were the seminaries of these libertine instructions. We have
distinct proof of it, even in some of the French degrees. In the
degree called the _Chevalier de Soleil_, the whole instruction is
aimed against the established religion of the kingdom. The professed
object is the emancipation from error and the discovery of truth.
The inscription in the east is _Sagesse_, that in the north is
_Liberté_, that in the south is _Fermeté_, and in the west it is
_Caution_; terms which are very significant. The _Tres Venerable_ is
Adam; the Senior Warden is Truth, and all the Brethren are Children
of Truth. The process of reception is very well contrived: the
whole ritual is decent and circumspect, and nothing occurs which
can alarm the most timid. Brother Truth is asked, What is the hour?
He informs Father Adam, that among men it is the hour of darkness,
but that it is mid-day in the Lodge. The candidate is asked, Why he
has knocked at the door, and what is become of his eight companions
(he is one of the _Elus_)? He says, that the world is in darkness,
and his companions and he have lost each other; that _Hesperus_,
the star of Europe, is obscured by clouds of incense, offered up
by superstition to despots, who have made themselves gods, and
have retired into the inmost recesses of their palaces, that they
may not be recognised to be men, while their priests are deceiving
the people, and causing them to worship these divinities. This and
many similar sentiments are evident allusions to the pernicious
doctrine of the book called _Origine du Despotisme Oriental_, where
the religion of all countries is considered as a mere engine of
state; where it is declared that reason is the only light which
nature has given to man: that our anxiety about futurity has made us
imagine endless torments in a future world; and that princes, taking
advantage of our weakness, have taken the management of our hopes
and fears, and directed them so as to suit their own purposes; and
emancipation from the fear of death is declared to be the greatest
of all deliverances. Questions are put to the candidate, tending to
discover whether and how far he may be trusted, and what sacrifices
he is willing to make in search after truth.
This shape given to the plastic mysteries of Masonry was much
relished, and in a very short time this new path was completely
explored, and a new series of degrees was added to the list,
viz. the _Novice_, and the _Elû de la Verité_, and the _Sublime
Philosophe_. In the progress through these degrees, the Brethren
must forget that they have formerly been _Chevaliers de l'Orient_,
_Chevaliers de l'Aigle_, when the symbols were all explained as
typical of the life and immortality brought to light by the gospel.
Indeed they are taught to class this among the other clouds which
have been dispelled by the sun of reason. Even in the _Chevalerie
de l'Aigle_ there is a twofold explanation given of the symbols,
by which a lively imagination may conceive the whole history and
peculiar doctrines of the New Testament, as being typical of the
final triumph of reason and philosophy over error. And perhaps this
degree is the very first step in the plan of ILLUMINATION.
We are not to suppose that this was carried to extremity at once.
But it is certain, that before 1743, it had become universal, and
that the Lodges of Free Masons had become the places for making
proselytes to every strange and obnoxious doctrine. _Theurgy_,
_Cosmogony_, _Cabala_, and many whimsical and mystical doctrines
which have been grafted on the distinguishing tenets and the pure
morality of the Jews and Christians, were subjects of frequent
discussion in the Lodges. The celebrated Chevalier Ramsay had a
great share in all this business. Affectionately attached to the
family of Stuart, and to his native country, he had co-operated
heartily with those who endeavoured to employ Masonry in the service
of the Pretender, and, availing himself of the pre-eminence given
(at first perhaps as a courtly compliment) to Scotch Masonry, he
laboured to shew that it existed, and indeed arose, during the
Crusades, and that there really was either an order of chivalry
whose business it was to rebuild the Christian churches destroyed
by the Saracens, or that a fraternity of Scotch Masons were thus
employed in the east, under the protection of the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem. He found some facts which were thought sufficient
grounds for such an opinion, such as the building of the college
of these Knights in London, called the Temple, which was actually
done by the public Fraternity of Masons who had been in the holy
wars. It is chiefly to him that we are indebted for that rage of
Masonic chivalry which distinguishes the French Free Masonry. Ramsay
was as eminent for his piety as he was for his enthusiasm, but his
opinions were singular. His eminent learning, his elegant talents,
his amiable character, and particularly his estimation at court,
gave great influence to every thing he said on a subject which was
merely a matter of fashion and amusement. Whoever has attended much
to human affairs, knows the eagerness with which men propagate all
singular opinions, and the delight which attends their favourable
reception. None are more zealous than the apostles of infidelity
and atheism. It is in human nature to catch with greediness any
opportunity of doing what lies under general restraint. And if
our apprehensions are not completely quieted, in a case where our
wishes lead us strongly to some favourite but hazardous object, we
are conscious of a kind of self bullying. This naturally gets into
our discourse, and in our eagerness to get the encouragement of
joint adventurers, we enforce our tenets with an energy, and even a
violence, that is very inconsistent with the subject in hand. If I
am an Atheist, and my neighbour a Theist, there is surely nothing
that should make me violent in my endeavours to rid him of his
error. Yet how violent were the people of this party in France.
These facts and observations fully account for the zeal with
which all this patch-work addition to the simple Free Masonry of
England was prosecuted in France. It surprises us Britons, who are
accustomed to consider the whole as a matter of amusement for young
men, who are glad of any pretext for indulging in conviviality.
We generally consider a man advanced in life with less respect,
if he shows any serious attachment to such things. But in France,
the civil and religious restraints in conversation made these
secret assemblies very precious; and they were much frequented by
men of letters, who there found an opportunity of expressing in
safety their dissatisfaction with those restraints, and with that
inferiority of rank and condition to which they were subjected, and
which appeared to themselves so inadequate to their own talents
and merits. The _Avocats au Parlement_, the unbeneficed Abbés,
the young men of no fortune, and the _soidisant_ philosophers,
formed a numerous band, frequented the Lodges, and there discussed
every topic of religion and politics. Specimens of this occupation
appeared from time to time in Collections of Discourses delivered
by the _Frere Orateur_. I once had in my possession two volumes of
these discourses, which I now regret that I left in a Lodge on the
continent, when my relish for Free Masonry had forsaken me. One of
these is a discourse by Brother Robinet, delivered in the _Loge des
Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Sainte Cité_ at Lyons, at a visitation
by the Grand Master the _Duc de Chartres_, afterwards _Orleans_
and _Egalité_. In this discourse we have the germ and substance of
his noted work, _La Nature, ou l'Homme moral et physique_.[1] In
another discourse, delivered by Brother Condorcet in the _Loge des
Philalethes_ at Strasbourg, we have the outlines of his posthumous
work, _Le Progres de l'Esprit humain_; and in another, delivered
by Mirabeau in the _Loge des Chevaliers Bienfaisants_ at Paris, we
have a great deal of the levelling principles, and cosmopolitism,[2]
which he thundered from the tribunes of the National Assembly. But
the most remarkable performances of this kind are, the _Archives
Mystico-Hermetiques_, and the _Des Erreurs, et de la Verité_. The
first is considered as an account, historical and dogmatical, of
the procedure and system of the _Loge des Chevaliers Bienfaisants_
at Lyons. This was the most zealous and systematical of all the
cosmopolitical Lodges in France. It worked long under the patronage
of its Grand Master the _Duc des Chartres_, afterwards _Orleans_,
and at last _Ph. Egalité_. It sent out many affiliated Lodges,
which were erected in various parts of the French dominions. The
daughter Lodges at Paris, Strasbourg, Lille, Thoulouse, took the
additional title of _Philalethes_. There arose some schisms, as may
be expected, in an Association where every man is encouraged to
broach and to propagate any the most singular opinion. These schisms
were continued with some heat, but were in a great measure repaired
in Lodges which took the name of _Amis reunis de la Verité_. One of
this denomination at Paris became very eminent. The mother Lodge at
Lyons extended its correspondence into Germany, and other foreign
countries, and sent constitutions or systems, by which the Lodges
conducted their operations.
[1] And I may add the _Systeme de la Nature_ of Diderot, who
corrected the crude whims of Robinet by the more refined mechanism
of Hartley.
[2] Citizenship of the World, from the Greek words _Cosmos_, world,
and _Polis_, a city.
I have not been able to trace the steps by which this Lodge acquired
such an ascendancy; but I see, that in 1769 and 1770, all the
refined or philosophical Lodges in Alsace and Lorraine united,
and in a convention at Lyons, formally put themselves under the
patronage of this Lodge, cultivated a continual correspondence, and
considered themselves as professing one Masonic Faith, sufficiently
distinguishable from that of other Lodges. What this was we do not
very distinctly know. We can only infer it from some historical
circumstances. One of its favourite daughters, the Lodge _Theodor
von der guten Rath_, at Munich, became so remarkable for discourses
dangerous to church and state, that the Elector of Bavaria, after
repeated admonitions during a course of five or six years, was
obliged to suppress it in 1786. Another of its suffragan Lodges
at Regensburgh became exceedingly obnoxious to the state, and
occasioned several commotions and insurrections. Another, at Paris,
gradually refined into the Jacobin club--And in the year 1791,
the Lodges in Alsace and Lorraine, with those of Spire and Worms,
invited Custine into Germany, and delivered Mentz into his hands.
When we reflect on these historical facts, we get some key to the
better understanding of the two performances which I mentioned
as descriptive of the opinions and occupations of this Sect of
Free-Masons. The _Archives Mystico-Hermetiques_ exhibit a very
strange mixture of Mysticism, Theosophy, Cabalistic whim, real
Science, Fanaticism, and Freethinking, both in religion and
politics. They must not be considered as an account of any settled
system, but rather as annals of the proceedings of the Lodge, and
abstracts of the strange doctrines which made their sucessive
appearance in it. But if an intelligent and cautious reader examine
them attentively, he will see, that the book is the work of one
hand, and that all the wonders and oddities are caricatured, so as
to engross the general attention, while they also are twisted a
little, so that in one way or another they accord with a general
spirit of licentiousness in morals, religion, and politics.
Although every thing is expressed decently, and with some caution
and moderation, atheism, materialism, and discontent with civil
subordination, pervade the whole. It is a work of great art. By
keeping the ridicule and the danger of superstition and ignorance
continually in view, the mind is captivated by the relief which
free enquiry and communication of sentiment seems to secure, and we
are put off our guard against the risk of delusion, to which we are
exposed when our judgment is warped by our passions.
The other book, "Des Erreurs et de la Verité," came from the same
school, and is a sort of holy scripture, or at least a Talmud among
the Free Masons of France. It is intended only for the initiated,
and is indeed a mystery to any other reader. But as the object of it
was to spread the favourite opinions of some enthusiastic Brethren,
every thing is said that does not directly betray the secrets of the
Order. It contains a system of Theosophy that has often appeared
in the writings of philosophers, both in ancient and modern times.
"All the intelligence and moral sentiment that appears in the
universe, either directly, as in the minds of men, or indirectly,
as an inference from the marks of design that we see around us,
some of which show us that men have acted, and many more that some
other intelligence has acted, are considered as parts or portions
of a general mass of intelligence which exists in the universe,
in the same manner as matter exists in it. This intelligence has
an inscrutable connection with the material part of the universe,
perhaps resembling the connection, equally unsearchable, that
subsists between the mind and body of man; and it may be considered
as the _Soul of the World_. It is this substance, the natural object
of wonder and respect, that men have called God, and have made the
object of religious worship. In doing so they have fallen into gross
mistakes, and have created for themselves numberless unfounded
hopes and fears, which have been the source of superstition and
fanaticism, the most destructive plagues that have ever afflicted
the human race. The Soul of Man is separated from the general mass
of intelligence by some of the operations of nature, which we
shall never understand, just as water is raised from the ground by
evaporation, or taken up by the root of a plant. And as the water,
after an unsearchable train of changes, in which it sometimes
makes part of a flower, sometimes part of an animal, &c. is at
last reunited, in its original form, to the great mass of waters,
ready to run over the same circle again; so the Soul of Man, after
performing its office, and exhibiting all that train of intellectual
phenomena that we call human life, is at last swallowed up in the
great ocean of intelligence." The author then may sing
"Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari."
For he has now got to his asylum. This deity of his may be the
object of wonder, like every thing great and incomprehensible,
but not of worship, as the moral Governor of the universe. The
hopes are at end, which rest on our notions of the immortality and
individuality of the human soul, and on the encouragement which
religion holds forth to believe, that improvement of the mind in
the course of this life, by the exercise of wisdom and of virtuous
dispositions, is but the beginning of an endless progress in all
that can give delight to the rational and well-disposed mind. No
relation now subsists between man and Deity that can warm the
heart. But, as this is contrary to some natural propensity in
the human mind, which in all ages and nations has panted after
some connection with Deity, the author strives to avail himself
of some cold principles of symmetry in the works of nature, some
ill-supported notions of propriety, and other such considerations,
to make this _anima mundi_ an object of love and respect. This is
done in greater detail in another work, _Tableau, des rapports entre
l'Homme, Dieu, et l'Univers_, which is undoubtedly by the same hand.
But the intelligent reader will readily see, that such incongruous
things cannot be reconciled, and that we can expect nothing here
but sophistry. The author proceeds, in the next place, to consider
man as related to man, and to trace out the path to happiness in
this life. Here we have the same overstrained morality as in the
other work, the same universal benevolence, the same lamentations
over the miserable state of mankind, resulting from the oppression
of the powerful, the great ones of the earth, who have combined
against the happiness of mankind, and have succeeded, by debasing
their minds, so that they have become willing slaves. This could
not have been brought about without the assistance of superstition.
But the princes of this world enlisted into their service the
priests, who exerted themselves in darkening the understandings
of men, and filled their minds with religious terrors. The altar
became the chief pillar of the throne, and men were held in complete
subjection. Nothing can recover them from this abject state but
knowledge. While this dispels their fears, it will also show them
their rights, and the way to attain them.
It deserves particularly to be remarked, that this system of
opinions (if such an inconsistent mass of assertions can be called
a system) bears a great resemblance to a performance of Toland's,
published in 1720, called _Pantheisticon, seu Celebratio Sodalitii
Socratici_. It is an account of the principles of a Fraternity which
he calls Socratica, and the Brothers Pantheistæ. They are supposed
to hold a Lodge, and the author gives a ritual of the procedure in
this Lodge; the ceremonies of opening and shutting of the Lodge, the
admission of Members into its different degrees, &c. Reason is the
Sun that illuminates the whole, and Liberty and Equality are the
objects of their occupations.
We shall see afterwards that this book was fondly pushed into
Germany, translated, commented upon, and so misrepresented, as to
call off the attention from the real spirit of the book, which is
intentionally wrapped up in cabala and enigma. Mirabeau was at much
pains to procure it notice; and it must therefore be considered
as a treasure of the cosmo-political opinions of the Association
of _Chevaliers Bienfaisants_, _Philalethes_, and _Amis Reunis_,
who were called the _improved_ Lodges, working under the D. de
Chartres--of these there were 266 in 1784. This will be found a very
important remark. Let it also be recollected afterwards, that this
Lodge of Lyons sent a deputy to a grand Convention in Germany in
1772, viz. Mr. Willermooz, and that the business was thought of such
importance, that he remained there two years.
The book _Des Erreurs et de la Verité_, must therefore be considered
as a classical book of these opinions. We know that it originated
in the _Loge des Chev. Bienfaisants _at Lyons. We know that this
Lodge stood as it were at the head of French Free Masonry, and
that the fictitious Order of Masonic Knights Templars was formed
in this Lodge, and was considered as the model of all the rest of
this mimic chivalry. They proceeded so far in this mummery, as
even to have the clerical tonsure. The Duke of Orleans, his son,
the Elector of Bavaria, and some other German Princes, did not
scruple at this mummery in their own persons. In all the Lodges of
reception, the Brother Orator never failed to exclaim on the topics
of superstition, blind to the exhibition he was then making, or
indifferent as to the vile hypocrisy of it. We have, in the lists
of Orators and Office-bearers, many names of persons, who have had
an opportunity at last of proclaiming their sentiments in public.
The Abbé Sieyes was of the Lodge of Philalethes at Paris, and also
at Lyons. Lequinio, author of the most profligate book that ever
disgraced a press, the _Prejuges vaincus par la Raison_, was Warden
in the Lodge _Compacte Sociale_. Despremenil, Bailly, Fauchet,
Maury, Mounier, were of the same system, though in different Lodges.
They were called Martinists, from a St. Martin, who formed a schism
in the system of the _Chevaliers Bienfaisants_, of which we have not
any very precise account. Mercier gives some account of it in his
_Tableau de Paris_, and in his _Anné_ 2440. The breach alarmed the
Brethren, and occasioned great heats. But it was healed, and the
Fraternity took the name of _Misa du Renis_, which is an anagram of
_des Amis Reunis_. The Bishop of Autun, the man so bepraised as the
benevolent Citizen of the World, the friend of mankind and of good
order, was Senior Warden of another Lodge at Paris, established in
1786, (I think chiefly by Orleans and himself,) which afterwards
became the Jacobin Club. In short, we may assert with confidence,
that the Mason Lodges in France were the hot-beds, where the seeds
were sown, and tenderly reared, of all the pernicious doctrines
which soon after choaked every moral or religious cultivation, and
have made the Society worse than a waste, have made it a noisome
marsh of human corruption, filled with every rank and poisonous weed.
These Lodges were frequented by persons of all ranks, and of
every profession. The idle and the frivolous found amusement, and
glittering things to tickle their satiated fancies. There they
became the dupes of the declamations of the crafty and licentious
Abbés, and writers of every denomination. Mutual encouragement in
the indulgence of hazardous thoughts and opinions which flatter
our wishes or propensities is a lure which few minds can resist.
I believe that most men have felt this in some period of their
lives. I can find no other way of accounting for the company
that I have sometimes seen in a Mason Lodge. The Lodge _de la
Parfaite Intelligence_ at Liege, contained, in December 1770, the
Prince Bishop, and the greatest part of his Chapter, and all the
Office-bearers were dignitaries of the church; yet a discourse given
by the Brother Orator was as poignant a satire on superstition and
credulity, as if it had been written by Voltaire. It was under the
auspices of this Lodge that the collection of discourses, which I
mentioned above, was published, and there is no fault found with
Brother Robinet, nor Brother Condorcet. Indeed the Trefonciers of
Liege were proverbial, even in Brabant, for their Epicurism in the
most extensive sense of the word.