(No. V.)—Priestly Opposition To Freemasonry In Prance.

case on record of a person having been refused membership in the Protestant Churches simply because he was a Mason . In fact at this present time several of the Provincial Grand Masters of the English Masons are clergymen . The Rev .

Bro . Dr . Oliver our great Masonic author , was a clergyman , and in the Grand Lodge and many private lodges there are duly appointed Chaplains . It must then be apparent to all but the most blindly prejudiced , that our Order , the traditions

of which are entirely Scriptural in character , and which has numbered among its members so many goodanddevout Christians , is most unfairly treated by the authorities of the Catholic Church . Under these circumstances we do not feel hopeful with

regard to the future of Freemasonry in France , inasmuch as it is to be feared that the very men who would give strength and ability to the Grand-Orient will be kept apart from it by the priests . We can scarcely wonder indeed that the attitude

of the clerical party has emboldened the free thinking section of the community to believe that ere long they must be admitted to our Order as a dernier ressort . This we hope will never be , but if it is not so we must not be surprised if tbe number of brethren in France should be stationary or even decrease . We are aware that Bro . Pinon ' s

edition of the Annuaire MaQonnique estimates that there are now 10 , 000 more Masons in Paris alone , than there were in 1862 , but ic must be remembered that Paris is altogether an exceptional place . It is a common fallacy in England to believe that

the Catholic Church is losing its influence in France , and that the people are becoming more and more infected with religious indifferentism every day . This idea has been industriously promulgated by our religious periodicals , and even

by newspapers for many years , but we are satisfied that it is an egregious mistake . Comparing the religious devotion of the people under Louis Phillipe with what it is under Napoleon III . fostered by the undoubted piety and zeal of the

Empress Eugenie , it must be conceded that the Church is incalculably stronger than it was , and that the number of devout worshippers has been wonderfully increased . Freemasonry will therefore have to contend with even greater difficulties

than those which it has overcome , and unless as is by no means unlikely , the Emperor should get a law passed forbidding the priests to excommunicate persons for joining societies , which are legalised by the civil power , we fear that the

struggle between Freemasonry on the one hand and priestcraft on the other will be an unequal contest in which the strength is all on one side . What has happened at St . Malo where a priest boasted to us that the Church had " closed the

lodge" will occur elsewhere , and the time may come when a Freemason in the country towns of France may be a rare phenomenon . In a conversation which we had recently with a French priest of high standing , to whom we carried a letter of introduction from a Catholic

friend the whole question was thoroughly discussed . This priest though otherwise a man of enlightened views , and not at all bigoted as regards Protestants , was strongly excited immediately the name of Freemasonry was introduced .

" Freemasonry , " said he , " is a union of all theenemies of religion and good government . It is a society of sceptics and revolutionaries who meet under its banner to devise their wicked schemesagainst Church and State . "

" But , " said we , " this is an entire mistake ,, for the constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand-Orient of France expressly foz-bid all politics in lodges , and moreover a Freemason cannot be a sceptic , he must believe in the existence of God . " We referred to Article 2 of the constitution of

the French Masons , which says : — " Freemasonry respects the religious faith and the political opinions of its members , but all dissention on religious or political matters is interdicted at its assemblies , and controversy on

different religions and criticism upon the acts of the civil authority , or upon divers forms of government , is expressly forbidden . One of the principal duties of Freemasons is to respect the laws of the country which they may inhabit . "

It is true that in 18-18 a very improper address was presented to the Provisional Government , but the present constitution has been adopted since that time , and under it such a demonstration is simply impossible . We also cited the followingextracts from the " Book of Constitutions" of

English Masonry : — " A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey tht moral law , and if he rightly understands the art he will never be a stupid atheist or an irresponsible libertine . He of all men should best understand

that God seeth not as man seeth , for man looketh to the outward appearance but God looketh to the heart . "