THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

administering, and taking of this or any other Masonic oath you are guilty of
violating the express command of Christ above quoted, and also the express
prohibition of the lawgiver at Sinai? And yet you can see nothing unchristian in
Freemasonry.
3. This oath pledges the candidate to keep whatever secrets they may
communicate to him. But, for aught he knows, it may be unlawful to keep them.
This oath is a snare to his soul. It must be wicked to thus commit himself on oath.
The spirit of God's word forbids it.
4. The administrator of this oath had just assured the candidate that there was
nothing in it inconsistent with his duty to God or to man. How is it, professed
Christian, that you did not remember that you had no right to take an oath at all
under such circumstances and for such reasons. Why did you not inquire of the
Master by what authority he was about to administer an oath, and by what
authority he expected and required you to take it? Why did you not ask him if
God would hold him guiltless if he administered an oath in His name, and you
guiltless if you took the oath. And when you have seen this or any other Masonic
oath administered why have you not rebuked the violation of God's law and left
the lodge?
5. Why did the Master assure the candidate that there was nothing in the oath
contrary to his obligations to God or man, and then instantly proceed to violate
the laws of both God and man and to require of the candidate the same violation
of law, human and divine?
6. The penalty for violating this oath is monstrous, barbarous, savage, and is
utterly repugnant to all laws of morality, religion or decency. Binding myself
"under no less a penalty than to have my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by
the roots, and my body buried in the sands of the sea at low-water mark, etc."
Now, has any man a right to incur such a penalty as this?
I say again: such a penalty is savage, barbarous, unchristian, inhuman,
abominable. It should be here remarked that in this oath is really found the virus
of all that follows in Freemasonry. The candidate is sworn to keep secret
everything that is to be revealed to him in Freemasonry of which as yet he knows
absolutely nothing. This is frequently repeated in the obligations that follow.
It will be observed that the candidate says, "to all of which I do solemnly and
sincerely promise and swear, without the least equivocation, mental reservation,
or self-evasion of mind in me, whatever." Richardson, who published the
Freemason's Monitor in 1860, on the 4th page of his preface, says of Masonry:
:The "oaths and obligations were then undoubtedly binding (that is when
Freemasonry was first established), not only for the protection of the members but
for the preservation of the very imperfect arts and sciences of that period. To
suppose these oaths mean anything now is simply absurd." What! How is this
compatible with what is said in this first oath of Masonry, and hence binding
through every degree of Masonry. "ALL THIS, I MOST SOLEMNLY AND
SINCERELY PROMISE AND SWEAR, WITHOUT THE LEAST
EQUIVOCATION, MENTAL RESERVATION, OR SELF-EVASION OF