A Curious Correspondence.

A CURIOUS CORRESPONDENCE .

WE have thought it well , at the suggestion of an esteemed brother , to publish the following curious correspondence . BISHOP MEOEIN ' PASTOEAL . TO THE EDITOR OF " THE TIMES OE INDIA . "

" Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones . "—Old Proverb . Sir , —Bishop Meurin , in his recent Pastoral , denounces Freemasonry as " the most dangerous secret conspiracy against every throne and every altar . " He states : — " The siniultaneousness of the onslaught in different countries , the similarity of the means used , the astutely calculated progress of the

measures carried , out , " is evidence that the conspiracy is " the combined action of the manifold secret societies called into existence , ancl fostered and governed by the Masonic Lodge , the fruitful mother of modern revolutions . " He adds : — " We have seen alread y many kings . . . lose their lives , whilst their thrones crumbled into pieces under the secret strokes of the Masonic hammer . " He also asserts , that " in many countries the regal power and government have

already , especially by secret patronage , come entirely into the hands of the supreme Masonic leaders or their delegates ; so that , what formerly was a proscribed revolutionary party , is now in those countries the established government . " Again : — " The Masonic governments have now , with greater energy than usual , combined their efforts in order to obtain , as speedily as possible , also the other object of their secret conspiracy—the overthrow of the altar , the

extinction of the Holy Catholic Church . " And lastly : — " No one can be blind to the fact , that the decrees issued simultaneously by those governments against the freedom of the Church in her salutary teaching and ministration , owe their origin to the dictates of the highest authorities of the secret conspiracy domineering over all those governments . One of their most dangerous achievements is ... . the laws on public education , which are calculated not only to preclude the Church from teaching her children , but radically to proscribe from the schools of those countries every Christian doctrine . "

However absurd these sweeping statements palpably are , I do not propose to attempt their refutation . If it be deemed necessary to defend the Masonic body against such an attack , the task should be undertaken by one more competent than myself . At the same time , it must be apparent to all that Freemasonry in India is doing very useful work in an inoffensive ancl unostentatious manner ; and that the present attack is therefore entirel y uncalled for . It appears to me that it affords a striking illustration of the proverb quoted at

the head of my letter ; for the author of the attack himself belongs to a society whose secret intrigues have aroused the distrust ancl dislike , deepening often into fear and hate , alike of rulers and subjects , Catholics and Protestants , Clergy ancl Laity , for upwards of three centuries throughout the civilized world . I venture to assert that , by merely substituting Jesuitism for Freemasonry ; Protestantism or Science for Catholicism and Christianity ; and occasionall y , the past tense for the present , the passages above quoted will be found to furnish a singularly accurate description of the aims pursued , the means employed , and the results achieved by the Jesuit Order in the course of