Character of Masonry: Preparation for Initiation
By S. A. Gilley
CHARACTER OF MASONRY.—NO. 4.
When a man wishes to become a Mason, he presents his petition to the Lodge; and if upon ballot no black balls are cast, he is received as a candidate into the preparation room. Here among other questions he is asked, “Do you sincerely declare upon your honor that you will cheerfully conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the fraternity?” He is expected to reply, “I do.” Here, as at the first step, we see its evil nature. A Christian man has no right to promise obedience to “usages and customs” of which he is in ignorance. Should he hereafter see them to be wrong, he must either break his promise, or else, Herod-like, commit greater sin by keeping it. Passing on, we shall only notice such portions of the rites, ceremonies, &c., as have a direct bearing upon the anti-christian character of the institution; if any wish for a full revelation, a postal card sent to 13 Wabash avenue, Chicago, Ill., will secure them a list of various works, both Masonic and antimasonic. After all the questions are properly answered, the candidate is prepared for initiation by being divested of all his clothes except his shirt, when a pair of old drawers are handed him, and he is assisted to put them on, rolling up the left drawer leg above the knee; his left foot is bare, his right put into an old slipper; his left breast and arm are then made naked, either by withdrawing his arm from the sleeve and putting it through the bosom, or by opening and turning back the bosom, and rolling up the sleeve; he is then blindfolded, and a rope called a “cable-tow” is put around his neck and left arm. He is now said to be “duly and truly prepared.” Is this vulgar display of the person consistent with Christianity? What if all who are present are men, and most of them acquaintances? Is it not, for all this, indecent? What Christian (or any other) man would consent to such a display on the part of his wife, before a score or more of other ladies? But we follow him as he is admitted (led like an ox to the slaughter) to the Lodge room, being received on the point of a compass pressing his naked left breast. He is led to the center, and kneels at an altar, where a prayer is made for him by the second deacon. Think of him there! He may be a minister(?) of the gospel, while he who prays for him perchance is the veriest “blackleg” out of jail! Think of him, denuded, haltered, blinded, kneeling there to hear a prayer said over him in which no reference to Christ is made, surrounded by those whom his Bible teaches him can never enter Heaven. Have you longer confidence in him? The “poor blind candidate” is now led three times around the Lodge room “from west to east, in search of light;” after which, kneeling at the altar, his left hand under the Bible on which lie the square and compass, his right hand on the top of them, he takes the following “oath or obligation” of an “ENTERED APPRENTICE MASON.” We give the oath in full, substantially as given in every Lodge in the United States at the present time. “I, — — —, of my own free will and accord, in presence of Almighty God and this worshipful Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, dedicated to God and held forth to the holy order of St. John, do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, that I will always hail, ever conceal, and never reveal, any part or parts, art or arts, point or points, of the secrets, arts, and mysteries, of ancient Free Masonry, which I have received, am about to receive, or may hereafter be instructed in, to any person or persons in the known world, except it be a true and lawful brother Mason, or within the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of such, and not unto him nor unto them whom I shall hear so to be, but unto him and them only whom I shall find so to be after strict trial and due examination or lawful information. Furthermore do I promise and swear, that I will not write, print, stamp, stain, hew, cut, carve, indent, paint, or engrave it on anything, movable or immovable, under the whole canopy of heaven, whereby or whereon the least letter, figure, character, mark, stain, shadow, or resemblance of the same, may become legible or intelligible to myself or any other person in the known world, whereby the secrets of Masonry may be unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness. To all which I do most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, without the least equivocation, mental reservation, or self-evasion of mind, in me whatever; binding myself under no less penalty than to have my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea at low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours; so help me God, and keep me steadfast in the due performance of the same.” Notice the anti-christian nature of this oath. 1. Said to be dedicated to God, but still the Lodge will not allow the name of Christ to be used. 2. Candidate swears to “ever conceal” that of which he has as yet no knowledge, and so does not know but that it should be revealed. 3. What right has a Christian to invoke upon himself such a penalty? Confessing that his body has been purchased by Christ for a “temple of the Holy Ghost,” what right has he to place it under such imprecations? Here we will leave the first degree, and “pass” to the second, that of the FELLOW CRAFT. We will not wait for the disrobing process, but call attention to two or three items in the oath, and also to the penalty. In addition to former obligations, he now swears “that I will not knowingly wrong this Lodge, nor a brother of this degree, to the value of two cents, myself, nor suffer it to be done by others if in my power to prevent it; . . . that I will obey all regular signs and summonses given, handed, sent, or thrown to me, by the hand of a brother Fellow Craft Mason or from the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of such; provided it be within the length of my cable-tow, or a square and angle of my work [called three miles], under no less penalty than to have my left breast torn open, my heart and vitals taken thence, thrown over my left shoulder, and carried to the valley of Jehosaphat, there to become a prey to the wild beasts of the field and vultures of the air.” Of this oath consider, first, the promise not to cheat a brother, &c. If a man whose neighbor raised both citrons and melons, should repeatedly say to his boys, “You must not take neighbor A’s citrons,” would they not soon come to believe that he was willing they should take the melons? Or if two of his neighbors raised melons, would not a charge not to steal from one, seem to imply permission to steal from the other? So with Masonry; by constantly ringing the changes on “do not wrong your brother,” she teaches the implied permission to do wrong to all others. Secondly, the promise “to obey,” &c. If a brother under arrest for crime hands, sends, throws, the sign of distress, an appeal for help, his brethren are under oath to deliver and help him; this is often done, and so justice is robbed of its power. Thirdly, the barbarous penalty. But let us hasten on to review the oath taken in the third or MASTER MASON’S degree. Naked to the waist, legs bare to above the knees, hoodwinked, and with cable-tow three times about his body, he kneels at the altar, where we will leave him till next week.