The Story of Freemasonry [excerpt]

     In 1901 a protestant religious association in Brooklyn discussed Freemasonry, several ministers declaring it to be “a menace to Christianity and to government,” and the lodge “a breeder of lawlessness and anarchy.” The institution was charged with being “at variance with the Christian religion,” and the lodge oath “a subterfuge to hide wrongdoing,” while those who are members of the fraternity were assailed as “worse than the mobs of lynchers in the south.”
     One statement made at this meeting of clergymen excited especial indignation and brought forth spirited replies in the public press. It was that “all tendencies to anarchy and revolution can be traced to Masonry, and the seed was sown in these orders for just such results as the assassination of President McKinley.” [184][185]
     The third martyr President having been a Knight Templar, and a Freemason since the War of the Rebellion, and so thoroughly in sympathy with the fraternity’s purposes that long after he became conspicuous in public life, he had his photograph made while he was in full Knight Templar uniform, gave to this especial attack a venom rarely displayed in recent years. But its very intemperance caused it to fall harmless to the ground.