Catholics And Freemasonry.

CATHOLICS AND FREEMASONRY .

THE following letters have appeared in the "Catholic Times , " in response to the article of our contemporary which we quoted in our issue of the 6 th inst . : SIB , —Now that the "Great ProteBtant Heresy , " the latest and most outrageous of all , is dying an ignominious death in the sistht of all men , you dp well in drawing into the light a more insidious and more deadly enemy of Christianity than all the other sects put together .

Freemasonry , under the specious guises of " Benevolence " and " the Brotherhood of humanity , " is , in its ultimate term , nothing but the old ssrpent with his old lie : " If ye follow my counsel ye shall be as gods . " Not formally opposing Christianity—it is too cunning to deny openly the manifestly true and good—Freemasonry never once names , or refers to in the

roost distant way , in any of its rubrics or fomularies , Oar Divine Lord . It . quotes , indeed , " the Grand Architect of the Universe , " but it is clear that in the Masonic mind he or it or them may be " a mixture of gases , " or " matter and force , " or Jupiter , or Satan himself , For to him in all ages numbers of men have turned with the salutation : " Evil ! be thou my Good . "

Substantially true , Father Coppen ' s book , noticed in your issue of 22 nd December , is not new . " A False Brother " put it out forty years ago . His name was sent in red to every Lodge in the world . Whether or no be escaped the doom of traitors is not known , but his revelations remain . They amount to this—that the " secret" of the thiity-third degree is the worship of Satan ; or , in other words , the emancipation of humanity from the moral law .

Externally , Masonry may be traced through its whole course . Its beginning was at the moment when the first Rebel , shouting his war cry i Non Serviam , " drew with him one-third of Heaven , aid be ? an that strife between good and evil which rages to-day , and will continue till the end . We are told that the inception of the revolt was in the command "Let all the angels of God adore Him . " The proud spirit of Lucifer , conscious of his own magnificent endowment , refused to bow in worship to the Sacred Humanity of Christ , and elected to reign in hell rather than serve in Heaven .

Translated into the world by Adam ' s fall , the conflict has raged till now , under a thousand forms always to the same end—the attempt of Satan to rob mankind of its so dearly purchased inheritance . From the Christian era the war has been carried on by the Sects ; the Arians and Manicheans of earlier time , the Rosicruscians and Illuminati of the Middle Ages , the Masons of our own day . The latter are direct heirs to every old form of diabolism . They got their chance in 1789-93 . Students of the French Revolution cannot fail to note that , while its origin was in hunger , a different and evidently diabolic spirit soon entered into its direction , under which

" France got drunk with blood to vomit crime , " and proved to the world how near the civilised man remains to the savage when his passions get freeplay . God ' s providence intervened , and raised Napoleon to evoke order from chaos , and to bring to a close the open triumph of Satan .

But the Revolution still " marches on , " and the now triple lie of " Liberty , Equality , Fraternity " has multitudes of followers , who believe that emancipation from the " sweet yoke of Christ" will bring the Millenium , the earthly paradise of humanity . Freemasonry has two lives—an external and an internal—not only distinct , but more or less opposed . To the one belong all the Brethren who really believe that the Sect is a Benevolent and beneficial organisation , which in various ways does many good offices to its members . To this

section belongs the vast majority of the Order in Great Britian and other countries where the Christian idea dominates . The inner life is known to very few ; even of the chiefs of the Older . For example , we may take it as certain that the late Grand Master of England ( Lord Ripon ) or the present ( the Prince of Wales ) are not admitted to the Secret Cabinet . How could the latter he when one of the Masonic postulates is "Humanity will never start on its upward course till the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest . "

The contrary is exactly true . Society will never be healthy until it has evicted the infamous Sect which has for one of its watchwords , "Ecrasez l'infame " applied to Christianity . Here in Ireland we have good reason to hate this abominable conspiracy Reigning in the Castle of Dublin , it pervades the whole administration ; the Bench ; the Bar ; the magistracy . It dominates tho railways ; the large trade enterprises , and manufactures . It is a cancer eating into the life of

the country . It is not fitness or merit for any large position that qualifies , but principally the " grip" and the " sign . " Nay , the Government itself does not always prevail against the Order . Mr . Balfour declares that the Irish Catholic nation has a supreme right to a fit School of Higher Studies , but a savage , a devil worshipper in fact ( though he may not be conscious of it ) " A loyal Orangeman , From Portydown upon the Bann , "

declares that it must not be given—And it is not 1 From the day the Church " by law established " was disestablished , the ascendancy party has closed up its ranks and is preparing to fight to the death . Every Orangeman who can pay the fees has become a Mason , and the former organisation is always available in support of the latter . This Union ( Orange and Mason ) poisons life in Ulster , and gives rise to those scandalous scenes

in that Province most hurtful to Ireland and disgraceful to civilisation . The later development of the war against Christianity must take one or another Masonic line , and it therefore becomes one of the first duties of Catholic journals and of all men of light and leading , to watch every movement of the Sect , and drag forth its iniquities to the light of day and to the condemnation of all men of good will . Yours , & c ,

CATHOMCDS . Sin , —It is very difficult to silt the chaff from the wheat from " Catholicus' " letter on this subject , but , an ounce of fact is better than a ton of theory . 1 enclose you pages from this week ' s official oigan of Freemasonry , the ancient charges , from which you will see that Freemasonry has nothing in its charges and covenants ( or oaths ) deirimental or antagonistic

either to the Christian religion or to the Catholic Church . In fact , the charge enclosed of Thomas Foxcroft , dated 1699 , opens with this invocation : " In the name of the great anrl holy God of Heaven , the wisedom of the Son , and the goodness of tho Holy Ghost , three Persons and one God , be with us now arid ever . Arnen . " Then follows : " Fear God and keep His Commandments , lor this is the whole duly of man . " Then a history of Freemasonry , followed

Catholics And Freemasonry.

by fifteen charges . The first charge is this : " That ye shall be true men to God and His Church , to use no errour or Heresy by your understanding , or by wise men ' s teaching , " & c . Now , Sir , neither in this original charge nor in any book published by t'ie Cr .-ift , so far as the covenant or oath above mentioned , have I ever read one word against the Catholic Church . All the absurd things mentioned by " Catholicus " or Father Coppen or a false Brother to the contrary are the baseless visions of ignorant minds .

If " Catholicu 3 " has any authentic documents relating to his absurd statements , something that can be tested by an appeal to facts and roalities , then we may see where the truth really lies . At present to mix up Satan , Adam , the Arians , the French Revolutionists , Orangism , and Masonry , and then declare that thev are all Masonry and it is the enemy and foe of the Catholic Church , is simply the act of a dreamer , and a baseless and ridiculous and unproved assertion . Yours , & c ,

40 Spondon Road , Tottenham . T . MAY . SIR , —With reference to the letter written by " Catholicus " on Freemasonry , which appears in your issue of 5 th January , I gather that Freemasonry is opposed to all Christianity . I , as a Catholic , ahhor the sect because the infallible Church of Christ condemns it ; and , while not questioning the decision of the Church , I fail to see how Freemasonry can , as " Catholicus " puts it , consist of the worshin of everything that is contrary to the teaching of Almighty God .

" Catholicus " in his letter states that " Freemasonry has two lives—an external and an internal—not only distinct , but more or less opposed . " He then goes on to state that " To the one belong all the Brethren who really believe that the sect is a benevolent and beneficial organisation—and it is to this section that the vast majority of the Order in Great Britain and other countries where the Christian idea dominates belong . " If this is true , might I ask how the Order ( i . e ., the internal section ) uses the external section for

the furtherance of its aims ? Further , " Catholicus " states that "The inner life is known to very few , even of the chiefs of the Order . " If this is so , and the Princa of Wales as Grand Master of the sect in England is ignorant of the ultimate aim and end of its teaching , who then are the real governors , and where is their seat of government ? I always understood that a large number of the nobility and aristocracy were Freemasons . If the end of Freemasonry is tho destruction of Christianity and of monarchy , would not the nobility and aristocracy be the chief sufferers , so far as worldly matters go ?

I know many Christians ( Protestant ) , including clergymen , who are professed Freemasons , and as far as I am aware they are very earnest , Godfearing men , to whom such anti-Christian teaching would be abominable , and I cannot believe that these men would plot for the destruction of all Christian belief , or could be used as tools for that purpose . Yours , & c , FBEDEEICTJS .

''A Sprig Of Acacia.''

''A SPRIG OF ACACIA . ''

npHE funeral of the late Bro . Edward James Grubb took JL place on Monday , and was attended by a large company of Brethren . The first part of the service was conducted at St . Augustine ' s Church , Bristol , at the entrance to which the coffin was met by the Revs . W . F . Yates

Rooker , G . W . Pitt , and J . Fountaine P . P . G . Chaplain . Freemasons lined the path on either side , and as the coffin was carried into the church ( as the organist played "O rest in the Lord" ) they also followed in procession . The Masons included representatives of neighbouring as well as

Bristol Lodges . From the deceased's Lodge , Royal Clarence , No . 68 , of which he was a member for many years , there were present a considerable number ; while the St . Keyna , No . 1833 , Keynsham , and the Eldon , No . 1755 , Portishead , with which Bro . Grubb was connected for some

time , were also represented . The Ancient Order of Free Gardeners , of which the deceased was a member , was also represented . The vicar recited the opening sentences , and the lesson was read by the Rev . J . Fountaine , after which the hymn , " Peace , perfect peace , " was sung . As the coffin

was slowly carried from the church the organist played the Dead March from "Saul . " The coffin , covered with beautiful wreaths sent by members of the deceased ' s family and several Lodges , was conveyed in an open hearse to

Clifton Churchyard , where the service was concluded by the graveside . The coffin bore on a plate the emblems of our Order , the name of the deceased , his age ( 65 years ) , and the date of death ( 17 th January ) .

BRO . JAMES BUNKER P . M . Southern Star Lodge P . Z ., & c , and for a number of years an energetic member of the Board of Benevolence , and Treasurer of the Duke of Connaught Lodge of Instruction passed away on Friday of last week , after a serious illness of over twelve

months duration . Our Brother was a most enthusiastic and popular member of the Craft , and a great many will miss his genial presence at the many Lodges he was in the habit of attending . The funeral took place at the Ilford Cemetery , on Thursday .

AT the moment of going to press news reaches us of the . death of Bro . Walter Martin P . A . G . P . of England , one of the most popular of London Brethren , whose funeral , which took place on Thursday , was attended by a very considerable number of Craftsmen . We shall pay a further tribute to the memory of our departed Brother in our next issue .