Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Feeemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
times , where the blessings , Avhich Freemasonry can produce and diffuse , are more patent than in Ireland . Here it ivas Avorking to heal divisions , and allay the violence of party and relig ious strife . It was striding onward to achiev a mighty work , and would , had it been permitted to proceed ,
have largely promoted the regeneration of the sons of that distressed and miserable land . The Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland trembled at its progress . They felt their influence declining through its intervention . But they kept silence . They were too near to Great Britain
to dare publicly to denounce the Order , however they might work against it secretly . But the present year has witnessed an act in Ireland , Avhich would make us believeif we were not cognizant that our faculties of perception are not entirely obscured—that Ave had been suddenly driven back into the dark ages of the thirteenth or fourteenth
centuries . A Roman Catholic Archbishop , recently sent to Ireland from head quarters , has EXCOMMUNICATED every individual , who is known to be an Irish member of the Masonic body ! Many of our English Brethren will laugh at such a decree , and attribute it to folly , which will
speedily defeat its OAvn ends . But such , happily , know nothing of the terrors , with Avhich a sentence like this will affect the minds of those of their Brethren , Avho are members of the Roman Catholic communion . To them , the consequences are too fearful to dwell upon . Others may
attribute this act of excommunication to the perverse decision of one narrow-minded bigot . But here they will be again in error ; for the fact is upon record , that Freemasonry had once more begun to shew itself , and to exercise a beneficial influence in Italy and Sicily , when the recent
revolutions opened a way for its progression ; but since events have reverted to their old current , the decree has again gone forth , that Freemasonry is to be put doAvn . And to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Feeemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
times , where the blessings , Avhich Freemasonry can produce and diffuse , are more patent than in Ireland . Here it ivas Avorking to heal divisions , and allay the violence of party and relig ious strife . It was striding onward to achiev a mighty work , and would , had it been permitted to proceed ,
have largely promoted the regeneration of the sons of that distressed and miserable land . The Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland trembled at its progress . They felt their influence declining through its intervention . But they kept silence . They were too near to Great Britain
to dare publicly to denounce the Order , however they might work against it secretly . But the present year has witnessed an act in Ireland , Avhich would make us believeif we were not cognizant that our faculties of perception are not entirely obscured—that Ave had been suddenly driven back into the dark ages of the thirteenth or fourteenth
centuries . A Roman Catholic Archbishop , recently sent to Ireland from head quarters , has EXCOMMUNICATED every individual , who is known to be an Irish member of the Masonic body ! Many of our English Brethren will laugh at such a decree , and attribute it to folly , which will
speedily defeat its OAvn ends . But such , happily , know nothing of the terrors , with Avhich a sentence like this will affect the minds of those of their Brethren , Avho are members of the Roman Catholic communion . To them , the consequences are too fearful to dwell upon . Others may
attribute this act of excommunication to the perverse decision of one narrow-minded bigot . But here they will be again in error ; for the fact is upon record , that Freemasonry had once more begun to shew itself , and to exercise a beneficial influence in Italy and Sicily , when the recent
revolutions opened a way for its progression ; but since events have reverted to their old current , the decree has again gone forth , that Freemasonry is to be put doAvn . And to