Freemasonry And The Pope.

FREEMASONRY AND THE POPE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 18 , 186 S .

We continue our extracts from the English Press upon the above subject . { The Age We Live In . *] The allocution of the Pope interdicting the members of his Church from joining or belonging

to any secret -society , and especially that known by the title of Freemasonry , has excited a very grave misunderstanding among the Eoman Catholic Freemasons of England . As members of the Eoman Catholic communion they desire to show

implicit reverence and obedience to the mandates of the Pope , but they cannot in this instance conscientiously feel justified in renouncing their allegiance to the Craft . It is very evident that the Pope neither understands the character of Freemasonry as it exists in England and in other

continental countries in connection with the Grand Lodge of England , nor ranks in the sensitive judgment of his own mind the virtues of the Craft when he condemns an Order which has not the shadow of a shade of error or mischief in any

prescribed duty of the social , moral , or religious obligations of man . To confound Freemasonry with the secret societies of Italy and Sicily which have plotted and organised , as he imagines , all the revolutionary tendencies of those peoples is an error

in judgment , and a fallacy which cannot be too deeply regretted by the warmest adherents to Eoman Catholicism as a faith , in their opinion , neither to be impugned , questioned , or challenged . But query , " Is this allocution like the law of the Medes and Persians a mandate which altereth not ?"

Subjoined we publish a very lucid ancl discreetly written letter from an English Eoman Catholic Freemason addressed to the editor of a contemporary which enters very fairly into the merits of this question . Far be it from us to

advocate resistance to the authority of the Pope , but it nevertheless behoves us to deal with this matter as one which affects the loyal character of Englishmen entirely independent of the religious convictions of any members who may belong to the honourable Craft of Freemasonry . We need not enter into any probabilities or theory as to

what may be the peculiar mysteries of the Craft because it suffices for us to know that in England there neither can be nor is there a . more united , loyal and charitable fraternity than the body of Freemasons represent . To point to their schools

and asylums . To commemorate their acts of benevolence one towards the other , their ever open hand to relieve distress , and their moral worth in all that concerns the mutual happiness and prosperity of the brotherhood would be an

indifferent compliment to their their general character and pretensions . ' We can speak of them as loyal in the extreme . It is the grand motto of their order , the ruling principle of their existence : , c To fear G-od and honour the King , " and the

salutary aid which Freemasonry brings to the cultivation of science are surely mattters of the highest importance in the social and religious life , and as such they are beyond censure , and should command the Pope's approval instead of his authoritative condemnation .

To argue these points with Eoman Catholics who are HOT Freemasons , they would urge the supremacy of the Church , and obedience to its chief Bishop , as above every other consideration . The voice of the Church , they would say , must

be supreme , and neither remonstrance nor hesitation should be allowed to any member of the communion . This may be all very well , but it is not argument , it is not fairness , it is not even justice to Man . Let us take for example the case of a

good Eoman Catholic Mason , a Master , perhaps , of the lodge to which he belongs . He has bound himself by certain solemn obligations to the Craft , aud has gained the respect aud esteem of all his brethren . He is conducting the business of his

lodge with all due decorum and effect , but suddenly he finds that an allocution of the Pope orders him immediately to renounce' every obligation to the society over which he presides , to denounce the order he has upheld , and to quit without reserve the post he fills in simple obedience to the chief Hierarch of his Church . Would such

conduct raise him in the estimation of his fellow man , or would it not rather depreciate his character in the eyes of those by whom he had been previously universally esteemed ? It would be casting a stigma on his own professions of

morality , on his loyalty as a subject of tlie Crown , and on his faith in the honour and virtue of that Charity which Freemasonry strictly enjoins and as strictly practises . We hope that some influence