CHAPTER IX.

THE OATH IN SECRET SOCIETIES.
Webster defines oath as "A solemn affirmation or dec- laration made with appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. The appeal to God in an oath implies that the person imprecates His Acngeance and renounces His favor if the declaration is false, or, if the declaration is a jiromise, the ^lerson invokes the vengeance of God if he should fail to fulfill it. A false oath is called perjury."
Whatever the form of an oath ma}- be the significance is the same, viz: calling upon Almight}^ God to witness, i, e.. take notice of what we say. In order that an oatii should be valid it must be administered by a person hav- ing the autliority to do so, and to a person competent, mentally and morally, to take it. Now there is no au- thority in this world except it comes from God, and the two authorities established by Almighty God are the Church and the State.
In order that an oath be lawful tliere must be some- thing in the nature of the case demanding the solemnity of an oatli, and the oath itself must be lawfully adminis- tered, either by an officer of ihe Church, or of the State, in his official capacity, and the person swearing must swear intelli.L^ently, knowing what he declares to be true, and what he binds himself to perform to be right and proper for him to do. The maxim is: "Whoever
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taketh an oaih, orrght duly io consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is persuaded is the truth. Neither may any man bind himself by oath to do anything but what is good and just, and wliat he believes to be so, and what he is able and resolved to perform."
Secret societies have no right whatsoever, nor any authority whatsoever to administer the oath and by so doing usurp rights which do not belong to them.
The nature of the oaths in Secret Societies is in it- self sinful :
1st — It is unlawfully administered and taken because God has not constituted secret societies.
2d. — There is nothing in the nature of the case to warrant the solemnity of an oath, and God's name is taken in vain.
3d — Such oaths are unnatural, because the person binds himself to do he knows not what; he swears to keep secret things not yet made known to him, and to obey rules and regulations of which he knows absolutely nothing.
4th — These oaths place the taker under unlawful pen- alties, and bind the taker to execute these penalties, which is a crime, both against the State and the indi- vidual as well as against the Church.
5th — To swear to keep the secrets of others, whether such be for the benefit or injury of other people, is a crime against society.
Daniel Webster said in a letter dated Boston, Novem- ber 20, 1835, ''I have no hesitation in saying that how- ever unobjectionable mat have been the original objects of the institution, or however pure may be the motives and purposes of the individual members, and not with-
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standing the many great and good men who have from time to time belonged to the order, yet, nevertheless, it is an institution which in my judgment is essentially wrong in the principle of its formation, that from its very nature it is liable to great abuses; that among the obligations which are found to be imposed upon its members there are such as are entirely incompatible with the duty of good citizens, and that all secret asso- ciations, the members of which take upon themselves extraordinary obligations to one another, and are bound together by secret oaths, are naturally sources of jeal- ousy and just alarm to others, are especially unfavor- able to harmony and mutual confidence among men liv- ing together under popular institutions, and are danger- ous to tlie general cause of civil liberty and good gov- ernment. I Jider the influence of this conviction it is my opinion that the future administration of all such oaths and the formation of all such obligations should be prohibited by law."
Jnefficimcy of the Oath. — We clipped the following from the Chicago Chronicle of Sept. 25th, 1901, and it is too significant to be lost :
"To-day the oath is no longer efficacious as a con- science binder. If a man would deliberately lie to gain a point without being under oath, there is little reason to hope he would not dodge the oath if a mere futun^ punishment were in store for him. All that an oatli is good for is to put the witness within the pale of the law. Man will punish him for perjury if he swears falsely and is detected. The old notion of a religious test upon the secret conscience is worthless now. If he can escape perjury he will reel off his yarn as glibly under oath as without it. Punishment in this life by
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imprisonment at hard labor is the real restraining in- fluence. That it is very effective is the belief of most practitioners. It is common comment that false testi- mony is injected into the majority of cases."
The Catholic Church teaches that God has placed the twofold authority of Church and State in this world to watch over the actions of man for the good of society; and these two authorities, namely, Church and State are sovereign and that it is dangerous (not to say treasonable) to Church and State, therefore wicked, by pledge, or promise or oath, to bind one's self to any or- ganization, to any man or set of men in higher alle- giance. A Catholic on becoming a member of any se- cret society may no longer openly or confidentially com- municate to his confessor, spiritual advisor, bishop or pastor what the lodge forbids him to communicate, no matter how closely related to affairs of conscience and religion the case may be.
As a citizen he may not without violating his oath or promise reveal in court the doings in the lodge-room.
So members of secret societies may pay outward al- legiance to Church and State but they pay higher allegi- ance to the lodge.
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CRAPTEPt X. , .
IXJTIATIOX JXTO ShXTET SOCIETIES.
"WJiat Bapti^r^m is to the Christian, initiation is to the Jodgc-meniber/' The initiation into the ancient mys- teries or secret societies of old is the model for initia- tion into the secret societies of today, and, as one is much like tlie other the reason for the forms must be the san^e — only that there was more sense in the ancient mode than can be said of the modern. About the an- cient mode of initiation Masonic writers say: "These rites, magnificent and impressive, and startling, by sud- den transitions and striking contrasts, rites commenc- ing in gloom and sorrow, ajid ending in light and joy. dimly shadowed forth the passage of man from barbar- ianism to civilization, from ignorance to science, and his constant progress onward and upward through the ages, to .still sublimer elevations. 'J'he trembling and helpless neophyte, environed with terror and gloom, and pursuing his uncertain and difficult way through the mystic journey of initiation, which terminated in light and confidence, was a type or representative of humanity marching upward from the gloom and dark- ness of the primitive state of barbarism, to a high degree of enlightenment, of social refinement and perfection. The mvstic ceremony was therefore, emblematic of the
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progressive devclopraent of man, and was intended as an aid to that development.
" * * * the true end and purpose of the mys- teries, the first and greatest end thereof were, according to the ancients, to civilize savage people, soften their ferocious manners, render them social, and prepare tliem for a kind of life more worthy ct the dignity of num.'* ( McCoy, Direct, of Masonry. )
To betray the mysteries was everywhere considered in- famous, and the heaviest penalties were attached to it; hence also, in all initiations the candidate had to take the most horrible oaths that he would keep the secrets en- trusted to him. Alcibiades was banished and consigned to the Furies for having revealed the mysteries of Ceres ; Protheus, Tantalus, Oedipus, Orpheus and others suf- fered various punishments for the same reason. The candidate had to undergo the purification by Fire, Air, AVater and Earth.
AYe are told that the rite represents man in his prim- itive condition of helplessness, ignorance, and moral blindness, seeking after the mental and moral enlight- enment which alone can deliver his mind from all thral- dom and make him master of the material world. The Xeophyte, in darkness and with tremblings, knocks at the door of the lodge, and demands admission, instruc- tion and light. So man, born ignorant and helpless and blind, yet feeling stirring within him unappeasable longings for knowledge, knocks at he door of the temple of science. He interrogates nature, demands her se- crets, and at length becomes the proud possessor of her mysteries.
The Rev. A. B. Grosh, in his Improved Pocket-Man- ual of Odd Fellows has the following to say about in-
itiation: "Every Odd Fellow should keep clearly im- pressed on his mind and heart the lessons taught at in- itiation. They are a guide to understand properly all that follows after an epitomized summary of the great principles and objects of the Order. They contain the germs which after-instr action and his own practice should develop and mature into blossoming and fruitful- ness. In one word, 'wliat regeneraton hy the word of truth is in religion, initiatio?i is in Odd-FeUoivship/
"A thoughtful man's first entrance into a lodge, un- knowing what is to be transacted there, is a serious event. There, for a time, he is to be isolated from gen- eral society, in a retreat sacred to benevolence and peace, away from the world, with its selfish toils and cares, its factitious distinctions and social vices, surrounded wholly by those who have avowed to devote their lives to fraternity in Odd-Fellowship (secret societies). His object is to learn their principles, to assume their vows, to unite in their labors. That he may do so properly, they require him to pass through rites which shall teacli him his present condition as a social being, and the primary principles of the condition he is about to enter.
Consider then the social state of man without knowl- edge and practice of those relations which bind him to his Creator and his fellows. TTow isolated his position; how surrounded bv the darkness of ignorance on every side; how feeble, helpless, dependent, in a world that appears adverse and antagonistic? If he find a guide, he knows not whether to trust or doubt him; and he is yet in such need of one that he follows whithersoever he is led.
Himself bound by his ignorance and fears, in the in- durating fetter of selfishness, he knows not that any
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have more light and freedom than are his ; and yet, not fully realizing his own need of both, he may marvel if told that nearly all mankind are in darkness and chains which they neither behold nor feel. It is not till some voice greets his ear with a promise of instruction, that he begins to conceive that the chaos around him may be resolved into order; the discord to harmony. This conception leads him to desire that wisdom which shall shed light upon his darkness, and unravel the perplexi- ties which bewilder the soul. And yet, the first ray of light will but increase the apparent gloor^.; for it will exhibit more strongly the vanity of human pursuits and possessions, the brevity of life and the certainty of death, and all life's evils fearfully aggravated and in- creased by the strifes, discords, and dissensions which flow from human ignorance and folly and end at last in death itself.
Yet contemplate the scene. From all that gloom, light will shine forth to guide aright. It will humble human pride. It will awaken compassion for others. It will arouse the soul to a just sense of its responsibili- ties to God, and its duty to man. It will fill his heart with a salutary horror of that monster, Sin, whose power has arrayed man against his fellow-man and washed the earth with tears and deluged it in blood. It will bid him beware that his own heart does not cher- ish moral evil, that bane of happiness and peace, that fountain of discord and strife, that inflictor of guilt and shame, and woe and death, which must reign till men learn to obey the law of truth and love, and the earth is filled with righteousness and peace.
* * * Keep in remembrance the signs and words imparted to you, to enable you to enter these courts, and
to recognize and be recognized of your brethren. Trifling as they may seem to some, they are the key to our treasures and our mysteries. And in their use, re- member that they are pledges of secrecy to the brother- liood from you, and to you from lis. Eemember also, that the Omniscient One observes your every discharge of duty and 'use of privilege. Let your hand, then, ])e open as day to greet a brother with frankness, or to aid liim witli cheerfullness and love. Show due courtesy to your brethren and salute respectfully those who presid«; over the lodge, as the representatives of the lodge itself. The forms through which you liave passed are not what they seem to many. Under each act and emblem there is a deep significance. So in life. Apply your instruc- tions there, and everything becomes vocal with wisdom. The eyes blinded by the darkness of a dungeon, are naught to the blindness of the moral sense obscured by indulgence in selfislmess and sensuality. The fetters on a martyr's limbs, what are they to the chains which evil pnssions and bad habits impose on the inner man. and whose iron docs indeed enter the soul? May your initiation and consequent practice aid in releasing you from all blindness of moral wisdom, set you free from the fetters of ignorance and error, and bring you from a death of selfishness into a life of active benevolence and virtue." Thus far the Rev. A. B. Grosh. Surely he takes the initiation seriously, and so do thousands of others. I have been told by more than one person that they took their initiiition iust as seriously as the novice in Catholic religious orders when he malces his profes- sional vows.
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THE RIDING OF THE GOAT.
In mose secret sceieties the riding of the goat is one of the features of initiation. Its meaning is this : "In Egyptian and Grecian m3'steries Harpocrates was con- sidered the son of Osiris and Isis. lie was believed to
RIDIXG THE GOAT IX THE LODGE-ROOM.
Ijave been born with his finger in his mouth, as indica- tiveof secrecy and mystery. The Greeks and Eomans wor- shipped him as the god of quiet life, repose and secrecy. He is described by Plutarch as lame in the lower limbs Avhen born. He is represented mounted on a ram, which carries a ball upon its head, his left hand is armed with
a club, while he presses the two fore-fingers of the right hand upon his lips, as t/ie symbol of silence, and inti- mates that the mysteries of religion and philosophy should not be revealed to the profane or uninitiated.
IIARrOCIJATES.
Kam — the .Jzoat — was worshipped at blendes as sa- cred to Osiris. His worship was similar to that of Apis, the bull, but still of a grosser and more sensual form. The goat was to the Egyptians the symbol of the produc- tive power in nature.