Freemasonry And The Pope.

FREEMASONRY AND THE POPE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 30 , 1865 .

Iii our issue of 28 tli October last , we reproduced the address sent by the Freemasons of Lyons to the Pope in reply to his Allocution . This address has not been thought worthy of an answer by ifes destinataire , but Bro . A . G . Jouaust , a member of

the Council of the Grand Orient de France , volunteers , in the last issue of the Monde Maconnique , to impugn the circular of our Lyons brethren from a quasi clerical and ultra orthodox point of view . As a specimen of the ratiocination opposed by

our French contemporary to the defence of the Order ( the doctrines of which the Lyons Masons maintain to be in strict keeping with those of the Eoman Catholic creed ) , we quote the followingpassage , embodying the substance of the article in

question : — "Have the Freemasons any desire of showing to the Holy Father that he is wrong in excommunicating them ? If so , they must show that they have repudiated the principles of their fathers ,

and that their new doctrines are in keeping with Eoman Catholic orthodoxy ; for otherwise , since the Papacy is infallible , there is necessarily a concatenation between the acts of Clement XII . and

those of Pius IX . " Still , oiu' Lyons brethren have endeavoured to prove this , and no doubt the sacred College will have a hearty laugh at their ingenuity , when its members read their address .

Look at the first clause of our Constitution ; it is quite new , being of very recent date , having been voted only last June .

Freemasonry , being an institution essentially pliilanthrcpical , philosophical , and progressive , has for its object the search after the truth , the study of universal morals , of sciences and arts , and the practice of benevolence it has for its principles the existence of God , the immortality of the soul , and joint responsibility amongst men . It considers liberty of conscience as a right belonging to every human being , and excludes nobody oil account of his religious persuasion , & c .

" Stop here , Messieurs les Franemacons , " the very first seminarist would interfere , "I mark three points in your first clause ; they are like the three lines of writing on the faith of which the lieutenant of police would have his man hanged ;

I don't want more to have you excommunicated . " In the first place , you have for your object the search after truth . Well , an infidel only can shut his eyes to the light and search after the truth , when the latter has been found these nineteen

centuries . The truth is in the Eoman Catholic and Apostolic religion ; it is there entirely , and nowhere else . It is the truth , for it emanates from God or from those who have been endowed by God with infallibility in interpreting the word of

God . To declare that you are searching after the truth , means logically that you do not believe the Church to be the sole and unique assignee of it . The Popes are quite right in excommunicating you . Secondly , you say that you study universal

morals . But all the faithful know that morals are derived from religion only . It is true that he who is guided solely by the ignis fat-uus of reason , may have some faint conception of some principles of morals . Socrates , Plato , Aristotle , Epictetus ,

Marcus Aurelius , Confucius , & c , serve to illustrate this fact . We may surmise that Providence , in his sovereign bounty , has taken so much

compassion upon those paganists as to reveal to them some particles of the divine truth , to prevent the remainder of mankind wading ( patauger ) in crime and abomination , while the blessed people of Israel fulfilled their glorious destiny .

In those ages of ignorance and darkness universal morals might have been studied ; but since the epoch when the religion of Christ spread its divine light over mankind , the Church is the sole true school of morals its ministers alone have a

right to teach them ; and no faithful Christian will resort to other quarters to look for such instruction . Hence , there are no universal morals , but Catholic morals , just as there is no universal religion besides the Catholic ( Kara , 3 x __) religion .

Your universal morals , therefore , mean nothing but natural morals , or naturalism ; and yon are astonished that you are censured and damned by the Church .

Thirdly , you admit of the liberty of conscience , aud you elucidate the meaning of your words by adding that you exclude nobody on account of his religious persuasion . The Church also admits of the liberty of conscience , but it would prevaricate

against , its divine mission were it to interpret it like you . A distinction must be made between practical and philosophical liberty of conscience . The former the Church admits ; it consists in using no violence to prevent a heretic from

remaining in his error , or a Freemason from visiting his lodge . This toleration , as you are aware , does not imply the recognition of this error , or of religious indifference . Thus , e . g ., there are Jews at Eome ; everything is done to convert them and