The Papacy And The Craft.

THE PAPACY AND THE CRAFT .

I IT our issue of the 17 th ult . we noticed an attack on our Order by the Bishop of Orleans , Mgr . Dupanloup . In our remarks we avoided all appearance of flippancy . We argued the case calmly , on its merits , and we fancy we had no difficulty in pointing out the absurdity of most of

those formidable denunciations which the reverend Bishop of Orleans so condescendingly levelled at our Institution . We hear now that His Holiness the Pope has addressed to Mgr . Dupanloup a letter of congratulation , thanking him most cordially for his pamphlet against Freemasonry . We

can have no possible objection to the Bishop of Orleans thus seriously committing himself by an egregious act of folly , or that the Pope should exhibit still greater unwisdom by applauding this act of a dependent prelate . In the sense that Freemasonry no more needs any apology than

does Christianity itself , we might very well permit these attacks to pass unnoticed . But there are many who hold that , just as there can be no smoke without fire , so can there be no violent explosion of anger unless there preexist some just cause for irritation . It is for the especial

benefit of those who foolishly imagine that every one who attacks some person or institution has some just ground for doing so , that we resort to the malevolent onslaught on our Order by a section of the Romish priestcraft . In doing this we shall strive most earnestly to avoid giving offence to the Roman Catholic members of the Brotherhood .

Mgr . Dupanloup was pleased to say in his pamphlet , " Freemasonry , in its spirit , essence , and action is the enemy of Christianity . " As a political body it is " eminentl y dangerous , " and he urged his flock "to shun a society which is the negation of all religion , and the enemy of all

society . " This sounds well , but it is " vox et pneterea nihil . " There is not an atom of truth in the whole pamphlet , so far as we have gathered its contents from a summary given of it by the Standard correspondent . At the risk of repeating ourselves , we will remark that Masonry is the

enemy of no religion . It is not a political body at all , and cannot therefore be eminently dangerous as such . It is not " the negation of all religion , " for the basis of Masonry is religion . It is not " the enemy of all society , " for its efforts are unceasing to benefit society . We are aware

these statements of ours are merely counter-assertions , but they differ so far from Mgr . Dnpanloup ' s assertions that it is in our power to prove them . We are violating no oath of secrecy in drawing attention to our Constitutions , for these are published by the authority of

Grand Lodge . What find we under the first head " concerning GOD and Religion ? " " A Mason is obliged , by his tenure , to obey the moral law ; and if he rightly understand the art he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreli gious libertine . He , of all men , should best

understand that GOD seeth not as man seetb , for man looketh at the outward appearance , but GOD looketh to the heart . A Mason is , therefore , particularly bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience . Let a man ' s religion , or mode of worship , be what it might , he is not excluded

from the Order , provided he believes in the glorious architect of heaven and earth , and practise the sacred duties of morality . " Again , under the second head " Of the Civil Magistrate , supreme and subordinate , " it is

written : " A Mason is a peaceable subject to the Civil powers , wherever he resides or works , and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation , nor to behave himself undutifull y to inferior magistrates . He is cheerfully to conform to

The Papacy And The Craft.

every lawful authority , to uphold , on every occasion , the interest of the community , and zealously promote the prosperity of his own country . " What of irreligion , what of eminent danger to the body politic is there in these laws of Freemasonry ? To affirm that every Mason observes

these laws at all times , were as contrary to the experience of every day life as to affirm that every Christian is a rigid observer of the tenets of Christianity , that every Jew obeys the Decalogue , every Mahommedan the teachings of the Koran . The weakness of individual members is no

ground for aspersing the character of the general body , or what shall be said of Christianity , of Judaism , of Mabommedanism , of every other creed that has existed , or may exist from the beginning to the end of time ? The writer of an article in the April number of Le Monde

Ma (; onnique , on Spanish Masonry , draws the following distinction , the propriety of which admits of no doubt . Speaking of . the attempts on the life of ISTarvaez , and on the ex-queen Isabella , by Merino , and of the risings in Madrid and Catalonia in 1846 and 1848 , he says : " II est

de la demiere evidence , men que quelques tins de ceux qui jouerent tin role dans ces evenements furent Macons , il est de la demiere evidence que les coups de main contre les personnes ne furent pas Vceuvre de la Ma <} onnerie . , > As well might it be said that all Christians are thieves , because

some have been guilty of theft , or all Spaniards assassins , because this Merino sought the life of his sovereign . But it is absurd to argue with men who will not be convinced . If Mgr . Dupanloup is , or has been , a Mason , he is wilfully making a false statement when he says that Masonry is " the

negation of all religion . " If he is not a Mason , his utterances are worthless ; he knows nothing of those whom he is denouncing . As for our Order being " the enemy of all society , " does either the Bishop or the Pope believe that the President of the French Republic—to take the most

appropriate illustration that occurs to us—is an enemy to society in France or elsewhere , that he would approve a society which is " eminently dangerous , " as a political body ? The Pope is said to have been a Mason . Be this as it may , dare he assert with any sense of truth that " the

nefarious character of the sect being known , there is no honest man who must not turn from it with horror . " Are the thousands and thousands of Roman Catholics who

have been or are Masons not honest men , merely because they accord to others the same privilege they claim for themselves , namely that of worshipping God according to their own fashion .

If these things had been said of us by little children we should have smiled at them pityingly , and reproved them , gently . But they are the utterances of men supposed to be sane . However , Qiiem Deus vidt perdere , prius dementat . There is every symptom of insanity in the Pope and his

Ultramontane supporters , to judge at least from the madness of their conduct , both ecclesiastical and political . Does this prefigure their overthrow , or are we threatened with a return of that ecclesiastical tyrrany which so long held all Europe in chains during what are known as the " dark ages ? " Who lives will see .

Freemasonry In Portugal.

FREEMASONRY IN PORTUGAL .

OF the early history of our Order in this country we have only the most meagre details . In 1735 , a commission was issued by the Grand Lodge of England , daring tho Grand Mastership of Lord sWeymouth , to