St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-20
TALKED HIS AUDIENCE AWAY
An Anti-MasOnic Lecturer Whose
Excavations Did Not Take.


Excavations Did Not Take.
"The murder of Morgan by the men
of the Mystic fold"
1t was with the singing of solo, the
burden of which was in the words given
above, that an anti-Masonic lecture was
introduced TO a few hundred people
who assembled last evening in the Sal
walton Army hall. corner of Ninth and
jackson streets. The lecturer was Rev.
William Fenton, editor of the Christian
LiberatOr-a man well advanced in
years and undoubtedly possessing schol-
arly attainmeuts. That he is opposed
to Free Masonry is hardly sufficiently
expressive of Mr.. Fenton's position.
His views of the mystic fold may be bet
ter understood when he is quoted as
saying that it is ''an infamous lnstltu-
ton, a murderouS institution. an lnStl-
tuition that common cannlbals ought 10
be ashamed Of" But Mr.. Fenton had
not particularly responsive audience
before which he desired 10 unmaSk 1.-The
paganism" of Free Masonry. 1t is
questionable whether half of those
present had the slightest idea of what
he was talking about-at the close one
individual inQuiringly requested the
GLOBE reporter to inform him what
the parSOn had been preaching about"
while large proportion were so lndlf-
ferent that throughout the lecture there
was an almost continuous procession to
the door. a fair sprinkling OF those
present were ladies.
Rev. Fenton showed himself accus-
toned tOspeak To luke-warm audience,
and utterly Ignored his dismal sur
roundingS. the hall having moStdlngy
and cherries appearance. He attacked
the Free MasonS hip and thigh" de-
claring Free Masonry was the revival
of all those ancient paganiStc practices
before the Christian era. The state OF
Massachusetts passed a law IN 1854
which declared Free Masonry crime
land it was a crime," he dramatically
added. He adduced quotations from
noted ministers and laymen to bear
upon this point, proceeding which
bored the audience, the exodus being
very irritating. A little light into Mr..
FentOn's opposition to MasOns was
next shown, as he explained that
there were hundreds of them desiring
to have the secrets of the society yenti-
lated. They were praying for 1t, so
that they might he liberated from their
terrible oathS. Free Masonry was also
anti-Chrlst-the name of Jesus Christ
was not allowed to be used in their
lodges. and yet its ritual testified that
when candidate applied for admission
his soul was regenerated. Free Ma
sonry proclaimed the doctrine of sanctl-
fcation and ignored Christ. How, then.
could ministers of the Gospel legiti-
mately become members of such a
blasphemous institution? Preaching
Christ in the pulpit; denying Christ
and preaching myths and fables in the
Masonic lodges!
Mr. FentOn had rambled on for
nearly two hours; the hall was almost
depleted of the original audience, and
those remaining were startled with the
statement that al have scarcely begun
yet" While he believed in that old
maxim, EARLY to bed, early to rise"
etc., and was inclined to cut off there,
he could not refrain from explaining
the mode of initiating Mason and the
oaths taken Dy him. Eventually the
end came with: II think we might
take up collection" and after prayer
the faithful few who had stopped to the
end were allowed to quietly trace their
steps homeward Oh purchase a few anti
Masonic books which Rev. Fenton
offered for sale.