Secret Societies by Edward Beecher;Jonathan Blanchard;David MacDill
page 55 of 60 (91%)
page 55 of 60 (91%)
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science, or art, or history, or religion is there for secret societies
to disclose? III. Religious rites or worship in societies, open or secret--are any allowable? and, if so, what? In order to answer this question, we need to consider certain fundamental and vital principles of Christianity. 1. All men, as depraved and guilty, need regeneration and pardon through the intervention of Christ. 2. There is access to the true God only through Christ: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but through me." 3. "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." All Christian churches are based on these truths, and the center and culmination of their worship is this recognition of Christ in the Sacrament as the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. Christ, too, is the center of the worship of heaven. Hence, if Christians associate with others in worship, it can rightly be only on the ground that the worship centers in Christ, and |
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