Toleration And Dr. Cullen.

TOLERATION AND DR . CULLEN .

. Sir , —As " a Free and an Accepted Mason , " I at once accept Dr . , J ? aul Cullen's challenge against my Craft , and undertake to prove that it is as infinitely superior to bis as light is to darkness , or ¦ as the undisguised and always loyal proceedings of honest and ¦ candid men are to the trickeries and mysteries of an affiliation who presume to think that their mere doctrine is infallible , and who , like Iago , put money in their purse by preying upon the weaknesses of those who reject the commands of the Bibleand

, accept their own instead . History informs me that for ages the Masonic brotherhood have maintained their ground in every country to which the glorious institution has reached , and that iu none has it been more honoured than in those continental countries where the Roman Catholic religion was that of the State . Aud why ? Its great and Christianlike object is to bind man to man in a brotherhood of kindness and good feeling ; it

relieves tbe wants of others , careless of its own : it supports the the widow , maintains the orphan , acts as tho Samaritan to the wayfarer and the weary , and , at a word , performs all those offices of Christian charity , duty , and love , which Christ himself insists on as the end and aim of the God-like mission which it was the will of his Father that he should come on earth to undertake . In every country has Masonry been welcomed , for its

principles are loyal and true , and its utility apparent , and from no country has it been banished as having interfered with the interests of law and order , or having intermeddled with State affairs , with which it had no possible concern . But can Dr . Cullen give the same satisfactory estimate of tho mission of his order ? Or can he point to a single Catholic—Roman Catholic —country in Europe , from whence some one order or other of

his Church have not had notice to quit within a certain time , under the penalty of being driven forth as peace-breakers , malcontents , firebrands , ancl rebels againstconstituted authority , ' even of the most orthodox kind . If I wished to run my letter to unreasonable length I might travel back to the Popes themselves , scores of whom , by their . lives and actions , ought to bring a blush into the cheek of any Christian man even to name , while at the same period of time the leaders of Masonry were perfecting their great scheme , ancl endeavouring to undo what the Papacj had clone ; I misrht then travel into the history

of the Jesuits , and prove the grasping , griping , mercenary nature of their policy , which , in its celebrated proclamation of " the end sanctions the means , " is at once a test of the purity of the proclaimers , and of the apostolic ; character of its views . But these , sir , are things which every reader of history , however superficial , has by heart , and 1 prefer dealing with Dr . Paul Cullen on his own soil and in his own day . What did he come here to doand how has he done it ? If miht and not

. g right was not the ruler , what possible right has he to be where he is at all ? I , though a Protestant ( ancl proud to call myself one ) , have spoken to hunch-eels of Catholics who shrug their shoulders at his antics , ancl freely acknowledge that he is ' ' not the man for Ireland" at all . He had lived and vegetated in Pvome all his life ; but an opportunity offered for his elevation , and instead of proceeding in the usual , decorousancl legitimate

, course , of choosing a successor to Dr . Murray ( an excellent , loyal , anel temperate man ) , the Roman authorities altogether disregard and throw over the recommendatory programme of diyuus , dignior , diynissimus , the Pope ' s favourite is pitchforked into office , and is allowed to select as he likes . Ultimately he fastens upon Dublin , and I must be wofully misinformed if save to a favoured few , his ultramontane views have found

acceptance with either clerics or laics of his own creed . One and all they feel that he came to bring " not peace , but the sword . " It is " all for Popery , or the world will be lost , " with him . His pet clergy are instructed to preach that social communion with Protestants is a violation of the commandments of tlie Church ; to hob-nob with one of the heterodox is a misdemeanour ; to waltz or dance "Sir Rogerly cle Coverl" with

y one of the forbidden was beyond the bounds of "venial" sin , while even to think of intermarriage with a pariah of Protestantism , is " a bell , book , and candle affair , " and is hardly to be expiated , except by the most liberal bequests . Is it possible to suppose anything more arrogant in itself , or more insulting to the respectable members of his own creed , than the latest anathema of this intolerant and arbitrary stranger to tho

wishes , habits , and requirements of those amongst whom he has , for their misfortune and the misfortune of Ireland , been sent ? Out of the 1500 gentlemen and ladies present at the late "Masonic Ball , " there were , at least , from 500 to 600 Roman Catholics , all respectable , or they would not have

Toleration And Dr. Cullen.

been admitted , and many of them of large fortune and eminent professional rank . Yet these are , every man and woman of them , set down as willing associates with- —not exactly with Ribbonmen , but with something still more dangerous and formidable , inasmuch as the Ribbonmen might chance to listen to the Archbishop , und the Freemasons onlysmile at his Ruminations , and disregard his treacherous , unpatriotic , and unchristian advice . Usurpers , sir , are always

inclined to play the part of despots where ancl when they can ; and as Doctor Cullen has arrived at his present dignity in a somewhat unusual way , and as he appears to have been sent amongst us to further that miserable part of divide et impera , from which we have suffered so long , I would earnestly entreat all Irishmen—both Catholics anel Protestants—not to allow so evil a foreign influence to actuate or separate them . They are all Christiansbound together by the great bond of

, unity , brotherhood , and peace , berrueathed them by the lips of a dying Saviour ; they have suffered by their divisions , and ought by this time to be aware that " union is strength . " Previous to the arrival of this very exacting and absolute ecclesiastic amongst us , we were progressing favourablv ; and although since then

we have retrogaded , still it must be acknowledged that this recession is not the work of Protestantism , but must , in a great measure , be traced to that miserable timidity of the Roman Catholic Church anel its ministers , which fears that collision with Protestantism would prove its own downfall , ancl , as a matter of prudence , promotes social division , in order to prevent the diffusion of Gospel truth . But this is not , and ought not to bo the policy of Irishmen . We are bound togethernot by

, creeds , hut by nationality ; we have a country to honour , a principle to advance , a further progress to struggle for ; but what does Rome or the rulers of Rome care for this ? It sends the Catholic penitent to the confessional , and frowns on tl ' e sinner who acknowledges to the laches of a Protestant quadrille or a masonic hall , while it temporises with greater criminality ; and it gives us to be the " ruler and guide of our Roman

Catholic brethren" a man who has spent his freshest years at the feet of despotism , and who , even while I write these lines , may be refusing absolution to some trembling female penitent of " sweet seventeen , " whose most awful inculpation is , " Oh ! my Lord , forgive me , for I hael the great misfortune to dance with my cousin at that horrid ' Masonic ball !'"—I ain , sir , yours , AXXI-HITIIBUG .

FATHER TOM MAGUIRE A FREEMASON . Sir , —The celebrated " Father Tom Maguire" was initiated ,, etc ., in Masonic Lodge 187 , Drumkeerin , County Leitrim , where he was for a long time parish priest , and I believe the records ofthe lodge would attest to the membership of other excellent clergymen of the same faith before his time . I am acquainted with a member of the fraternity lately come from Peru , where

he was initiated . The master and chaplain of the lodge , he informs me , were Spanish Roman Catholic priests , and the large majority of the members are of the same faith . That contemptible bigotry which would deny tho privileges to Roman Catholics in this country which are allowable in other countries , is only part and parcel of that blighting , narrow-minded ultromontanism which has so degraded this unhappy country .

Therespectaele and ever loyal body of Freemasons can well afford to treat with supreme contempt , as they do , such an odious comparison as is made between their society—whose principles all over the universe are " Justice , Morality , Friendship , and Brotherly Love "—and that atrocious bloodstained Ribbonism , whose diabolical but priestly-patronised practices are , unfortunately for many , now too well known . Enniskillen , May 5 , 1863 , A . P . MASTEE .

Sir , —The best answer the Roman Catholics who attended the-Masonic Ball could give to Dr . Cullen ' s absurd anathema would be for them all to turn Protestants at once , yours , S-iirs PEUE .

Ar00802

The directing committe of tbe Masonic Historical Society , " VerehiDeutscher Frcimaurer , " has nominated as corresponding members the following brethren : —Bros . S . B . Wilson , P . M . at London ; Ahlberg , at Christianstadt ( Sweden ); Franc Favrc , editor of the Monde Ma' ; ., at Paris ; Bug . Hubert , W . M . of the Lodge Jerusalem , at Paris ; De Lespinasse , at Vaassen ( Netherlands . )