Freemasons And The Church Of Rome.

Freemasonry abroad . " While we accept the comp liment paid to Queen Victoria ' s dominions , we must be permitted to say that Bishop Gillis gave utterance to a falsehood in that sentence—a falsehood of so g laring a character as could only have

been intentional . If any man in the Eoman Church knew Freemasonry at home ancl abroad , both in its usefulness and goodness , that man was James Gillis , Bishop of Limyra . It is true that Freemasonry in her Majesty ' s dominions is

entirely opposed to all sedition and treason , but the same holds good to the Freemasons on the Continent . The Freemasons are undoubtedly a secret bod y in one sense . Their doctrines and views can only be communicated to- those who

desire initiation ; but every man of good moral character can become a Freemason . It is thus not a secret society , in the strict letter of the word ; its office-bearers , its meetings , and places

of meeting are patent to the world ; whereas the Carbonari , and so-called secret societies , skulk in obscure alleys , and in the dead of night carry on their business . Not so the Masons . Everything with them is clear and above board ; daylight

enlightens all their actions . Thus it is we have all over the world kings and princes of the blood , dukes , marquises , earls , viscounts , and barons Grand Masters , and from the king on the throne to the lord of petty acres we find such enrolled

as Grand Office-bearers . What is the Continent of Europe to the three other continents ? And yet , long before the Eoman Catholic Church penetrated to these , Freemasonry existed among the Hindoos , Chinese , Egyptians , Nubians , the

Australian abori g ines , the Arabs , and the Incas of Mexico ; and the Popish pioneers were then onl y too glad to shelter themselves under the widespread banners of the now damned Freemasonry .

The Pope—that is , the Church of Eome , the infallible—states the Freemasons have only ono idea , to subjugate the whole world . Now it might be as well , before going further , to see how Freemasonry stands abroad . The Prince of Prussia and the Grand Duke of Hesse are protectors of all the Masonic lodges in their realms . William ,

Prince of tho Netherlands , the Kings of Hanover and of Sweden , are Grand Masters in their several countries . The King of Ital y and the Emperor of the French ( who had onl y one vote recorded on his behalf the other day , when he was a

candidate for the Grand Mastersliip , because he belonged to the Society of the Carbonari ) are Masons , both of them beins" Eoman Catholics . A

cardinal , several archbishops and bishops , are also said to be Freemasons . This , however , is a controverted point ; bnt there are many priests of the Eomish faith who acknowledge themselves , and are proved to be members . We have heard

it , said that Pope Pius the Ninth , when a sucking Mars , was not unfrequentl y seen in a Carbonari lodge , aud he only ceased his visits when a strong stop was put to his courage in the shape of a challenge . We concede , however , that this may be a lie .

Popular opinion abroad takes a different view of Freemasonry from the Papacy , and , with regard to this late allocution , the French Siecle use these somewhat startling words : — "We do not exactly know how many Freemasons may

bo in Prance , but wo are not far from the truth , perhaps , in setting thein down at one million . Assuming that there are in Belgium , Germany , Italy , Spain , and Portugal as many more , wo have two millions of persons excommunicated ; for , if the text of the Pontifical allocution has been correctly transmitted , it is the major excommunication that has been fulminated against them . With

tho exception of the Albigenses and other heretics , who were first excommunicated in mass and next exterminated in mass , the thunders of the Church were rarely hurled against more than four or five persons in a century ; but , at the present time , excommunications in qlobo seem to have recommenced . A million of our

fellow-citizens are struck with tho most terrible engine which the representative of God upon earth can dispose of . It is true they perform their ordinary business just tho same , although interdicted from lire and water . The worst that can happen to them is , that they cannot be sponsors if they should be asked to do so ; but this is an occasion which does not often present itself , and they

may find consolation in the circumstance , that it wilt save them the cost of comfits . What interest can the Church of Eome havo in thus exposing tho impotence of its spiritual chastisements , and the complete indifference with which modern society hears the rumbling of the Church's thunder ? What man will givo up the title of Freemason , or who will hesitate to become a

member of a lodge , through fear of excommunication ? The era of those papal thunder-peals has passed , and the Papacy should renounce those miserable parodies of a past which had its grandeur . "

Had the Siecle put down the number of Freemasons out of France , in the other countries it mentions , at three millions , it would have been b y a half below the real number , as tho number is , in France , far below the true one . In fact , the Freemason fraternit y is over the length and breadth of the Continent . Russia has thousands