THE PROS AND CONS OF THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM,

OR THE HOLE IN THE WALL OF MODERN CHRISTIANITY.

By CHRISTODOULOS

[The following article is by an English Christian whose name is known throughout the world, but who, for sufficient reasons, withholds it.‑ED.]

“When I looked, behold, a Hole in the Wall! Then said He unto me, Son of man,

dig now in the wall. And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

And He said unto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations

that they do here. So I went in and saw.” (Ezekiel 8: 7-10.)

A vast network of Secret Societies is overspreading the world. At present membership in them is voluntary. But the day may not be distant when membership may become compulsory. Indeed, this seems to be intimated in such passages as the following:- “He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand” (Rev. 13: 16).

This mark in the right hand is the self-chosen sign of these secret societies. Already it is becoming increasingly unusual, especially in America, for anyone to receive an ordinary handshake. Some peculiar cabalistic “grip” is given which serves the double purpose of letting you know that the person you meet is a member of some secret society, and of inviting you to reveal whether you belong to it, or to some similar fraternity.

In America these organisations have already become almost universal, and are seeking to dominate the social, political and religious life of the community. They are now being extended to women, who for obvious reasons have hitherto been excluded. One of them remarks, “We women are being clubbed to death!” In England they may at present be regarded as being in a less advanced state, although it was from England that America originally borrowed the idea, and the recent utilisation of Westminster Abbey for the creation of a new secret society of Crusaders proves that the movement is no longer one which can be ignored. The time has certainly arrived when those to whom Christians look for guidance in such matters should carefully and prayerfully consider the system, and be in a position to advise their flocks. As Luther has rightly said, the duty of a shepherd is to guard as well as to feed his sheep.

Fortunately this is no longer a difficult matter. The so-called “secrets” of these societies have been published, and there is an extensive literature dealing with the subject, so that any person wishing to gain a firsthand knowledge regarding them can do so without difficulty, and without any necessity for becoming a member before finding out. Indeed it is only reasonable that those who are contemplating joining any such society should previously take this very ordinary precaution. To fail to do so is like signing a blank cheque and handing it to unknown persons to fill in the amount, or like executing a legal document without knowing its contents.

THE PROS

The arguments in favour of secret societies may be briefly summarised as follows:-

1. Many good people have joined, including Ministers.

2. The objects are excellent, including Religion, Charity, Temperance, Mutual Help, Insurance, Patriotism and Social Intercourse.

3. The Platform is so broad and International that all Creeds, Classes, Religions and Nationalities are brought together in common brotherhood.

To the above it may be replied:-

(1.) That good people and good objects do not need secretism, but secretism needs them. They are not helped by it, but it is helped by them. The good people become decoys, and the good objects camouflages for false creeds and principles, or “sheep’s clothing” for “false prophets.”

(2.) If there are good men in it, there are also good men who are opposed to it.

(3.) Why do not the good men defend it when it is attacked? Is it because they cannot?

(4.) If there are many good men in it, there are certainly many who leave it. Forty per cent. of annual losses is an estimate given by those who are in a position to know. Another estimate gives the number of defunct associations in twenty years as being 1,800 in America.

(5.) Why do so many leave it? For the same reasons that so many refuse to join.

(6.) How do they leave it? (a) A few leave it as frank and open seceders.

(b) Many more do so quietly without stating their reasons.

(c) Many, perhaps most, of the “good” members who remain in it, become “dead” members, seldom, or never, attending the meetings and taking little or no part in its ritual or ceremonies, which they regard with ill-disguised aversion or contempt. They are not expected to live up to the oaths and promises they have made, as they serve a more useful purpose in attracting others.

(7.) In regard to their Platform of Religion being so broad as to include all creeds, classes and nationalities, we learn from Masonic writers that it consists of “Pure Theism,” and embraces Buddhists, Hindoos, Mahommedans and Jews. But this is an obvious contradiction. The Buddhists, we know, are Atheists and do not acknowledge God at all. The Hindoos are Polytheists and Pantheists, while the Animists are frank Demonolaters, and do not trouble about recognising, or worshipping, a Supreme Deity except in so far as acknowledging devils, or demons, to be gods. The Mahommedans and Jews do not recognise the Divinity of Christ. In many Continental Societies Theism is dropped in order to admit Atheists as members. In one such it was said that two million young men had branded on their right arms the initials “A.D.”, standing for “Anti Dieu” (against God!). Hence the claim that the platform is “Pure Theism” can hardly be sustained.

THE CONS OF SECRET SOCIETIES

In giving the Pros of Secret Societies we have been obliged to mention some of the answers which are given to the arguments in its favour. It is impossible within the limits of this article to detail the oaths and ceremonies and other objectionable features which the system contains. For full particulars of these we must refer readers to the various books on the subject. In “Modern Secret Societies” by Dr. Charles A. Blanchard, President of the National, Christian Association of Chicago, there is a thoughtful and intelligent review of the whole system as now existing in America, and this after a careful study of them covering a period of more than forty years. He estimates their present number in America as 299, and states that they are not only modelled on Free Masonry, but are mostly created and controlled by Free Masons. There is also a very clear and exhaustive review of Free Masonry by Charles G. Finney the great Revivalist, dealing with the question in his usual logical and incisive manner. Finney was trained to be a lawyer previous to his conversion, and accustomed to weigh evidence. In this book he considers the Pros and Cons with judicial impartiality.

Both these writers hold strongly to the view that it is the duty of the Churches to examine the question from a Christian standpoint, seeing that both Ministers and members are now being persistently solicited to join these secret societies, and that it is pleaded openly in their justification that thousands of ministers and prominent church members have already joined and are supporting them.

As a result of their inquiries, not only Finney and Blanchard, but such well-known leaders as Moody, Torrey and Cook declare in the most emphatic language, that no Christian should join a lodge, and that those who are already members should renounce their membership. Nor do they stand alone. Some of the most prominent statesmen, judges and political leaders of the world have confirmed their verdict.

Lord Beaconsfield remarks that “Secret Societies are hurrying the civil Governments of the world to the brink of a precipice, over which law and order will ultimately fall and perish together.”

John Quincy Adams, a President of the United States, declares:- “I am prepared to demonstrate before God and man that the Masonic oaths, obligations and penalties cannot by any possibility be reconciled to the laws of Morality, of Christianity, or of the Land.”

General Ulysses Grant says:- “All secret, oath-bound political parties are dangerous to any nation, no matter how pure or patriotic the motives and principles which first bring them together.”

William Seward, Governor of New York and Secretary of State under President Lincoln, says:- “Secret Societies, Sir! Before I would place my hand between the hands of other men in a secret lodge, order, or council, and bending on my knee before them, enter into a combination with them for any object, personal or political, good or bad, I would pray to God that that hand and that knee might be paralysed!”

The well-known orator Wendell Phillips remarks:- “Every good citizen should make war on all secret societies, and give himself no rest till they are forbidden by law, and rooted out of existence.”

Dr. Joseph Cook observes:- “Of all I wish to say about secret societies this is the sum:-

1. Secret oaths are opposed to Christian principles; and

2. Are forbidden by law in some portions of the Republic, and ought to be in all.”

Still more stern and uncompromising is Finney’s review of Free Masonry. In his final summary Finney makes the following sweeping condemnation of the system:- “Judging then from these revelations how can we fail to pronounce Free Masonry an Anti-Christian institution?

1. We have seen that its Morality is un-Christian.

2. Its oath-bound secrecy is un-Christian.

3. The administration and taking of its oaths are a violation of a positive command of Christ.

4. Masonic oaths pledge its members to commit most unlawful and un-Christian deeds:‑

(a) To conceal each other’s crimes.

(b) To deliver each other from difficulty whether right or wrong.

(c) To unduly favour Masonry in political actions and in business.

(d) To retaliate and persecute unto death the violators of Masonic obligations.

(e) Free Masonry knows no mercy.

(f) Its oaths are profane, - the taking of the Name of God in vain.

(g) The penalties of these oaths are barbarous and savage.

(h) It refuses all examination and veils itself under a mantle of oath-bound secrecy.

Every branch of the Church of Christ is bound to examine this subject and to pronounce on this institution according to the best light they can get. We have no right to say to God that we will act according to our own convictions when others become so enlightened that our action will be popular and meet with their approval.”

If the foregoing is anything like a correct description of Secret Societies, it is surely the obvious duty of every child of God, who may have been drawn into them by their specious promises of worldly benefit, to disassociate himself from them without delay, and of those who are contemplating such a partnership in evil to abstain from it, in obedience to such passages as the following:-

“Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18: 4).

“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matt. 6: 24).

“In secret have I said nothing” (John 18: 20).

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6: 14-18).

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