A Roman Catholic's Notion Of Freemasonry.

of Ireland ; Preston ( William ) Illustrations of Masonry , ( This is the best work on the subject , and has passed through numerous English and foreign editions ); Ragon ( J . M . ) Orihodoxie Magonnicyue ; Smith ( Capt . Geo . ) Use and Abuse of Freemasonry ; Warburton ( Bp . ) Divine Legation of Moses ; and some two thousand other worksthe titles of which

, are to be found in Kloss , Lenning , and Dr . Oliver ' s hooks . We now approach the real subject matter of the lecture and must pass over very much of Mr . Eobertson ' s observations because they are matters pertaining and addressed to Romanistsnaturall

, y enough lauding his own church , and decrying all other p hases of faith . Our business is alone ivith Ereemasonry , and the published opinions of our author upon it . Therefore , we proceed , without replying to his peroration . Of our connection with the Eleusinian mysteries

we have before spoken so often that there is no reason to repeat it here . Nor is there any need to reply to his insinuation that Ereemasonry has nothing in common with the ancient Jews ( pp . 12 , 13 ) , for our brethren the late Rev . Joseph Wolff and the Rev . Dr . Margoliouth , both Hebrews converted to

Christianity , and at one time scholars of the Propaganda Eidei at Rome , and since priests of tbe Anglican Church , have over and over again testified to the connection now denied by Mr . Robertson . The Genuine Vestiges of Freemasonry , of the latter brother , is so ivell known in the Craft that this assertion of Mr . Robertson ' s calls for no refutation from us . He then adds , —

" It is now time to sketch the history of the Masonic Order . " Preemasonry in its first beginnings must be traced to the Masonic Lodges of the middle ages , in which the architects held their sittings , and framed statutes for their corporation . Thus , it is well known , that when Erwin of Steinbach had begun the glorious Cathedral of

Strasburg , he founded in that city a lodge , the centre and the model of other lodges spread throughout Europe . The heads of each of those lodges assembled at Eatisbon on the 25 th April , 1459 , and drew up the Act of Incorporation , which instituted in perpetuity the lodge of Strasburg as the chief lodge , and its president as the Grand Master of the Preemasons of GermanyThe

in-. stitute was formally sanctioned by the Emperor Maximilian in the year 1498 , and that sanction was afterwards ratified by the Emperors Charles theEifth and Ferdinand the Pirst . These ordinances , subsequently renewed , were printed in the year 1563 . ¦ ' •

'The masters , journeymen , and apprentices formed a corporation , having a special jurisdiction in different localities . But the lodge of Strasburg was pre-eminent above the rest , and , in conformity with the statutes , pronounced a definite judgment in all causes brought under its cognizance . In order not to be confounded with the vulgar mechanics , who could handle only the hammer and

the trowel , the Preemasons invented signs of mutual recognition , and certain ceremonies of initiation . A traditionary secret was handed down , revealed only to the initiated , and that according to the degrees they had attained to in the corporation . They adopted for symbols the instruments of their craft—the square , the level , the compass and the hammer

, . . " In course of time , it appears that the Masonic lodges , in order to secure patrons and friends to their fraternity , admitted among their associates individuals totally unacquainted ivith the architectural art . And so , by degrees , other objects besides those connected with their

craft , engaged the attention of the brethren . The mystery which enveloped their proceedings was common to all trade-associations of the middle ages . "In the reign of Queen Elizabeth , the government began to entertain suspicions of these Masonic lodges , and interdicted them . In the time of the Commonwealth , the ro 3 'alists of England , in order to concert

measures against the dominant tyranny , had recourse to secret political societies ; and these societies were now engrafted on the Masonic lodges , which , from the number of men of various professions they admitted into their ranks , were convenient receptacles for carrying on political plots . The scriptural symbols and scriptural phraseology employed in their lodges , were well suited

to the spirit and habits of the time . Eamsay , in his History of Freemasonry , does not deny that the lodges powerfully contributed to the restoration of Charles the Second .

"After the Revolution of 1688 , the exiled Jacobites introduced this modern political Preemasonry into Erance ; but the government of Louis the Fourteenth checked its diffusion . Under the regency established on the demise of that monarch , the English Pretender founded several lodges in that country ; and the Eegent himself , a sated voluptuary , eagerly sought in these secret societies for

some new source of gratification . Iu the year 1725 , the first lodge in France was held under the presidency of three Englishmen , Lord Derwentwater , Sir John Maskelyne , ancl Sir Hugh Tighe . "Intheyear 1736 , on . the depavtureof LoTdHaraonester , second Grand Master of the Order in France , the court intimated , that if the choice to that dignity fell on a

Frenchman , he should be sent to the Bastile . The Duke d'Antin was , however , elected ; and under him French Masonry attained to a certain consistence . In the year 1744 > , during the presidency , of the Duke de Clermont , a prince of the blood , Masonic lodges were expressly prohibited by the government ; but this prohibition served onlto increase and spread them in the provinces . At

y length the lodges in Paris emancipated themselves from all dependency on those in England . " A Scotch gentleman , the Chevalier Eamsay , was one of the most zealous promoters of Freemasonry in Erance . He had been bred up in the principles of Calvinism , aud then having fallen into a state of scepticism , had , in order to obtain a solution of his religious doubts , travelled in

Holland and France , where he was converted to the Catholic Church by the great Fenelon . As a Jacobite , he was attached to an association that , as he confesses , had rendered great services to the House of Stuart ; and as tutor to the sons of the Pretender , he had the best opportunities for furthering its success . A zealous Catholic aud a devoted royalist , the advocate and

promoter of Freemasonry ! How repugnant is this fact to our modern notions ! But observe , the Church had as yet pronounced no judgment on the matter . Eamsay proposed , as Grand Master of the Order , to convene at Paris a council , consisting of deputies from all the Masonic lodges in Europe ; but the Prime Minister , Cardinal Fleury , induced him to abandon this project . "

Unfortunatel y for us , and all who have to reply to attacks on our Order , we stand in the position of a boxer with both his hands tied behind him . We are fair sport for our opponents , as they can hit us right and left , but all we can do is to evade their blows , without the opportunity of attacking in return . Still

under this disadvantage , we are not altogether powerless , and most certainly not so when the question is only one of historical accuracy , such as Mr . Robertson ' s assertion , that Ereemasonry must he traced to Strasbourgh for its beginning , when we know that eight hundred years previously the system had been revived _ in England , by no less a person than St . Augustine . But here we have no intention to claim