The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1921, Page 91

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 91

old teaching to be correct. But if others do not see
it that way, and expect to enter the realms of glory
by some other route, it is not for us to say that they
are wrong. We believe in every man’s going to
heaven in his way and in his fashion, and we will
not allow any of our members to say that salvation
through Christ is the only way.”

“Freemasonry does not teach Christianity,”
said 'T. M. Collins, Secretary of the Grand Lodge
of West Virginia, in an official document, dated
January 22,-1921. Mackey, a generally accepted
. authority in Masonry, who in his day occupied one
of the highest offices in the order, says in his Zncy-
clopedia, page 162: “Masonry is not a Christian
institution.” And in the same book, on page 641,
he declares: ‘Freemasonry is not Christianity.”
Grosh in his New Odd-Fellows’ Manual says: “The
descendants of Abraham, the various differing fol-
lowers of Jesus, the Pariahs of stricter sects, here
gather around the same altar, as one family,
manifesting no differences of creed or worship.”
(p. 283.) J. C. Root, the founder of the Woodmen
of the World, said: “Our doors are left open to
the Jew and Gentile, the Catholic and Protestant,
the agnostic and atheist.” The Knights of Pythias,
the Elks, the Foresters, the Grangers, and all the
other secret. societies hold the very same view that
is expressed above by men of greatest prominence
in their respective orders.

Now think it over! Here is the whole thing in
a, nutshell: The Bible says there is no salvation
outside of Christ; the lodge says there is salvation
without Christ. The Bible says that he who does

not believe in Christ will be lost, no matter how’

good a man he may have been in the eyes of the
world; the lodge says 'that such a man can be saved
though he was not a Christian. If one thing is
plain, it is this, that the Bible teaches that Christ
is the Savior, the only Savior, of sinners, and that
faith in Him is absolutely necessary to salvation.
And if another thing is plain, it is this, that the
lodge, Masonry and all the other lodges, teach that
Christ is not the only hope of sinners and that
faith in Him is not necessary to salvation. The
Church and the Bible agree; the lodge and the
Bible disagree. With whom are you going to hold,
with the Church and the Bible, or with the lodge
against the Bible? ‘Friend, you have to choose.
God help you to make the right choice! F. J. L.

Ir is possible to give without loving, but it is
impossible to love without giving.

All in a Day’s Work.

For some time I had been sitting in my “Foa’d”
day in and day out, visiting many of our stations
down here in the Black Belt on important business.
On this particular Sunday morning I had Pastor
Montgomery with me. We set out from Selma at
the early hour of 7.30 a. a1. for the distant congre-
gation of Nyland. The day bade fair to be a beau-
tiful one, being slightly cooler than the weather had
been for months. For this we were thankful, since
the drive was, therefore, somewhat pleasanter.
Automobiling here at times may have some “joys”
for the missionary, but certainly not when a
Southern sun is blazing in the skies, when the heat
waves fairly “sizzle” upwards from a parched and
cracked prairie road, and your engine is throwing
back on your limbs and in your face additional
stifling heat. With my auto-door tied back to keep
it open and my hood lifted to let some of the heat
escape, and myself in shirt sleeves, hatless, and col-
lar wilted to a rag around my neck, I’ve presented
often anything but the appearance of a Lutheran
preacher. .

As I started out to say, on this day Pastor Mont-
gomery and [ had our faces set towards distant
Nyland. For thirty-six miles we rattled over fairly
decent roads to complete the last twenty a-bumping
over baked prairie and red clay soil. Arrived at the
chapel, and after due waiting, we proceeded with
the Sunday-school and services. I was giving up
my pastorate of this flock and entrusting it into
the hands of Pastor Montgomery. During the ser-
mon and later while we had a sociable bite to cat
together, it was apparent that our people become
closely attached to their spiritual shepherds. This
speaks well for them and reminds one of the touch-
ing farewell St. Paul was accorded on leaving his
Ephesian Christians.

Our next objective was Possum Bend. But first
we had to cross the Alabama River. This we did
at a landing called Clifton. But how primitive the
crossing arrangements are! You who ride over
cable-hung bridges of great span, who shoot in per-
fect safety through long tunnels underneath large
bodies of water, imagine this picture. A river of
shallow depth possibly over a hundred yards wide;
a flat constructed of rough boards and rudely put
together, large enough to hold a car, unwieldy oars
hewn out by hand. Now the ferryman begins to
push off from shore by means of a pole. Slowly the
clumsy ferry heads into the river, then crawls up

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