shall afterward see, almost all sorts of men except atheists.  Being composed of Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Mormons, and infidels, as well as of believers in Christianity, they endeavor to establish such forms as will be acceptable to their mongrel and motley membership.  Hence their prayers and other forms of worship are such as may be consistently used by the irreligious and by infidels, and only by them.  We do not say that no Christian prayers are offered up in Masonic lodges.  No doubt some godly men, as chaplains, offer up extempore prayers in the name of Christ; but such prayers are not Masonic.  They are not authorized by the Masonic ritual; they are contrary to the spirit if not to the express regulations of Masonry.  Any member would have a right to object to them, and his objections would have to be sustained.  The only prayers which Masonry does authorize, and can consistently authorize, are Christless—­infidel prayers and services.  The proof of this declaration can be found in every Masonic manual. (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.  These are facts which, we presume, all acquainted with the forms and ceremonies in use among Odd-fellows will admit.  Grosch, in his Manual, makes the following declaration:  “The descendants of Abraham, the divers followers of Jesus, the Pariahs of the stricter sects, here gather round the same altar as one family, manifesting no differences