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by Brother Hermenegild Tosf (Editor), George F. Dillon (Author)
The first lecture, which he has entitled the war of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, is intended to treat, in as brief space as possible, the whole question of Secret, Atheistic Organization, its origin, its nature, its history in the last century and in this, and its unity of satanic purpose in a wonderful diversity of forms. To do this with effect, it was necessary to go over a large area of ground, and to touch upon a great variety of topics. The writer was conscious that much of this ground and many of these topics would be very much better known to a large n umber of his readers than to himself. Nearly every matter he had to speak about had been already very frequently handled ably and exhaustively in our Catholic revews, magazines and newspapers. But notwithstanding this fact, very few, if any, attempts have been made in our language to treat the subject as a whole. Many articles which he has seen, proposed to treat some one feature only of the A theistic conspiracy-for example, Freemasonry; or the Infidel war upon COhristian education and Christian InstItutions; or the Revolution in Italy; or the efforts of sectaries against the Temporal Power of the Pope, and ag inst the welfare of Christian States generally. Several writers appeared to assume as known that which was really unknown to very many; and few touched at all upon the fact-a fact, no doubt, difficult to prove from the strict and ably guarded secrecy which protects it-of the supreme direction given to the universality of secret societies from a guiding, governing, and even to the rank and file of the members of the secret societies themselves-unknown and invisible junta ceaselessly sitting in dark conclave and guiding the whole mass of the secret societies of the world. The Holy Father, in his late celebrated Bull, Humanum Genus, has, therefore, manifested his desire that the bishops, the clergy, and even the laity of the Church should join in exposing Freemasonry and other such societies. But without a proper knowledge of the conspiracy as a whole that cannot be done. The author attempts to give such knowledge; but he hopes that his efforts may be improved upon by others more able than himself, and that he may have the happiness before long of seeing some compendium of the whole subject in English which might form a text book for seminarists and others to whom the future fate of the people of God in dangerous days is to be committed.
