is obvious.

In the ceremonies of initiation into the various degrees everything
was devised that could strike the imagination, awaken curiosity, or
excite terror. The awful oath that has been administered in some
Continental lodges would send a thrill of horror through every right-
minded person, whilst the lugubrious ceremonies the aspirant has to
pass elicit a smile--such, for instance, of leading the young Mason
with bandaged eyes around the inner temple, and in the higher grades
presenting him with a dagger, which he is to plunge into a manikin
stuffed with bladders full of blood, and declare that thus he will be
avenged of the death of Adoniram! Then he is instructed in the code
of secret signals by which he can recognize a brother on the street,
on the bench, or on the field of battle. Carousing till midnight is
a befitting finale to the proceedings of the lodge.

The doctrines or religious code of the Masons are, as their symbols
indicate, deistic and anti-Christian. They openly shake off the
control of all religion, and pretend to be in possession of a secret
to make men better and happier than Christ, his apostles, and his
Church have made them or can make them. "The pretension," says
Professor Robertson, "is monstrous!"

How is this exoteric teaching consistent with the full and final
revelation of divine truths? If in the deep midnight of heathenism
the sage had been justified in seeking in the mysteries of Eleusis
for a keener apprehension of the truths of primitive religion, how
does this justify the Mason, in the midday effulgence of Christianity,
in telling mankind he has a wonderful secret for advancing them in
virtue and happiness--a secret unknown to the incarnate God, and to