THE MENACE OF SECRET ORDERS.
ONE of the most astonishing developments of these days is the marvelous growth in the membership of secret societies. Fifty years ago there were scarcely any such societies known outside of the Masons and Odd Fellows, and these had a fraction of the membership which they now possess. But now secret, oath-bound lodges are springing up like mushrooms, and in almost every one of them the membership is on the increase. In only five of the thirty-eight principal lodges have we noticed any decrease in membership, and the principal one of these is a temperance organization, the Good Templars, which lost in the one year from 1901-1902, 45,520 of its members. We can understand the occasion for this loss when we remember that the lodges which are showing an increase in membership are lodges which not only do not have a temperance requirement in their rules, but rather foster the drinking of spirituous liquors. In the year 1901 the number of Masons in the United States and Canada had increased to 877,762. The following year their books showed a membership of 901,968, a gain of 24,206. In 1901 the number of Odd Fellows in the United States and Canada, including the colored lodges, was 1,072,478. The following year their membership was 1,128,323, or a gain of 55,845 for one year only. In the same time the Knights of Pythias increased from 516,944 to 540,138, a gain of 23,194. During that time the Royal Arch Masons increased 12,398, and the Mystic Shriners (composed of those who have taken the 32d degree in Masonry) increased about 5,000. In 1901 the total membership of fraternal orders in the United States and Canada stood at 6,102,663. In 1902 it had increased to 7,546,636. This is an increase of 1,443,973 in the membership of secret, oath-bound societies in the United States and Canada in one year; and this entirely outside and apart from the labor unions, which claim a membership of about 2,000,000. Of course, some are members of more than one organization; so that the number of persons belonging to secret lodges would not be as great as the aggregate membership of all the lodges. Many who are Masons are members of other organizations that are of a Masonic character. For instance, a Knight Templar must be a Master Mason and a Royal Arch Mason; and the Mystic Shriners are composed wholly of Masons who have reached the 32d degree. Thus are built up these exclusive orders one upon another in order to hold the membership to the Masonic idea. It can thus be seen very readily what is the purpose of the great deceiver in the multiplication of these oath-bound orders. It is to fill up the whole time and attention of the people with these caricatures and counterfeits of religion so that they will have no time or disposition to give attention to spiritual things, no disposition to heed God’s warnings in the day of His preparation. Many of the members of these organizations will tell you that their lodge is a good enough church for them. That is just what Satan designed they should be, rivals of the church of God, obstructors of the way, snares to the souls of men. The faithful lodge man can not be a faithful Christian. The lodge and Christ are two different masters, and we can not serve them both and give either what he demands. The lodge idea is as truly a tower of Babel as the one that was smitten by the Almighty on the plain of Shinar. That was man’s attempt to construct a way of his own to heaven. This is, in effect, the same thing. The man who is “a good Mason” considers himself entitled to whatever good things the “Supreme Architect” may have in store for His faithful ones. Other orders which do not put forth such claims accomplish practically the same thing, so far as real religion is concerned, by absorbing the interest and attention of the people, and crowding out the time, and drowning the inclination, for religious things. It is very significant that this mighty increase in the growth of this great movement comes at a time when God’s last great warning message is due. Can we not see in this a purpose of the enemy to blind the eyes and deafen the ears of the people, that they should not see or hear the warning of God’s closing work? In that is the menace of the secret orders.