CAN THE CHURCH AFFORD IT?
By Editor
REFERENCE is being made in the press, both religious and secular, to the probable discussion of the secret order question in the next Methodist General Conference, to be held in Los Angeles, Cal., next May. The Northwestern Christian Advocate, a leading Methodist organ, is quoted to the effect that "there is no disguising the fact that there is a growing friction between the church and the various fraternal societies, and that it is a question that must come up for settlement in the near future." Referring to this subject, the Los Angeles Times says:— The Methodist Episcopal Church now has in operation a fire-insurance company which insures the church and parsonage properties. While not condemning this, the promoters of the new idea say it would have been wiser for the church to have evolved a scheme whereby the members may receive the same temporal benefits as are furnished by the lodges. This they will urge for consideration at the Los Angeles session of the General Conference, and if the church is unable to do the good work that the lodges do, say they, then give them a blessing instead of a curse. It seems hard for many people, both in and out of the church, to see that the church is an organization for carrying the Gospel to the world, for giving the Word of God to every creature, and that it is not solely a selfish club to dispense temporal benefits to its own members. It is evident that many members would fain make of it a mutual benefit affair, to help one another to get along easier in this life. Many have joined churches with this very object in view, and because they see the world's societies, organized for this very purpose, doing more in that special line than the church does, they would like to see the church leave its legitimate work, its first work, and follow the world. It is a fact that about all the general charity work is done by the churches or by their influence—without confining their efforts to their own members. Where is the secret fraternal society that does any charity work for any one outside of its membership? To ask the church to put itself in line with the world's societies, and become a selfish mutual benefit business concern, is to ask it to depart materially from the model laid down in the Word of God. Neither can the church put its "blessing" on all the chaff of the secret lodge because of the few grains of good that are apparent! It must be remembered that the lodges contend that they must maintain the secret feature in order to protect themselves from imposition. Without it their benefit system could not succeed. The Christian should also remember the words of his Lord: "In secret have I said nothing." In this connection it might be well to add, that an opposition society to one that has been one of the most successful in the past thirty years, has just been organized by seceding members, because the dues in the old one have become so high that they can no longer stand them. When this same order was first started, it promised more benefits for the money than any society had done before. But its ever-increasing obligations have increased the expense of membership to the point of secession. Few complaints are more common than the complaints of wives about their husbands' lodge expenses. Were the churches to attempt the fraternal society role, they would soon find themselves staggering under burdens far beyond anything they have experienced yet. And not the least of these would be the increased number of unconverted members drawn in by the so-called "fraternal" feature. The church of Christ can not afford any such incubus, or any such departure from the "old paths." We make these comments, not because some Methodists advocate the proposed measure, but because members of other churches are also talking in the same strain.