A Priest On Freemasonry.

A PRIEST ON FREEMASONRY .

ON Sunday week an extraordinary lecture was delivered in a hall in Glasgow by the Very Eeverend Father John , Catholic Priest . His subject was " Freemasonry—its history and its aims . " Such an indictment surely was never made against any body of men before , and one wonders that a Catholic

Priest , who cannot possibly know much of the subject , as he has had no experience , should allow unbridled bigotry to carry him such a length . Yet , " mirabile dictu , " this very reverend gentleman at the same meeting denounced bigotry in others . How easy it is to pick motes out of other peoples' eyes when

there are beams in our own . Nothing else is needed than this lecture to prove the Very Eeverend Father John a bigot of bigots . It is incredible that any man , with a head on his shoulders , whether a Freemason or not , would for one moment believe that Freemasonry , as Father John declared , " was

the greatest danger to Christianity ; " and with remarkable intolerance he added , " and next to Freemasonry came the Jews . " To this priest Eoman Catholicism and Christianity are synonymous , and because Freemasonry always opposes Eoman Catholics ( which we deny ] he says Freemasonry is the determined

opponent of Christianity . That is arguing in a circle and is unmitigated nonsense . He denounces Freemasons for opposing Eoman Catholicism , and yet he does his best to hold Freemasonry up to the abhorrence of the world . He surely could not expect Freemasons to support him when a candidate for the Parish Council . For some idea as to the character of Father John ' s

remarks we give a few extracts from his speech , which was delivered to a meeting of St . Alphonsus' Young Men ' s Society , Glasgow . He said : There was no society so antagonistic to the Catholic Church as the Freemasons on the Continent . If we look up Belgium ,

Germany , Spain , Austria , or Italy , we would find that wherever Freemasons got hold of power they used the influence to destroy the Catholic Church , to persecute the bishops and priests , and to harfas those who practise any religion . Take Belgium ; when that country first got constitutional government it was favourable

to the Church , but once the Freemasons got power they began immediately to destroy the Catholic schools , and tried to oblige the Catholic priests and students to become subject to military laws—to make them serve as soldiers ; they tried to ruin the seminaries of the priesthood in this way ; they tried to take away

the revenues from the Churches and schools , and tried , in fact , to uproot altogether the Catholic Church in Belgium . Take France ; whenever they got any power into their hands in this country they invariably exercised that influence in the persecution of the Church . In Italy we found a similar state of things .

There are about seventeen million Freemasons in the world at the present time , banded together to carry out by fair means or foul the objects of their Order . We could not make light of these seventeen millions , who were all either bad men , or good men who were the tools of bad men ; and we could easily

understand that the Church , by the divine light which God gives her , saw the virus that was in this Society—saw with a prophetic eye which only God gives , long before people knew what the

Society intended , long before its objects were made public . The Church condemned the Freemasons , and the result of that exercise of their power since had fully justified the Church ' s condemnation .

The following even isstiffer : —Freemasonry is the greatest danger to Christianity , and next to Freemasonry came the Jews . The Jews were made use of for business purposes ; they controlled all the great telegraphic agencies , they had shares in the newspapers even in this country , and they were strong allies

of the Freemasons that they might the better assail Christianity . The Eev . Lecturer said the proofs for all his statements were abundantly furnished in speeches of the principals of the Freemason body and by death-bed confession of members ; and every proof went to show that the Freemasons were a Society organised

against the Catholic Church—against the very name of God . It should be remembered , however , that Freemasonry on the Continent was not exactly the same as Freemasonry in these countries . But people who said the two bodies were entirely different showed they knew very little of the history of

Freemasonry , and were only throwing dust into their own eyes . Whatever Freemasonry in England is at the present time it is the same as the Freemasonry 150 years ago on the Continent . The Continental body wished to erase the name of God , even though placed there as a decoy , from their rules altogether . But

the devil , who always knew the objects of the Society , was never in a hurry ; men may come and men may go , but the devil goes on for ever . So , having gained his point on the Continent , he could wait a couple of hundred years to see the English

Freemasons following the example of their Continental Brethren . The Church condemned the Freemasons on the Continent at the very beginning , and she was blamed for doing so , but time had vindicated her action ; so ,. too , the people in these countries .

A Priest On Freemasonry.

would yet see that the Church had equally good reason for condemning the Freemasons in this country , as she did on the Continent . They knew that in this country the power of the Freemasons had never been exercised for good . This too is really good : —Of the seventeen million

Freemasons all over the world , sixteen million and seven or eight hundred thousand know very little of the real objects and aims of the Society . There were something between forty and fifty degrees in the Society , and most members for their whole lives

belong only to the first degree . It was only when they got to about the twenty-fourth degree that members came to know anything about its real objects . To these high degrees those only were admitted who had been well tried and tested . Some of

those who had been for a time in the high degrees had described the ceremonies gone through , and the ceremonies were of the most revolting description—with a display of coffins , skulls , and daggers ; and in one place it had been described how members had been let down deep into the earth , the strange words they

had heard , how daggers gleamed round them in the dark , some pressing near their hearts , and how again they were elevated to a considerable height with similar accompaniments . This process

went on for six or eight hours , with the result that the nervous system of the victims was shattered , and for the remainder of their lives they were entirely in the hands of their leaders . — " Kilmarnock Herald . "

Half-An-Hour In A Gold Mine.

HALF-AN-HOUR IN A GOLD MINE .

AMINE in full operation is the latest addition to an already long list of attractions at the Royal Aquarium . Its workings are a correct representation of the Saratoga mine , located in the Rocky Mountains , Gilpin County , Colorado , and are an extraordinary reproduction of the various details incident to the acquisition of the precious metal . In appearance , a mountain in miniature divided down the middle , the model shows in motion hundreds of little manikins , with picks and hammers , delving in the

depths for gold , a thousand feet below the earth's level , the whole being a marvellous piece of mechanism showing every phase of gold mining in perfect detail . The work , which is the result of many years labour of Mr . William Keast , while himself engaged in the actual labour of mining , eclipses in elaborate mechanical ingenuity even that of the great Strasburg

Cathedral clock , being by far and away more complicated and interesting . It has boen endorsed by the Denver Mining Exchange , and the Colorado State School of Mines , as porfect representation of a mine in full operation , affording a better knowledge of the underground workings than would be gained in a month spent in a mine itself . On the surface are miniature mules drawing carts filled with ore .

The enclosures , are an actual underground mine , with a covering to represent ore ; on entering , the customary tools are seen along the dhrk passages , and the feelings and sensations are those of entering a regular ore producing mine . The cage shaft runs to a supposed level of 600 feet . No . 2 is a bucket and pump shaft running to a 700 feet level . No . 3 is a prospect shaft , at

the mouth of which is a whim from 60 to 100 feet deep . In the bottom of the first shaft are miniature rock drills , run by electricity , compressed air and water power . ; The drills show tho operation of sinking main shafts through the different strata of gold-bearing rock and auriferous soil . At the bottom of the deep shafts there are the usual levels , slopes and drifts or cross-shafts ,

above the ground are crushers , shaft-house , blacksmith's shop , powder magazine , miners boarding house , common sense whim , the halladie ropo-way , water-fumes , stamp-mills , sluice-boxes , piles of wood for timbering the mine , the dump , ore bins , and all other buildings and appliances necessary to the operations of a great mining plant , including railway track , railways , etc .

The entire workings , both of the surface and underground , are presented in one view ; a great object lesson , unique , amusing , instructive , and a practical education in mining . The Lecturers , Mr . William Keast and Mr . Edwin Drew , who explain the whole thing so clearly that even children may understand , state that the oldest and most experienced miners have been the loudest in their commendation , and that mineralogists , professors and teachers examined it

thoroughly , and the universal expression of opinion was one of merited praise for its completeness and simplicity . It was looked upon as the most interesting and attractive exhibit at the Columbia Exhibition of Chicago . They further state that at the Midwinter Fair , California , the miners were never tired of feeding their curiosity and watching its workings and listening . It was acknowledged by the public press of San Francisco to be one of the rarest treats of a lifetime .

Photographs of the mine are carried away as souvenirs of a more than delightful half hour in a real gold mine , whilst not the least pleasurable remembrance is a ride up a real track in a real sled drawn by a real burro . At the entrance are two real drills received direct from New York , which will be of general interest to Miners and Manufacturers .

Portsmouth Masonic Club.

PORTSMOUTH MASONIC CLUB .

THE fifth and last musical" At Home " of the present season , arranged by the committee of the Masonic Club , Commercial Road , was held in the Banquet-Room of the Club on Tuesday of last week . Mr . William Gunnell was in the chair , and was supported by a large company . A capital programme was provided , and at the conclusion of the evening votes of thanks to the Chairman , the committee , and the vocalists were unanimously passed , and the singing of the National Anthem brought the pleasant proceedings to an end .

The Confidence Lodge , No . 193 , gave a very successful Ladies Banquet and Ball on Tuesday evening , at Anderton ' s Hotel , Fleet Street , dancing being kept up until Wednesday morning , A report of the proceedings will appear in our next week ' s issue .