Christians and Grangers.
By John Matteson
Christians should not be Grangers. Christians should take the Bible alone as their rule of faith and practice in religious matters. This is the guide that Christ has given them. But the rules and principles of the Grange are not in harmony with the Bible, which will clearly appear when we compare the two. This article is not written to show that men should not belong to the Grange, but to show, that those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus cannot become Patrons of Husbandry (or Grangers) without violating the principles of the sacred truth of God. Many join them for the sole purpose of saving a little money in buying their farming tools and other necessary articles, being unacquainted with their principles and practices. Many things are kept secret. These people unite with something that is unknown to them. This is the first wrong step. The Bible tells us to prove things before we accept them. 1 Thess. 5:21. We present this for information. The following extracts and references are taken from books published for the Grange, and can thus be relied upon:— 1. The Constitution of the Grange conflicts with the duty of Christians. Art. 8, Primary Membership, reads as follows:— “Any person engaged in agricultural pursuits, and having no interest in conflict with our purposes, of the age of sixteen years, duly proposed, elected, and complying with the rules and regulations of the order, is entitled to membership and the benefits of the degrees taken.” This shows that every person above sixteen, engaged in farming, can be a member of the Grange, if he (or she) will comply with the rules. None of these rules demand that the person shall be a Christian. Wherefore many Grangers also state that their society is perfectly harmless and free from all sectarianism, so that unbelievers, infidels, Jews, and Gentiles, can all alike become members. Let us bear this in mind. The Bible does not teach us to unite with unbelievers, and join hands with infidels. “What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, . . . and I will receive you.” 2 Cor. 6:15, 17. To come out from unbelievers and infidels cannot mean to unite with them in special, intimate membership, and to congregate with them evening after evening and participate in their folly. 2. The Grangers encourage music and dancing in their gatherings, which necessarily leads to lightness and trifling in a company of unbelievers and worldly men and women. Concerning the degree of Harvester at “G 3” we read in the “Patron’s Monitor,” p. 18:— “To crown the labors of the day in innocent recreation, the Steward calls off the harvest dance, and thus ends the ceremony.” “Songs for the Grange,” on p. 17, show how this dance is to be carried on, as follows:— “Harvest Dance. 1. Forward and back. 2. Cross over. 3. Chassez. 4. Back to places. 5. Grand circle round. 6. Balance. 7. All promenade. 8. First two down the center. Next, &c. 9. Cross over. 10. Swing. 11. Back to places. 12. Balance. 13. Swing. 14. All promenade. Seats.” Those who can unite in such proceedings (or encourage and uphold them by their membership) in a promiscuous crowd of worldlings and infidels, must certainly be backslidden from their love of Jesus—the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. They cannot have much fellowship with the Holy Spirit if they can enjoy themselves in such company and proceedings. They certainly do not appear much to others as men waiting for the coming of their Lord. 3. The initiation of laborers is performed in a manner that is perfectly silly and unbecoming for a Christian. This is the same as taking the first degree. According to the “Manual of Subordinate Grangers,” issued by the National Grange, fourth edition, the room is arranged thus: A. (altar) is placed in the middle. O. (Overseer) in the end joining the preparation room and anteroom, with S. (Steward) on his left hand and A. S. (Assistant Steward) and L. A. S. (Lady Assistant Steward) on the right. In the opposite end of the room three ladies are placed—representative goddesses—named F. (Flora, the goddess of flowers), C. (Ceres, the goddess of the grain), and P. (Pomona, the goddess of fruit). The remaining four officers are M. (Master), Chaplain, Lecturer, and Secretary, who are seated, two on one side, and two on the other side of the room. Still G. K. (Gate keeper) remains, who stands by the door of the anteroom and leads candidates into this worthy assembly. The fee of admission is $5.00 for men, $2.00147for women, and the regular contribution 10c. a month. We will now quote further from “The Patron’s Monitor,” p. 13:— “The furniture necessary in furnishing a room to confer the first degree, is a pair of steps three steps high. . . . The lower one is a platform 3 feet by 5, 8 in. rise, the second 3x3, the third 1x3. “On the floor and opposite the steps is placed the plowed ground, made of ten yards of cotton cloth, sewed up so that when the folds are filled with hay or shavings they will present ridges six or eight inches thick, running across the cloth. When not in use, roll up and keep out of sight. “The obstructions consist of six or eight round sticks of wood, placed so as to be passed over by candidates just before reaching the plowed ground. The narrow ditch is crossed by means of two boards four feet long, nailed on two pieces of 2x4 scantling at the ends, and placed just after the steps.” The book further states that the candidate is blindfolded closely in the preparation room and led out by the A. S. once fully around the Grange room and afterwards over the steps, narrow ditch, obstructions, and plowed ground. Then he takes the obligation (or oath, by the altar, repeating the words after the M., in the presence of the three representative goddesses, F., C. & P.) and is at last led back to the preparation room, where the blindfold is removed. Meanwhile S. clears the floor. When he is ready the candidate is again admitted. Now look for a moment at these silly proceedings. It takes four tools to make a young Granger. They consist of boards, sticks, scantling, cotton cloth and shavings. The silly candidate stumbles along blindfolded, led by A. S., while the whole company is looking at him, over these so-called steps, ditch, obstructions, and plowed ground, and when he returns with his eyes open, he sees nothing, but looks with astonishment, a new-born Granger, into this wonderful Granger-world, which is now open before him (or her). He must certainly feel grand—after having endured the examination and taken the oath—to be permitted to sit down among his brothers and sisters, all robed in regalia; that is, a small yellow apron, about the size of the bottom of a half-bushel measure—with nice red binding, and a broad piece of the same kind over the shoulder. The apron of the sisters is some larger. This looks to me more like children’s play than like the proceedings of sensible people. But, say they, these things are emblems of something higher. Yes, so they are, foolish emblems. And this leads me to consider another point:— 4. The proceedings of the Grange involve lying, hypocrisy, and blasphemy. After the candidate has stopped the second time at L., has been saluted from all by clapping of hands, received the card, heard Chaplain’s lecture, stopped half way between L. and O., where they are met by S., representing Ignorance, has passed to O. and been instructed from the M. S., he is finally addressed by M. as follows:— “As you no doubt discovered, it (the road) is rough and full of obstructions; but feeling confidence in your guide, you came safely through. This is but an example of faith, and emblematic of a higher confidence in a Supreme Being. We are constantly passing blindfold over obstacles in the field of life, confidently believing we shall ultimately arrive at the broad and pleasant fields of the paradise above.”—Supplement to Manual, p. 1. These so-called emblems and proceedings signify, then, according to their own exposition, that they have confidence in God, and a firm hope of arriving at the paradise above. This is, of course, stated concerning all candidates according to rules. Then worldlings, unbelievers, and infidels (for such are the majority of the members of the Grange), profess to have faith in God, and to be on their way to the paradise above. But infidels do not have confidence in God, neither are they on their way to that paradise which they utterly reject and despise. Then the candidate, standing at the altar, with the right hand over the heart, repeats the oath after M. The pledge or oath commences thus: “In the presence of the Heavenly Father and these witnesses, I do hereby pledge my sacred honor that I will never reveal any of the secrets of this order, or communicate them, or any part of them, to any person in the world, unless I am satisfied by strict test, or in some legal manner, that they are lawfully entitled to receive them,” &c. Finally, it is stated on p. 2:— “The sign of this degree signifies that ‘a good laborer places faith in God.’” The same is stated about the maid after she has gone through the performance, and a wreath of plain grass has been placed on her head:— “The sign signifies that we place faith in God.”—Page 4. When a woman is initiated, she is covered with a garment (or should be according to the printed rules of the Grange), called a cloak (a fit symbol of hypocrisy). Before this is removed, she is addressed by S. as follows:— “Sister, you entered here blindfolded and covered with that garment. Before you were placed ignorance and knowledge. You were allowed to choose for yourself; though in darkness, you chose wisely and found light. Wearing that garment is to teach you that those we admit into our circle are not chosen by outward appearance, and that we are not deceived by display in dress.” This language plainly indicates that display in dress is something calculated to deceive men, and that they consequently do not approve of it, nor of outward extravagant appearance. But who ever saw a woman becoming less extravagant in dress by turning Granger? They probably never thought of such a thing being involved in their own profession. Their regular songs and speeches contain frequent allusions to the disembodied-spirit doctrine, which a believer in immortality only through Christ and the resurrection can have no fellowship with. I quote a few lines from “Songs of the Grange,” p. 36:— “Forget not the dead, who have loved, who have left us,
Who bend o’er us now from their bright homes above;
But believe—never doubt—that God who bereft us,
Permits them to mingle with friends they still love.” “Then forget not the dead, who are evermore nigh us,
Still floating sometimes to our dream-haunted beds,
In the loneliest hour, in the crowd, they are by us;
Forget not the dead—O forget not the dead.” This is only second to spiritualism. We call attention, further, to the trifling manner in which the name of God is used and intermingled with the silliest ceremonies. Especially is this seen in the funeral ceremony. After many ceremonies and religious speeches, which we have not room for here, the coffin is lowered. M. makes a remark according to rule, and takes up a handful of earth and sprinkles it in the grave. Then comes the following:— “Chaplain. Almighty God, we give thee hearty thanks for the good examples of all those thy servants who, having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labors. And we beseech thee, that we, with all those who are now departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“All. Amen.
“Chaplain. May the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be with us all now and evermore.
“All. Amen.”—Manual, p. 63. Amen means verily. The people, by saying “amen,” agree to all that the Chaplain has said. When worldlings, unbelievers, and infidels thus call Jesus Christ their Lord, and are ordered to do so by the rules of their Grange, how much is that short of blasphemy? Many of these people will go away from the funeral and swear by the Lord, and ridicule the sacred name of Jesus. And the chaplain himself may be an infidel for aught that the rules of the Grange provide. What mock worship and hypocrisy? It is true that there is a great deal of such hypocrisy in the world, even among the churches; but this does not make it less sinful for the Grangers, nor for any one who participates in it for the sake of saving a little money in this world. When men and women who profess to be waiting for the coming of Christ run after such folly, it is evident that they have lost their first love, and that Christ and his truth can no longer satisfy them. They hanker after something else. May the Lord help all who have backslidden to return to him, and to believe that living near to the Lord brings more heavenly and earthly profit than all human inventions.