(See Webb's Monitor, pp. 36, 80, 189, and
Carson's Monitor, of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, pp. 47, 61, 95,
99.) In all the prayers thus presented, the name of Christ is
excluded; it is excluded even from the prayers to be offered at the
installation of the "Most Excellent Grand High Priest." (Webb's Mon.,
pp. 183, 189.) The idea of human guilt is, also, almost entirely
excluded from these prayers; the idea of pardon through the atonement
of Christ is never once presented in them. In the prayer to be used at
the funeral of a "Past Master," it is declared that admission unto
God's "everlasting kingdom is the just reward of a pious and virtuous
life." Every true Christian, on reflection, must see that such prayers
are an insult to the Almighty. They are just such as infidels and all
objectors of Christ may offer.
The prayers of the society of Odd-fellows are equally objectionable.
In respect to the character of their religious services, they are to
be classed with the Masons. Odd-fellowship knows no God but the god of
the infidel; it recognizes the Creator of the Universe and the Father
of men, but not the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The
name of Christ has no more a place in the religion of Odd-fellowship,
according to its principles and regulations, than in a heathen temple
or an infidel club-room. It is quite likely that sometimes chaplains,
officiating in the lodge-room, pray in the name of Christ; but a Turk,
according to the principles and regulations of Odd-fellowship, would
have just as much right to pray in the name of Mohammed, or a Mormon
in the name of Joe Smith.
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