p. 8 | GEO. O. STATES by GEO. O. STATES

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 24, 1910

GEO. O. STATES

By GEO. O. STATES

My Lodge Experience — No. 1

GEO. O. STATES

Why I Left the Lodge

In writing this series of short articles for our good old REVIEW, I wish to state that it is with “malice toward none, good will to all.” It is not my desire to create any controversy with the lodges as such. My position, in few words, is that the whole secret-society principle is unscriptural and unchristian.

In the past few years, I am sorry to say, I have seen a growing slackness coming in among us in regard to this question. People are baptized, taken into fellowship, placed in official positions in the church, and the question of lodges is never mentioned. In so doing I believe we are doing an injustice to the individual and to the church. I hold that when the lodge enters the church, it is out of its place; and always has made trouble, and always will, wherever there are earnest, God-fearing Christians.

While engaged in business a number of years ago, I found that many of the leading business men with whom I was associated were members of a certain lodge. I finally decided to join; and so one night in January, 1880, found me in the anteroom, where I was blindfolded and then put through the initiation. I was not half through before I became disgusted with myself and those who were carrying it on. The only thing that saved the man who went through the initiation with me from having his leg broken was the fact that the spear with which he was being punched was broken. I do not care to say more respecting this disgusting initiation. “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” My repugnance to the lodge increased every time I attended and took part in the initiation ceremonies; but I was a member, and found it very hard to withdraw, for pressure was constantly brought to bear in order to keep me from so doing. I affiliated with them about a year, my own heart condemning me all the time. One thing always worried me, and that was, in all the religious ceremonies, Christ was never mentioned. He was never spoken of as the sinner’s only hope.

In order to be received into these lodges, one must profess a belief in God as a supreme being. This profession, however, is merely nominal, as indicated by this prayer, taken from the ritual of the Knights of the Maccabees, edition of 1902:—

Prayer

“Chaplain: Supreme Ruler, strengthen our hands in building up the Order. Aid us in carrying out the great principles of fraternity, which underlie it. Aid us in bringing peace on earth and good will toward men. May the deliberation of this body be conducted in that spirit of harmony so necessary to success. May our Order grow and prosper. May its usefulness be enlarged and its protecting arms extended so that we may be better able to provide for widow, protect the orphan, and care for those dependent upon us. May we so speak and act as not to bring reproach upon the Order nor disgrace any of its humane principles. Make us a power for good in this land, and worthy exponents of the brotherhood of man.”

This is a fair sample of the prayers in all lodge rituals, the name of Christ never being mentioned.

Not long after I became a member of the lodge, our chaplain was absent one night, and another member was asked to read the opening prayer. This man was noted for his profanity outside of the lodge room. This was a great shock to me, and brought to mind 2 Tim. 3:5: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” These things worried me very much, for I could see that the obligations of the lodge were at war with the family and church. Although some of my associations in the lodge were pleasant, yet I must say the general tendency was demoralizing to a true religious experience. I soon found I was becoming more interested in the lodge than in the church. There were many things in lodge work that I could not harmonize with my convictions of the principles and teachings of the third angel’s message. The more I thought about these things, the more I became convinced that sooner or later I would have to drop the church or the lodge.

In my next article I will relate some of my experiences in dropping the lodge.

Cedaredge, Colo.