Classical Theology.—Lii.

word of reconciliation . . . . For he hath made Him to be sin for ns , Avho knew no sin , that Ave might be made tho righteousness of God in Him * * * For Avhat fellowship hath righteousness Avith unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light Avith darkness ? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? And Avhat

agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? For ye are the temple of the living God : as God hath said I will dwell in them , and Avalk in them ; and I will be their God , and they shall be my people . . . . And I will receive you , and Avill be a father unto you , and ye shall be my sons and daughters , saith the Lord Almighty * * * But this I : He Avhich sorvefch sparingly

say shall reap also sparingly ; and he that sOAveth bountifully shall reap also bountifully . ... So let him give ; not grudgingly , or of necessity , for God loveth a cheerful giver * * * But I fear , lest by any means , as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety , so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ . . . . And no marvel ; for Satan himself is

transformed into an angel of light * * * Examine yourselves , whether ye be in the faith ; prove your OAVU selves . Know ye not your own . selves hoAv Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be reprobates ? ... Be perfect ,

be of good comfort , be of one mind , live in peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with you . " The Pythagoreans also taught , with respect to ideas , that the brain might be the seat of many spirits , and that they might comprise the mind and even the soul : that such a condition as being what is called of two opinionsor having confused and vague thoughts

, , dreams and lunacy , was attributed to the action of certain spirits , according to the bad spirit they were of—to their possession of the body , and their power to unsettle anel supplant tlie natural soul , the balance of the mind , or the reasoning faculties . If , then , such can be the state of the idolatrous ( idolatry being

the device of Satan to folloAV after the flesh , which is to break the Holy Commandments ) , we should spiritually strive all the more to cleA r e to " God Avith us , " namely , Emmanuel . Christ has himself said , " Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God ; or enter into it , except he be born of

water and of the Sp irit . " Whensoever Ave are thus born again , Ave are therein assured of being made perfect ; that is , " Ave shall be of good comfort , be of one mind , live in peace , and the God of love and peace shall be Avith us . And as Ave have borne the image of the earthly , we shall also- bear the image of the heavenly . "

Freemasons And Ribbonmen.—What An Incongeuous Alliance!

FREEMASONS AND RIBBONMEN . —WHAT AN INCONGEUOUS ALLIANCE !

( From tlie Carlow Sentinel . ) > It is not because Dr . Cullen is a Eoman Catholic prelate that tho Conservative press , and , very frequently , also journals of what are called liberal politics , deem it a public duty to censure portions of his episcopal missives , which , strange to say , are , in general , more devoted to secular than to spiritual topics . It Avould be far moi * e in

accordance Avith our feeling , if a sense of public duty permitted , to write fa \ -ourably than otherwise of those Avho dissent from us either in religious or political opinion . We cannot conceive any tyranny Averse than that Avhich would base personal regard , or estimate of character , on an exact conformity of religious or political opinion . And again , we cannot conceive a meaner occupation of the huma mind than microscopic censure . It is only Avith

grave offences against , the public interests that Ave would deal . NOAV , let us seriously ask , does not Dr . Cullen commit a grave offence against moral propriety in linking together , and placing in the same category , Freemasonsand Eibbonmen ? In his last pastoral the Most Eev _ gentleman observes ( to use his own words ) that " all Catholics enrolling themselves as Freemasons or

Eibbonmen , or entering into any society or brotherhood , established for purposes detrimental to civil society or religion , and bound to secrecy by oaths , fall under the seA-eresfc penalties , and are , ipso facto , excommunicated ; their lot is miserable indeed , for they are cut off like rotten * branches from the Church . " Let us ask is this awful ipse dixit to he regarded as a rulp of faith , the belief or

non-belief in Avhich is to determine the fate of a Eoman-Catholic in the world to come ? If so . Avhy have so many General Councils been silent on the matter ? If so , Avhy should Freemasonry , the same in principle to-day asibwasr at its first institution , be condemned by a modern afterthought ? If this recent dictum of theocratic presumption is to be received bEoman Catholicslet us askwhat ,

y , , has become of Eoman Catholic prelates " eminent for piety and virtue , " such as Eobert Beauchamp , Bishop of Salisbury , Avho Avas elected Grand Master of Freemasons England , in 1471 ? We rniisi ; stiil further pursue our interrogatories , and ask , if Freemasonry he so much at variance with Eoman Catholicism , hoAv is it that Doctor Murray , the immediate predecessor of Dr . Cullen irs

Dublin , or Dr . Crolly , his predecessor in Armagh , neverdenounced the obnoxious brotherhood ? HOAY is it , let us ask , that Freemasonry has multitudinous votaries in all civilised countries , except those iiiAA-hich religious bigotry * aggravates secular despotisms ? How is it , if Dr . Cullen ' s dictum have any force , that the authorities of the Eoman . Catholic church should for centuries have been so remiss ^ in duty as to tolerate among their co-religionists a fraternity so iniquitous as Dr . Cullen paints it ? These are plain questions Avhich cannot be evaded or

explained away by any sophistry hoAveA'er ingenious . Itis Avell , too , to be enabled to state that there are many educated and intelligent Eoman Catholics Avho do not recognise this modern dictum of Eome as a rule of faith . No one , unless he who , as it Avere , disgraces his manhood , by still Avearing the SAvathing cloths of an intellectual infancy , can reconcile respect for such an arrogant and

neAvly-fledged dogma Avith his conscientious convictions ?' Is ifc not , let us ask , an outrage on the proprieties of life to place such men as the Duke of Leinster , the Marquis of Kildare , the Earl of Donoughmore , and very many Irish , Scotch , and English noblemen and gentlemen , some of Avhom are distinguished by important services to the statein the same category as reckless

, Eibbonmen and systematic disturbers of the peace ? Ah ! there are bad taste , bad logic , and Avorse feeling in confounding the virtuous and high-principled members of society AA'ith the characterless and the infamous . One would naturally suppose that men who have a large stake , a name , and a character in the country , Avould eseheAv Freemasonry as they Avould shrink from contact

Avifch a leper , if it Avere the vile and hideous thing Avhich Dr . Cullen paints it . AVbat a strange , Avhat an incongruous alliance is not that of Freemasons and Eibbonmen ! The former , a timehonoured Craft , based on charity itself , proverbial for diffusing generous sentiments and goodAvill throughout society at large , and pre-eminently distinguished for its

sctive and practical sympathy with the victims of adverse fortune . The latter , a reckless confederacy rebels alike to the laws of God and man , mez-cenary assassins who have reduced murder to a system . We must charitably suppose that Dr . Cullen labours under some delusion as regards Freemasons . His description of that universally esteemed brotherhood is , as it were , a paraphrastic exemplication of that rhetorical figure knoAvn as antiphrasis , which implies the contrary of whafc is literally expressed in Avords . Fanciful philo-