ior, on his trial,
declared: "_I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the
synagogue, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said
nothing_." (John xviii: 20.) An association which claims to be
laboring in behalf of true principles, and for the moral and
intellectual improvement of men, and yet conceals its operations under
the impenetrable veil of secrecy, is certainly practicing in direct
opposition to the example and teaching of the Son of God.

Again: The concealment of our actions is condemned in the words of the
Most High, as recorded by the prophet: "_Woe unto them that seek deep
to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark;
and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us_?" (Is. xxix: 15.)
Those on whom a divine curse is thus pronounced are described as
endeavoring to _hide their works in the dark_. This description
applies, most assuredly, to those associations which meet only at
night, and in rooms with darkened windows, and which require their
members solemnly to promise or swear that they will never make known
their proceedings.

Again: The inspired apostle incidentally condemns secret societies in
denouncing the sins prevalent in his own day: "_And have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them; for it
is a shame to speak of those things that are done of them in secret_."
(Eph. v: 11, 12.) It is not without reason that commentators
understand the shameful things done in secret, of which the apostle
speaks, to be the "mysteries" of the "secret societies" which
prevailed among the ancient heathen. They maintained religious rites
and ceremonies in honor of their imaginary deities, just as most
modern "secret societies" make a profane use of the word and worship
of God in their parades and initiations. He says it would be a shame
to speak of the rites performed by the heathen in their secret
associations in honor of Bacchus and Venus, the god of wine and the
goddess of lust, and of their other abominable deities. But whether
the apostle refers to the Eleusinian, Samothracian, and other pagan
mysteries, or not, the _principle of secrecy_ comes in for a share of
his condemnation.

The concealment practiced by "secret societies" is inconsistent, also,
with such declarations of the Bible as the following: "_For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth