The Ultramontanes And Freemasonry.

THE ULTRAMONTANES AND FREEMASONRY .

WE have had occasion recently to refer incidentally to the fiercely intolerant spirit with which the Ultramontane party in the Church of Eome regards the Masonic Brotherhood . The subject is an unpleasant one , and we have hesitated to go out of our way to discuss the question in detail . We hold firml y to the principles of toleration upon which

the Fraternity is based , and we would not willingly say an unkind or harsh word of any of the creeds or parties into which the Christian Church is divided . The recent publication , however , of an important correspondence between the Secretary of the Protestant Educational Union and the

Home Secretary , in reference to the refusal of a Roman Catholic priest to perform the last rites of religion over the grave of a Freemason , leaves us no option at all . We are challenged to fight for the truths we hold dear , and it is absolutely our duty to defend the Masonic body from the

stigma which has been cast upon it . The Secretary of the Protestant Educational Union directs the attention of Mr . Hardy to the fact that the body of Armourer-Sergeant J . V . Johnson , who died in Fort Pitt Hospital , at Chatham , in February last , was denied Christian burial by the Roman

Catholic Chaplain , the Rev . Michael Cuffe , on the ground that the deceased had been a Freemason . The rev . gentleman , in a letter to the Times , which is included in the recently published correspondence relating to the case , declares that "No Catholic can be a Freemason ; the

moment he becomes one he secedes from his Church . " This dictum of the Ultramontane party has , on more than one occasion , been flouted in the faces of our Roman Catholic brethren , with the view of intimidating them . The Church , or rather an extreme section of the Church , has forced the

Pope to declare war against Masonry , and the religious disfranchisement of those Catholics who have dared to enter the Order follows as a matter of course . We are , however , of opinion that the arbitrary decision of the authorities at Rome is regarded with contempt as well as

hostility by all sensible and educated Catholics , who , whatever priests may say , are not disposed , in this country at least , to submit tamely to ecclesiastical tyranny . It has never been shown , by the most uncompromising foe of Masonry , that the principles of the Order are hostile to

revealed religion . The Pope has launched his anathemas against us either without due inquiry , or he has ignored facts , and has determined to rivet his chains upon all who will submit , without offering one word of explanation for a course of conduct which might have resulted in serious

consequences when emperors and kings trembled before the thunders of the Vatican , but which now , in these clays of toleration and free discussion in the light of day , can only provoke laughter . In spite of all the terrors which Home has in store for her rebellious children , the fact

is patent that vast numbers of French Roman Catholics , and very many English ones , are members of the Order . These , our Roman Catholic brethren , are not conscious that , in becoming Masons , they have committed any sin against the religion of their fathers , nor are thev at ail

inclined to admit they have placed themselves outside the pale of their church . In these views they will doubtless be supported by the more moderate of the ecclesiastics of

the church , by those noble priests iu Germany and France , who have protested against the insolent assumption of new powers by the incumbent of the papal chair , and in England by wise aud far-seeing churchmen , who regard tho

The Ultramontanes And Freemasonry.

present attitude of the Ultramontane party with no favourable eye . The attempt of this fanatical sect to reduce all the members of their communion to a condition of abject slavery has already been pushed to the mast extreme length . Its most active apostles have endeavoured to efface

all the distinctive ties of country and of allegiance , and the fundamental doctrine that tho faithful are Catholics first , and afterwards citizens of tho respective states to which they belong , has met with wide-spread opposition from the best lay intellect in the church . This dogma ,

pushed to its extreme consequences , would , as an eminent statesman has recently shown , deprive the State of tho allegiance and the services of its Roman Catholic subjects whenever the Vatican might be in conflict with the secular power . Some of the most prominent of the English

Roman Catholics have already publicly repudiated it , and thousands , whose opinions never get into the newspapers , have doubtless repudiated it in their hearts . The attempt to close the doors of the Temple of Freemasonry against the members of the Church of Rome indicates an amount

of weakness which one would hardly expect from a powerful ecclesiastical corporation . The Church'is either afraid to permit her children to mingle freely with men of varied creeds , or she dreads lest the pure atmosphere of toleration should be fatal to the dogmas upon which she maiuly relies . The contact of a religious enthusiast with minds

tolerably free from sectarian bias is indeed often fatal to individual idiosyncrasies , but the essence of religion is proof against all the assaults of the world , and we fearlessly assert that a devout Catholic , who holds to the broad principles of his creed , can never get aught but good from the

instruction he receives in his Lodge . Masonry indeed contains the pith of Christianity . Its principles are as broad , as noble , and as elevating as those which lie at the basis of the churches . To relieve the suffering , to do good , to think no evil of any man , to love truth above all things ,

these dogmas of the Craft are identical with the teachings of Jesus . With the distinctive doctrine or the disci pline of the Churches Masonry has nothing to do . It stands aloof from all churches , and the sacred floor of the Lodge is neutral ground for the Jew , the Turk and the Christian

alike . Such toleration as this cannot but be favourable to the spread of principles in which Masons and Chnrchraen are alike interested . The Christian , if he does not forget the principles of the divine founder of his religion , is pledged to foster the growth of ideas which , were they

universally held as vital truths , would make discord impossible in the civilised world . We are constrained , however , to think that the Ultramontane party are much more deeply interested in the spread of the dogmas which emanate from the Vatican than in those which were taught by

Jesus at Jerusalem . It is not Christianity that they care for , but the maintenance of a system which , in opposition to the Gospel , seeks to make mankind serfs . The Truth that is designed to make men free , is replaced by priestly discipline , which binds the unthinking devotee hand and

foot . The sage advice of Paul is impudently set aside , and , in place of teaching the laity to " prove all things , " and " hold fast that which is good , " the Ultramontane party demand submission withont proof , and the rejection of any good thing which does not emanate from Rome .

We venture to deny the right of tho Romish Church to exclude from its communion those of its flock who have assumed the responsibility of the Order of Freemasonry . The priest who dares lightly to stand between a Catholic and his hope of salvation , commits a crime against the religion he professes to uphold , He assumes a power for which