Project Gutenberg 2004-10-15 Public domain in the USA. 110 Macdill, David 1826 1903 Macdill, D. (David) Beecher, Edward 1803 1895 Blanchard, Jonathan 1811 1892 Blanchard, J. (Jonathan) Secret Societies: A Discussion of Their Character and Claims Reading ease score: 57.1 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders "Secret Societies: A Discussion of Their Character and Claims" by Rev. David Macdill, Jonathan Blanchard, D.D., and Edward Beecher, D.D. is a critical examination of the nature and implications of secret societies, likely written in the mid-19th century. The text delves into the historical context, religious objections, and moral concerns surrounding these organizations, arguing that their secrecy, oaths, and exclusionary practices are fundamentally at odds with Christian principles. The opening portion of the work discusses the long-standing existence of secret associations, tracing their roots back to various ancient cultures. The authors express skepticism about their claimed benefits while highlighting the moral and ethical implications of such secrecy. They argue that the origins and historical associations of these groups, often linked with pagan practices, are suspicious and potentially harmful. The text sets the stage for further exploration of specific issues, such as the profanation of oaths and the exclusivity of memberships, suggesting that these practices violate the core teachings of Christianity and contribute to societal harm. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Secret societies HS Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Sociology 148885 148281 2024-10-06T09:39:36.333441 2023-10-06T10:29:08.378256 text/html text/html 146751 2020-12-18T11:43:55 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 49784 2020-12-18T11:43:55 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 147132 2024-10-06T09:39:43.525446 application/epub+zip 146529 2024-10-06T09:39:40.212419 application/epub+zip 109542 2024-10-06T09:39:38.836459 application/epub+zip 380736 2024-10-06T09:39:45.894418 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 354791 2024-10-06T09:39:42.653418 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 209373 2022-09-07T04:01:52.087594 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 124038 123994 2024-10-06T09:39:35.902447 2023-10-06T10:29:08.066206 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 123678 2020-12-18T11:43:55 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 44854 2020-12-18T11:43:55 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20383 2024-10-06T09:39:46.028387 application/rdf+xml 24566 2024-10-06T09:39:39.395421 image/jpeg 4633 2024-10-06T09:39:39.113442 image/jpeg 144190 2024-10-06T09:39:36.346443 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia