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

the church.
CHAPTER XX
CONCLUSION
In concluding these pages I appeal to Freemasons themselves. Gentlemen, I beg
you to believe that I have no personal ill-will toward any member of your
fraternity. Many of them are amongst my personal acquaintances, and some of
them nearly related to me.
I have written of Masonry, I pray you to remember, as revealed by Wm. Morgan,
also Avery Allyn, Elders Bernard and Stearns, and Mr. Richardson. That these
authors truly reveal Masonry I am certain, so far as I have personal knowledge of
it. That they truly reveal the higher degrees I have as good reasons for believing,
as of any fact to be established by human testimony. You can not justly expect me
to doubt the truthfulness of these revelations. You must be aware that God will
hold me responsible, and demand that I should, in view of the testimony, yield my
full assent to the credibility of these authors. You must know that God requires
me to treat this subject in accordance with this revelation. Now, gentlemen, no
one of your number has attempted to show that these books are not substantially
reliable and true. No one of you has appeared to publicly justify Masonry as
revealed by these authors. You must be aware that no man can justify it. No
respectable author amongst you has attempted to show that Freemasonry has
undergone any essential improvement, or modification, since these revelations
were made; but on the contrary the most recently published Masonic authorities
assert or assume that Masonry has not been changed, and that it is still what it
ever has been, and that it is insusceptible of change, as I have proved it to be.
Now, my dear sirs, what ought you to expect of me? To hold my peace and let the
evil overrun the country until it is too late to speak? Believing, as I most assuredly
do, that these works truly reveal Masonry, could I be an honest man, a faithful
minister of Christ, and hold my peace in view of the alarming progress that this
institution is making in these days. In your hearts you would condemn and despise
me if, with my convictions, I suffered any earthly considerations to prevent my
sounding the trumpet of alarm to both Church and State. Would you have me
stultify my intelligence by refusing to believe these authors; or, believing them,
would you have me cower before this enormousIy extended conspiracy? Or
would you have me sear my conscience by shunning the cross, and keeping
silence in the midst of the periIs of both Church and State? And, gentlemen, can
you escape from the conclusions at which I have arrived. Granting these works to
be true, and remember I am bound to assume their truthfulness, can any of you
face the public and assert that men who have intelligently taken and who adhere
to the horrid oaths, with their horrid penalties, as revealed in these books, can
safely be trusted with any office in Church or State? Can a man who has taken,
and still adheres to the Master's oath to conceal any secret crime of a brother of