most naturally, writers of loose moral principles and of wicked
hearts were encouraged by the impunity which the sceptical writers
experienced, and ventured to publish things of the vilest tendency,
inflaming the passions and justifying licentious manners. These
maxims are congenial with irreligion and Atheism, and the books
found a quick market. It was chiefly in the Prussian States
that this went on. The late King was, to say the best of him, a
naturalist, and, holding this life for his all, gave full liberty
to his subjects to write what they pleased, provided they did not
touch on state matters. He declared, however, to a minister of his
court, long before his death, that "he was extremely sorry that his
indifference had produced such effects; that he was sensible it had
greatly contributed to hurt the peace and mutual good treatment
of his subjects;" and he said, "that he would willingly give up
the glory of his best-fought battle, to have the satisfaction of
leaving his people in the same state of peace and satisfaction
with their religious establishments, that he found them in at his
accession to the throne." His successor Frederick William found
that things had gone much too far, and determined to support the
church-establishment in the most peremptory manner; but at the
same time to allow perfect freedom of thinking and conversing to
the professors of every Christian faith, provided it was enjoyed
without disturbing the general peace, or any encroachment on the
rights of those already supported by law. He published an edict
to this effect, which is really a model worthy of imitation in
every country. This was the epoch of a strange revolution. It
was attacked from all hands, and criticisms, satires, slanders,
threatenings, poured in from every quarter. The independency of the
neighbouring states, and the monarch's not being a great favourite
among several of his neighbours, permitted the publication of those
pieces in the adjoining principalities, and it was impossible to
prevent their circulation even in the Prussian States. His edict was
called an unjustifiable tyranny over the consciences of men; the
dogmas supported by it were termed absurd superstitions; the King's
private character, and his opinions in religious matters, were
treated with little reverence, nay, were ridiculed and scandalously
abused. This field of discussion being thus thrown open, the writers
did not confine themselves to religious matters. After flatly
denying that the prince of any country had the smallest right to
prescribe, or even direct the faith of his subjects, they extended
their discussions to the rights of princes in general; and now
they fairly opened their trenches, and made an attack in form on
the constitutions of the German confederacy, and, after the usual
approaches, they set up the standard of universal citizenship on
the very ridge of the glacis, and summoned the fort to surrender.
The most daring of these attacks was a collection of anonymous
letters on the constitution of the Prussian States. It was printed
(or said to be so) at Utrecht; but by comparing the faults of some
types with some books printed in Berlin, it was supposed by all
to be the production of one of Nicholai's presses. It was thought
to be the composition of Mirabeau. It is certain that he wrote a
French translation, with a preface and notes, more impudent than the
work itself. The monarch is declared to be a tyrant; the people are
addressed as a parcel of tame wretches crouching under oppression.
The people of Silesia are represented as still in a worse condition,
and are repeatedly called to rouse themselves, and to rise up and
assert their rights. The King is told, that there is a combination
of philosophers (_conjuration_) who are leagued together in defence
of truth and reason, and which no power can withstand; that they
are to be found in every country, and are connected by mutual and
solemn engagement, and will put in practice every mean of attack.
Enlightening, instruction, was the general cry among the writers.
The triumph of reason over error, the overthrow of superstition
and slavish fear, freedom from religious and political prejudices,
and the establishment of liberty and equality, the natural and
unalienable rights of man, were the topics of general declamation;
and it was openly maintained, that secret societies, where the
communication of sentiment should be free from every restraint, was
the most effectual means for instructing and enlightening the world.
And thus it appears, that Germany has experienced the same gradual
progress, from Religion to Atheism, from decency to dissoluteness,
and from loyalty to rebellion, which has had its course in France.
And I must now add, that this progress has been effected in the
same manner, and by the same means; and that one of the chief means
of seduction has been the Lodges of the Free Masons. The French,
along with their numerous chevaleries, and stars, and ribands, had
brought in the custom of haranguing in the Lodges, and as human
nature has a considerable uniformity every where, the same topics
became favourite subjects of declamation that had tickled the ear in
France; there were the same corruptions of sentiments and manners
among the luxurious or profligate, and the same incitements to
the utterance of these sentiments, wherever it could be done with
safety; and I may say, that the zealots in all these tracts of
freethinking were more serious, more grave, and fanatical. These are
not assertions _a priori_. I can produce proofs. There was a Baron
Knigge residing at that time in the neighbourhood of Frankfort,
of whom I shall afterwards have occasion frequently to speak.
This man was an enthusiast in Masonry from his youth, and had run
through every possible degree of it. He was dissatisfied with them
all, and particularly with the frivolity of the French chivalry;
but he still believed that Masonry contained invaluable secrets.
He imagined that he saw a glimpse of them in the cosmo-political
and sceptical discourses in their Lodges; he sat down to meditate
on these, and soon collected his thoughts, and found that those
French orators were right without knowing it; and that Masonry was
pure natural religion and universal citizenship, and that this was
also true Christianity. In this faith he immediately began his
career of Brotherly love, and published three volumes of sermons;
the first and third published at Frankfort, and the second at
Heidelberg, but without his name. He published also a popular system
of religion. In all these publications, of which there are extracts
in the _Religions Begebenheiten_, Christianity is considered as a
mere allegory, or a Masonic type of natural religion; the moral
duties are spun into the common-place declamations of universal
benevolence; and the attention is continually directed to the
absurdities and horrors of superstition, the sufferings of the poor,
the tyranny and oppression of the great, the tricks of the priests,
and the indolent simplicity and patience of the laity and of the
common people. The happiness of the patriarchal life, and sweets of
universal equality and freedom, are the burden of every paragraph;
and the general tenor of the whole is to make men discontented
with their condition of civil subordination, and the restraints of
revealed religion.
All the proceedings of Knigge in the Masonic schisms show that he
was a zealous apostle of cosmo-politism, and that he was continually
dealing with people in the Lodges who were associated with him in
propagating those notions among the Brethren; so that we are certain
that such conversations were common in the German Lodges.
When the reader considers all these circumstances, he will abate
of that surprise which naturally affects a Briton, when he reads
accounts of conventions for discussing and fixing the dogmatic
tenets of Free Masonry. The perfect freedom, civil and religious,
which we enjoy in this happy country, being familiar to every man,
we indulge it with calmness and moderation, and secret assemblies
hardly differ from the common meetings of friends and neighbours.
We do not forget the expediency of civil subordination, and of
those distinctions which arise from secure possession of our
rights, and the gradual accumulation of the comforts of life in
the families of the sober and industrious. These have, by prudence
and a respectable oeconomy, preserved the acquisitions of their
ancestors. Every man feels in his own breast the strong call of
nature to procure for himself and his children, by every honest
and commendable exertion, the means of public consideration and
respect. No man is so totally without spirit, as not to think the
better of his condition when he is come of creditable parents, and
has creditable connections; and without thinking that he is in any
respect generous, he presumes that others have the same sentiments,
and therefore allows the moderate expression of them, without
thinking it insolence or haughtiness. All these things are familiar,
are not thought of, and we enjoy them as we enjoy ordinary health,
without perceiving it. But in the same manner as a young man who
has been long confined by sickness, exults in returning health, and
is apt to riot in the enjoyment of what he so distinctly feels;
so those who are under continual check in open society, feel this
emancipation in those hidden assemblies, and indulge with eagerness
in the expression of sentiments which in public they must smother
within their own breast. Such meetings, therefore, have a zest that
is very alluring, and they are frequented with avidity. There is no
country in Europe where this kind of enjoyment is so poignant as in
Germany. Very insignificant principalities have the same rank in
the General Federation with very extensive dominions. The internal
constitution of each petty state being modelled in nearly the same
manner, the official honours of their little courts become ludicrous
and even farcical. The Geheim Hofrath, the Hofmareschal, and all the
Kammerhers of a Prince, whose dominions do not equal the estates
of many English Squires, cause the whole to appear like the play
of children, and must give frequent occasion for discontent and
ridicule. Mason Lodges even keep this alive. The fraternal equality
professed in them is very flattering to those who have not succeeded
in the scramble for civil distinctions. Such persons become the
most zealous Masons, and generally obtain the active offices in the
Lodges, and have an opportunity of treating with authority persons
whom in public society they must look up to with some respect.
These considerations account, in some measure, for the importance
which Free Masonry has acquired in Germany. For a long while the
hopes of learning some wonderful secret made a German Baron think
nothing of long and expensive journies in quest of some new degree.
Of late, the cosmo-political doctrines encouraged and propagated in
the Lodges, and some hopes of producing a Revolution in society, by
which men of talents should obtain the management of public affairs,
seem to be the cause of all the zeal with which the order is still
cherished and promoted. In a periodical work, published at Neuwied,
called _Algemein Zeitung der Freymaurerey_, we have the list of the
Lodges in 1782, with the names of the Office-bearers. Four-fifths
of these are clergymen, professors, persons having offices in the
common law-courts, men of letters by trade, such as reviewers and
journalists, and other pamphleteers; a class of men, who generally
think that they have not attained that rank in society to which
their talents entitle them, and imagine that they could discharge
the important offices of the state with reputation to themselves and
advantage to the public.
The miserable uncertainty and instability of the Masonic faith,
which I described above, was not altogether the effect of mere
chance, but had been greatly accelerated by the machinations of
Baron Knigge, and some other cosmo-political Brethren whom he had
called to his assistance. Knigge had now formed a scheme for uniting
the whole Fraternity, for the purpose of promoting his Utopian plan
of universal benevolence in a state of liberty and equality. He
hoped to do this more readily by completing their embarrassment,
and showing each system how infirm its foundation was, and how
little chance it had of obtaining a general adherence. The _Stricten
Observanz_ had now completely lost its credit, by which it had hoped
to get the better of all the rest. Knigge therefore proposed a plan
to the Lodges of Frankfort and Wetzlar, by which all the systems
might, in some measure, be united, or at least be brought to a state
of mutual forbearance and intercourse. He proposed that the English
system should be taken for the ground-work, and to receive all and
only those who had taken the three symbolical degrees, as they were
now generally called. After thus guarding this general point of
faith, he proposed to allow the validity of every degree or rank
which should be received in any Lodge, or be made the character of
any particular system. These Lodges having secured the adherence of
several others, brought about a general convention at Willemsbad
in Hainault, where every different system should communicate its
peculiar tenets. It was then hoped, that after an examination of
them all, a constitution might be formed, which should comprehend
every thing that was most worthy of selection, and therefore be far
better than the accommodating system already described. By this he
hoped to get his favourite scheme introduced into the whole Order,
and Free Masons made zealous Citizens of the World. I believe he
was sincere in these intentions, and did not wish to disturb the
public peace. The convention was accordingly held, and lasted
a long while, the deputies consulting about the frivolities of
Masonry, with all the seriousness of state ambassadors. But there
was great shyness in their communications; and Knigge was making
but small progress in his plan, when he met with another Mason, the
Marquis of Constanza, who in an instant converted him, and changed
all his measures, by showing him that he (Knigge) was only doing by
halves what was already accomplished by another Society, which had
carried it to its full extent. They immediately set about undoing
what he had been occupied with, and heightened as much as they
could the dissentions already sufficiently great, and, in the mean
time, got the Lodges of Frankfort and Wetzlar, and several others,
to unite, and pick out the best of the things they had obtained by
the communications from the other systems, and they formed a plan
of what they called, the _Eclectic or Syncritic Masonry of the
United Lodges_ of Germany. They composed a constitution, ritual, and
catechism, which has merit, and is indeed the completest body of
Free Masonry that we have.
Such was the state of this celebrated and mysterious Fraternity
in Germany in 1776. The spirit of innovation had seized all the
Brethren. No man could give a tolerable account of the origin,
history, or object of the Order, and it appeared to all as a lost
or forgotten mystery. The symbols seemed to be equally susceptible
of every interpretation, and none of these seemed entitled to any
decided preference.
CHAP. II.
_The Illuminati._
I have now arrived at what I should call the great epoch of
Cosmo-politism, the scheme communicated to Baron Knigge by the
_Marchese di Constanza_. This obliges me to mention a remarkable
Lodge of the Eclectic Masonry, erected at Munich in Bavaria in 1775,
under the worshipful Master, Professor Baader. It was called _The
Lodge Theodore of Good Counsel_. It had its constitutional patent
from the Royal York at Berlin, but had formed a particular system of
its own, by instructions from the _Loge des Chevaliers Bienfaisants_
at Lyons, with which it kept up a correspondence. This respect
to the Lodge at Lyons had arisen from the preponderance acquired
in general by the French party in the convention at Willemsbad.
The deputies of the Rosaic Lodges, as well as the remains of the
Templars, and _Stricten Observanz_, all looking up to this as the
mother Lodge of what they called the _Grand Orient de la France_,
consisting in (in 1782) of 266 improved Lodges united under the _D.
de Chartres_. Accordingly the Lodge at Lyons sent Mr. Wilermooz
as deputy to this convention at Willemsbad. Refining gradually
on the simple British Masonry, the Lodge had formed a system of
practical morality, which it asserted to be the aim of genuine
Masonry, saying, that a true mason, and a man of upright heart and
active virtue, are synonimous characters, and that the great aim
of Free Masonry is to promote the happiness of mankind by every
mean in our power. In pursuance of these principles, the Lodge
Theodore professedly occupied itself with oeconomical, statistical,
and political matters, and not only published from time to time
discourses on such subjects by the Brother Orator, but the Members
considered themselves as in duty bound to propagate and inculcate
the same doctrines out of doors.
Of the zealous members of the Lodge Theodore the most conspicuous
was Dr. Adam Weishaupt, Professor of Canon Law in the University of
Ingolstadt. This person had been educated among the Jesuits; but the
abolition of their order made him change his views, and from being
their pupil, he became their most bitter enemy. He had acquired a
high reputation in his profession, and was attended not only by
those intended for the practice in the law-courts, but also by young
gentlemen at large in their course of general education; and he
brought numbers from the neighbouring states to this university, and
gave a _ton_ to the studies of the place. He embraced with great
keenness this opportunity of spreading the favorite doctrines of
the Lodge, and his auditory became the seminary of Cosmo-politism.
The engaging pictures of the possible felicity of a society where
every office is held by a man of talents and virtue, and where
every talent is set in a place fitted for its exertion, forcibly
catches the generous and unsuspecting minds of youth, and in a Roman
Catholic state, far advanced in the habits of gross superstition
(a character given to Bavaria by its neighbours) and abounding in
monks and idle dignitaries, the opportunities must be frequent
for observing the inconsiderate dominion of the clergy, and the
abject and indolent submission of the laity. Accordingly Professor
Weishaupt says, in his Apology for Illuminatism, that Deism,
Infidelity, and Atheism are more prevalent in Bavaria than in any
country he was acquainted with. Discourses, therefore, in which
the absurdity and horrors of superstition and spiritual tyranny
were strongly painted, could not fail of making a deep impression.
And during this state of the minds of the auditory the transition
to general infidelity and irreligion is so easy, and so inviting
to sanguine youth, prompted perhaps by a latent wish that the
restraints which religion imposes on the expectants of a future
state might be found, on enquiry, to be nothing but groundless
terrors, that I imagine it requires the most anxious care of the
public teacher to keep the minds of his audience impressed with
the reality and importance of the great truths of religion, while
he frees them from the shackles of blind and absurd superstition.
I fear that this celebrated instructor had none of this anxiety,
but was satisfied with his great success in the last part of this
task, the emancipation of his young hearers from the terrors of
superstition. I suppose also that this was the more agreeable to
him, as it procured him the triumph over the Jesuits, with whom he
had long struggled for the direction of the university.
This was in 1777. Weishaupt had long been scheming the establishment
of an Association or Order, which, in time, should govern the
world. In his first fervour and high expectations, he hinted to
several Ex-Jesuits the probability of their recovering, under a new
name, the influence which they formerly possessed, and of being
again of great service to society, by directing the education of
youth of distinction, now emancipated from all civil and religious
prejudices. He prevailed on some to join him, but they all
retracted but two. After this disappointment Weishaupt became the
implacable enemy of the Jesuits; and his sanguine temper made him
frequently lay himself open to their piercing eye, and drew on him
their keenest resentment, and at last made him the victim of their
enmity.
The Lodge Theodore was the place where the above-mentioned doctrines
were most zealously propagated. But Weishaupt's emissaries had
already procured the adherence of many other Lodges; and the
Eclectic Masonry had been brought into vogue chiefly by their
exertions at the Willemsbad convention. The Lodge Theodore was
perhaps less guarded in its proceedings, for it became remarkable
for the very bold sentiments in politics and religion which were
frequently uttered in their harangues; and its members were noted
for their zeal in making proselytes. Many bitter pasquinades,
satires, and other offensive pamphlets were in secret circulation,
and even larger works of very dangerous tendency, and several of
them were traced to that Lodge. The Elector often expressed his
disapprobation of such proceedings, and sent them kind messages,
desiring them to be careful not to disturb the peace of the country,
and particularly to recollect the solemn declaration made to every
entrant into the Fraternity of Free Masons, "That no subject of
religion or politics shall ever be touched on in the Lodge;" a
declaration which alone could have procured his permission of any
secret assembly whatever, and on the sincerity and honour of which
he had reckoned when he gave his sanction to their establishment.
But repeated accounts of the same kind increased the alarms, and the
Elector ordered a judicial enquiry into the proceedings of the Lodge
Theodore.
It was then discovered that this and several associated Lodges were
the nursery or preparation school for another Order of Masons,
who called themselves the ILLUMINATED, and that the express aim
of this Order was to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil
government. But the result of the enquiry was very imperfect and
unsatisfactory. No illuminati were to be found. They were unknown
in the Lodge. Some of the members occasionally heard of certain
candidates for illumination called MINERVALS, who were sometimes
seen among them. But whether these had been admitted, or who
received them, was known only to themselves. Some of these were
examined in private by the Elector himself. They said that they
were bound by honour to secrecy: But they assured the Elector, on
their honour, that the aim of the Order was in the highest degree
praise-worthy, and useful both to church and state. But this could
not allay the anxiety of the profane public; and it was repeatedly
stated to the Elector, that members of the Lodge Theodore had
unguardedly spoken of this Order as one that in time must rule the
world. He therefore issued an order forbidding, during his pleasure,
all secret assemblies, and shutting up the Mason Lodges. It was not
meant to be rigorously enforced, but was intended as a trial of
the deference of these Associations for civil authority. The Lodge
Theodore distinguished itself by pointed opposition, continuing
its meetings; and the members, out of doors, openly reprobated the
prohibition as an absurd and unjustifiable tyranny.