St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-29
COAT RIDERS ROASTED
PRESIDENT BLANCHARD, OF THE
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION,
ROASTSALL SECRET ORDERS
Says They Are DESTROYING the
Churches-Yesterd Session
of State Association.

Criticism and denunciation of Sc
cret societies were INDUCED in to
! the exclusion of almost everything
else by the Minnesota Christian as
ISOLATION yesterday. At the day ses-
sions w. 1. Phillips, a general agent
of the association; Rufus Johnson,
of Winnebago City, and Prof. Stub,
of the Lutheran seminary denounced
the Good Templars, the Grand
Army, the Grange, the Druids, and
secret societies in general.
In the evening Market hall was
secured for a mass meeting, but the
attendance was very small A
lengthy address was delivered by
President Blanchard, of the Ma
/ tional Christian association. The
! gentleman is a fluent and forcible
! speaker, and in his argument he
took the position that it is the duty
| of ministers to find out and know
what secret societies are and what
! they are doing. Then, said he, they
will be able to advise and warn the
young men of their congregations
/ against entering into sworn asso-
citation with goddess men. The
! Christian churches are divided on
! this subject more than on any 9TH
er, and from this fact resulted the
! phenomenal growth and popularity
of the secret societies. Let the
church once unite in denunciation
and the lodges would lose their
prestige.
First among the, pernicious secret
societies Mr.. Blanchard placed the
JesuitS, then the Masons, Odd Eel
lows, Knights of Pythias and the
minor orders, not emitting the Grand
Army and the Good Templars. In
the course of his remarks it devel-
oped that the innocent lodge. altar
the ChriStless altar, as he called it
was what the speaker most strongly
objected to. He called it the altar of
Cain, as cpntrasted with the church
altar of Abel. The latter, he said,
had on it the lamb, sacrifice for re-
demption through Christ. The
altar of Cain had on it corn, wine
and oil, products. of the earth. Re
Hgion and the churches are suffer-
ing because the great bulk of young
men are being taught in the lodges
to rely on salvation on something
else than Jesus Christ. An altar
means worship, and in all the lodge
rooms men are worshiping. at Christ
less affairs. Christian men and worn-
en- are derelict in their duty when
they allow these evil practices to
flourish and grow green while the
churches stand by and play at saw
ing men. To accomplish reform,
there is need for an aroused Chris
tan conscience and an aroused po-
litical conscience. The lodges are
all composed of strong men, the
churches are made up largely of
women and children. No wonder
then that the secret societies WELD
such tremendous influence in all
the affairs of life. 1t is the business
of the churches to declare whether
Masonry or the other fraternities is
good or bad in the effect on the
temporal and eternal affairs of men.
AS a summing up, the speaker
declared his belief that the secret
organizations are not fit for Chris
tan men to join. The church, he
held, should reSolutely refuse to
countenance any institution in HUI
man society that will not submit
to examination.