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

them from any difficulty in which they are involved; yet they never present the
pure motives of the Gospel. They are pledged not to violate the chastity of a
brother Mason's wife, sister, daughter, or mother; but they are not pledged by
Masonry, as the law and Gospel of God require, to abstain from such conduct
with any female whatever. But nothing short of universal benevolence, and
universal morality, is acceptable to God.
But again: It has been shown that Masonry claims to be a saving institution; that
this is claimed for it by the highest Masonic authorities; and that this claim is one
set up by itself as well. But an examination of Freemasonry shows that it promises
salvation upon entirely other conditions than those revealed in the Gospel of
Christ. The Gospel nowhere inculcates the idea that any one can be saved by
obedience to the law of God. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified"
is the uniform teaching of the Bible. Much less can any one be saved by
conformity to Masonic law, which requires only a partial, and therefore a
spurious, morality. The Bible teaches that all unconverted persons are in a state of
sin, of total moral depravity, and consequent condemnation by the law of God;
and that the conditions of salvation are repentance and a total renunciation of all
sin, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Now
these are by no means the conditions upon which Freemasonry proposes to save
its members. The teachings of Freemasonry upon this subject are summarily this:
Obey Masonic law, and live.
Now, surely, whatever promises heaven to men upon other conditions than those
proposed in the Gospel of Christ is a fatal delusion. And this Freemasons can not
deny, for they profess to accept the Bible as true. Freemasonry lays no stress at all
upon conversion to Christ by the Holy Spirit. It presents no means or motives to
secure that result. The idea of being turned from sin to holiness, from a selfpleasing
spirit to a supreme love of God, by the preaching of the Gospel,
accompanied by the Holy Spirit, is not taught in Freemasonry.
It nowhere recognizes men as being justified by faith in Christ, as being sanctified
by faith in Christ, and as being saved as the Gospel recognizes men as being
saved.
Indeed, it is salvation by Masonry, and not salvation by the Gospel, that Masonry
insists upon. It is another gospel, or presents entirely another method of salvation
than that presented in the Gospel. How can it be pretended by those who admit
that the Gospel is true that men can be saved by Freemasonry at all? If
Freemasons are good men, it is not Freemasonry that has made them so; but the
Gospel has made them so, in spite of Freemasonry. If they are anything more than
self-righteous, it is because of the teachings of the Gospel; for certainly
Freemasonry teaches a very different way of salvation from that which the Gospel
reveals. But, again, the prayers recorded in Freemasonry, and used by them in
their lodges, are not Christian prayers; that is, they are not prayers offered in the
name of Christ.
But the Gospel teaches us that it is fundamental to acceptable prayer that it be
offered in the name of Christ. Again, as we have seen in a former number, the
teachings of Freemasonry are scandalously false; and their ceremonies are a