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

here! And the cases are numerous in which, as I have said, the most solemn
passages in the Word of God are used in their mummeries and childish
ceremonies, in so shocking a manner that we can hardly endure to read them. I
beg my Christian readers to examine these books for themselves, and then see
what they think of the assertions of so many professors of religion, and even of
professed Christian ministers, that "there is nothing in Freemasonry inconsistent
with the religion of Jesus Christ!" I cannot imagine anything more directly
calculated to bring the Word of God into contempt, than such a use of it in
Masonic lodges. It is enough to make one's blood curdle in his veins to think that
a Christian minister, or any Christian whatever, should allow himself to pass
through such an abominable scene as is frequently represented in the degrees of
Masonry:--multiplying their horrid oaths, heaping one imprecation upon another,
gathering up from every part of the Divine oracles the most solemn and awful
sayings of Jehovah, and applying them in a manner so revolting, that the scene
must make a Christian's heart tremble, and his whole soul to loathe such
proceedings.
In some of my numerous letters I am requested to quote the oaths entire. But this
would be to rewrite a great part of the books in which Masonry is revealed. Some
of these degrees have several different oaths to sustain them, filling several pages
of the work. I can only give parts of these oaths, and must leave the readers to
consult the books for themselves which I beseech them to do.
CHAPTER XI
FREEMASONRY IMPOSES ON
THE IGNORANT
In what is called the "Sublime Degree of Master Masons" there are the following
gross misrepresentations worthy of notice:
First, Hiram Abiff is represented as going daily into the Most Holy place for
secret prayer; whereas the Bible representation is that no one was allowed to enter
the Most Holy place, except the high priest. Neither Solomon nor Hiram were
allowed to enter it. And the high priest was allowed to enter it only once a year,
and that on the great day of atonement, "not without blood, which he offered first
for himself and then for the errors of the people."
Again, this Hiram is represented in Masonry as having been murdered by three
ruffians, who demanded of him the Master's word.
As he refused to give it, they murdered him, and buried him at a distance from
Jerusalem, in a grave "six feet deep perpendicular," where he remained fourteen
days.
Then, after a great deal of twaddle and misrepresentation in regard to the
supposed circumstances of his murder and burial, Solomon is represented as