Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-07-13
Communicated.
The Chicago Convention and Freema'
sonry.

FreefHdbonry 10 CnrlStlanlty, nave
seen number of articles in different
newspapers treating of the doings of
said convention. In not single in
stance have seen fair and candid
statement of the affair. There may
have been fair ones which l have not
seen. Many of them were mere
caricatures. The nearest fair arti-
Gle which / have seen is one in the
Herald of June %, from the Chicago
Tribune and that, from want of an
derstanding or disposition, is not
more than half fair.
After stating the objection of the
convention to Freemasonry, because
it's ritual ignores Jesus Christ, it
proceeds to justify Masonry as fol-
lows: "Their order claims to be
universal. 1t embraces men of all
races, tribes, and creeds; it takes in
the Asiatic, African, European, and
aboriginal American. 1t includes
men of every faith who worship q
supreme God. To demand belief
| in the divinity of Chrirt would destroy
this universally, and cenfne it's
members to believers in the Christian
faith" M ~ W
Now, if understand the drift of
the convention, it was not primarily
an attack on Masonry, per Sc, (unless
we allow the remarks of few hot
headed, illiterate persons to be the
chief matter nor yet was it an at,
tempt to Christianise Freemasonry.
But their opposition is to Christians
becoming or remaining Freemasous.
Their objection is founded On the fact
that Freemasonry is, in part, re-
ligious, devotional and that in itsre.
ligious servicesit ignores Jesus Christ
our Lord, virtually saying, stand
aside; we have a philanthropy so
large, so universal, that we cannot
approach God through thee while
engaged in this great matter! Now,
if any one thing stand out more
pointedly clear in Christianity than
another, it is, that all prayer and
praise, all devotion, are to be offered,
and are only acceptable, to God, in
the name Of Jesus Christ our Lord
The question, right here is, how can
q Christian take on himself such a
responsibility ? And yet further,
how can Christian minister take on
himself the office of a chaplain, and
go through the religious services of
a lodge, chapter, or encampment,
/ with HE back turned on his Lord -
In this, he is not simply participant,
but leader in the offence. For my
part, cannot see why Freemasonry
should require the Christian to dis
honor his faith out of obsequiousness
to the Hottentot, the Malay, or the
New Zealander; or to the Turk, the
Jew, or the deist. Fit is urged that
the rules of Freemasonry require it,
then, for that very reason the Chicago
convention say, and | say, let him
not become a Freemason. Let the
order be confined to the Asiatic, the
African, and the aboriginal American,
and to all others who openly re-
pudiate Jesus Christ as the "author
and finisher of our faith"
The whole matter, fairly stated, is
that Jesus is the author and head Of
the Christian system. All its servi-
ces are to be performed by us in his
name-in his own Language. "No
man can come to the Father but by
me-" Freemasonry requires religious
services to be performed, in all of
which Jesus Christ is ignored-no
matter from what cause. Therefore,
Freemasonry, in this, is antagonistic
to Christianity.
| | see no way of removing the obs
lection but to remove the evil
Either let the Jew, Turk and deist
accommodate themselves to o Chris
tian service in Christian land or
else, let the religious services OF
Freemasonry be expunged from their
ritual entirely. 1t is much better
for the Christian to. meet in session
with his fellow men, for social or
other purposes, when no prayer is
offered, than where prayer is offered
and his Lord denied, or set aside.
II aiaM ma A. p. ].
REMARKS BY THE HERALD.-The
writer of the above is a gentleman OF
candor, and means to be fair in his
statements. He states, briefly, the
"drift of the convention" of preach
ers at Chicago, which was their OBJ.
LECTION to christians becoming or re-
naming Freemasons," because .Free-
masonry is in part religious. devo-
tional," and that in its religious SER
vices 'Masonryignores Jesus Christ"
| 1t SO happens that we have very
long been e Freemason, and that we
have progressed far enough in MAJ
sonic knowledge, history and pur-
| pose to answer intelligently the sew.
eral points raised.
I Masonry is not. understood in the
fraternity as q religious or. devotion
| al institution, but only as a neral,
social, speculative and progressive.
1t is evidently of Jewish origin, and
remained in Jewish hands till it's re-
organization by st. John the Evan
| gelist and st. John the Divine, who,
it is believed, so changed the rituals
and ceremonies as to make them
conform, as far as practical, to the
new order Of things, yet making no
sweeping changes to destroy the
unity or universality of Masonry for
| by the time of the advent of Christ,
Masonry had already gone abroad
/ among the Romans and Barbarians,
and it appeared then as now com
mon practice for civilized and chris.
tan people to use Masonry for man
aging the savages and barbarians,
and bringing them to the very pale
of the new dispensation. The
Saints John really put into Masonry
much that was Christ-like; for the
eye -an-eye and tooth fora tooth
practice of Moses, the Saints John
gave to Masonry this new law-if
thy brother smite thee on the right
cheek. turn to him the left also.
And they further added, the parable
of the vineyard go into the highs
i xuaua and hxyxuoxya onA nall 1850