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Article THE ANTI-MASONIC CONGRESS. Page 1 of 2 Article THE ANTI-MASONIC CONGRESS. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anti-Masonic Congress.
THE ANTI-MASONIC CONGRESS .
It is evident from the tcnour of the article we quoted last week from tlie Tahlet that the promoters of the movement for holding a congress towards the end of next month , at which Freemasonry and all its works are to be condemned without
benefit of clergy , are already jubilant over the prospects of the assured success they consider is in store for them . It is , perhaps , just a trifle premature for people to count their chickens before they are hatched , and one might have imagined that the
Romish clericals , being for the most part men of common sense , would have waited till their congress had been held , and the evidence they promise shall be forthcoming against the devilish machinations of all secret societies , but particularly of the
Freemasons , had been produced and proved worthy of acceptance by an impartial public , before shouting " Io , triumphe" over a victory which has yet to be achieved . However , wc do not
grudge them their present ecstasies of delight . Wc are pretty much in the same position towards them as the burly navvy was towards his little wife , whom he allowed to pummel him to her heart ' s content— " It amuses her and it don ' t hurt me . " When
we hear of , the fate that is reserved for us by a congress Avhich has yet to meet , when we are told of the panic which has already overwhelmed us at the bare announcement of this intended congress , we are amused , but it does not hurt us . We
arc moved , no doubt , but it is by a sense of pity rather than ol anger , that in this enlightened 19 th century there are to be found people so silly as to imagine , that the mere prospect of an Anti-Masonic Congress will annihilate an ancient and honourable
Society which , in nearly all civilised countries , is known and respected of men of all classes and conditions . In ordinary things these people possess , as we have said , sound common sense , and , we might add , a keen intelligence , but they cannot stand a rival
influence to that of their own church . It is far better , they think , to reign in a place unmentionable in polite circles than to serve in heaven . They arc still as bigoted as ever they were at the darkest epochs in their history . They cannot bring
themselves to realise that there are no longer only , in the main , two classes in the world , one the reputed repositories of all learning , and the other the ignorant masses , who can be gulled or coerced into accepting anything in the way of religious
or civil dogma . In nearl y every country there is now a strong force of healthy public opinion , which will at all times activel y resent any attempt to compel people '" to sacrificing their cherished convictions . These
anti-Masonic clericals are behind thc age . They seem to fancy that people can still be deluded by a Papal bull or encyclical or other old-world invention of that or a similar kind into disbelieving the . evidence of their senses . The world knows perfectly
well that the Freemasons arc a reputable body of men , who respect everything in the nature of true religion and constituted authority , and all the congresses that may be summoned to meet 111 Brussels and all the other capital cities in Christendom will n ° t persuade people to the contrary .
But is it not childish for men-who are possessed of an average nm ount of intelligence and common sense to talk of proving to K ; world , " by the most convincing evidence , the evils and ls ; tsters of which Freemasonry has been the cause to mankind
at -a . ge , and to the Catholic Church in particular ? ' - ' Wc are Perfectl y well aware that Freemasonry in some continental countries has deviated seriousl y from the original plan on which ¦• * Societ y was established in its present form . We know that
The Anti-Masonic Congress.
it has not held itself aloof from the political struggles of tin day , but , on the contrary , has used much of thc . weight of its influence , indirectly , if not directly , in warring against the despotisms which held it , and every other society or body of men
that was enlightened and reputable , in the most abject slavery . But , though in one or two countries the Freemasons may have deliberately ignored thc fundamental principles of their Society , that is no reason why the whole body should be denounced as
revolutionary and anti-religious . Nothing has ever been proved , or can bc proved , as to the Masons of the United Kingdom , in the United States , in Denmark , Sweden , Norway , and Germany having forgotten or ignored their principles . Even the most
ingenious inventor of the things that are not will have some difficulty in discovering " thc evils and disasters" they have , caused to " mankind at large , " or " the Catholic Church in particular . " In these countries , at all events , it is absurd to
suggest that thc action of our Society is in any way " sinister " or the Society itself " infernal . " Only knaves or fools would dream of asserting that a body , which includes thousands of honest God-fearing men , from the Prince of the Blood to the
reputable mechanic and artisan , was engaged in warring eternally against the authority of the State or the religious faiths of the people . The militancy of our Order is confined to its efforts to propagate the principles of brotherly love , relief , and truth , while as
regards religion , the only sin that can be alleged against us is that we do not restrict our respect for it to members of one sect and creed only , but respect them all alike and equally . This bein-r
the case , we do not envy the promoters of the new movement the difficulty of their task when they undertake to prove , what is absolutely beyond their power , that the action of Freemasonry in these countries has been " detrimental to the cause of revealed
truth by the discredit cast on Christian faith and belief in the Divinity and to the interests of Christian civilisation by ils depreciation of all progress due to thc influence of the Church , and its exaltation of everything done by paganism and the
enemies of religion . " None know better than those who make it that this statement is absolutely false ; but the promoters of this congress , as many others have done before them , make up for the weakness of their arguments by thc over-boldness of
their assertions , and hence we have these old monstrosities doing duty again but in a more offensive garb . But again we say , the world is too enlightened to believe that a society which includes in its ranks kings , princes , church dignitaries , peers of Parliament ,
senators , legislators , judges , members of thc various professions , prosperous men of trade and commerce , successful artisans and mechanics—the vast majority of whom are themselves members of one or other of the Christian sects—has nothintr in common
with " the enemies of religion . Christianity has nothing to fear from it , and the Romish sect if they persist in abusing us must not be surprised if they are occasionally reminded of those
" infernal' episodes in its history , which form so large and hideous a part of its annals during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the Christian era .
As for the " Miss DiANA VAUGHAN , ex-Grand Mistress of the Luciferians or Palladians , " her "Condemnation of the Satanic rites practised" b y her former associates , and her consequent secession from their ranks , the leaders of the new
movement will have to show lirst of all that tin . woman was ever a membe- of any branch of the Masonic Order , and then that the evidence of an apostate from Masonry possesses any real value , at all events until it has been full y corroborated in all its material points by that of unprejudiced persons of good repute . As a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anti-Masonic Congress.
THE ANTI-MASONIC CONGRESS .
It is evident from the tcnour of the article we quoted last week from tlie Tahlet that the promoters of the movement for holding a congress towards the end of next month , at which Freemasonry and all its works are to be condemned without
benefit of clergy , are already jubilant over the prospects of the assured success they consider is in store for them . It is , perhaps , just a trifle premature for people to count their chickens before they are hatched , and one might have imagined that the
Romish clericals , being for the most part men of common sense , would have waited till their congress had been held , and the evidence they promise shall be forthcoming against the devilish machinations of all secret societies , but particularly of the
Freemasons , had been produced and proved worthy of acceptance by an impartial public , before shouting " Io , triumphe" over a victory which has yet to be achieved . However , wc do not
grudge them their present ecstasies of delight . Wc are pretty much in the same position towards them as the burly navvy was towards his little wife , whom he allowed to pummel him to her heart ' s content— " It amuses her and it don ' t hurt me . " When
we hear of , the fate that is reserved for us by a congress Avhich has yet to meet , when we are told of the panic which has already overwhelmed us at the bare announcement of this intended congress , we are amused , but it does not hurt us . We
arc moved , no doubt , but it is by a sense of pity rather than ol anger , that in this enlightened 19 th century there are to be found people so silly as to imagine , that the mere prospect of an Anti-Masonic Congress will annihilate an ancient and honourable
Society which , in nearly all civilised countries , is known and respected of men of all classes and conditions . In ordinary things these people possess , as we have said , sound common sense , and , we might add , a keen intelligence , but they cannot stand a rival
influence to that of their own church . It is far better , they think , to reign in a place unmentionable in polite circles than to serve in heaven . They arc still as bigoted as ever they were at the darkest epochs in their history . They cannot bring
themselves to realise that there are no longer only , in the main , two classes in the world , one the reputed repositories of all learning , and the other the ignorant masses , who can be gulled or coerced into accepting anything in the way of religious
or civil dogma . In nearl y every country there is now a strong force of healthy public opinion , which will at all times activel y resent any attempt to compel people '" to sacrificing their cherished convictions . These
anti-Masonic clericals are behind thc age . They seem to fancy that people can still be deluded by a Papal bull or encyclical or other old-world invention of that or a similar kind into disbelieving the . evidence of their senses . The world knows perfectly
well that the Freemasons arc a reputable body of men , who respect everything in the nature of true religion and constituted authority , and all the congresses that may be summoned to meet 111 Brussels and all the other capital cities in Christendom will n ° t persuade people to the contrary .
But is it not childish for men-who are possessed of an average nm ount of intelligence and common sense to talk of proving to K ; world , " by the most convincing evidence , the evils and ls ; tsters of which Freemasonry has been the cause to mankind
at -a . ge , and to the Catholic Church in particular ? ' - ' Wc are Perfectl y well aware that Freemasonry in some continental countries has deviated seriousl y from the original plan on which ¦• * Societ y was established in its present form . We know that
The Anti-Masonic Congress.
it has not held itself aloof from the political struggles of tin day , but , on the contrary , has used much of thc . weight of its influence , indirectly , if not directly , in warring against the despotisms which held it , and every other society or body of men
that was enlightened and reputable , in the most abject slavery . But , though in one or two countries the Freemasons may have deliberately ignored thc fundamental principles of their Society , that is no reason why the whole body should be denounced as
revolutionary and anti-religious . Nothing has ever been proved , or can bc proved , as to the Masons of the United Kingdom , in the United States , in Denmark , Sweden , Norway , and Germany having forgotten or ignored their principles . Even the most
ingenious inventor of the things that are not will have some difficulty in discovering " thc evils and disasters" they have , caused to " mankind at large , " or " the Catholic Church in particular . " In these countries , at all events , it is absurd to
suggest that thc action of our Society is in any way " sinister " or the Society itself " infernal . " Only knaves or fools would dream of asserting that a body , which includes thousands of honest God-fearing men , from the Prince of the Blood to the
reputable mechanic and artisan , was engaged in warring eternally against the authority of the State or the religious faiths of the people . The militancy of our Order is confined to its efforts to propagate the principles of brotherly love , relief , and truth , while as
regards religion , the only sin that can be alleged against us is that we do not restrict our respect for it to members of one sect and creed only , but respect them all alike and equally . This bein-r
the case , we do not envy the promoters of the new movement the difficulty of their task when they undertake to prove , what is absolutely beyond their power , that the action of Freemasonry in these countries has been " detrimental to the cause of revealed
truth by the discredit cast on Christian faith and belief in the Divinity and to the interests of Christian civilisation by ils depreciation of all progress due to thc influence of the Church , and its exaltation of everything done by paganism and the
enemies of religion . " None know better than those who make it that this statement is absolutely false ; but the promoters of this congress , as many others have done before them , make up for the weakness of their arguments by thc over-boldness of
their assertions , and hence we have these old monstrosities doing duty again but in a more offensive garb . But again we say , the world is too enlightened to believe that a society which includes in its ranks kings , princes , church dignitaries , peers of Parliament ,
senators , legislators , judges , members of thc various professions , prosperous men of trade and commerce , successful artisans and mechanics—the vast majority of whom are themselves members of one or other of the Christian sects—has nothintr in common
with " the enemies of religion . Christianity has nothing to fear from it , and the Romish sect if they persist in abusing us must not be surprised if they are occasionally reminded of those
" infernal' episodes in its history , which form so large and hideous a part of its annals during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the Christian era .
As for the " Miss DiANA VAUGHAN , ex-Grand Mistress of the Luciferians or Palladians , " her "Condemnation of the Satanic rites practised" b y her former associates , and her consequent secession from their ranks , the leaders of the new
movement will have to show lirst of all that tin . woman was ever a membe- of any branch of the Masonic Order , and then that the evidence of an apostate from Masonry possesses any real value , at all events until it has been full y corroborated in all its material points by that of unprejudiced persons of good repute . As a