The herald., 1896-02-16
TO THE EDITOR
1.-THE HERALD under this heading prints
communications but does not assume re-
sponsiblity for the sentiments expressed.
Ant;-S Secrecy

article by one A. f. Gibson, criticsing an
anti-secrecy convention convened we sup
pose in Los Angeles. He is filled with 'sad-
ness and dependency and no wonder, if
he is lodgite, when his idol was assailed
nature held up to the gaze of ''cowans.'
He harps about "intolerance' as if that
was not the quintessence and stock in trade
of secret societies in general and of Free
masonry in particular. tle quotes scrip
ture, but forgets that "Jesus answered him
I spake openly to the world; L ever taught
in the synagogue and in the Temple,
whittier the Jews always resort, and in
secret have / said nothing" Christ was
answering such a slander. Then Paul
evidently understood the matter when
speaking of popular secret society of that
day, he said: And have no fellowship with
the unfruitful worker of darkness, but
rather reprove them, for it is shame even
to speak of those things that are done of
them in secret" When Paul got
religion he renouuced the ''hidden
things of dishonesty (Freemasonry) and
forty members swore they would neither
eat nor drink until they had murdered him
for seeding. The Bible says men loved
darkness rather than light, bee ,lse their
deeds were evil; that if men say they have
fellowship with Christ and walk in dark
ness they lie, and do not the truth if they
shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the
secret chambers, believe it not: if the gos-
pei be hid, it is bid from them that are
lost; secret things belong unto the Lord
our God, but those things that are revealed
belong to us; things that are old shall be
made known, aad even what his disciples
had spoken in the ear in closets should be
proclaimed upon the housetops. But why
add more? If this A. +. Gibson has read
history to so little profit as he has his Bible.
no wonder in his able and brilliant letter
he failed to mention a few historical facts
that might have added interest to his criti-
cisms. Freemasonry claims to be the
mother of secret societies, and from per-
sonal knowledge OF goodly number we
are prepared to prove it. The Clan-na-
Gael. that murdered DIR. Cronin the
Malta. of New Orleans, that assas.
klux Klan. whom General Howard
found kept their masks in Southern
Masonic lodge rooms. the Highbinders OF
San Francisco, the Molly Maguires of
Pennsylvania, the Bald Knobbers of Mis-.
souri,, the Whitecaps of Indiana and long
line of Masonic progeny have demon
strated their beautiful tolerance to the
public. This wise critic says: "The
sceneshifters and engineers that held in
their hands the strings that regulated the
movements OF the actors in some of our
world dramas have been invisible first.
afterward when the feat was accomplished
and nation had been tided over some
critical juncture of its life, did the secret of
the modus operandi become the property
of historians. or remains, perhaps, secret
forever. 1t is in the secret council of some
penetrating niellects that the plans have
been draughted. the execution of which has
changed the destinies OF nations and inau-
gu-ated new eras."
Yet it was just such motius operaudi
ba ,lan fboI/, and
inaugurated the French reign of terror.
But we will come nearer home. The Ma
sonic lodge rooms of the south were the
council chambers of treason. The ten
lodges of the District of Columbia at the
outbreak of the war all went for secession,
and MIR. Ferguson, secretary of Federal
Lodge No. |, VINO helped TO initiate fifty of
Albert Pixies Indians into Masonry before
they were made rebel leaders of the
5000 Indians at the battle of Pea Ridge,
seeded because of these facts. The
Golden Circle was child of Masonry,
originated and manipulated by the south
ern Free Masons. Does not Mr.. Gibson
know that the leaders of the southern con
federacy and reb9l forces Were Free Ma
sons almost to man? That the
blue lodges of Missouri sent out a
circular, and as simple Masons go nomine
raised, enlisted and armed the bloody
raids on Kansas. DOES he know that Lin.
Seward, at the head of his cabinet, Thad-
deus Stevens, Charles Sumner, S. G. Pome-
roy, and many in congress; Thlrlow Weed
and Charles Francis Adams in England:
were all bitter. oIItspoken anti-Masons;
and that Grant, Sherman and Sheridan,
the generals who carried the union forces
to victory, were not Masons'. Does he
know that brigham Young and 15C0 Nor
mon followers were at one time Masons in
good and regular standing under the
Masonic Grand Lodge of Illinois? Utah
Mormonsm is Free Masonry gone to seed.
These 1900 Illinois Masons simply set up
jurisdiction of their own, invented stop
degree, took in the woman, and the En-
downent House is a return to ancient
craft Masonry as it originally was. We
had thought that Mr.. Gibson was a Free
Mason, but fur her along he speaks of the
"cloilters, monasteries and retreats" of
the Jesuits as though he was Jesuit as
we'll Lincoln and all of his cabinet rec
ognized that Free Masonry and Jesuitism
united in planning and executing the re-
beliion. Is that why the Pope warned
Lincoln. recognized the Masonic confed-
eracy, blessed jeff Davis, and why Boo,h,
a Jesuit and Mason, assassinated Lincoln.
and died pressing a crucifix to his heart!
And the plot was to kill all of Lincon's
cabinet. Yes. it is now cas- silly proved that
Free Masonry and Jesuitism joined hands
in the rebellion. But listen to the valiant
self-appointed critic once more THE
same principle underlies the propriety of
secret societies. For the latter (providng
they are awake to the significance of their
positon) are dynamos of mental energy,
dispatching wave upon wave of induction
through the popular consciousness, thus
moulding the ideas of nations
Dynamos! Yes, dynamos of destruction.
Ali secret societies. and Freemasonry espe.
cially, destroy the conscience of the nation.
The secret societies brought on the French
revolution. The Masonic Grand Orient of
France declared there is no God, and the
French people wrote above their ceme.er-
les, "Death is an eternal Sleep" Mackey's
great book of Masonic jurisprudence. that
governs every Masonic grand lodge in the
United States. on page DO. declares that
treason and rebellion are not Masonic Of
fenses at all. And before us is Masonic
grand lodge report of Missouri which SAYS
I'VE are all equal citizens of one common
government, tlaving equal rights, equal
privileges and equal duties, and in which
government, thank God the majority does
not govern. For our order in its very con
stituton strikes at the root OF that which is
the very basis OF popular government. 1t
proclalms and practices, not that the will
of the masses is wise and good and as such
to be obeyed-not that the majority shall
govern" And again: NO. only do we
know no north, no south, no east and no
west. but we know no government save
cur own. To every government save that
of Masonry. and 10 each and all alike, we
are foreigners
So much for an institution that has its
worshipful master and most worshipful
grand masters. sublime princes, kings and
grand kings, and that has been the dyna-