The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Page 26

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26

The Lutheran Pioneer.

as little recognize the Holy ‘Trinity. For this
reason we do them no wrong when we say that all
their prayers are an idolatrous worship in the same
measure as was the worship of the golden calf by
the Israelites at Mount Sinai and the worship of
Baal in the days of Elijah.

But the prayers of the lodge are also utterly
offensive to God for the reason that they are Christ-
less. Here and there it may happen that a so-called
lodge chaplain or his substitute offers a prayer in
Christ’s name. But officially such a recognition of
Christ is not sanctioned. High Masonic authori-
ties condemn the use of Christ’s name in lodge-
meetings as a violation of the principles of Masonry.
(See, for example, Proceedings of the Texas Grand
Lodge, 1907, pp. 3. 4. 22. 84. 167. 178.) In the
prayer adopted by the Grand Lodge of Odd-Fellows
in the United States, the name of Christ is excluded,

and the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Odd-Fellows”

gave it as its opinion, through the Grand Sire, that
it is “inexpedient, unwise, and unlawful” for a
“chaplain to commence and finish his prayer in the
name of Christ” in lodge-work. The writer has
heard prayers offered by an Odd-Fellow chaplain at
a funeral which ended with the formula, “In the
name of Jesus Christ,” but the official report No. 58,
pp. 11. 105, of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Odd-
Fellows will show that such prayers are not sanc-
tioned, yes, even condemned by the highest authori-
ties of Odd-Fellowship. We are also willing to
admit that Masons in their lodge-work now and
then use the name of Christ, but when this is done,
they that do it are guilty of an “un-Masonic” act,
according to the highest Masonic authorities. We
also know that in the Templar degrees of Masonry
the name of Christ is used very frequently, as a
matter of course, but Christ is not referred to as
the Mediator, the Savior of sinners, the Substitute
Bearer of all men’s sins. If the truth be told, it
would soon become plain that the so-called Chris-
tian degrees of Masonry are utterly antichristian in
spirit and doctrine.

What has been said of the Christless prayers of
the Masons and Odd-Fellows is also true of the
prayers of the other lodges. Not one syllable of
that sweet name is heard, since by its use they
might offend some unchristian members of the

order. Rather deny Christ than give offense to an™

unbelieving “brother” of the lodge. Intentionally
the name of Jesus, our best and dearest Friend, is
omitted from the prayers! ‘Think what that means!
Has the blessed Savior deserved such treatment at

our hands? Can we consistently claim with our
fellow-Christians that Christ is our One and All,
and yet join in the prayer of the lodge where Tis
mediatorship is denied and His very name is taboo
as though it were an unclean thing?

There are three things wanting in every lodge-
prayer: There is no published lodge-prayer which

.clearly and outspokenly admits that the people

offering the prayer are poor, unworthy sinners,
whose only hope for salvation is the grace of God;
there is no mention of the mediatorship of Jesus
Christ who by His atoning death has alone made it
possible for us poor mortals to enter-into the pres-
ence of God; and, finally, the writer has never seen
or heard a lodge-prayer in which any kind of ref-
erence was made to the Holy Spirit, who calls the
sinner to Christ by the Gospel, enlightens him with
His gracious gifts, renews his heart, and keeps him
with Christ through the means of grace in the true
faith unto life everlasting.

Dear reader, can you, who call yourself a Chris-
tian, unite with others in offering up such Ghrist-
less prayers? Can you, who confess that you were
spiritually blind and dead in sin and who also con-
fess that your present state of grace is due alone to
the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through
the Word,—can you take part in any worship
where He who made you to see and He who
awakened you unto spiritual life in Christ is ig-
nored and denied? O remember: “There is one
God and one Mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2,5. Man, sinful man,
can approach the holy and righteous God in prayer -
alone through the one Mediator Jesus Christ.
Every other manner of approach means death for
the suppliant. — Will you die? F. J. Ts.

Alabama!

Shall the Work of the Savior Down Here
Branch Out?

The little girl whom you see in the first pic-
ture is Melissa Montgomery. They call her “Pet”
for short, and she has—as we heard it expressed
—plenty of ‘sense, meaning that she is very apt.
“Pet” is not yet four years old, still she often stands
by the window alone and “plays teacher.” She will
run her fingers up and down the window-sill, play-
ing hymns. While doing this she hums the melo-
dies, the correct melodies to such hymns as “Rock —
of Ages, Cleft for Me,” “Now the Light has Gone