DR. REDWOOD ON MASONRY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4178, 11 August 1874, Page 3

DR. REDWOOD ON MASONRY.

The New Zealand Tablet selects the following passages from what it describes as the “long and able pastoral” of the Right Rev. Dr. Redwood, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington : This hell-born foe of Religion and order, aspiring to universal sway, chiefly assails Europe, the head and heart of the world. Its ultimate aim is the annihilation of Catholicity • —nay, of the Christian idea—for ever. Its invisible head is Satan, its visible head are the Secret Societies, or—as the Pope calls them in his last Encyclical—the “ Sects,” whether masonic, or of any other name. “ They form” —His Holiness says Satan, which leads its troops against the Church, and gives her battle.” Its plan op attack is to destroy, firstly, the Temporal, secondly, the Spiritual power of the Pope, and thirdly, all Christianity. Its means to that effect are any whatsoever, provided they are effective —violence, cunning, fire and sword, poison and the ( dagger ; but chiefly—as being more applicable, far-reaching, and universal — they are the following : to deceive Princes and Governments, and thus get the reins of power, as it now has them in Italy, Spain, Germany, and elsewhere; then to destroy the influence of the Clergy by the systematic corruption of the masses, by Godless education, falsified History, immoral Literature, an audaciously lying and slanderous Press, perverted Arts and Sciences, and lastly, by the marshalling of all Religious Sects adverse to Rome, into one huge host against the common foe—the Roman Catholic Church. “ We Appeal,” wrote a well-known Revolutionary, Edgar Quiuet, to the “Vente,” or Headcentre of secret societies in Piedmont—“we appeal to all the beliefs and religions that have ever warred with Rome : they are all willing or unwilling in our ranks ; for, at bottom their existence is as irreconcilable as ours with Rome.” Moreover, the Revolution has its fair pretexts to beguile the simple and unwary—nay, sometimes the upright and honest. These are certain high-sounding, magic words—such as liberty, progress, enlightenment, law, civilization, the welfare of nations, the destruction of abuses, the abolition of misery, the ameliora- , tionand comfort of the working classes—in short, endless prosperity and a golden age. And yet history and experience are there to give the lie to such promises ; for the boasted material superiority of our times is not due to the Revolution, but to natural progress, which has been impeded rather than quickened by its baneful influence. The Catholic Church, whose object is neither science, nor art, nor industry, nor wealth, nor bodily comfort, but the salvation of souls, has INCIDENTALLY done more for the promotion of them all than any other corporation. On Historical evidence, she claims to have founded Christian civilization, preserved Literature, encouraged Arts and Sciences, promoted industry in every age and clime. England is indebted to her for the foundation of our liberties and the destruction of serfdom. (Macaulay’s History, vol. 1.) And the whole fabric of the British Constitution is based upon her prudence, her wisdom, and her laws. And when calumny and falsehood brand her as the deadliest foe of mankind, she—as a mother stung to the quick by foulest ingratitude—meekly and sorrowfully exclaims : “ I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised me.”—(ls. 1—2.) To murder this beneficent mother is the object of the Revolution. Against her it summons all its forces : Infidelity, Protestantism, Ctesarism, Rationalism, Naturalism, false politics, false science, false education.” “ On, on ! "■—it cries—“ against our common foe. Away with the Pope, away -with the Church, away with Christianity. On, on, to the emancipation of mankind.” Such is the formidable adversary which the Catholic Church has now to conquer. Eor she has the “ Promises.” “ The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her” ; her victory is certain. Her glorious head, Pope Pius IX., stands as an immovable tower of strength against the fiercest onslaughts, q Bishops, priests, and faithful march in serried ranks round their leader. Such unity is invinciblfe. It foretells a future which will shortly amaze the world. The day and hour of its coming we know not, but we do know that we can hasten it by our prayers and good works.