Secret Societies

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 truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." (John iii: 20, 21.) "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."