D. D., Professor in United Presbyterian Theological

Seminary.
He who begins by halving his heart between God and mammon will end by being whole-hearted for the world and faint-hearted for Christ. Therefore we urge upon Christians the duty of separation—separation from as- sociations that are secret, that they may live an open life of devotion to Christ; separation from societies that assess a tax on time which is already mortgaged for its full value to the Lord. We are affirming what a wide experience has taught us in this matter. We have never known a good lodgeman who was a good churchman.—A. J. Gordon, D. D., late Pastor Claren- don Street Baptist Church, Boston.
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IS THE FAMILY A SECRET SOCIETY?
I have in a preceding chapter spoken brieily of this question, but a friend to whom the proofs have been submitted suggests that it should be more thoroughly dealt with, and accordingly it is re-examined in detail. A leading minister of the Congregational body says: “Every family is a secret society,” and one of the most common re- marks on the part of those who seek to defend lodges is to the same effect; it is worth while to inquire if this is true.
If that minister were to call at my door and ring the bell, and I were to meet him and neglect to ask him to come in he would’ be surprised. If I were to ask him what he wished and he should reply; “I desire to confer with you,” and I should answer: “Well, you can enter, but before you do so it will be necessary for you to take an obligation which will not interfere with any of the duties you owe to yourself, your family, your country, or your God,” he would no doubt be yet more astonished.
Still, if he wished very much to see me, he
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might signify his willingness to take the oath and I might proceed thus: “Please repeat your name and say after me as follows: I hereby promise and swear that I will never reveal to mortal man anything which I see or hear in this house and I bind myself to this promise under no less penalty than that of having my throat cut across and my tongue torn out, so help me God.”
What would he by this time think? He would probably come to believe that my house was a murderer’s, or at least a thieves’ den. If he were himself an honest man he would in all probability say that he did not care to enter any man’s house on those terms.and walk away. If he entered, all his suspicions would be alive until he became as- sured that I was a fool and not a criminal. This simple illustration shows how weak or wicked is the oft-repeated statement that “The family is a secret society.”
There are two sorts of families; some where love and order reign and where the home life is pure, sweet and wholesome. There are other homes where shames or crimes are common. The Bender family in Kansas was one of the latter. The custom of that family was to murder strang- ers passing by, bury their bodies in the yard and appropriate their effects. This family was a secret order and all like it are seeret orders, but no
Modern Secret Societies. 299
‘family which has neither shame nor crime to con- ceal is a secret society.
But men say, are there not many things in the life of every home which are not published in the paper or made subjects of general conversation? Undoubtedly this is true, but the ordinary home, where parents and children are honest, does not hesitate to admit guests, even strangers, without any pledge of concealment. The common sense of cultivated people leads them not to speak of private matters; obligations to secrecy are never needed except in cases of shames or crimes.
Examples are on every side. Take the different ways in which a man goes to his own home and a brothel, or a gambling den. In the one case he is happy, open and care-free. In the other, if he is, not entirely shameless, he is anxious, secretive and burdened. He does not ¢are if all the world knows that he goes home to wife and babies; he does not want anyone except his companions in vice or crime to know that he goes to the other resorts.
Or consider the different state of mind in which a man in his room changes his soiled linen for that which is fresh and clean, and that in which he puts on garments stolen from his neighbor’s house or store. In the one case he changes his shirt in private, but he is willing the whole world
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should know what he is doing; the suggestion that secrecy is required would be ridiculous. In the other case he wants no one to know what he is doing. He is a thief and the instinct of crime is concealment.
Adam and Eve, as soon as they had violated the divine law, went and hid themselves. This has been the custom of evildoers from that day, and also from that day honor has been frank and open, neither seeking to hide nor asking others to con- ceal its words, ways or works. When a boy or a girl begins to conceal things from good parents seeds are planted which ripen into tragedies. When husbands or wives begin to have secrets from one another, or to feel the need of concealing what they say and do from others there is the beginning of sorrows.
If a family conducts a fence for the handling of stolen goods, or a house of assignation for the destruction of virtue, or a gambling den for the securing of money in violation of law, or a mint for the manufacture of counterfeit currency, or a center for conspirators against life or government, it then instantly becomes a secret society. It needs tilers, passwords, grips, signs and tokens. But so long as it is a clean, honest family, where honest parents raise honest boys and girls, it is not a secret society and no man who is thoroughly
Modern Secret Socictics. 301
honest and knows what he is speaking of calls it so. :
Take a lodge and see how totally distinct it is from the family or the courtroom, or the hall of legislation. The man who wishes to enter home, church, court or congress walks in. No one for- bids, no one asks questions. If some private mat- ter makes an immediate entrance inconvenient, in a few moments the doors swing open and without tax or oath he is welcomed.
In the lodge he comes up to a guarded door and must satisfy the tiler that he has obligated himself to forever hide what he hears and sees before he can be admitted. Or if he be a candi- date he must agree to this perpetual secrecy as a condition of admission. Then, too, in one form or another he binds himself to conceal not merely the work of the orders, but the secrets of the members. This obligation is very clear in Masonry and is occasionally found in other or- ders.
It is obvious that an obligation to hide the secrets of a body of men, some good and some evil, cannot possibly be reconciled with good morals. One may thus find himself partner be- fore the fact, or after it, in any crime. The case of William Morgan is in point. His murderers were protected and their crimes concealed by men
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of all grades. Ministers of religion, officers of the law and honored members of all trades and professions united to screen murderers from the penalty of the law. Such organizations as this are not like any worthy family and ought not to be encouraged by any Christian man or woman. We should have no fellowship with such unfruit- ful works of darkness, but rather we should re- prove them.
THE BEST INSURANCE.
This chapter is a personal testimony intended to lead men to trust God for daily needs. It is written with some hesitation and my own feelings would have led me to omit it altogether. Occa- sionally I have mentioned some of the facts here recorded for the encouragement of my brothers, but I have never given the testimony as a whole and I feel that it is due to God who has so tenderly led me, to the church whose greatest danger is a lack of faith in the present help of God, and to those who have never come to trust Him at all and who join secret societies in order to secure the temporal help which God promises to all who believe in Him.
I do not think God has cared for me because of my righteousness, for I have been and am a very unworthy disciple. I believe all that he has done for me he is ready to do for my brothers, who are in many respects more worthy than I, but who have not learned to rely upon the promises of Jesus, and hence seek out human supports of various sorts to enable them to get on. If only we
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trust Him we shall find Him true, and able to do more than we can ask or even think. If we trust Him to save our souls, why should we not rely upon Him to clothe our bodies, to feed us and to shelter us from cold and storm.
I graduated from college in 1870. It was my plan to enter Andover Seminary and go on to the work of the ministry. Providentially I was led to enter the work of the “National Christian Asso- ciation,” and the day after I took my degree I was standing on a dry goods box, on the corner of a street in Belvidere, at three o’clock in the afternoon, urging men to avoid secret societies, The association at that time had no funds and promised me nothing for the work. For about six months I labored thus, kindly welcomed to many Christian homes, clothing and traveling ex- penses were provided by those among whom I worked, and the Board of Directors of the Asso- ciation then said that it was not just that I should labor without compensation and agreed to see that I received one hundred dollars per month and my expenses.
It was a trying work. My life was constantly threatened and yet was always guarded. At the end of two years there were, I believe, eighteen men engaged in the work which in 1870 I had taken up alone. It seemed possible for me to
Modern Sccret Societies. 305
leave the field without injuring the work, and 1 did so, entering service as Principal of the Prepar- atory School of WHEATON CoLLEGE, my alma mater.
The college was at that time struggling for very life and agreed to pay me six hundred dollars per year. The year before I had received about six- teen hundred dollars as salary and expenses. The first year in the college I received two hundred and seventy dollars in cash and a note for two hundred and thirty. It was a great change in in- come and it would have been difficult or impos- sible to continue on such a basis.
At this time, when my need was so imperative, the Association asked me to assist by acting as a secretary, and for such service as I could render paid me twenty-five dollars per month. This three hundred dollars made it possible to go on with the college work and still to pay my ex- penses, though it was altogether a moderate in- come.
After two years the Association did not need me and the three hundred dollars was cut off. About that time I was coming north from Mound City, Illinois, and stopped over Sabbath to visit my father’s brother, William Walter Blanchard, who lived at Paxton in Ford County. The Pres- byterian Church was without a pastor, and, ask-
306 Modern Secret Societics.
ing me to preach for them, afterward requested me to preach for them a year and paid me twenty dollars a Sabbath for the work. Thus again I was provided for.
The following year that church secured a pas- tor and my work closed. I was soon, however, asked to preach in the Independent Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Streator, which I did for
a year, receiving from the people fifteen dollars’
for each Sabbath, which enabled me to get on by the loving care and industry of the saint who presided over my home.
Those were days of struggle for the College. The debts, which amounted to about ten thousand dollars in 1870, had risen to over twenty-two thousand in 1877. ;While laboring at Streator I had become acquainted with a man who was one of the most true and kind and brave men I ever met. In the effort to pay the debt he was a large contributor and a wonderful inspiration and help.
The debt was entirely raised and paid. It was in part borrowed money and in part arrears to teachers. My own share of the arrearage was nearly thirteen hundred dollars. In order to gét the work done, it seemed needful that I give as others did, and take in settlement property which was not especially valuable. It turned out that I was the only creditor of the institution who re- ceived no money in the payment of that debt.
Modern Secret Societies. 307
It seemed a little hard, but necessary, and I was glad to sacrifice in so good a cause. The in- terest account was cut out and the work went on with new hope and courage. After the debt was paid, my dear friend in’ Streator~said to me one day as I sat in his home: ‘Brother, my wife and I have been thinking of making you a present.” I thanked him and he continued: ‘We wish to _give you five thousand dollars in the stock of a coal company, which we think is a good property, or two thousand five hundred dollars in cash, as you prefer.”
The result was that those friends invested two thousand five hundred dollars for me at eight per cent, and thus more than made up to me what I gave in the settlement of the college debt. One hundred per cent is nothing to our Heavenly Father. This was not the last help received from those dear friends. The home in which these words are written was secured by their advice and aid.
Leaving that field at the call of the College Church of Wheaton, in 1878, I did as well as I could the double duty of pastor and teacher until 1883, when it seemed impossible to teach four hours per day and prepare two sermons per week. The people were very kind, as they were in both the churches that I had before served, but my
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strength was unequal to the task and I left the pulpit, having no idea how the loss to our income was to be supplied. Almost immediately, how- ever, I was asked to preach in the Chicago Ave- nue Church, Chicago, and there had a very blessed work until the end of 1884, the sums paid for that service being of great aid in meeting home needs and paying debts.
The College, however, had been prospering, the income from our teaching was better and the double service was wearying, and each labor, of course, subtracted from the other. During the last eighteen years God has provided for me in other ways, and I can truly say that I have lacked no good thing. Articles for the press, supplies for pulpits and lectures have been the usual sources of additions to income, but a very re- markable instance of divine interposition to sup- ply our need occurred last summer, 1901.
For years I did considerable lecture work in New York state. In Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, AJbion, New York City, and in the country towns of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties and elsewhere I held meetings. testifying against modern idolatry and in favor of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Two years ago the will of an aged man in that
state was executed. He was acquainted with me _
Modern Secret Societies. 309
through my work, though I cannot remember to have seen him. In his will he had given me half his property, which amounted to some four or five thousand dollars. A large part. of this was taken by lawyers in the courts, but over eight hundred dollars was paid to me, enabling me to discharge debts and live more happily, knowing that they were paid.
At another time of sore need the will of another dear friend gave to me two hundred and fifty dollars, and once, after giving one hundred dol- lars to aid in a good work, which I wished to help, I received a check for the same sum for an address which I had given, without expectation of reward.
These are by no means all of the facts of my life which bear on the point in question. They are, however, the most marked ones and they show that it is safe to trust God. I have not obeyed, trusted or praised Him as I ought, but thank Him for his pardoning grace, his keeping power and his care for our daily needs.
During all these years I have tithed my income for the Lord’s work. It has been very pleasant to feel that of what T have received God reserves a portion to himself, and though I have been in debt (by my own error) almost all this time, I have never felt that I robbed one earthly creditor by
310 Modern Secret Societies.
paying the debt to God, and I have experienced only patience and kindness from those whom | have owed.
In closing this little book I desire affectionately to urge all who read it to launch out into the deep of God’s loving care. It is wonderful how He provides for His own. He does not often leave us, as He did our blessed Lord, to be poorer than the hunted fox and the flying bird. If for any reason He should do this still we may “trust and not be afraid.” God our Father, Jesus our Savior, the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier, the Holy Book the Holy Day, the redeemed and holy people, these are the all-sufficient portion of those who put their faith in God. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so; whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. * * Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonder- ful works to the children of men.” Ps. 107:2, 8.
AN EXPLANATION.
We think our friends will be glad to see the faces of so many friends of the National Christian Association as are included in this book. All of them are, or were, honored members of the Christian: communions which they represent. As the titles which they received in recognition of their labors were in part unknown to us, it seemed wise to omit all lest injustice should be done to any.
Lea |
== THE CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE
THE CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE has been, since 1868, the official organ of the National Christian Association, and is sustained by its subscribers not to make money or get friends or office, but because it maintains principles which they be-
lieve to be fundamental to our lib-
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is the title of an incorporated associa- tion which was organized in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1868, by representa- tives of seventeen orthodox denomina- tions. It holds that faith in Christ is the ‘sole ground of acceptance with God; and that grace received by faith is the sole power of regeneration. It believes, moreover, that Satan is the god of this world and the god of all false religions, and that the lodge sys- tem denies Christ and worships Satan..
Its object is to keep the membership of the churches out of secret organiza- tions for these among other reasons: 1. Because they are declared to be organ- ized on a basis so necessarily broad as to exclude the idea of Christ as the world’s only Redeemer. 2. Because they substitute in their claims and in the minds of many of their mem- bership, the secret society for the Christian church. 3. Because of the relation of the obligation of these secret orders to the oaths and decisions of carts. ‘
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