FREEMASONRY-THE CHURCH AND THE STATE. [Second Notice.]

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 132, 12 November 1875, Page 7

FREEMASONRY-THE CHURCH AND THE STATE. [Second Notice.]

-H. Freemasonry — The Church and the State. London : Burnes and Oates. 1875. The remarks already made in reference to this book went to show that Freemasonry intends deadly war against Christianity as ifc exists in Church and State ; to eliminate it altogether from society at large ; to ruake it a dead letter in the family and individual. This is a strong charge to make against anything with the semblance of humanity in its composition. The office of the devil's advocate is useful ; but that of his deputy is another matter. The volume in question makes this charge, and, as far as the authorities •whom he quotes are concerned, proves it also. If the destruction of the Church were the sole object in view Freemasonry would be unworthy of more notice than any other anti-Catholic movement, as we are always in the field, and fighting "all-round" for the most part.' But this antagonist has a ■wider scope, which invests it with unusual importance. To beat down Catholicity is more than half, yet not quite all the battle, it is that we are obliged to bear the brunt of the attack, jpP^that as " Brother" Quinet prettily but positively declares : Catholic religion must be stifled in the mire." This is absolutely necessary for 'Masonic success ; they cannot build up their hopes till they have trampled us into the clay, and have the ruins of the Church for their foundation. An official apology for the craft, published under high "authority, gives the following rough sketch of the plan : — Freemasonry teaches how to be virtuous without the stimulus of hope or fear, independently alike of heaven and hell; the Mason looks for no future reward 5 he has received his recompense in the present, and is therewith content. A Cologne document helps to fill in. this broad outline, when it says that the Brethren pledged themselves to labour : — tv order that the true light might gradually emerge from the darkness and dispel the mists of superstition ; that thus the peace and prosperity of mankind might be established on a firm basis through the regular practice of all natural virtues. To under-score a few words in these extracts would at once bring out their meaning, which is this — faith, hope, and the supernatural are simply superstition ; the future has nothing to do with \ the present; and peace and prosperity founded upon the natural Virtues are the sum, substance, and end of life. That the Catholic Church is the antipodes of this is perfectly clear ; that the two systems are diametrically opposed in principle and practice is self- , evident ; so "Brother" Quinet rightly concludes that "the Catholic religion must be stifled in the mire" to make way for the Masonic regeneration and milleniuin. Not all the secresy of the craft can coyer this deadly autago-

nism; it is the essence and outcome of their system, which the Church has so persistently reprobated and banned ; which --the society itself, at last, has owned and openly acknowledged. A well-known "brother" thus honestly writes :—: — "In justice to the Roman hierarchy it must be said that they recognized the true aim and wide scope of the society, as well as its great importance, not only more clearly, but at an earlier date, than did many of its members them selves, and they held to their opinions with greater tenacity." a Thoughtful minds will see in this ,war with the Church a general attack on Christianity, whose principles are everywhere the same, no matter what their application. Belief in the divinity of Christ and acceptance of the Gospel teaching are undoubtedly the broad basis of every Christian community, and the guiding principles of every Christian State. - How does Freemasonry treat them ? Simply ignores them, or else brands them as a superstition. .With a friendly recognition of only Salomon, and Hiram his Master-Mason, as fellow -craftsmen, it ignores everything else between to-day and the Deluge — Moses and the Law, Christ and the Gospel — and goes back to Noah for its foundation and its rule. To him.it ascribes just as much morality as may be summed up in its own axiom that the world was given to man to enjoy and populate. This is -the first principle of its system, which professes no other moral base than that accepted always and universally ; which has been common ground in all past ages ; in which Turk and Mormon, the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of Zanzibar, Joe Smith, and " any other man," are perfectly clear and accordant. The " witty Canon of St. Paul's " humorously pointed but this centre of agreement when he said there was one command which the world had not broken — " Crescite et multiplicamini." This supplies the ready answer to the query of " Brother " Gotthold Salomon, member of the Lodge called " The Dawn of the East" in Frankfort-on-Maine :—: — "Why is there not a trace of anything appertaining to the Christian Church to be found in the whole ritual of Freemasonry ? Why is not the name of Jesus once mentioned, either in the oath administered, or in the prayers on the opening of the lodges, or at the Masonic banquets ? Why do Masons reckon time, not from the birth of Christ, but from the creation of the world, as do the Jews ? Why does not Freemasonry make use of a single Christian symbol? Why have we the compasses, the triangle, the hydrometer, instead of the Cross and other emblems of the Passion ? Why have Wisdom, Beauty, and Strength superseded the Chritian triad of Faith, Hope, and Charity ?" If answer to all these interrogations be needed it is easily gathered from the resolution passed by the Secret International Congress of Freemasons, held in 1872. Our author says :—: — " One of the subjects deliberated upon was the nature of the worship to be introduced. It was unanimously agreed to throw into a catechetical shape the democratic Bible of the Socinian Eenan, and to make this the handbook of the religion to be publicly recognised in the social and democratic republic of the future." Saviour and Scripture are both swept out; and lest theirnotice of Noah and Hiram might argue a leaning to anything biblical, we have this candid confession in the c Official Dutch Freemason's Almanack' for 1872 : — " As matters now stand the presence of the Bible on our altar is an empty form. . . . From "whatevei\pomt of view we regard the Bible, we do not hesitate to declare openly that in our reunions it is out of place, once and for evei 1 , since the doctrines of humanity now occupy the most prominent jmsition, and are taiight as the best method of ameliorating the condition of mankind." The blandest and most benignant of the New York Universalists will hardly find a vestige of Christianity here ; even Messrs. Moody and Sankey must find it hard to fling their comprehensive arms around a Mason and hail hiui as a man and a brother. No matter how sligntly dashed with the Gospel a belief may be, it is too much for Freemasonry. A Grand Master stigmatizes all when he asks :—: — " What is the false religion so eagerly forced upon mankind in ■mosqties, synagogues, temples, and churches except a jugglery carried on by imaums, Popes, and priests ?" Turks, Jews, and Christians are all one to the Mason. To add, after all this, that the craft must, of necessity, be opposed to legitimate government, is only to draw attention to a self-evident conclusion from the premisses already laid down. Christianity is the substructure and basis of such government. To touch the one is to affect the other ; what shakes one shivers the other. The conduct of Masonry is true to its principles. When Louis XVI. fell, and the horrors of an unparalleled revolution terrified and shocked the world, we are told that Freemasonry became ecstatic, lost its usual reserve, and publicly avowed that at length it had reached the goal of its ambition. An authority of the time, well versed in Freemasonry, says that the men most reticent, as a rule, broke secrecy and silence, and proclaimed aloud — "At last our goal is reached ; from this day France will be one vast Lodge, and all Frenchmen Freemasons'; the rest of the world will soon follow bur example." They claimed this for their own good work, and justly too ; for the doctrines that had prepared the way for it, and the party leaders who had enacted it, were both born of the society. Iv like manner did they welcome the outburst of 1848, and "Brother" Van der Heym thus trumped the Masonic triumph : — " A whole nation rose as one man, overturned the throne, and wrote over the frontal of the royal palace the words, ' Liberty, Fraternity, Equality,' all the citizens having adopted as their own this fundamental principle of Freemasonry. The combatants had not to battle long before the victory over their oppressors was gamed — that freedom won whicli for centuries had formed the theme of Masonic discourses. We, the Apostles of Fraternity, laid the foundation stone of the Republic." Tho day that sees " Liberty, Fraternity, Equality" in power

•will see also tlie destruction of society; that day will dawn when Masonry becomes predominant. "Freemasonry," say its leaders, "regard all mankind as creatures of the same race, citizens of the same world, proprietors of the same earth, children of the same mother;" and this, we must bear in mind, in the sense of a perfect equality, material, moral, and intellectual, and "in such wise that to yield to any superiority is "an act of idolatry." If we are to believe their own words Fourier is far behind them. Our author is at pains to show from their principles, their ceremonies, their utterances and proceedings, that Socialism and Communism are to constitute the climax of their labours, and" the panacea for all those ills which they fancy they now see in the existing state of society. He traces back to their influence or direct action the running sores of lapsing states— Divorce, Free-love, G-odless Education, the unprincipled action of Trade-unions, and the International. A chapter is devoted to the war of Freemasonry "against God. After all the foregoing matter it was hardly necessary to paint the Mason in open conflict with his Maker. It is too revolting almost to find that the Almighty with them is little more than the Grand Master Mason; that in their idea He is only the "Supreme Architect of the Universe." The Trinity is the invention of Popes ; Eedemption a conceit of Druses from- Lebanon ; Christ an obscure. Jew foisted somehow into prominence; the real Jesus, Saviour, political and social liberator, is Josue, or Jesus, the son of Nun, who they say : — "Announced a new law of justice and equality, and abolished the priesthood of Juda, who . . . had got all powei into his hands, and employed it to bring the Israelites into a disgraceful bondage called the Nazarean." Having, put God from His throne, ib only remains to fill up the vacancy ; so 'man is put in His stead ; and that man is t7ie Mason. We have hardly done justice to the book, but trust that its readers will treat it in better fashion. It contains other and stronger matter than we have noticed. Every thoughtful and candid reader will rise from its .perusal with the conviction that he has seen the veil of futurity partially lifted, and the shadow of anti-Christ stealing over the face of society. The student of history will find a new light cast, upon the sources of political phenomena which, hitherto, ma> have baffled his philosophy, and whether all the evils of to-day are due to the doctrines of the craft or not, he will probably feel assured that " The trail of the serpent is over them all."— ' London Tablet. 3