God said?” “Ye shall not surely die,’ and then came the murder of a brother.
To doubt the triumph of Jesus Christ is to question His character and to refuse the whole of holy scripture as authoritative teaching. We are in duty. bound to keep ourselves free from sin, to testify against it and to expect its over- throw. And while this is true of all sin, it is especially true of those sins which are strong by
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reason of numbers, wealth and social or political power. Even the heathen Atsop, when asked by a skeptic, “What is God doing?” replied, “He is abasing the proud and exalting the humble.”
We are also exhorted-to faith and effort by the progress which has already been made. This world is far from ideal. Many and powerful evils still toss their heads and breathe their defiance of God upon His air. But they have a goodly com- pany of other evils which have already slunk away into the dark caverns whence they came and the eye of faith can read the death doom of each one on its guilty forehead.
The rule of unbridled despots, the slavery of women, the wrongs of childhood, the slavery of men, the curse of war, these if not gone are go- ing. Paganism, which was father and mother to these vices and crimes, is discredited in the lands which it has ruled. In modern secret societies, with their Christless prayers and pagan rituals, and despotic organizations, and secret assaults on the home, the church and the state, it makes an attack on the Bride of Jesus in the lands which she has redeemed. When this assault is repelled and the church and prayer circle are promoted to their proper place among men, the morning will dawn, for then the Sun of Righteousness will
have arisen with healing in His wings.
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God grant His blessing upon each reader of these lines and give him grace to share in the ~
wartare and the victory.
ry A ppendix
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The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Mis- souri, Ohio and other States recognize lodgism as diametrically opposed to the Christian religion. The: very essence of the Christian religion is the doctrine of salvation by grace of God, through faith in Christ's vicarious atonement; the religion of the lodge is salva- tion by man’s own efforts. These two are incompatible. —Frang Pieper, D. D., President Concordia Lutheran College, President German Evangelical Synod of Mis- sourt.
I do not see how an intelligent, consecrated Chris- tian can belong to a secret order. It is express dis- obedience to God’s plain command, II Cor. 6:14. I do not believe it possible for a man to be an intelligent Christian and an intelligent Mason at the same time— Rev. R. A. Torrey, Superintendent Moody Bible Insti- tute, Chicago, and World-renowned Evangelist.
I have no sympathy with secret, oath-bound societies. The Scripture clearly teaches that Christians should not enter into an alliance with ungodly men. “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?” II Chr. 19:2—W. G. Moorehead,