Priestly Intolerance.

some passages so suitable to our present subject , that wc think those of our readers who have not before seen it , will thank us for maid nosome quotations from it . Addressing the Catholic Masons of Ireland " Bro . O'R yan says : — ' " Gentlemen , the days arc gone by when men of education and independence can be told that they must surrender their the

judgment on mere dictum ol a hisnop or the mandate of a priest , Divine Providence has « ivcn a power to ttic most ignorant peasant to discriminate between rHit and wrong—yet it appears we have not a sufficiency of intelligence to do so though— . ! say it without offence—if the Roman Catholic clergy and the i-reeinasons of Ireland were brought together , a far larger number of literary men would be found amongst the latter than the former . Gentlemen it is needless to detail to the benefits

. you conferred on society in " -eneral by . the Masonic Order ; but it effects one good at least , which may be estimated b y those outside its pale—it softens down the rancorous ieelin . rs of sectarian prejudice and political partizanship . Lountl to our Protestant brother Masons by a tic as sanctified as it is sublime , we abhor that narrow mint led bigotry which leads one man to dislike another , solely because lie worships the Godat different altarwhilst the

same . a , Protestant , reciprocating- this leeling , vies with his Catholic brother in a noble rivalship-the nvalslnp of kindness and philanthropy . Roman Catholic Freemasons you ' mow the opposition now given to your Order to be unjust- ! hope you have manliness enough to resist it in defence of an institution known iu every region of the globe which is illumined by the light of divine

reve-To the Catholic prelates ami . clergy , he speaks in the followiuomanly aud eloquent strain .: — . ° " In our assemblies , cursing , swearing , political , or polemical contro-V ? r ' Sy i r "' , UT , ta ,, n S t ° P >«* of every description—evcrv thing calculated to otlencl ( rod or cause dissension amongst men—tire excluded , and without abandomnK to bis

anyone privilege belonging rank , the peer can here enter mto friendl y intercourse with the mechanic , and partizans of every hue exchange a fraternal greeting without the sli ghtest melius of asneri ' ty I will , then ask , can any benevolent or right niinded man object to an " institution the good of which is visible , the evil existing only in ' the inia-ination ol those opposed to it , because , as thev vaguely in form ' us , < thev believe if is bad' andthe Archbishop of Malta calls it '

; . , in his own gentlemanly and scholarlike phraseology , ' a , pestilential , pulpit of ini quity ' . ' A celebrated parliamentary character on one occasion , in speaking on a vcrv important measure exclaimed- ' Do not dare to lay your hands upon the constitution . In ecclesiastical , as well as civil law , we have certain fixed and immutable princilesandto lords and who

p , . you , my gentlemen , compose the Loman Catholic prelacy and clergy , I say- 'Do not dare to lay your hands upon the constitution . ' Your opposition to . Freemasonry is unsupported b y any real ecclesiastical authority , and though men mav ' be disposed to yield you just obedience in spiritual affairs , they will not submit to an unjust , arbitrary , and unconstitutional exercise of power , which when you cannot by argument sustain , you should , in the name of justice and prudenceabandonft is discredit to to have

, , no you erred , but to persevere m error will prove disgraceful to your high character and injurious to your popularity . Ion are surrounded by men whom your own talents have in many instances tended to discipline in all the tactics of political notation and to rouse whom to a hatred of wrong , your eloquence has often been