Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1928 - Rparchives.org

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 93
done Masonry simply because Rome condemns it? Is her only
concern today to be unlike Rome? Does she hate Rome more
than she loves Christ?"
Is Freemasonry a menace to the Christian faith in America?
A pastor of an evangelical church admitted that Masonry
had a tendency to keep men out of the church but, he said, "If
one has not joined the church until old enough to become a
Mason, he is not likely to become a Christian anyway." We are
told that 95 per cent of the ministers of one leading denomination,
and 90 per cent of another almost as large are members
in this Christless organization. One minister tells of his acceptableness,
to a committee, as a candidate for a pulpit, but
was rejected because he was opposed to Masonry. Is Freemasonry
an enemy of the church? Hear what Mr. M. L.
Wilmhurst, President of the Installed Masters Association of
Huddersfield, England and a lecturer throughout the Masonic
Lodges of England, has to say: "It is well for a man to be
born in a church, but terrible for him to die in one; for in religion
there must be growth. A young man is to be censured
who fails to attend the Church of his nation; the elderly man
is equally to be censured if he does attend—he ought to have
outgrown what the Church offers and to have attained a higher
order of religious life. The Churches may be left to continue to
discharge their proper ministry, whilst those who feel the need
of richer fare than the Churches provide may find it in the
ancient Gnosis to which Freemasonry serves as a portal of entrance."
Could the pride of Lucifer exceed that? Is there no
menace to the Christian faith in the announcement in the daily
press of February 12, 1928 that 1800 members of the Order of
De Molay, Junior Order of Masons, gathered in Springfield,
Illinois from more than 200 cities, from 6 states?
Wesley described Masonry as the most amazing banter
ever imposed upon mankind which leads the Reverend Mr. Hunt
to ask: "Is Deism—after 200 years to destroy her destroyer?
.... Masonry is indeed a coalition of all pagan faiths against
Christianity .... Masonry is spending millions erecting new
temples and layng deep her plans to capture the rising generation.
If the Churches already are so deeply involved that action
is difficult and unpleasant, what will the position be in twenty
years' time?
Modern knowledge has not inflicted a scratch upon the
central truths of the Gospel. The evangelical churches have
inherited the heaviest responsibility from the past and are
trustees for the future. If they fail, Protestantism disappears,
not through evil design on the part of Roman or Anglo-
Catholics, but in consequence of the toleration of the enemy
within.
"ROME IS LEFT—AND MASONRY."
J. W. ELFRY C. BOYD M. J. WYLIE FINLEY. COLEMAN HUNTER TWEED