THE OBJECTS OF FREEMASONRY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 64, 18 July 1874, Page 10

THE OBJECTS OF FREEMASONRY.

We select the following passages from the long and able pastoral of the Bight Bey. Dr. Eedwood, the Bishop ot Wellington :—: —

This hell-born foe of Eeligion and order, aspiring to universal sway, chiefly assails Europe, the head and heart of the world. Its yiiiiMATß aim is the annihilation of Catholicity— nay, of the Christian idea — for ever. Its invisible head is Satan, its visible head are the Secret Societies, or — as the Pope calls them in his last Encyclical — the *• Sects," whether masonic, or of any other name. " They form "—" — His Holiness says—" the Synagogue of Satan, which leads its troops against the Chursh, and gives her battle." Its plan of ATTACK is to destroy, firstly, the Temporal, secondly, the Spiritual power of the Pope, and thirdly, all Christianity. Its hears to that effect are any whatsoever, provided they are effective — violence, cunning, fire and sword, poison and the dagger ; but chiefly — as being more applicable, far-reaching, and universal — they are the following : to deceive Princes and Governments, and thus get the reins of power, as it now has them in Italy, Spain, Germany, and elsewhere ; then to destroy the influence of the Clergy by the systematic corruption of the masses, by Godless education, falsified History, immoral Literatuie, an audaciously lying and slanderous Press, perverted Arts and Sciences, and lastly, by the marshalling of all Religious Sects adverse to Borne, into one huge host against the common foe — the Roman Catholic Church. "We Appeal," wrote a well-known Edgar Quinet, to the " Vente," or Headcentre of secret societies in Piedmont — " we appeal to all the beliefs and religions that have ever warred with Borne : they are all willing or unwilling in our ranks ; for, at bottom, their existence is as irreconcilable as ours with Borne." Moreover, the Bevolution has its lair pretexts to beguile the simple and unwary — nay, sometimes the upright and honest. These are certain highsounding, magic words — such as liberty, progress, enlightenment, law, civilization, the welfare of nations, the destruction of abuses, the abolition of misery, the amelioration and comfort of the working classes — in short, endless prosperity and a golden age. And yet history and experience are there to give the lie to such promises ; for the boasted material superiority of our times is not due to the Bevolution, but to natural progress, which has been impeded rather than quickened by its baneful influence. The Catholic Church, whose object is neither science, nor art, nor industry, nor wealth, nor bodily comfort, but the salvation of S9uls, has incidentally done more for the promotion of them all than any other corporation. On Historical evidence, she claims to have founded Christian civilization, preserved Literature, encouraged Arts, and Sciences, promoted industry in every age and clime, England is indebted to her for the foundation of our liberties and the destruction of serfdom. (Macaulay's History, vol. 1.) And the whole fabric of the British Constitution is based upon her prudence, her wisdom, and her laws. And when calumny and falsehood brand her as the deadliest foe of mankind, she — as a mother stung to the quick by foulest ingratitude — meekly and sorrowfully exclaims : " I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised me." (Is. 1—2.)1 — 2.) To murder this beneficent mother is the object of the Bevolution. Against her it Bummons all its forces: Infidelity, Protestantism, Csesarism, Bationalism, Naturalism, false- politics, false science, false education." "On, on!" — it cries— "against our common foe. Away with the Pope, away with the Church, away with Christianity. -On, on, to the emancipation of mankind." Such is the formidable adversary which the Catholic Church has noir to conquer. For she has the " Promises " ; " The Gates of Hell shall r iot prevail agains" her " ; her victory is certain. Her glorious li6ad, Pope Pius IX., stands as an immovable tower of strength against the fiercest onslaughts. Bishops, priests, and faithful march in serried rinks round their leader. Such unity io invincible. It foretells a future which will shortly amaze the world. The day and hour of its coming we know not, but we dv know that we can hasten it by our prayers and good works.