Foreign Freemasonry.

FOREIGN FREEMASONRY .

Its Position Vis-a-Vis of Christianity , and of Catholicism . By D . Moncrieff O'Connor , in the " Tablet . " ( Continued . )

CURIOUSLY enough about the same time , the close of 1865 , the utility of this formula was questioned in France . At the following winter festival , Bremond , a Councillor of the Order , thus expressed himself " Masonry does not impose those two beliefs , but sho keeps them and proclaims them as she retains the honour of proclaiming and preserving the motto which says all men are free , equal , and brothers . " '

As for Italy , in the Constituent Assembly of Naples in 1867 , Brother d'Ayala had a scruple of logic , not of conscience . " We invoke the G . A . O . U ., then we take oath ; and yet the Lodge of which I am a member has admitted a profano , who makes public profession of Atheism , and takes the oath likewise . All which appears ridiculous , and is repugnant to me . " The Grand

Master , surprised to find so great simplicity in so old a Mason , replied : " We invoke the G . A . O . U . it is true , but that is nothing but a generic expression which offers anyone the opportunity of reverting to the First Cause ; the oath

is likewise addressed to this being whom one appreciates according to his individual belief . " Improving on their Grand Master the assembly declared it invoked the G . A . O . U .: "Such as he appears to thought guided by the observation of facts . " In the same official Bulletin of the Grand Orient of

Italy in which the above appears , Frapolli a boldly declares : " The idea of a Creator is the product of ignorance , hence the omnipotence of an imaginary personal God ... . hence the abjection due from creatures : the tyranny and the servitude , the contention and disorder of tho world . "

It would appear scruples of logic are contagious , for in this year they penetrated even France . In the Legislative Assembly of French Masonry , 1867 , Rouselle , Pelletan , Parrot , and others clamoured for the abandonment of the formula . But Brother Garrison argued :

For what end would you do away with it ? Ah I If it were a matter of defending one of those great principles for which our fathers gave blood and life , if Liberty of Conscience were threatened , I would say : Dare all , come what may 1 But here is a question of traditional formula , the keeping ol whi , ch harms no liberty , and placs noli the least trammel on the Masonic movement .

I am particularly anxious to avoid quoting individual opinions and treating them as general statements . Let me , therefore , recall to you the fact that on 14 th September . 1877 » at a grand , assembly held in Paris the delegates of French Masonry acting under advice from all Lodges owing obedience to the Grand Orient , struck out of their statutes the articles which

affirmed that : " The object of Freemasons is benevolence , the study of morality , and the practice of all virtue . Its basis is the existence of God , the immortality of tho soul , and the love of humanity . " For this is substituted : " Freemasonry has for principles absolute Libert y of Conscienc and Solidarity of humanity . It excludes no one on account of his religious opinions . " "

Despite , therefore , " the basis and " thc principles " of Masonry , fche Existence of God and the immortality of the soul are declared by Masons and the declarations are officially published— " to be formula which have no meaning , " only a " motto , " " a generic expression , " " the product of ignorance . "

Does , therefore , Masonry bear on its forefront the stigma of fraud ? Though we are dealing with a Society which enshrouds its motives in secrecy ; with an organisation veiling its springs of action from the eyes ot its fellows which , aiming at light , works in darkness , it is difficult to believe it . Let us look further .

In his touching " Romance of a Royalist , " the Marquis de Beauregard gives the Count de Virieu ' s reply to the chaff of his friend de Gilliers upon Virieu ' s solemnity and length of face whe-i he returned from the Congress of Wilhelmsbad . Being asked what tragic secrets he brought thence : " The

conspiracy afoot , " he answered , " is so cunningly contrived tbat it will , BO to speak , be impossible for the Monarchy and the Church to escape . " * The Monarchy is gone , the Church alone stands Like one fortress ' mid a boundless waste

Oue sad , lone watch tower by a shipless flood ! The fierce summoner , under the Duke of Brunswick , of that terrible congress , was a Bavarian jurist , a genius in organising , bold to audacity , fertile in resource , unscrupulous as to means , the pantheist Adam Weishaupt . As one to whose impetus Masonry owes , perhaps , more than to any other

1 1 cannot discover who this Bremond was ; I cannot think him the painter of so many religious subjects , and the decorator of the church of La Villette . He would be Oi at this time . But painters of religious subjects are not always religious painters . 2 This very active Mason and Revolutionist was educated for the

priesthood . Served Austria as captain of " cavalry ; settling in France after wandering in Italy and Germany , he acquired considerable distinction as a geologist ; upon which subject he wrote frequently and well . The Revolution of 1848 found him in Italy , opposing Gioberti and Charles Albert ; and giving himself up to what are euphuistically called " Mazzinian politics . " He is an authority of weight and distinguished service .

3 Fava : loco cit ., p . 192 . The Masonic Lodges of England and the United States , upon this severed their connection with the Grand Orient of France and Lodges in its obedience . But the Lodges of Germany , Italy , Spain , Hungary , and Belgium accepted the revision . 4 Cp . Barruel : "Abrege des memoires pour servir A l'Histoire du Jacobinismc , " p . 242 . Luxembourg , 1800 .

Foreign Freemasonry.

man of his time , the developer of illuminism out of Masonry may not inaptl y lead us with his kindly light . The Court of Bavaria realising the clangor of Weishaupt ' s teaching , the Elector ordered , 11 th October 1786 , a seizure of all papers to be found in the house of Councillor Xavier Zwack , and in the Castle of Baron de Bassus , Weishaupt ' s trusted leaders . As the most effective expose of their subversive

theories they printed them in two volumes under the title of " Original Writings of the order and sects of the Illuminati . " Therein will be found this address of Weishaupt ' s to his Masonic adepts . Do you remember that with the first invitations with which we drew you to us we began by telling you that nothing against religion entered into our projects ? Do you remember that this assurance was again given you

when you were admitted novices ? .... Do you also recall , when in the early grades , we spoke to you of morality and virtue , but how the studies we prescribed and the lessons wo instilled made both virtue and morality independent of all religion ? .... Do you remember with what art , with what feigned respect , wo spoke to you of Christ and His Gospel . . . How well we knew , out of that Gospel , to evolve ours of Reason ; out of that

morality , Nature's ; and from that Religion , reason , morality , and nature , we drew the Religion , the ethic of the Rights of man , of Equality , and of Liberty ? .... We had many prejudices to overcome in you ere we persuaded you this pretended religion of Christ was nothing but the work of priests , imposture , and tyranny . If it be so with this gospel , so vaunted , so admired , what must be thought of other religions ? Learn , then , they have

all the same fictions for origin , all are equally based on falsehood , error , delusion , and imposture : that is our secret ! The evasions we were forced into , the promises we had to make you , the praises we offered Christ and His imaginary secret schools , the fable of Freemasonry long in possession of the free doctrine , and our Illuminism to-day , tho sole inheritor of His mysteries ,

no longer surprise you . If to destroy Christianity , all religion , we have made it appear we alone possess the true religion , remember the end justifies the means : the wise man use for good every means the wicked uso for evil . Those we have used for your deliverance , those we have avail of to , ono day , free humanity from all religions are but a pious fraud . " " Fraud—the word is their own . Nor are these the maxims of a zealot .

In a letter to Thiriot , Voltaire , a Mason , declares : " Lying is a vice when it leads to evil , but it is a very great virtue when it does good . Therefore be more virtuous than ever . Lie , my friends ; we must lie like tho very devil ; not sheepishly , not at odd times , but brazenly and perpetually 1 " ' Indeed his English enthusiast , John Morley , says of him : " When very hard pressed Voltaire would not swerve from a false oath . ... " It is said when

he died Ici on parle Frangais " was inscribed on the gates of Hell . But those who know Weishaupt from the pages of Barrauel , whom , though an opponent , Masons admit to be a serious writer , will feel him to have been so beneath contempt , that it is unjust to force him on Masons as trustworthy evidence . Let u-t , therefore , leave Germany for fairer Italy

Any evidence of fraud there ? In 1835 the Mason Malegare 10 wrote , from his shelter in London , to his fellow Mason , Dr . Breidenstein : " We are an association of Brothers all over the world ; with common vows and interests ; all tending to the enfranchisement of humanity . We would shatter every kind of yoke , and yet there is one of us whom we do not

see , we scarcely know , but whose hand is over us , whence is he ? where is he ? No one knows , or at least none say . The association is secret , even to us veterans of secret societies . It exacts deeds from us which sometimes makes one ' s hair stand on ends : and would you believe it ? they write me from Rome , that two of our fellows well-known for their hatred of fanaticism had , by order of the supreme chief , to kneel down and take Communion last Easter !"

And Bottalla states it to have been a well known fact that CmntCavour , the better to cajole Italy and Catholic Europe , gave orders that the Masonic press proclaim him a sincere Catholic The Alta Vondita is the mother Lodge in Italy of that Masonic advance guard , the Carbonari . So strict is the secrecy maintained that , following the Illuminate , thoy correspond and are known to each other under pseudonyms . In 1822 a Piedmontese Lodge was inaugurated by a Jew , " Picolo-Tigre , " who , in a letter dated 18 th January , thus instructs his agents there :

Thc essential thing is to isolate man from his family , to make him lose his family habits . He is sufficiently inclined , by the bent of his character , to escape household cares , to run after easy enjoyments and forbidden pleasures . Entice him , lead him on , flatter him into some importance ; teach him judiciously , to weary of his daily work , and , handling him thus , after having separated him from his wife and children , and shown him how

irksome all duties are , you inoculate him with the desire of a different mode of life . Man is born a rebel ; stir up this inclination for rebellion even to conflagration , but let not the fire break out . It is a preparation for the great work you must begin . Having instilled a distaste of family life and religion —the one almost always follows the other—let fall some words which will awaken a wish to be affiliated to the nearest Lodge . The vanity of a citizen ,

or a peasant to bind himself to Freemasonry has something to do m it , so ludicrous and is so common , I am always in admiration at human stupidity . I am only astonished not to see the whole world knocking at the doors of the Venerables . . . make Freemasons of them . The Lodge will lead them to Carbonarism It is from the Lodges we calculate upon doubling our ranks . Under existing circumstances never remove the mask . Be content to prowl round the Catholic shecpfold ; but like a good wolf , seize the first lamb which offers . Is this fraud ? Another leader of the same Lodge—they are all honourable men—with

5 De Vere : Loc . cit . p . 4 . 6 Fava-La Secret de la F . M . Lille , 3 rd Ed ., pp . 424 . ' CEuvres de Voltaire , Vol . 52 , p . 326 . s Morley's Voltaire : p . 206 .

9 Ubi supra : p . 132 et seq . 10 Afterwards a Cabinet Minister of Victor Emanuel . " " Hist , de la Revol ., " en 1860 , en Sicile , T . ii ., p . 371 . » Cret . Joly ., pp . 104 , 107 .