Secte Illumines

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Jean-Pierre-Louis de Luchet
Marquis of Luchet
Essay on the sect

of the Illuminated
Paris
1789
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ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED
WARNING
Whether in German or in French, much has been written for some time about
Prussia and against Prussia. The new Government was judged with extreme severity. In
all these works, it is a question of the Illuminated Ones. It is to this dark Sect that we
relate almost all the evils which desolate the heritage of the immortal Frederick. Under
such circumstances, it seemed appropriate to appease the curiosity of the Public, and
to give this Essay, which the Truth will confess. The pictures are frightening, the
principles are perverse, the consequences are terrible, and that is why we wrote. If it is
dangerous to speak, it would be treacherous to remain silent.
Although Germany is the home of these fatal errors, although they enjoy high
protection there; they are not entirely foreign to other Nations.
France is not entirely pure; and if in the crisis which torments us, the Martinists do not
dare, or perhaps cannot make themselves heard, they will reappear with more danger
when calm has returned.
O my fellow citizens! trust that we are not spreading false alarms. We have written
with great courage, and we are far from having said everything; Why ? it is that among
men the naked truth is the most violent of satires.
The astonishing scene recounted in the ninth chapter, the incredible mysteries revealed
in the notes, are vast subjects for meditation. There are, however, impostures hatched
with more skill; but we cannot yet reveal them without indicating the location of the
scene, and from then on it is subject to ridicule by men whom the Social Order has an
interest in ensuring respect.
4
INTRODUCTION
When I wrote this work, I did not flatter myself that I was believed, and consequently
I did not flatter myself that I would convince. When one comes to reveal such
extraordinary things, one must resign oneself, and expect to be seen as a Declaimer.
As soon as a Writer is declared such, we dispense with examining his Work. But if the
force of the subject had alone exalted the imagination, if the knowledge of evil had
embittered the judgment, if the noble desire to save humans had armed the eloquence
with those thundering traits which overwhelm error, if we had only come out of his
character when pressed by the imminence of danger, every impartial reader should at
least obey this salutary fear, which disturbs a perfidious security, and judge for himself
whether the misfortunes foreseen are chimerical, or whether the prudence commands
us to take care of it.
Honest people are alarmed, lukewarm people doubt, the guilty deny, the wise
examine, and it is them that I invoke today, and whose zeal I would like to spur.
We would be quite inclined to hate this mystical machination; but we do not yet
believe in its existence. We must be able to articulate the facts, be able to verify them,
name the agents, accuse the impostors, produce the witnesses, publish the writings,
begin a proper trial, follow up on information. All this would be possible if the Coriphees
of the Sect did not stifle the first voice that is raised in the countries where the Sovereign
is the Pope of this new Church.
I do not know by what enchantment the Princes, usually torn between pleasures
and the thirst for a brilliant name, were the first to adopt a confederation where they can
only lose. There are thirty of them in Europe, reigning or non-reigning, so imbued with
these absurdities that they are unapproachable to the most tolerant reason. If we want
to deal with them, and proceed with the simplest logic, they begin by defying each other
and end up
5
by moving away. We see some who would be the scum of humanity, if they did not carry
around a respected name, becoming preachers and spreading the dogma of the
Illuminated in insipid chatter. Others, constitute themselves Fanatic Protectors of a
Religion that they do not understand, opening their lands, which they call States, to all
the Adventurers that the Sect disperses to achieve its ends.
Most welcome with fanatical eagerness anything that bears the livery of the Swedenborgs
or the Schrœpffers.
In France, the Court is foreign to the elements of Theosophy. The rapid movement
which agitates minds does not give any religious system time to develop. The Literary
Bodies don't care; the laborious Bourgeoisie, and fortunately little educated, is still
inaccessible to this type of seduction. But there is a host of small anti-philosophical
parties, made up of Learned Women, Theologian Abbots, and a few So-called Wise
Men. Each party has its belief, its prodigies, its Hierophant, its Missionaries, its Adepts,
its Detractors. Thus Paris, the center of all charlataneries as well as all enlightenment,
offers Visionaries of all kinds. Everyone tends to explain the Bible in favor of their
system, to found their Religion, to fill their temple, to multiply their catechumens. Here
Jesus Christ plays a big role; there it is the Devil; elsewhere it is Nature; further it is
Faith. Everywhere reason is null, science useless, experience a chimera.
Barbarin sleepwalking, Cagliostro heals, Lavater consoles, Saint-Martin instructs, d'E

****1.... res sacra miser. All employ error to achieve a useful reputation; and if we except
Lavater, who, through a mixture of wit and good nature, makes fools in good faith,
visions are in the hands of others a spring whose movements they combine with skill.
In Germany, the Courts give impetus to all minds. They are more solid than refined,
so we convince them with lies put into syllogisms. As soon as we have turned their
natural good nature towards their idol, which they call philanthropy, there is little wrong
that cannot be done to them.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
1
He then suffered the horrors of exile on the Sainte-Marguerite Islands.
6
adopt. The little Princes, who have a mania for being praised, and whose names would
easily be forgotten in the great interests which continually agitate Europe, indulge in the
sweet incense with which the Priests of the Illuminated, lavish with praise, intoxicate
them. to the point of satiation in books that no one finishes, but that many people start.
Women also throw themselves into this mysticism, and thereby imagine resurrecting the
golden days of their innocence; the class of Courtiers embraces the new Sect, because
between the Protectors and the Adepts, there is a trade in pensions, presents, titles,
directed against initiations, revealed mysteries, consoling predictions; this results in
great loyalty to remunerative dogmas.
In Poland and Russia they make Proselytes; in Russia especially, where Religion
lends itself to mystical systems and to everything related to enthusiasm. There are great
Personages who apostolize; and although the Empress rejects everything that has to do
with the weaknesses of the human spirit, there are Theosophists, even under her eyes,
who avoid or defy them.
May his Successor inherit the same Philosophy! May this vast country know no other
slavery than that to which its first masters condemned it!
Would we believe that England, this country we think, is not completely free from
these shameful beliefs? It is not a complete system, like Germany, but there are types
of brotherhoods where we dogmatize, where we support, with secrets, the zeal of the
Initiates. Progress is only slower than elsewhere because the English travel a lot; and
although the majority travel very poorly, they nevertheless learn to know the mass of
men, and at least realize that everywhere it is the vilest and most contemptible species
who devote themselves to the profession of deceiving and brutalizing. the human
condition.
We hesitated for a long time to publish this writing. It is sounding the alarm, it will
be said, it is giving even more substance to a nascent Sect, which contains a hundred
times more Dupes than Imposters. Until now these great bodies, depositaries of science,
have not embraced these new dogmas; And
7
were there only one righteous person, we must give pardon, in his favor, to so many
men whose whole crime is not having received from nature this happy and rare insight
which provides shelter of seduction.
Far be it from us from such principles. It is pusillanimity that takes on the mask of
pity. What ! we should be silent, because people will cry slander, libel, malice? Slander !
But there are men who cannot be slandered. The darkness of their projects is a mephitic
abyss, into which the vulgar of mortals are not capable of descending, and which would
still be unknown without the perfidious exhalations which spread far and wide for the
misfortune of the world... A libel! Yes, without doubt, this Work, where we will talk about
them, will be one; because we will only have vices to present, only crimes to reveal,
only hypocrisy to depict. Wickedness! Who is most guilty? The one who coldly lets his
fellow citizens be slaughtered, or the one who places sentries on the road to the
precipice? It is indeed a question of consideration, of consideration, of politeness, with
men of iron, who, dagger in hand, mark their victims.
Follow, follow these cowardly principles; you, whose job it is to adulate Kings, to
excuse their mistakes, to exalt the slightest impulses of beneficence, and to deify some
doubtful qualities. Buy at this price, I do not even say the honors, vain as they are, but a
little gold, worthy present of your soul, and do not come and tell us about your love for
the truth, of your philanthropy, of your engagements with virtue; regain your insolent
esteem
for these Daughters of Heaven, and reserve it for the Gods of your Sect.
When such speeches are made to them, they cannot respond; even less to refute.
So they persecute and substitute the tyrannical use of authority, of which they are the
custodians, for the use of reasoning which would serve them badly. To escape the
odious reputation attached to the Persecutors, they divert the course of graces, of justice
itself; because using modest talent is a debt that one pays. They divert, I say; the course
of graces of their Adversaries, and leaves them to vegetate in this humiliating oblivion,
which is equivalent to a persecution, the only one perhaps which torments genius.
Despised,
8
he will seek out less unjust climates; or if he remains inflexibly attached to his home, it
is to fight, and to display the standard of reason.
Then Parties are formed, quarrels arise, defense plans are combined, discontent
becomes general; ambitious neighbors take advantage of it, wars break out, Visionary
Generals are placed at the head of a neglected army, more worried about the money
that will destroy it, than eager to defend a country that has become foreign to it. We put
in the first places men without nerves, without genius, or a few capable men, but who
we take great care to subjugate and subordinate to mediocrity in favor. Thought is
destroyed by inquisitorial surveillance; we chain the presses, which retain all kinds of
truths, or afflict the fugitive Religion and forced to yield its pulpits and its altars to
fantastic Gods; we make high schools vast solitudes, since there, where all careers are
filled by Illuminated Ones, it is the Lodges, and not the Universities that one must attend.
It is therefore not the odious pleasure of backbiting, although it was sweet to avenge
honesty, which put the pen in our hand. Hope, weak it is true, yes, the hope of removing
a few virtuous men from the fascination of the Illuminated, supported me in this career.
For several years, I have presented myself in the arena in various forms. Sometimes
shrouded in the veil of fiction, sometimes in the closed field of an Academy, more often
in in-depth discussions, I have revealed strange secrets. Today I come to consider the
matter from more important points of view, and to present a series of ideas which, by
degrees, lead to conviction.
Seeking the source of evil in the fatal inclination that all men have towards the
marvelous, a quick glance over the centuries of our Era shows that all have incredible
errors to be ashamed of; In no time have they let the earth breathe, they have risen
again, but have never disappeared.
The man smiles at them, and seems to escape into their bosom from the austere
lessons of the truth. A few privileged countries naturalize them, and abandon themselves
to their lying influence, all welcome it at least, if they do not give themselves up.
9
How warmly did Europe defend the Jesuits, who lent so many resources to the
Theosophical system. They existed under the diadem and under the tiara, under the
helmet and under the mitre, under the mortar as under the doctoral cap. The same
fanaticism that preserved them has resurrected the languishing Order of Freemasons
for thirty years, easily keeping a secret that no one was eager to know.
The philosophical examination of the regime of the Freemasons led us to the even
more thoughtful examination of the Sect of the Illuminated. Was it not essential to
separate vulgar or hasty ideas from those that must be formed from a dark association,
the mysteries of which are carefully hidden from any profane eye?
It was necessary to travel through these famous Circles, the true secret of the
Order, the great instrument of deceit, these laboratories of iniquity, where irons are
forged for Kings, and where poison is distilled for the humans; then recount these terrible
trials which precede the oaths, of which even the scoundrels perhaps do not have the
formula, and would at least not dare to adopt it as the link of their plots, oaths which
realize the bloody fable of Atreus, and would cover the face of the earth with a nation of
assassins:
If these alarms are exaggerated, it is true that we can and must believe that the
Sect of the Illuminated will necessarily destroy the Kingdom where it will be protected,
and will not even respect society. This double truth is as clearly proven as that which
follows it; that is to say, the Kings themselves are most interested in cutting off the base
of this poisonous tree, whose roots touch the underworld, and whose head shades their
throne.
After the sad spectacle on which our eyes rested too long, we sought some sweet
illusion in the means of erasing these fatal impressions, and weighed on what was
thought of them in the ages which preceded ours. This idea alone, developed by a more
skillful pen, would leave in the mind a deep and very unfavorable reflection on the
Sectarians, a reflection which must be strengthened by the faithful portrait of their
Founder, and an impartial glance
10
on the situation in which Nations are known to be protectors of fashionable errors.
This last part of the Work ends with the offer of some means likely to weaken their
credit. We have rejected the Historical Notes at the end. There are pieces translated
from German, entirely unknown in France and Italy. Most of the others never appeared.
There could have been many more of them. We have said enough for anyone seeking
education.
We cannot hide from the fact that almost all our ideas are directed against Germany,
and our portraits are based on the original. Doesn't this itself prove how necessary this
Book is? If there are such men as we have painted them, imminent danger threatens
us. If we have only offered imaginary Beings, these leaves will soon fly over the surface
of the river of Forgetfulness, and will not excite even that momentary curiosity, which is
still far from success.
But the same act of sincerity which reveals our intentions to the Public, will also
guarantee our way of thinking about a considerable number of excellent Spirits, always
animated, like us, by a holy horror against Visionaries.
Yes, Germany contains in almost all the Orders of the Society honest hearts, which
groan over the projects of these mystical Innovators. They are astonished that a country,
whose national character is based on frankness, can be distorted to the point of opening
itself to Apostles whose main driving force is imposture. They lament that a People,
whose cherished idol is Reason, follows a few Fools, who profess madness and teach
chimeras. They use the two resources that Heaven has placed in the hands of the Sage,
contempt and retirement. They urge, they animate those who enter the arena.
They feel, like us, that the effective remedy would perhaps be one of those great
convulsions which arise from the chain of events, without it being in the power of Kings
to avoid them. Drawn into one of those bloody quarrels which
11
agitate the whole of Europe, a nation no longer invokes spirits; skill and experience then
become the Tutelary Deities of the world; the precepts are regenerated, courage exerts
its empire, everyone takes their place, the
Usurpers of fame are unmasked, strong souls seize a country, and before it we see men
flee and disappear that the strong had destined
In the obscure honors of some legion,

to grow old or in the menial work of some chancelleries. What a destiny! By what
incredible fatality are we reduced to asking Heaven what is the final effect of its anger,
to what excess our misfortunes have risen, if all our hope is in the most terrible of
scourges. Nothing is more true however. It would be temporary, and would perhaps free
the world from a cruel error which will survive several lukewarm periods.
As for France, we can hope that in this mobility of principles, which rarely allows
objects to take deep roots, its Theaters, its Vaudevilles, and its Fashions will come to its
aid. Occupied with frequent fermentations, Theosophism will hardly become a complete
Religion. It is in itself too sad, too insignificant, to act on a People which still retains
some such cheerfulness, and which has resisted the sad quarrels of Jansenism, the
parliamentary discussions, the long diatribes of the Economists, the mania for thinking ,
presents of modern Philosophy.
Moreover, this Philosophy does not cast as shaky a light as some of its Detractors would
like. Few months pass without her successfully reproducing her eternal truths. It would
not be difficult to prove that she has lost only the enthusiasm, the bitter sarcasm, the
despotic tone, and that she has strengthened her evidence and increased her clarity.
It remains to be examined to what extent it is permissible to explain the Great Ones,

and those they make Depositaries of the Administration. Almost everywhere they are
like the ark of the Lord. When we touch them, we are struck in our freedom. It seems to
me, however, that a wise warning is a
12
duty rather than license, homage rather than insult: To offer the truth to a man is to
suppose that he loves it; not daring to make him aware of the error is to act as if he were
complicit in it. Not only is it not a crime to write with courageous freedom, but it would
be one to paralyze energetic pens. They weaken the vapors of this incense which
intoxicates power and credit; they rescue one from numbness, the other from dissipation;
they plead the cause of the People, of virtue, of wisdom; three things which rarely
approach the Courts, and which are treated there like unwelcome strangers. If revenge
soaks these feathers in the gall of satire, if personal interest degrades them, they then
become powerless weapons, but rarely dangerous; because insult only dishonors the
one who uses it.
Ah! what is there no way to correct men's mania for praising!

A Prince sends ten thousand men to the butchery, he is praised; he overwhelms his
Subjects with poorly organized taxes, we celebrate the day which gave him the Throne;
he makes a useless and expensive journey, on his return he passes under triumphal
arches; boredom periodically takes him to his states, the crowd gathers to lavish him
with tributes that he does not deserve. The Idol, accustomed to this perfidious concert
of praise, becomes irritated by the voice of the Sage who instructs him, and is only
calmed by the flattering fools who distract him from the dark ideas that the austere truth
leaves behind.
O Holy Truth! despite this cold welcome, do not move away from the Throne of
Kings! Protect them, despite their sensitivity, against the illusions that lull them.
Give us back the courage that annoys persecution; imprint your divine character on our
Writings, and force man to recognize your empire. All others disappear under the scythe
of time, yours alone is strengthened by its trembling
hands.
13
FIRST CHAPTER
On the inclination of men to extraordinary things
That which suspends the course of our ordinary observations, that which disturbs
the empire of habit, very easily takes possession of our mind. If the prodigies that are
announced to us take their source from religious opinions, or if they promise us some
light on this future, the confident object of our fears and our hopes, they misuse our
reason and almost destroy its exercise, at least they suspend them. Our knowledge,
apparently quite profound, our so-called progress in the art of thinking, disappears
before the first theosophical system. Christian pulpits resound with the deviations of
unbelief, and never has the imagination obeyed with such blind ease any kind of impulse,
provided that the first mover is hidden behind the occult sciences.
Would one have foreseen that the dishonored end of this century would still witness
the shameful fruits of credulity; that the torch of philosophy would fade before the torches
of fanaticism; that the homeland of the Fontenelles; of the
Montesquieu, Voltaires, Diderots, Helvétiuses, d'Alemberts, would welcome a S*****, a
W****, a Cagliostro, a Lavater,2 a d'**** , and
2
Mr. W**** is known as an honest man, devoured by the zeal of the house of the God of the Illuminated. He attended,
four years ago, the conventicle of Wilemsbad, the result of which was a book that no one read...... Cagliostro lost his
credit, as soon as his trials made him known. If he knew how to perform wonders, he had a great opportunity to show
his talent. But this famous trial only served to reveal turpitude. Having become free again, London did not espouse the
cause of the Juggler; and peaceful Suffe today buries the miracles and the miracle worker.
Lavater defended with clumsiness, attacked with determination, followed with enthusiasm, is a great man in Zurich. He
himself does not know the evil he is doing; but he does all the evil of which he is accused. Mr. d'**** brought to the bar
the enthusiasm that had made him. Although he deserved his misfortune, we must pity him. Among those who excite
pity, there are few who did not begin by deserving blame.
14
twenty other Theosophists, whose names should have the strength of their talents, that
is to say remain forever unknown.
Would it have been foreseen that Germany, barely emerging from the darkness in
which it was plunged for a long time, would give credence to the reveries of imbeciles,
or the plan of impostors, would allow confabulations to peacefully assemble, where error
and imposture form a body of doctrine, and that Prussia especially, widow of the great
Frederick, would become the cradle of idiotism for some, and the center of seduction for
others.
Would we have foreseen that at the moment when politics called all the German
Princes under the standard of freedom, and to leave this profound obscurity, to which
the smallness of their States condemns them, they would seek I don't know what ghost?
of glory in the protection of a dark Sect, which, for a happiness, at least doubtful, gives
certain ridicule.
Yes, undoubtedly, we should have predicted this by looking back at past centuries.
But we are content to know in general that error has always reigned on earth, and that
precisely in its greatest successes, it has always taken the most obscure forms, and has
constantly reproduced itself under the ideas the weirdest. I will not place before the
Reader's eyes the frightening catalog of his principal delusions; it is enough to see that
since the Christian era, there has not been a century that has not seen the birth of an
erroneous opinion.
Barely had Christ cemented his doctrine with his blood when a man named
Menander announced “that a multitude of geniuses issuing from the Supreme Being had
formed the world and men. The creative Angels, through impotence or malice, locked
the human soul in organs where it experienced a continual alternation of good and evil,
which ended in death... Menander claimed that he was sent by the beneficent Genies,
to learn the means of triumphing over the creative Angels. This secret consisted of a
magical bath, which was called the true resurrection. »
This doctrine lasted more than one hundred and fifty years, and has just reappeared
in Paris under the name of Good and Bad Spirits.
15
In the second century Judas, the traitor Judas, found worshipers who began by
worshiping Cain. “They urged men to destroy the works of God, and to commit all kinds
of infamy, convinced that the most criminal actions led to salvation. »
The Helcesaites spread in Palestine itself that Christ was only a celestial virtue,
who, from the beginning of the world, had appeared from time to time under various
bodies. The disciples of Maricon fasted on Saturdays out of aversion to the Creator,
proscribed marriage, and pushed hatred of the flesh to the point of suicide; can we not
thus name the ferocity of violating the palm of martyrdom? ?
The third century shows us the Valesians, who made nature shudder, and one of
whose rites was this shameful mutilation, of which Origen gave the barbaric example
(Note I) , A Banker puts Melchizedek above Jesus Christ, denies the Divinity of it and
finds Followers while at the same time Paul of Samosata makes the title of son of God
a reward, and not a divine essence.
The Circumcellions decide to give freedom to the Slaves in the
fourth century; they relieved the Debtors of their commitments, all because they were
the Heads of the Saints, and in this capacity threatened the Creditors with death; while
at the same time Pothin, Bishop of Sitmisch, denied the divinity of the Redeemer, and
the Priscillianists in Spain held assemblies of prostitution at night, where naked men and
women prayed and had as maxims to perjure themselves rather than to violate the
secrecy of these mysteries of debauchery.
It was in the fifth that Palogi, an English monk, maintained that man can rise to
such a degree of perfection as he did not then; more susceptible to passion, nor subject
to the slightest sin. Convenient and cherished error, renewed today under other names.
It was in the sixth that the Isocrists sought to degrade the miracles of the Apostles,
and that Gaien, Bishop of Alexandria, maintained that Jesus Christ had a body which
was not one.
16
In the next age, the Eicetes begin to dance and sin, saying that
it was the great way to praise God.
The eighth was only occupied with retaining human credulity, which transferred to
images the worship due to the Divinity alone. And five councils strove in vain to enlighten
the superstitious piety of the faithful.
The Bulgarians appeared in the ninth century to proscribe the Old Testament, and
to announce that hell was the worthy reward of any husband who gave children to the
country. For his part, the Benedictine Gotescale preached that God requires all men to
save themselves or to be lost; and publicly whipped before Charles the Bald, he offered
as proof of his doctrine to pass four times through barrels full of boiling pitch.
An Italian woman begins to dogmatize in Secret in the vicinity of Orléans; his

doctrine penetrates and seduces even priests, who, for their century, were not without
reputation. They become the echoes of this lady, and support her errors in a council
against Bishops, who, instead of converting them, wanted to convince them. They
persisted, and as a final response they were condemned to fire.
Archdeacon Berenger, who lived in 1050, persuaded many prelates that the bread
and wine, after the consecration, were not the body and blood born of the Virgin, and
which had been attached to the cross; but that the word was united with the bread.
These incredible questions were close to arming Henry I, King of France, against the
Followers of Berenger, when various councils substituted the thunderbolts of the Church
for the spears and crossbows of the brave and unfortunate Henry.
At the end of the twelfth century, fanatics abjured the society, and as a signal took
a white hood, at the end of which hung a small lead blade.
Based on acts of madness and cruelty, they believed they had the right to seize
everything they needed. Cartouche had made the same plan as these schismatics of
civil life, who were called Caputies. Pope Innocent III anathematized, at that time, the
Orbibarians, infinitely more guilty, since they only denied the last judgment.
17
Around the middle of the thirteenth, the men began to whip each other. A Dominican
monk believes he can disarm the arm of God through discipline, and we saw priests,
going from town to town, bare shoulders and whip in hand, castigating each other from
pause to pause. Those who did not indulge in these manias followed Amaury of
Chartres, who said that the first matter was God, and that men were the members of
Jesus Christ; the sect of the Albigensians grew, authors of the tales of Lucifer banished
from heaven and producing the visible world.
After them the Beguards came to Germany to teach mortals that fornication was
not a sin, but that it was a very serious one to simply kiss a woman; and Dulcin gave
himself as the successor of Jesus Christ, under the name of Head of the third reign.
Perhaps we should be more lenient for the English Wiclef, who articulated that external
confession is useless to a man.... that we do not find in the gospel that Jesus ordered
the mass.. .. that it is contrary to Holy Scripture for Ecclesiastics to have temporal goods.
This is perhaps what gave rise to the heretical opinionists of the fifteenth century,
who refused to recognize the Pope, because he did not practice poverty.
Jean Hus went further, and claimed that Saint Peter had never been Head of the
Church of Rome, and expiated, in the fire, an assertion that since then Mr. Fréret has
not left problematic. The sixteenth also saw the inquisition light its flames in Cordoba
against the Illuminated, disciples of Villelpando, from the island of Teneriffe, and of a
Carmelite, called Catherine of Jesus. They declared themselves to be in such a perfect
state that they could not sin, even by committing the most infamous actions.
The Anointed, more adroit, argued that one could not commit other sins
than not to embrace their doctrine.
A Jesuit came in the following period to support the efforts of the Carmelite, and to
say that one could indulge in any kind of pleasure, provided that the upper part remained
attached to God through prayer of tranquility. The madness of
18
Jansenism, and austerities, are too present in our minds for it to be necessary to retrace
them.
Finally, the age in which we live has seen the Héernhutes, among whom Jesus is
the husband of all the sisters, and their husbands are, strictly speaking, his attorneys.
Daughters devote themselves to the Savior, not to never marry, but to only marry the
one whom God has made known to be regenerated, instructed in the importance of the
marital state, etc. etc. etc.
We have omitted the Sectarians, who admitted women to the priesthood, and
attributed all knowledge to Eve, because she had eaten of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.... The Anti-Asists, who considered work as a crime.... The
Free, who had wives in common, and preferred marriages contracted between brothers
and sisters.3
Such is the history of the human mind in relation to religious ideas. The promoters
of these ideas are forgotten, or, what is more cruel, are only cited for being devoted to
the contempt of nations. By what incredible blindness do we lavish our respect and our
trust on their heirs, some of whom only renew their old extravagances, and others of
whom only know how to poison them? So what is our science? What good are our
Universities, our Libraries, our Academies, our progress in Philosophy, our travels, if we
resurrect the same errors which in previous centuries earned posterity the just
stigmatization?
Such were the men, such they are. An invincible inclination leads them towards the
absurd, towards the marvelous. The simple finds them cold, reason bores them, the
good disgusts them, the true tires them, and peace makes them drowsy, the bizarre
excites them, madness amuses them, the bad tempts them, the false sharpens them,
disturbs them. gives new strength. It is in great quarrels that minds are displayed, it is in
civil wars that the energy of character develops; it is above all the marvelous which
attracts the multitude to all
3
This series of quotations will perhaps seem a little long to some readers; but it seems to us that this picture of human errors is not without interest.
19
excess of credulity: and when certain errors have taken hold of general opinion, they no
longer abandon it. We still believe that the elephant has no joints, that the ostrich digests
iron, that there is a climacteric year, and a hundred other absurd ideas which will survive
for a long time in the light of those who have shown us the falsity.
In several countries, however, profane enlightenment is eagerly welcomed; but

even there there remains in the majority of men a disposition always ready to grasp a
new religious system, and any man born with eloquence, external gifts and sensitivity to
pleasures, is almost certain to form a sect, if he had the courage to spend the first ten
years of his apostolate in obscurity, from which he must only emerge through prestige,
or at the voice of public curiosity.
Having considered the state and inclinations of the human mind, let us examine the
present disposition of the different nations of Europe.
20
CHAPTER II
Moral provisions of European Nations
When we consider the newly established establishments in Russia, in Spain, in

Naples, when we read the works which come out of the English and French presses,
when we review this number of famous names which dominate above their
contemporaries, we are led to believe that there has been a general revolution in thought
and that the men of today have left those who preceded them far behind them. But when
we want to assure ourselves of the truth of this observation, to become a surety for its
readers, we are quite surprised to see that the Great and the people are strangers to
these institutions, and that in the class intermediate, the daily needs of society occupy
such a large portion of humans that they do not have a quarter of an hour left in the day
to take care of what leads to the rectification of ideas. This is why reason does not know
how to defend itself from the yoke imposed on it by novelties, when they alarm it: about
the future, or when they invite it to discoveries whose fruit is an unknown enjoyment.
It is enough in the course of the human spirit to pass from one extremity to the
other. For about seventy years there has been a way of learning which leads to the
truth, if it is within the power of man to grasp it. This way consists of going back through
analogy, from the knowledge of objects subject to our senses, to those which escape
them; to establish the degree of certainty that we owe to this knowledge, and to begin
with distressing skepticism, to arrive at the small number of principles established on
facts, principles which become the laws of our reason.
This way of proceeding banished gross errors and revealed the deceitfulness which
powerful interests used as springs to guide men. Those who used it did not confine
themselves within just limits, and only left the darkness of superstition to throw
themselves into the
21
wave of disbelief. They provided weapons to their adversaries, and fought them only
with the superiority of light over ignorance. These, defeated, ceded the empire of opinion
to Philosophy, and were content to warn the crowd of the despotic haughtiness with
which they were treated. We hated these new Preceptors of the human race. There
were then found Doctors who were humble in their doctrine admitting that they were
nothing in themselves, and that they should only be considered as vessels into which
God deigned to pour his revelations. This adroit modesty consoled the spirits, hitherto
despised; and we lent a willing ear to men whom we believed we could equal, and who
lulled us with the enchanting hope of knowing the future.
In France, where everything depends on fashion, where each event, where each
opinion, where each novelty is sure to obtain a moment of enthusiasm in turn, we cannot
say that the visionary system has replaced the Philosophy; there still exist too many
good minds, guardians of good principles: but we cannot deny however that this ridicule
respects emerging associations, and that many people begin to doubt, which
presupposes half-belief. This multitude of books on religion, written by people who we
know do not believe in the dominant one; these harmonic societies, this adoption of a
magnetic system, whose success is due to union with God, as if weak creatures could
allow themselves to believe that they are the intermediaries between God and the
creatures. This number of spiritual doctors, who substitute prayers for rhubarb, and holy
water for bloodletting, are novelties that are not sufficiently proscribed. Respectable
bodies keep in their midst men whose common sense we must at least suspect, if we
do not accuse their sincerity. Houses are only opened to supporters of a certain doctrine.
Even among those who do not profess to believe in new dogmas, there is a certain
distance from everything that relates to the progress of reason. Isn't what has just
passed on the occasion of the Edict which restores non-Catholics to society a proof of
this? For fifty years we have wanted to erase this stain
22
memory of Louis XIV. We have formed the most ardent wishes to grant a tolerance
which is part of the rights of subjects; and when a beneficent King is about to grant so
many wishes, difficulties arise from all sides, he is forced to restrict his gifts, and no
sooner is this Edict promulgated than fanatical Prelates raise their voices against, and
record in imprudent writings, rebellious opinions and insulting expressions to the
Monarch, the law and its organs.
The Court, it is true, rejects these fanatical ideas, and we only draw our alarm from
the ease with which the most astonishing revolutions sometimes take place.
In Germany, the national character lends itself more to mystical ideas. Servitude
strikes all minds there; there are so many connections between freedom of thought and
civil liberty! Religious worship consists of sermons. In this crowd of Preachers, there are
some who, to distinguish themselves, preach an extraordinary doctrine. The result is a
mixture of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Reformed dogmas; which never gives clear
notions about these large objects.
In general, studious, diligent Germans find in their universities all possible resources
for instruction. But perhaps we do better what those who preceded us knew, than what
we should know for the present moment.
This idolatry of antiquity is only respectable as long as it serves us

d rule in our judgments about contemporary events.
The majority of studies are directed towards Theology; also half of this bulky pile,
taken twice a year to Leipzig; does it have this divine science as its object? What can
we say about such a hackneyed subject? Analyzes or interpretations; criticisms or so-
called discoveries; all of this leads to systems. From systems to errors, from errors to
sects, it is only one step. They become more dangerous among an obstinate people,
who believe themselves to be the exclusive repositories of reason, and who count the
gifts of the mind and eloquence for little; and the art of making conquests.
23
The multitude of Courts necessarily promotes ignorance. Everywhere they are the
haven of frivolity, intrigue, harassment, etc. : in Germany, they are that of idleness. We
are plotting for a key, as elsewhere for a government. We know everything we need to
know for these great functions, that is to say, nothing; and as the sect of the Illuminated
is the only one in the world where ignorance is a precious quality, it is not surprising that
people who are nothing, and cannot be differently; seize an opportunity to become
something. We can boldly trace this observation to higher ranks. Because finally, what
is valor isolated from all kinds of talents, or from the great qualities of the heart?
Given the multitude of religions accepted in Germany, a new belief does not cause
as much sensation as in France, where we only hear one dogma preached, where we
only see the same cult.
There are cities and countries where people are more occupied with useful sciences
than in others; but we could not cite one where the party of reason dominates with
empire. In Vienna itself, the scene of so many small revolutions, the occult sciences
have protectors in the first ranks of society; and if they hide a little better than in certain
cities, they are no less known to those who have some interest in following the progress
of these chimeras.
Poland also received the new principles, which at least the nobility obeys, and
passed them on to Russia, where they still reign over a small number of proselytes, the
Empress having highly proscribed these types of human imbecility. Without being
unknown in Sweden, they are poorly protected there. One of the main leaders wanted
to naturalize them in Denmark, but we wisely moved away from his politics and his
mysticism.
It seems that Italy has escaped such an illusion; and if Naples still retains a few
Adepts born of the blood of the Martyrs, we do not see their influence, either on the
administration, or on the sciences.
The Prophet of Zurich took Germany as the scene of his conquests, and felt that it
is neither in Berne, nor in Lausanne, nor in Geneva, that one must preach
24
his doctrine, of isto pane non vivit homo. Holland will not delay in making a treaty of
alliance with the Theosophical system; it is a country made for it. The Austrian
Netherlands will put up little resistance; but he will not cross the Pyrenees, Spain
wanting to govern itself by completely different principles, and finding itself convalescing
from the fever into which monasticism had thrown it.
From this overview, it is easy to conclude that Germany will be the theater of
Theosophism; from where it will spread in the North, and will make some excursions
into France. One of the most widely accepted opinions is that Jesuitism has been
resurrected. Important question and one for consideration.
25
CHAPTER III
Of Jesuitism, as the primary source of the theosophical system
What analogy is there between a learned Order, given over to secular studies, and
a sect professing ignorance and fleeing all kinds of enlightenment?
Between an ambitious Institute, which prided itself on flying from one pole to the other,
and filling the universe with its conquests; and an obscure regime that drags itself in the
darkness, blushes with its name as with its foundations? Between a Body defending the
Faith, and a confederation destructive of all religious principles? There are, however,
points of contract: the Jesuits, like the Illuminated, are forced to have secrets, as well as
the ambition to govern Kings, to invade the Universal Monarchy, and to maintain laws
opposed to general happiness . All have fanatical protectors and bitter enemies.
Let us take a look at this famous Order, the principles of which have been so often
analyzed, either in the Reports; made in a mass of works of all kinds which would form
a library.
The Jesuits, neither Religious nor Secular Priests, formed an association of men
whose commitments were indissoluble only by age; thirty-three years old: To ensure
the loyalty of its members; the Order itself educated them, and imbued them with the
maxims. This education made it possible to know the means of individuals; and if we
could repeat Voltaire's expression, we were breeding poets, astronomers, orators,
apostles, courtiers, professors, historians: all the diverse talents found their places:
While Father Parennin took advantage of Mathematics at the Court of Peking; Father
Lachaise played a big role at Versailles, and the fine spirits Bougeant and Porée entered
into the views of the Order, like the Missionaries of Maduré.
The basis of the Jesuit Institute was study.
26
We devoted the first fifteen years to it. Three were intended for religion, four for the
humanities, four for theology, four for philosophy; and these fifteen years had been
preceded by five spent in the Colleges run by the Jesuits themselves. Thus, a ten-year-
old child developed his memory, his intelligence, his gentleness or his bad temper in his
first classes. According to his successes, he was admitted to the order, where, after two
years of novitiate, employed in the study of religion and bending his nature to blind
obedience, he would, as Professor, start again his studies.
We see that unless one was born with a completely dull mind, one absolutely had to
become a capable man in some genre.
Not all jobs in the Order required the same level of education.
Those who were responsible for the administration of temporal goods, those who
governed houses, simple penitentiaries, had no need of science or genius.
Time was so distributed that in the whole day we only had an hour and a half to
ourselves, divided into two public conversations. One could talk there on all kinds of
subjects, except kings, political affairs, and theology.
The severity of morals never had to be alarmed by a free speech, and the
slanderous imputation of love; Socratic is not supported by facts that have become
public; nor by these shameful trials which reveal the most scandalous turpitudes.
It would be very difficult to define the religion of the Jesuits. The only time that
brought them together to pray was eight o'clock in the evening, when they recited the litanies.
Some people have believed that in no body were there so many Deists.
Spread across the entire globe, from the ends of Cochinchina to the forests of
Canada, they were governed by a single man, more despotically than by the most
absolute Monarch. Wealth was abundant enough that one was never in the situation of
knowing what needs existed in life. The most perfect equality made all kinds of ambition
fruitless. : Same accommodation, same clothing, same subsistence;
27
superior, inferior; youth ; old, all returned to the same obedience before the General,
residing in Rome. The esprit de corps has never shown its sway as among the Jesuits.
We were proud of our state; Monks were considered bad company, secular priests
ignorant. Those who had given themselves up entirely, devoted to the Order, were
considered solid friends; and the bonds of friendship were so loose between the
members of the Society of Jesus that it often happened to a Jesuit, living in the same
house, not to have spoken to another twice, in the course of a year. Were we sick?
Should we take water? Did we find ourselves having a father or mother in poverty? the
money was ready; and minds had been so accustomed to despising this vile metal that
it was never included among the enjoyments.
The Jesuitical spirit permeated the whole of Society: childhood in the Colleges,
middle age in the Congregations, old age through the Sacrament of Penance. They
filled the profane and holy pulpits equally; Academies and Libraries; the books of some
completed what the eloquence of others had outlined. They made Mandates for Bishops,
Indictments for Attorneys General, Speeches for Presidents, Extracts for Ministers; it
was a universal nursery, a kind of general factory where everything that came to mind
was manufactured.
Paris was the headquarters for France. The Provinces contributed to this by bringing in
the best minds. Same thing in Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland. The greatest political
mistake that Rome could make was the suppression of the Order, which alone could
support Rome. What distinguished him was zeal and the spirit of conquest; the two
great springs of all Religion.
It is neither schisms nor persecutions that will desolate Rome; but the carelessness and
the habit of taking Religion for a political resource, capable of being used successfully
by any wise Sovereign.
When it was said that the Jesuits meditated the conquest of the world, we were
perhaps quite right; but we have misunderstood their views. They did not aspire to
overthrow Thrones, to usurp Crowns; but they wanted to become
28
the Hierophants of all Religions, the first Teaching Body. No doubt that after a few
centuries, it would no longer have been the humble Religion of Jesus; but the one which
would have replaced it under the same name would have obtained from the People the
same respect as Christianity in the primitive fervor.
It is not surprising that an Order so rich in resources would have opened its way to
the cabinet of Kings, and would play a great role in the theater of the world; that he was
jealous, hated, proscribed; but also defended with fanaticism, and even saved from the
wrath of Rome while at least retaining the remains. This
This is not the moment to examine whether France in particular should ever give in to
the parliamentary impulse, destroy a Corps which will never be replaced, and whose
void will grow from generation to generation. But it is a question of examining what
advantage the Sect of the Illuminated was able to draw from Jesuitism.
First comes to mind this famous regime with which Cardinal Richelieu wanted to
govern the world; but is it applicable to such an amorphous Society? How can men
whose physics, reason and good faith would decompose the entire system in one day
be compared to those who had based their way of existing on all the sciences, on the
deepest wisdom, and on the the most real usefulness for all branches of Society. Some
used their laborious life to teach, to spread the seeds of knowledge: others use their
guilty maneuver to extinguish the torch of science, and thicken the atmosphere in which
their sad machinations are carried out. The Jesuits had renounced all dignity; they could
not become either Bishops or Cardinals; they could accept neither profits nor treasures.
The Illuminated devour everything, places, honors, fortune, government, and exclude
from graces anyone who is not in their system. The Jesuits announced to the Universe
the qualities, the glory of their Protectors; Louis XIV owes, in part, his high reputation to
them; It was with them that Boileau learned to compose his works, which he corrected
with them. The Illuminated hold their Leader in anticipated oblivion, and envelope
themselves in this darkness which accuses innocence and capacity.
29
However, there are also traits of resemblance. The two Orders want to dispose of
the will of the Sovereigns. Both have a Religion adapted to their views, both subject the
Candidates to numerous and long tests; both are scattered throughout the different
Orders of the Society; because there were Jesuits in military garb, as in the guise of a
President. Both have traveling Apostles, and therefore spies. If one has his terrible
oaths, the other had his austere vows. In both associations, we see secrets reserved for
experience or great ability.
It is apparent that the Illuminati found in the Jesuit regime a basis and something
to inspire a sort of confidence either in the Partisans of the order or in its enemies,
convinced that if it had been purified it was still a great Institution. But to what extent did
they abuse the ideas of Ignatius of Loyola? This is what time will teach us. The system
of the Illuminated is not to embrace the dogmas of a Sect, but to take advantage of all
the errors, and to concentrate in itself all the trickery and impostures that men have
invented, since They use thought to serve their interest, and the gifts of the spirit to fuel
their passions.
It is no less important to examine the influence of an Order older than that of the
Jesuits, and which, without having been sheltered from persecution, has nevertheless
never suffered from these disgraces which attack the existence: I want to talk about the
Order of Freemasons.
30
CHAPTER IV
Of Freemasonry, considered the most useful establishment for
Illuminated
This Institution, respectable by its antiquity and by its two primary bases, equality
and charity, has in turn received inscriptions and the most declared support; but always
the respect of the multitude, the indifference of the wise, and the tolerance of reasonable
Governments. Nothing can exist without forms. Presumably this secret so sought after,
and never betrayed, is nothing other than these forms which give substance to this
association, from which humanity has until our days reaped only benefits. I am talking
about English, French, non-eclectic, non-reformed Masonry, composed of men foreign
to Chemistry as well as to the occult Sciences, to the administration of States as well as
to the evocation of spirits, to mystical unions as to enchantments .
This Order provides the means of carrying out tests on men; an essential point for
a sect which can only use instruments perfected in the art of deceiving the vulgar. Not
all mortals are fit, even to carry vices to the highest degree.
Whatever the work of the Masons, they give rise to an association; this association
leads to assemblies; these assemblies are
filled with eloquent speeches; from religious eloquence to fanaticism there is not far;
these speeches excite the desire to know. Knowledge is attached to grades; ranks are
the price of zeal; zeal leads to commitments; commitments to oaths; oaths to everything.
These works are interspersed with celebrations and meal ceremonies. The man
seen in these moments of freedom often lets his thoughts escape. The observer, who
never loses sight of his object, grasps the nuances of character, through these different
impressions; and finding himself able to often repeat his
31
observations, they acquire a degree of truth which reassures against the danger of
confiding secrets.
An Order which does not recognize the distinctions without which society believed
it could not sustain itself, is of course imposing them on the multitude. The Greats find a
certain vanity in descending to the lowest classes, and the latter find a certain
satisfaction in treating the Princes and the Greats with complete familiarity. These
external signs, which must express tenderness, are in use among Masons more than in
any other brotherhood.
There is no point of rapprochement between the Masons and the Jesuits.
As much coldness among these as cordiality among others: never meals, familiarities,
embraces among some; always banquets, touching among the first. The Illuminated
take equal advantage of both; and if we resurrected the Initiates of antiquity and the
Templars of the twelfth century, they would maintain the four institutions and bend them
to their needs. If the Iamblichus, the Plotins, the Porphires, whom Mr. de Paw rightly
calls the three greatest visionaries who have existed, came back to preach their doctrine
among us, these same Illuminated Ones would welcome them and provide them with
the Sovereigns as protectors and their subjects as protectors. disciples.
The difference is that the visionaries of past centuries led to error and sometimes
sublime extravagances, and that those of ours lead to imbecility, to the degradation of
the human species.
I don't know who said that Freemasonry was just a child's game played by adults. It
is never permissible to joke about an institution whose results are in favor of humanity.
But whatever the mysterious practices of the Masons, they exist and that is all that
interests the Illuminated. Good or evil, true or false, just or unjust, none of that concerns
them. They would also take advantage of Cartouche's band and the Carthusian Order. I
am forced to repeat to the point of satiety that nothing like this has yet appeared on
earth; that a large number of those who make up the Order are not capable of grasping
the consequences of their guilty errors, and of weighing the force of the blow they bring
to humankind.
32
They persuaded the Princes that it would be difficult to govern people if they were
enlightened; that far from effectively protecting the sciences, it was necessary to
gradually bring back the times of barbarism, and plunge their nations back into darkness;
that ignorance was the natural state of man; that it was only with educated men that war
and conquests could be waged.
The Princes, strangers to the art of meditation, eager for power, embraced this perfidious
advice, and delivered their confidence, their sceptre, their glory, their country, their
people, to this ambitious sect, which began by stripping them of what they feared to
lose, Before going
further, it is a question of denouncing to the nations the misfortune which
threat.
33
CHAPTER V
What the Sect of the Illuminated is
Seduced peoples, or those who can be seduced, learn that there is a conspiracy in
favor of despotism against freedom, of incapacity against talent, of vice against virtue,
of ignorance against light! There has been formed in the heart of the thickest darkness,
a society of new beings who know each other without having seen each other, who
understand each other without having explained, who serve each other without friendship.
This society aims to govern the world, to appropriate the authority of Sovereigns, to
usurp their place by leaving them only the sterile honor of wearing the Crown. She
adopted the Jesuitical diet; the blind obedience and regicidal principles of the seventeenth
century; of Freemasonry, the tests and external ceremonies; of the Templars, the
underground evocations and the incredible audacity. It uses the discoveries of physics
to impose them on the poorly educated multitude; fashionable fables, to awaken curiosity
and inspire vocation; the opinions of antiquity, to familiarize men with the commerce of
intermediate spirits. Every kind of error that afflicts the earth, every experiment, every
invention serves the views of the Illuminated Ones.
Thus, the tubs of magnetism, the disorganization of sleepwalkers, the visions of the
weak, the outrageous devotion, the derangement of the mind, the metaphysical
obscurities of the picture of nature, the eclectic masonry, the strict observance, the
mysticity of the Doctor of Zurich, Catholicism adapted to the principles of the Reformed,
resuscitated Jesuitism, everything equally serves their views, everything becomes cause
and instrument; they reject nothing that the common man proscribes: and without
admitting it out of conviction, they allow it to exist as a means of multiplying opinions,
tests, the basis on which the new confederation rests. Its goal is universal domination.
To call Cooperators without imprudence, you must know them well. To know them, one
must have tried them in secrecy, in fanaticism, in
34
ambition, bold blows (see Notes V and VI), dangerous actions.

For this, the sessions of the rue Platrière, the conventicle of Willemsbad, the nocturnals
of Berlin, are also appropriate, since it is only a question of ensuring the courage of the
soul in those who are called to execution of the most dangerous projects. It is not
necessary for these numerous Assemblies, authorized by Governments, to even suspect
what the Illuminated Ones are meditating. Two of them are enough in a Lodge of four to
five hundred people to judge, appreciate and penetrate the moral character of those
whom the Sect intends to appropriate. The rest of the Lodge, who only hears about
ranks, meals, songs, ceremonies, works of charity, considers everything that is said to
be slanderous; and defends with a confidence that is both laughable and fanatical, those
she believes to be martyrs to iniquity or prevention.
The Illuminated also have the ability to shower honors on simple Masons, whose probity
is recognized. The Vulgar, and by this word it is not the People that I want to designate,
but the men who think little, the Vulgar, I say, confuses objects, and becomes a
guarantor of the probity of Orontes and Cleon . Hey! without doubt Orontes and Cleon
are true men, zealous citizens, burning friends; but themselves duped by their Leaders,
they are the first springs of a machination whose aim they are ignorant of, and more
skillful people show the world the probity of Orontes and Cleon, as a guarantee of the
purity of their mysteries. , and through it provide an imposing denial to anyone who
raises doubts about the innocence of these dark sessions.
There are therefore a certain number of beings who have reached the highest
degree of imposture. They conceived the project of reigning over opinions, and of
conquering not Kingdoms, not Provinces, but the human spirit. This project has
something insane and gigantic about it, which causes neither alarm nor worry; but when
we go down to details, when we compare what is happening before our eyes to hidden
principles, when we perceive a rapid revolution in favor of ignorance and incapacity, we
must seek the cause; and if we find that a revealed and known system explains all the
35
phenomena which follow one another with frightening rapidity, how can we not
believe ?
We understand, it will be said, perhaps that a few daring men conspire against their
Country, in the rash hope of bringing together power, fortune, even the Crown; but how
can we imagine several thousand conspirators? How will secrecy and harmony be
maintained in the midst of so many different interests? In the eyes of anyone who knows
men, does not such a union become chimerical, extraordinary, incredible, unique? Yes:
but not chimerical. Did I not announce that no such calamity had yet afflicted the earth?
Observe that the Members of the Mystical Confederation are quite numerous in
themselves; but not in relation to the men they must deceive. So far the proportion is
perhaps one to a thousand, and that is enough to plunge the earth back into darkness.
To fully understand this proportion, we must have a good idea of the strength of the
combined man. A thread cannot lift a pound of weight, a thousand threads remove the
anchor of a ship. The source of a river is almost always a useless stream; enlarged by
a quantity of others, it becomes a vast and deep channel which transports the largest
vessels on its waves, from where it delivers them to the sea. Thus man is a weak,
imperfect being; eloquent he approaches enthusiasm, skillful he fixes falsity, reasonable
he approaches timidity.
His cheerfulness borders on dissipation, his philosophy is carefree, his activity confusion.
But if several men combine these half-qualities together, they temper and strengthen
each other; eloquence becomes an irresistible persuasion, skill is consummate prudence,
reason is the rule of truth, order presides over everything, the weak yields to the
strongest. The most skilful extracts from each person what he can provide. Some watch
while others act; and this formidable ensemble arrives at the goal whatever it may be.
This is seen in the armies, in the Magistracy Corps, in the large Societies of
36
Trade. It was a Company of Merchants which conquered Bengal, and it was only to
preserve it that it needed troops.
It is according to this principle that the Sect of the Illuminated was formed. It is true
that we cannot name its Founders, nor circumstantiate the periods of its existence, nor
mark the gradations of its growth, because its essence is the secret; acts take place in
darkness, its High Priests, ashamed, are lost in the multitude. However, he has
discovered enough things to astonish and attract Observers, friends of humanity, in the
mysterious footsteps of the Sectarians. Some Defectors believed they had to atone for
the faults of their credulous youth, by revealing what inspired them with a salutary horror
in the age of a more practiced reason, and such is the path by which this fatal truth
which we deliver imperceptibly came to us in the eyes of mortals.
37
CHAPTER VI
Circles
The Circles are administrative committees of the Sect. There are as

many as are deemed necessary. They are distributed in different
Provinces, and each composed of nine people. Initiated into the same
secrets, known by the same tests, bound by the same oaths, imbued with
the same principles, corresponding with each other with hieroglyphs
unknown to the rest of the world; and despite this dark language, they do
not entrust their dispatches, Custodians of Plots, to the public service,
and use channels of communication as mysterious as their ciphers.
These Circles have anonymous travelers. They are usually men of a
simple exterior, a type of Men of Letters, affecting philanthropy. They will
spy on the secrets of Courts, Colleges, Tribunals, Chancellors, Consistory,
Families, and return to enrich the Circles with a mass of denunciations,
notes on the character of the People in power, on the weaknesses of the
Princes ; they reveal the occupations and faults of the Philosophers,
whom they call enemies; the cautious but inevitable murmurs of those
who constantly see themselves forgotten, the inappropriate jokes, no
doubt, but in no way seditious, from which no Government is safe; the
advancement plans of fathers for sons, or of each individual to achieve a
better fate; political plans for expansion or association.
Everything is put before the eyes of the Circle which, taking advantage
of the odious results of this dark inquisition, thus learns to know the
objects of its predilections or its vengeance; who must be served or
advocated, who must be elevated or lost, or at least those whose fanatical
dispositions must be distrusted or cultivated. This perfidy is not exercised
in a City, in a Province, but in an entire Kingdom, but in the most remote States,
38
so that it is possible that the Emperor has double the dispatches from the Cabinet of
Versailles, and that that of Potsdam knows the projects of Russia as well as his own.
This knowledge, thus stolen from Kings and Individuals, circulates, as if by an
electric wire, from one place to another, and forms the basis of this secret administration,
the effects of which we do not perceive. Hence we pass from surprise to surprise, when
we see certain Characters appear in the affairs of Government, as a God from Olympus
arrives at the Opera, except that this one comes down from the abode of glory, and that
the other often rises from the bosom of the mire.
As soon as one is so completely instructed, one can foresee everything; and from
then prevent everything, prepare everything, and make everything succeed.
How did this kind of political miracle come about? Quickly, since superstition began
to take hold of the Princes; these opened their treasures; and with fanaticism and
treasure, we can change the face of the globe.
By what enchantment were the Princes brought to this belief? Here it is. All that
remains to be desired by those who have everything is the certainty or hope of long-term
enjoyment; It is important for those who enjoy everything to enjoy without remorse. Now,
or promises to Kings a life prolonged beyond ordinary limits by elixirs, and peace with
themselves by interpretations favorable to their inclinations.
In general, this system of perversity opens the widest field to all the passions of
men; the true Christian, and therefore a little enthusiastic, sees in it a sure resource to
warm up such minds in favor of his somewhat neglected cult, and to resuscitate the
ancient confidence in the Priests who have been too abandoned and almost degraded
since a reason curious unmasked their artifices. The frenzied lover of freedom sees a
way to lower the Kings who have become in his eyes haughty despots, who weigh on
the globe, and abuse the empire that our fragile ancestors allowed them to take. The
instigator of slavery, on the contrary, already believes he sees peoples garroted, not
knowing
39
no more, neither their imprescriptible rights, nor their formidable means, nor the need of
which they are; and become more than ever servile instruments in the iron hand which
leads them to death or to the plow, the imposter congratulates himself on a time
favorable to his views, where his language, his cunning are springs that have become
necessary, and stubbornly practices hypocrisy, denunciation, all the vices of his
execrable profession: in a higher sphere, the Catilines, the Cromwells, the Machiavelli,
the Richelieu, see their moment arriving; these beings die, but do not disappear from
the earth, and the system of Metempsychosis has never come so clearly into reality.
Some prepare their perfidious eloquence, others poisonous works; these the chamber
of abortions, those the room of oblivion (Note VII). This picture, frightening as it is, will
not seem exaggerated if we always keep in mind that it is a sect where good faith is a
deception, genius an invincible obstacle, lies a precious talent, and ignorance a required
quality; of a sect which conceived the project of turning human follies into speculations
of fortune; who, needing unequal talents, has subjected all classes of society to himself,
and has attached the chain from the lowest level of civil life to the highest, to circumscribe
the Kings, from the moment they see the day, until he who restores them to eternal
sleep.
Masonry lent, without knowing it, its mysteries, its enigmatic language, its lines, its
figures, the consideration that many centuries had earned it, to this detestable project,
and served to test the Candidates. The aprons, the ribbons, the figures, sometimes
sepulchral, sometimes pastoral, became traps and rewards at the same time. Under the
pretext of reform or improvement, other sects were formed from which the same
advantage was obtained. Such were the Initiated Brothers of Asia; and others whose
ridiculous and disastrous history we will be obliged to recall.
Why so many preparations? Here it is. It was necessary to link Religion to politics
so much that the first became a spring to drive the other; establish espionage so secret,
so sustained, so vigilant, so invisible, that nothing remained unknown to the leaders of
the daring enterprise; draw the means
40
essential in the great passions, so that the Great would abandon their wills to anyone who would
caress their tastes; to weaken at least those whose obstinacy could not be tamed; to govern the
thought and master the views of those whom nature had organized to think, to see for themselves.
Such reckless projects could not be entrusted without imprudence. Hence the apparent
initiations: I say apparent, because the catechumens were nonetheless kept at an immeasurable
distance from the sanctuary of perfidies. We tried to impose them with illustrious names; we bought
the silence of the discontented; people begged for the protection of the powerful; the credulous
multitude was taxed, who had to pay, not only for the pleasure of satisfying a childish curiosity, but
to submit to an arbitrary contribution, with which more skillful hands raised the edifice. They seemed
to open the temple with too much ease, but they did not observe that the crowd remained in the
square, and was content with half-confidences, external lines, mysterious words which they allowed
to be extracted one by one, of meals where extreme sobriety and adroit silence were maintained, to
make the recreation which took place more spicy.
followed.
These necessary preludes were followed by sumptuous reforms; under the pretext of striving
for greater perfection, ranks were reduced, ceremonies were simplified, and ancient customs were
suppressed; the feasts became rarer and less sumptuous; we imagined committees, the first attack
on this beneficial principle, perfect equality. The English, reputed founders of the Order, were forced
to let it degenerate, the French to disguise it into scenes of amusement. On the remains of ancient
regimes arose several systems under the name of Strict observance, eclectic Lodges . The Speakers
appeared more obscure and more pathetic. Exclamations, prolonged sounds of voices, large
gestures, tears make much more of an impression than reasons deduced with clarity and even
warmth. The changes caused quarrels; imaginations heat up, zeal is rekindled, fanaticism sets it
ablaze; in the midst of these convulsions we learn to know the fiery heads, capable of defying
anything, the pusillanimous souls, ready to
41
leave everything ; skillful men, finding, through intestinal troubles, a route to fortune;
indecisive men, constantly floating between their inner feelings and foreign impulses.
Some Princes threw themselves into the middle of these religious extravagances. Some
gave an illustrious name, I don't know why, it's true, but anyway it was; the others
alleged secrets, which could make periodic donations from Peru and Chile useless.
These are an eloquence which would have seduced, if it had been less tiring; those
pecuniary aid, a type of argument much more effective than the resources of the mind;
here asylums where imposture, elsewhere unmasked, came to make itself forgotten by
the multitude, to still act on a few friends, of error; there protections against the truth
which sometimes arms itself with the thunderbolts of eloquence, and delivers the willfully
blind to public contempt.
A kind of handwritten catechism then appeared, which was supposed to be of the

greatest antiquity; the most skilful, or rather the most charlatans, began to interpret it.
The truncated versions were communicated on the strength of the oath. The majority of
Masons are unaware of its existence; but a few austere motor men of a beatific
physiognomy and an intolerant character, were recognized as profound commentators.
They made parts of their works known to some traveling Brothers; these, in their reports,
exaggerated the beauty of the text, assumed an extraordinary genius in those who dealt
with it, hastened their fame by attributing to them prodigies which never existed. This is
how, step by step, we mature the human spirit for fanaticism, and we establish the
famous circles, the main movement of the whole machine.
The man destined to form them must have one of those physiognomies which
never decays; whether we announce to him the misfortune which depresses, or the
success which intoxicates; the annoyance which despairs, or the condescension which
removes all obstacles. The temper of his mind must be to observe, rather than to shine,
to convince, rather than to please. He needs an impenetrable character, little sensitive
to public blame, or to the phrases of fame; a soul of ice for pleasures, of fire for fortune;
an indifferent heart
42
to the sweet feelings of friendship, but not to the haughty counsels of vengeance;
modest exteriors, but not neglected, more politeness than frankness, more inclination
towards economy than ostentation, more meditation than study: fairly pure morals, a
thoughtful contempt for the human species , the activity of the intrigue, an extreme
moderation in the use of paternal or filial feelings, and those inspired by nature: he must
believe himself capable of receiving all the gifts of Heaven, susceptible especially to
invisible grace , and for this to clearly display that the science of men is only error, that
light is darkness, and above all to abjure in the hands of the Illuminated Leaders, any
principle whatsoever received in childhood, adopted by the age which follows,
consecrated by habit, so that no real trace of pure or reformed Catholicism remains.
The man I have just described is neither the man of society nor the man of nature:
he is a little estimable compound, but rare, and where he exists, he will be essentially
dangerous.
Each member of a circle belongs equally to all the others, so that a Venetian
arriving for the first time in Breslaw, introduced into the circle of that city, is admitted to
the same secrets as those who have composed it for ten years, and finds himself as
intimately linked as if he had the same homeland and the habits born in age, happy in
innocence.
These circles are therefore the points of correspondence, the beacons placed on
this sea of iniquities; and to better understand this invisible chain, I will go into more
detailed detail. Frankfurt am Main, for example, educates Mainz, Darmstad, Neuvied,
Cologne, Weimar. Weimar illuminates Kassel, Göttingen, Wetzlar, Brunswick, Gotha.
Gotha brings its light to Erfort, to Leipsick, to Halle, to Dresden, to Dessau. Dessau
takes care of Torgau, Vittemberg, Mecklenburg and Berlin. Berlin communicates with
Stettin, Breslau, Frankfurt on the Oder. Frankfurt takes care of Königsberg and the cities
of Prussia. By following this scale, we clearly see that there are quite close links between
Mainz and Poland, and that an entire country is soon known in its most hidden parts.
43
If the Reader now extends this communication from Kingdom to Kingdom, and
supposes a center where the plans of those who administer Europe would end, we then
see who are the true masters of each country; This glimpse, however, is not enough to
show the depth of the precipice into which the Sect leads humans; we must penetrate
further into this labyrinth of horrors.
44
CHAPTER VII
Tests used to constitute an Illuminated Member of a Circle
To what regime can we bind the will of men, and make them faithful to the execution
of such a new project? This is the most powerful objection in the eyes of most men. It
would be easy to weaken it by recalling what fanaticism has produced throughout time.
This would lead us into too long a digression, and I will move on straight away to the
facts.
I have these frightening details from two men first seduced by the appearance of
truths, who became Masons in good faith; because an Order which has charity and
equality as its basis will impress sensitive hearts, as well as well-made minds. On the
verge of selling their opinion, of fettering their freedom, of prostituting their conscience,
they recoiled frozen with just horror at the sight of the laws that were going to be imposed
on them; both, at different times, having told me the same facts, without agreeing to
inform me about them, in distant towns, without being able to guess that the events
would reunite us several years later. Their story became for me a kind of mathematical
proof. There are things that we do not invent; moral character adds to the reasons for
credibility; and my Authors have the suffrage even of those whose fatal principles they
could not and should not embrace.
When a very zealous, very credulous man has passed through all the stages which,
from illusion to illusion, from promise to promise, lead to the belief that words are things,
that chimeras are realities, that bodies are spirits, or rather when we are assured that a
man has the fatal qualities we need, we ask him to give himself to the Order and to
consecrate his resolution, known to be wavering, by oaths. We do not communicate the
formula to him, in the well-founded fear that he would recoil in fear; he is only warned
that he is going to make a pact with Heaven, Heaven! who gave to men
45
his avenging sword, to turn it against those who break their words.
If the poorly instructed Recipient accepts, on the faith of the one who prepares him
for initiation, he is led through a dark path into an immense room, whose vault, parquet
floor and walls are covered with a black sheet, dotted with red flames and menacing
snakes. Three sepulchral lamps cast a faint glow from time to time, and barely allow us
to distinguish, in this dismal enclosure, the remains of the dead supported by funeral
crepe; a pile of skeletons forms, in the middle, a kind of altar; Next to it stand books,
some containing threats against perjurers, others the fatal history of the vengeance of
the invisible spirit and infernal invocations, which are uttered for a long time in vain.
Eight hours pass; then Ghosts dragging death veils slowly cross the room and sink
into the underground passages, without us hearing the sound of the trapdoors or that of
their fall. We only notice it by the fetid odor they exhale.
Thus the Initiate remains twenty-four hours in this dark asylum, in the middle of a
chilling silence. A severe youth has already weakened his thinking. Prepared liquors
have already begun to tire and end up exhausting him. At his feet are placed three cups,
sense. filled with a greenish drink. THE
need approaches their lips, and involuntary fear pushes them away.
Finally, two men appear who are taken for Ministers of Death. They surround the
pale forehead of the Recipient with an aurora ribbon, dyed with blood, and loaded with
silver characters, interspersed with the figure of Our Lady of Loreto. He receives a
copper crucifix two inches long (note that it is Lutherans and Reformed people who
make use of these images and relics, so severely proscribed in their worship). A kind of
amulet, covered in a purple cloth, is hung from their collars. He is stripped of his clothes,
which two Brother Servants place on a pyre, raised at the other end of the room.
Crosses are drawn on his naked body with blood; and a spirit dressed in white comes
to bind his testicles with a pink and culverted cord.
46
In this state of suffering and humiliation, he sees five ghosts armed with a sword,
covered in sheets disgusting with blood, approaching him with great strides.
Their face is veiled; they spread a carpet on the floor, kneel on it, pray to God, and
remain there with their hands stretched out in a cross on their chest, and then prostrate
with their faces to the ground in profound silence. An hour passes in this painful attitude.
After this tiring ordeal, plaintive accents are heard; the pyre lights, but only casts a pale
glow; clothes are consumed there; a colossal and almost transparent figure emerges
from the very heart of the pyre. At his sight, the five prostrate men went into unbearable
convulsions; too faithful images of these foaming struggles where a mortal struggling
with a sudden illness ends up being overcome by it.
Then a trembling voice pierces the vault, and articulates the formula of the execrable
sermons that must be delivered: my pen hesitates, and I almost believe myself guilty of
retracing them.
“In the name of the crucified Son, swear to break the carnal bonds which still attach
you to Father, Mother, Brothers, Sisters, Husbands, Parents, Friends, Mistresses, Kings,
Chiefs, Benefactors and any Being whatsoever to whom you have promised, faith ,
obedience, gratitude or service. »
“Name the place where you were born, to exist in another sphere, where you will
only arrive after having abjured this foul globe, the vile refuse of the Heavens. »
“From this moment you are freed from the so-called oath made to the Fatherland
and the Laws; swear to reveal to the new Chief, whom you recognize, what you have
seen or done, taken, read or heard, learned or guessed, and even to seek out and spy
on what is not available to your eyes. »
“Honor and respect the Aqua Toffana, as a sure, prompt and necessary means of
purging the globe by death or stupor of those who seek to debase the truth or wrest it
from our hands. »
“Flee Spain, flee Naples, flee any cursed land. Finally flee the temptation to reveal
what you hear; for thunder is not quicker than the knife which will reach you wherever
you are. »
47
“Live in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. »
If the patient submits to pronouncing the same words in front of him, a candelabra
decorated with seven black candles is placed exactly; at his feet is a vase full of human
blood, his body is being washed; he drinks half a glass, and pronounces the fatal words. His
testicles are then untied. A cold sweat flows from his pale cheeks. He barely supports himself
on his failing legs.
The Brothers prostrate themselves; and he, trembling, torn with remorse, thrown into a kind
of delirium, awaits his destiny. Such, no doubt, are the villains returning from murder: like
Orestes withdrawing the knife from the bowels of his mother.
As soon as the ceremony is over, the Recipient is thrown into a bath, after which he is
served a meal composed of roots.
I attest to Honor, to Truth, to Heaven, that the content of these horrible oaths was
revealed to me by people lost in the darkness of the Illuminated. The proposal to enter into
such a conspiracy restored their reason and courage. This crime, presented in all its
deformity, terror and horror.
There therefore exists in our midst a mass of unknown men who, so to speak, have
abjured humanity, and have become strangers to all the bonds that unite men. Just distrust
will therefore ban security and concord from the earth. Because finally man, in whose bosom
his secrets are poured out, is perhaps no longer master of himself; he sold himself to
imperious tyrants, who took possession of his entire being, even his thoughts. Perhaps we
are watched by evil Geniuses or by timid Slaves who, in order not to be useless, make up for
what they do not see.
If we re-read everything that has been written over the past six years on the Illuminated,
if we compare the letter from MR Rollig, which we do not want to extract for fear that we will
be accused of truncating it or embellish, but which will be found entirely in the Supporting
Documents; if we remember this quantity of facts reported in a large number of works
published over the past ten years, and which the Berlin Journal (Note XIII) has made known
with as much courage as impartiality; if we consider the invincible horror conceived for this
48
Sect honest, sensible, patriotic men, the most incredulous man will be alarmed, and at
least will want to examine step by step the danger of the influence of such a Society,
without getting lost in chimerical fears; he will, however, suspect that reason, honesty,
love of truth, are not confederated for nothing; and that they, who do not ordinarily see
evil where it is, would not have noticed it where it is not.
49
CHAPTER VIII
That the Sect of the Illuminated must necessarily destroy the Kingdom
where it will be protected
While speaking against enthusiasm, we will be careful not to fall into it. It was after
thinking for a long time that we decided to put forward an assertion which the coldest
people will find at first glance to be a strong exaggeration. Let us examine whether I
have agreed with my point; let's explain the way in which I envisaged the objects.
All the Nations of Europe are linked today by reciprocal interests. They make their
mutual tranquility depend on what we call balance. As soon as a quarrel arises between
two great Powers, most can no longer stick to this neutrality, which has sometimes so
prodigiously enriched the Nations which remained faithful to it. It is no longer even
possible for one people to remain in a state of stagnation, while others advance in the
career of human knowledge, or this stationary people will soon become the prey of
whoever deigns to seize it.
Commerce is today the primary occupation of all Nations.

They tend to free themselves from independence. In some, it supposes a double navy;
among others, a simple merchant navy. Both require lights of all kinds. Peoples, whose
position prohibits them from having them, maintain immense armies, they demand
knowledge of all kinds; and although it is not essential that every Officer be completely
educated, at least there must be a very large number who are truly learned.
Finance is no longer the easy art of collecting money where it is; the people, by dint
of having been victims of rapacity, have learned to defend their properties against the
greed of the traders. There is therefore an art of leading people to make necessary
contributions, without tiring them, without
50
to discourage. To base taxes on real objects, to distribute them fairly, to simplify

collection, we must extend the resources of economic science. In England and France,
these operations perhaps require genius, and everywhere real skill.
The sciences, in general, act much more than we think in the administration of
States. Mathematics, for war, the navy, artillery, mechanical inventions, navigation, etc. ;
Physics, for agriculture, fertilizers, mines, hygiene, dyeing, glasses, the arts, especially
those which require fire as their primary agent; ....Logic, for primitive education,
jurisprudence, negotiations, the use of thought, etc. Daily experience proves to us that
the most advanced nations make their rivals dependent.
In addition to the essential knowledge that each people tries to appropriate, there
has still existed for about fifty years, another science called economics. It embraces the
theory of taxation, the graduated table of the population, the banking system, the
balance of trade, the use of gold, the rights of the people, the faults of administrations.
The country where these great objects are best discussed necessarily takes on a
superiority over the others which holds them all in second place.
Now, the sect of the Illuminated tends in essence to destroy the seeds of this
knowledge, and to make them completely disappear from a country; she cannot endure
the day of reason; the thickest darkness alone can ensure his plans. What would
become in the eyes of scientists, and soon, in public opinion, a society where there is a
question of specters, where everything is the inspiration of a hidden power, by virtue of
which men are nothing more than moving machines? by invisible springs.
We must establish a new order of things, and make people believe what until now
we have been ashamed to adopt. We must dispossess universal suffrage from the men
whose opinions and thoughts we have until now respectfully collected. It must be
demonstrated that Academies, Universities, Libraries spread error, and that the truth
resides in a small portion of new men.
51
who, through their immediate relationship with more purified substances, knew in a few
years what the earth had ignored. Is it possible to suppose that men will sacrifice ideas
acquired at such great cost? Is it not more natural to foresee that disputes will flare up,
bringing back to earth the discord which is moving away, but never completely
disappears; or that the depositaries of true enlightenment will desert a country of fools,
and deliver it to the empire of error?
Until now men have known that application leads to capacity, and capacity to
places. In this hope, everyone has made themselves capable, so in every career we are
rarely at a loss when it comes to replacing the voids left by old age, death or inconstancy;
but from the moment it is proven that skill is a chimera, and that to succeed, it is enough
to believe what no one has believed, or to renounce sterile study, we will implore fortune
in less climes. unfair.
It is even impossible that zeal or talent will ever emerge.

Suppose that the choice of the Sovereigns falls secretly on an individual cited for his
experience and his love of work, and that the beneficent intention of the Monarch is
surprised or guessed by the Illuminated, they begin from afar to worry his confidant, to
sow slight prejudices against the object of their jealousy, without openly displaying the
plan to harm. We convert misfortunes into imprudence, imprudence into wrongs, wrongs
into faults, faults into crimes. If he is gay, he is accused of levity; if he is serious, we
suspect his frankness; if he is fiery, he is believed to be dangerous; if he is shy, we
suspect his ability; we weigh all the more on his faults, as we are supposed to ignore
the projects he inspired. By the opposite reason, we praise with the same apparent
disinterestedness the qualities of the person we want to place; his praise is found
everywhere, although his name is scarcely mentioned. When you have the printing
press, the post office and the pulpits in a country, there is nothing that you cannot make
people believe, even with very ordinary skill. A King, a man like any other, can only
judge on what is presented to him. If he is so circumvent that all truths are disguised
from him, and that the universe
52
either for him concentrated in the bribed sphere which surrounds him, and if everything
around him has an equal interest in feeding him false opinions, is it not obvious that the
people are at the mercy of a horde ambitious who will devour him?
This sacred love of the fatherland, which, in all ages, enhanced the natural height
of man and enlarged his moral faculties, will be extinguished, because there will no
longer be a fatherland. We will blush at a country where ignorance is naturalized, at
being governed by disgusting chimeras, until finally we become so accustomed to being
the object of the contempt of thinking nations, that we will not feel even more his
turpitude.
What would become of an army where the glory and distinctions were for the
followers of a declared persecuting sect of loyalty and frankness? where the soldier,
rightly frightened, would believe he constantly saw around him the threatening shadows
of those he had to immolate the day before, pursuing him, as the Furies tore Orestes to
pieces.
Voluntary victims, who offer yourselves to the homeland, and who brave death
under the eye of honor, is it not enough to demand your life? must we still sadden your
last moments, and raise the clouds of uncertainty around you? And you, noble
companions of glory, accustomed to sharing palms and dangers, and whose brilliant
state rests on frankness, even in the middle of the camps we carry distrust; it is no
longer the enemy you have to fear; Betrayal watches by your side. Save yourself those
moments of joy which compensate for the days of fatigue. If in this permitted intoxication,
a word escapes from your imprudent mouth, it is collected, preserved, revealed; your
entire life will atone in the obscure grades for the expression of a passing discontent.
No ! the flags will not hold them back. He who is capable of devoting himself to his
country will flee with horror from a perfidious assembly of spies and informers.
Browse the company's statements; those who hold the scales of Themis, those
who imbue commerce with this beneficial activity, the custodians of science, the
administrators of public affairs, the defenders or
53
guardians of Religion, and censors of morals, all necessary agents in civil life, cannot
reconcile their functions with the statutes of the order of the Illuminated: what will
become of a Kingdom without courts protecting the laws; without internal commerce
which distributes with precious equality the first needs of life, without these hard-working
men who keep their homeland current in their century, that is to say, who transport to
the soil they inhabit, everything what is being discovered, achieved, and perfected in
the rest of the globe?
A simple rapprochement will bring this truth into broad daylight. Who should be put
in charge of the helm of affairs? Who is the man on whom public trust should rest? I
want to designate by this severe expression a man of genius, whose experience has
matured his knowledge, a man of character, whose qualities have been tested by
events, a man of work, whom the multiplicity of affairs has not tired or worn ; I mean a
happy man, fertile in resources, elevated in his views, firm in execution, clear in his
presentations, skilled in what belongs to the art of negotiation; above praise, interest,
glory, instability, misfortune, slander; attached to his masters, but sold to his homeland,
zealous for the glory of the Throne, but passionate for the public good, faithful servant,
but above all a man of the people. Next to this rare man, place a perfect Enlightened
One, that is to say, a weak, gullible being, inclined to believe everything that is told to
him; a mind rocked by
visions, chimeras, conjectures, unnatural ideas, closed to everything contained in
the history of previous centuries, rejecting what is not announced by oracles or coated
with a miraculous formula; a man who sees nothing for himself and only obeys the voice
of informers, or whose main guides are fantastic advisors. When one professes to live
in another world, one has neither views nor speculations for this one; the Enlightened
One is without a country, without parents, without fellow citizens; he broke all the ties
which attached him to Society, and extinguished the torch which enlightens statesmen,
reason.
You told us above, your will object, that the Sectarians do not believe internally
either in revealing spirits or in Dogmas; that is
54
undeniably, the Chefs know what to expect. Then he is no longer the enlightened person
whose portrait I have just painted, he is an impostor conspired against the human race;
he is the assassin of the State; we must not pity it, but proscribe it.
Thus, in whatever light we view the members of this guilty institution, the Kingdoms
must succumb to the blows of imposture, or to the incapacity of ignorance. There are
some who, by their strength, could resist twenty years of bad Administration; such are
France, the States of the Emperor; there are some which are full of talents, of
enlightenment, if I dare to express myself thus, such are England, Switzerland; there are
some that no one worries about, and which excite neither alarm nor envy, such as
Denmark and Sardinia; but there are some which need all the resources of an excellent
Administration to maintain themselves alongside their rivals, and which will decline as
soon as they cease to
to go up.
If it is true, as a learned Academician wanted to prove, that the strength of a State

depends on the character of its Government and the national character of its inhabitants,
4
What can we hope from an Illuminated One, that is to say from a man
who has no character, or who must essentially do harm?
O you! that the invisible power which directs the worlds has placed at the head of
the Nations, cast your eyes on these truths! Don't sacrifice us to a handful of crazy
fanatics. Look upon our books only as a salutary warning of great danger. Why would we
disturb our existence?
Why should we surrender ourselves to the danger which threatens courageous feathers,
if we did not know all the calamities which are heaped upon your heads? If our interests
find you insensitive, may yours at least awaken salutary fears, and call you to thoughtful
examination. For you will be the first victims, immolated to the idol of superstition; you,
whom we love and who we
4
We are far from adopting everything found in this brochure; but it would be curious to read it and apply it to the subject we are dealing
with. If by chance there were Illuminated Ones in the Prussian States, it would be the strongest satire that has been written against them. Its
estimable Author has never been suspected of favoring a Sect so contemptible in the eyes of any man who has cultivated its thought.
55
complained, Monarchs warned, do not believe our assertions; but go and question the
truth in the depths of true hearts; and incorruptible; there are undoubtedly many, but it is
not impossible to find some.
56
CHAPTER IX
The Kings are most interested in destroying the new Sect
It is not easy to mark the difference between a Kingdom and a King in the matter
we are dealing with; for if the country is destroyed, it is clear whose throne will be
overthrown; We must therefore detail our ideas a little better, and establish them as
clearly as possible. We do not want to say that the country where the Illuminated Ones
reign will cease to exist; but that he will fall into such a degree of humiliation that he will
no longer count in politics; that the population will decrease, that the inhabitants who
resist the inclination to move to a foreign land will enjoy neither the happiness of being
considered, nor the comforts of society, nor the gifts of commerce. Forgotten by the rest
of the earth, their obscure life will only be a long vegetation. Strangers to the consoling
arts, passing sad days under the domination of fantastic beings, it seems that these
dark abodes, abodes of expiations, already exist for
them.
Now, what is a King who reigns over men thus degraded, who only participate in
immaterial beings through fear? What services will he find in beings who recognize a
master above him? or he will be admitted to these fatal secrets, and he will authorize
this abominable regime; then he will wake up with the idea that he lives among traitors,
and that greater interests can make him sacrifice, just as everything he wants to know
is revealed to him. If he is not initiated into these horrible mysteries, he is therefore the
toy of an ambitious and fanatical horde, who have seized his will; here he is therefore
condemned to serve the passions of all those around him, to enrich greedy Dissipators,
to elevate degraded men, to prostitute his judgment with choices that dishonor his
prudence, to blush at the bonds he loves and dare to confess; if he only suspects, he
gets lost in the clouds of uncertainty; all he does is that this truth, the idol of men
57
The same people who immolate him, who are constantly taken as witnesses, will never
approach his throne; it is that this virtue, the sweetest of illusions which formed Trajan,
Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus, the good Princes, is changed or abandoned for an imaginary
perfection, and for an austere Divinity which exists only for the misfortune of the world.
It is because he will never know this enchanting feeling, the friendship with which only
the Creator would have paid all that he owed to those who received from him the day
and a painful existence.
Masters of the world, cast your eyes on a desolate multitude, listen to their cries,
their tears, their wishes. The mother asks you for a son, a woman asks you for a
husband, your cities the fugitive fine arts, the homeland of citizens, the fields of farmers,
religion a cult, and the nature of beings that it can
to confess to.
These are not all the evils that threaten the Sovereign protectors of this disastrous
belief.
Forced to concentrate important jobs, major responsibilities and subordinate
positions of trust in a small number of men, they cannot bring together a sufficient
number of capable people; (rare species in all times and in all countries) ignorance then
obtains positions where it multiplies blunders, they bring murmurs; murmurs lead to
disorder, disorder gives rise to discredit, from discredit comes lack of consideration. In
this humiliating situation, we are attacked and blamed from all sides; alarm seizes the
one who has the public voice against him, anxiety breaks through; the Flatterers, to
dissipate it, redouble their incense and lies; have eulogies composed, win Poets, cradle
the Idol with a reputation he never had, lull him into his vices; present him with pleasure
to distract him, and insensibly lead him to this state of degradation where he no longer
thinks except through others. If a few faithful Subjects attempt a last effort to recall the
fleeting glory or the deluded Monarch listens to them without hearing them, or warns
them haughtily, or humiliates them fiercely, or exiles them harshly, or gets rid of them
with feigned caresses .
The main roads are covered with emigrants; the continued success of stupidity
58
wears out the soul of the man of merit. One will give itself to another land; the other, not
being able to take his Penates, saves himself from cruel boredom by repeated absences,
and the Monarch imperceptibly sees around him only dearly purchased slaves. A painful
spectacle, constantly reminding us that we owe nothing to ourselves, and that without a
treasure we would be isolated or a burden to humans!
This table, no doubt, appears loaded; This is how those who announced similar
misfortunes appeared. The Paulicians who came to the point of building cities and taking
up arms against their Prince were, in the beginning, only a few disturbers of the public
peace; and for a century and a half they desolated the Emperors of their time. This was
the march of the human spirit. Men begin by seducing, they end by following; the Chiefs
break their bonds, seize a propitious moment, and have the usurpers of their authority
slain. This is what happened to these same Paulicians (Note IX) of whom the Empress
Theodore had one hundred thousand slain: the rest were thrown into the arms of the
Saracens who led them to the butchery in their wars against the Greeks. If the Kings,
instead of keeping rich and precious furniture, had their Palace decorated with historical
paintings, their eyes would sometimes focus on strange scenes. Perhaps they would
disturb this security, one of the great wonders which occupy the Philosopher's thoughts.
It is true, however, that this sect is entirely directed against this authority of which
men, in all times, have shown themselves so jealous. It does not attack a belief because
all are indifferent to it; she wants neither God nor his worship, but the Kings and their
scepter. It is not an isolated body, which wants to divert the flow of graces onto itself, it
is an institution, thanks to which the ambitious will rise above everything that surrounds
them, without even taking on the weight of an apparent recognition, of which the other
errors are accredited, by making a name and supporters through his talents, his
eloquence and the brilliance of his favor. Here reputation is dangerous, favor useless;
we make our fortune by our silence. Instead of partisans, you need enemies who seem
to persecute you, so that this apparent hatred arouses avengers. Authority once
annihilated
59
Templars, it almost extinguished the Jesuit regime (Note X). Here it is null, since it itself
would be overthrown, if it conspired, against the sect which commands it, by appearing
to serve it, and from time to time frightens it, to ensure its power. In the quarrels born
from the heresies which successively appeared on the globe, it was society against
society, city against city, the Catholics against the Huguenots, the Armenians against
the Gomorists, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, etc. ; but among the Illuminated, it is
vice against virtue, perfidy against sincerity, ignorance against enlightenment, audacity
against authority.
It undermines the social body, slowly murders its victims, and strikes at the same time,
but silently, the entire class of society.
The rival nations, who witness the decadence of those who succumb under the
blows of the sect, allow them to advance their misfortunes; and taking advice from what
we call politics, that is to say, the art of crushing the weakest, they seize the propitious
moment to complete their ruin. A Chief is accountable to his subjects, to their country,
to their honor, to their stealth. He is accused of the ills of the country. Even those who
threw him into the precipice blame him for their humiliation. Either we retract our locks,
or we carry the yoke with horror. If the soul of the unfortunate Monarch has lost all its
strength, he is only too happy to be allowed to drag his scepter. If he resurrects a
remnant of courage, he becomes a tyrant all the more difficult to appease because he
has apparent reasons for striking, and because justice sometimes seems to have armed
him with its sword: and in one and in the other case, he enters posterity, charged with
contempt or horror for the human race.
It would be deceiving Kings to hide a new truth from them; today men pay them
more enlightened respect. We no longer bow our foreheads in the dust before a crowned
head, but we kiss the traces of a beneficent, laborious and just Prince; we examine
administrations, because we are convinced that it is our own business that we are
concerned with, when we meddle with those of Kings. We excuse faults, or forgive
weaknesses; we remove them from the dangers into which their imprudence has thrown
them; we render them the services that their sad condition requires; House
60
did not swear to be constantly the toy of their caprice, the martyrs of their obstinacy, and
the victims of their voluntary errors; or at least, if one is forced to do so, one protests
against tyranny, and one dedicates in posterity, to the indignation, of future centuries,
those who degraded their nation. Let him therefore who has the virtuous desire to be
loved and the noble ambition to leave a glorious name, learn that he will miss this double
goal if he refuses to enlighten himself.
If the peoples who use all kinds of means to disturb its dangerous tranquility, who
spare neither public notices, nor the expressive silence of the disgruntled wise man, nor
the imprudent murmurs, without doubt, but sometimes necessary, satire, a violent but
effective means if the patient still retains a few resources, they will finally end up seeing
in their leaders nothing more than crowned automatons, or administrators foreign to
public affairs and their interests: then it spreads a kind of consternation in people's
minds; we no longer contribute to the prosperity of the Fatherland; the entire nation
rests; a disastrous moment is allowed to pass, industry loses its activity, agriculture
languishes; we exist, but we do not live: all projects are for the future. Now, the one to
whom only the useless resource of ordering remains, soon experiences that authority is
composed of two springs; one who commands the spirits, and the other who disposes
them. The great art of Kings is to dispose the general will in their favor; force does not
make up for it.
Now, the sect of the Illuminated gives entirely opposite principles; she persuades
that the docile people bless their yoke. It is not from the nature of things, from the
experience of the past that it draws rules of conduct, it is from a completely new system,
entirely adapted to the selfishness of a few Leaders who have neither homeland, nor
interest in the happiness of the foreigners whom they govern, nor in the glory of the
Monarch whose livery they wear in public, on the condition that he himself, in secret, will
wear their chains. Is this expression too strong, since it is proven that a man abjures his
thoughts, his will, and only moves to the voice of a fanatical power?
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CHAPTER X
That the Sect of the Illuminated would destroy Society itself, if it could be
destroyed
Society was only purified after many centuries; but finally man has reached a
degree of civilization, the decadence of which is easier to predict than the perfectibility.
Not only do ferocious animals respect our homes; floods, once devastating, are now
only a temporary inconvenience; hordes of barbarians no longer come unexpectedly to
desolate peaceful cantons, but the land reassures them of their subsistence, famine has
become an almost chimerical scourge; the evils are alleviated, if they are not completely
eradicated; the fine arts increase the years tenfold and console them. Man almost froze
the lightning in Jupiter's hand; at least he extinguishes his anger and makes the place
he has marked expire; if he cannot prevent these frightening convulsions which
unexpectedly shake the bowels of the globe (Note to his projects, crosses the immense
plains of the seas, and flies to enrich both hemispheres. The hand of industry spins
metals like silk; creates everything that man desires; and, by continual reproduction,
makes flax that the agronomist has sown; the immortal asylum of the philosopher's
thought, and of the beauties of Homer.
Knowledge of higher value provides man with the dishes with which he is less tired,
the ornaments with which he adorns himself, the liquors which strengthen or refresh
him. All this is still only the beginning of the benefits of Society; man is born, masters
successively take possession of his memory, his mind, his will, his reason. They adorn,
they form, they direct, they illuminate these brilliant faculties; and from the moment they
can act, their first movement is a feeling of recognition
62
towards the immortal Being. While cultivating one's active thoughts: they give the
members of one's body balance; elasticity and teach him to defend himself against
force, and above all to defend honor and the rights of friendship: they teach him the art
of commanding this fiery steed who must carry him on the path to glory , the gentler art
of appropriating these enchanting sounds which reassure the mind and calm the
passions. After the man has lent a few moments of his youth to these useful exercises,
the masters offer him the choice between the helmet of Bellona, the scales of Themis;
the caduceus of Mercury, the plowshare of Triptolemus, the trident of Neptune. As soon
as he has named his career, a thousand help arrives to make it brilliant. He provides it;
if Fame publishes its exploits with brilliance, Glory crowns them. For a calmer time, how
many enjoyments has Society not prepared for him? Sculpture delved into the ruins of
antiquity, and then matched the models, which it resurrected; painting, deprived of the
same assistance, has no less surpassed Zeuxis. The most beautiful invention, printing,
multiplied the productions of genius, and naturalized Plato, Virgil, Tacitus, Horace on
earth. The magnet leads us into the heart of the globe, where we have seized a new
kingdom. Each year gives birth to a discovery, or resurrects a lost idea; the human spirit
frees itself from prejudices. War itself puts limits to its furies; and even to the places
which are the scene; humanity diminishes its barbarity. If some tyrant weighs his yoke
on the portion of being that the avenging Gods have devoted to misfortunes, at least we
have the consoling sweetness of hearing the neighboring Nation devote him to public
execration; the Kings, his equals, disavow him; implacable history will denounce it to
future centuries. We finally see jurisprudence becoming more sparing with blood, charity
becoming almost indiscreet, providing assistance to the unfortunate, and even to those
who abuse: the theater corrects ridicule by purifying morals.
Without doubt we are not in the golden age; but at least civilization is brought to the
point where birth is a blessing and death a sorrow.
And it is at this precious moment that a sect arises which threatens this beautiful
order; and slowly works to destroy the Work of ten centuries, to make the
63
land of prejudices, visionaries, necromancers. Society is a vast family that supports

each other by fulfilling reciprocal duties. People live in the flattering certainty of being
protected; the Sovereign gives in to the sweet need to be loved. This happy concert is
troubled, since all the affection of which a Sovereign can be susceptible is concentrated
in a small number of men who have interests opposed to general felicity.
To be convinced of this, let's travel through all the States; the magistrate who only obeys
the voice of the law distrusts arbitrary inspirations. The frank and courageous warrior,
who knows only glory and his sword, fights and dies without thinking if he will survive
himself. The minister of the altars, indignant at the distortion of his Bible and its rites,
hates an error which takes away his worship and consideration. The scholar, informed
of the guilty facility with which all centuries have produced the same impostures, would
like to save humans from the evils they leave in their wake. The merchant, whose art
and success rests on good faith, fears less fickle seas than the danger of risking his
confidence; the citizen grieves while contemplating the ruins of his homeland, and
witnesses in idea its complete decadence.
The Illuminated One, alone against all, becomes the enemy of his fellows, weighs
the yoke of administration on them, sows this distrust which breeds hatred.
Everyone fears each other, friendship seems imprudent; the outbursts of gaiety are
converted into state crimes, the alarm becomes general and strikes all the Orders. The
rich man, able to travel, takes his troubles elsewhere; the poor concentrate their
murmurings within the bosom of their family; the man of letters exposes his freedom
and satisfies the pressing need to vent his despair. Thus social bonds are broken, man
isolates himself and ends up invoking death.
Then the arts degenerate, languish, remain without honor. Youth who never
calculate the future, obey the innate inclination to see what is happening on the globe,
and make a homeland where there is still emulation and freedom; consumption gradually
decreases, commerce loses its activity, the population of cities declines; some turn their
eyes towards
64
America, keeping fields always ready for anyone who wants to cultivate them; the others
direct their steps towards Switzerland, where Nature and the Government do everything
for anyone who wants to enjoy a beautiful sky and freedom. Most return to the devouring
capitals, London, Paris, where industry crowds humans from all Nations.
In this country desolate by so many emigrations, Society no longer maintains the

balance, the source of all its goods. When it experiences gaps in certain parts, it is
always to the detriment of the whole. We will say, these disadvantages do not attack the
class of the People, nor even that of the Artisans.
The People are not actors, but they are victims. Its interest requires the perpetual growth
of industry. The more she acts, the less the fool will pay; its interest is in the increase of
the population; for the more arms there are to carry a burden, the lighter it is. The
increase in enlightenment will make work easier, the distribution of burdens more
equitable, wars rarer.
What we call the prosperity of empires is nothing other than the best possible state
of society. This harmony that we admire in the celestial bodies, this wise distribution in
the gifts of nature, the beautiful order in which they follow one another, is the great
model that the Supreme Intelligence has given to humans. Everything that strays from
this noble and sure march tends towards destruction. Now, what can result from this
mixture of incorporeal beings and human beings from a legislation which annihilates
experience, religious dogmas and the principles of reason?
These evils occur imperceptibly; some foresee them without being bothered by
them, others take care of them without being able to warn them. Those whose work they
are, consume them with all the more obstinacy, as they harvest their guilty fruits every
day.
65
CHAPTER XI
What would be the means to destroy the Sect of the Illuminated?
The picture of misfortunes becomes even darker when we do not see in the future the
time when they will disappear. It would be essential to wipe out traces of them from their
origin; but as in the beginning everything is zeal, as all minds are full of fire, the efforts of
reason fail against the heat of enthusiasm. Another difficulty: the sects which divided the
world publicly spread their doctrine; we knew their organs, we fought adversaries who entered
the arena. Here no one dares to show themselves, the errors are not deposited in a confessed
book: the reveries of Swedenborg, the mystical obscurities calculated from the errors of
nature, are emanations of the Sect of the Illuminated, but do not form its code, principles; so
that in the eyes of the multitude we appear to be fighting chimeras, sowing illusions, feeding
on exaggerated fears. We could well justify ourselves in the eyes of overly unbelieving
Nations; but then we would reveal secret crimes, which would be a slander without proof, or
we would rouse the People, if we administered them. Few people have the courage to publish
what they have discovered in these dark iniquities. Sooner or later the Illuminated cut the
throats of their victims, unfortunately more than one Head of Nation is imbued with these fatal
principles: and since the Kings placed among the crimes of lèse majesté the frankness with
which we speak to them of their errors, we are deemed seditious, rebellious, criminal, if we
discover the depth of the abyss into which seduction leads them. Finally, as this Sect
embraces all possible errors born and yet to be born, it would be necessary to refute, explain,
comment on everything that is written relating to new opinions; because we live at a time
when no writer can boast of having voluminous works read on this subject which is so sad,
so tiring and so painfully absurd.
Besides, we refute things, axioms, false reasoning, but no
66
words, assumptions, vague systems; perhaps this fight would even suggest a sort of
parity between the parties; and the Illuminated, already hypocrites by essence, would
present themselves as objects of persecution.
Despite the obstacles that seem to favor the perfidious Sect, we must nonetheless
seek ways to destroy it. The first who presents himself would form a league between all
men who exercise their pens on philosophical matters. Its aim would be to teach the
whole of Society what is being worked against it. Nothing doubtful, nothing exaggerated;
no invectives, no insults, but a clear exposition, a faithful account, giving as certain what
we have seen, as true what has been certified by men worthy of faith, as probable what
will be born from a mass of conjectures supported by a few facts; have no regard for
rank, wealth, or past service,
nor the consequences.
Just as there is a coalition to steal all the secrets, just as there is an army of Spies
spread across the globe, there will be an association to divulge the mysteries and to
avert the evils from which the People are threat. The principles of the Illuminated are so
important, they sadden nature so much, they hurt honor so cruelly, that it is enough to
make them known to discredit them; to expose them is to degrade them. Also most
followers are fooled; and if we except a certain number of consummate villains, whom
the gibbets and the stakes claim, the others are only because they believe themselves
to be martyrs, or called to play an extraordinary role, and above all because they walk
by the light of the torches of the Illuminated Ones at the Temple of Fortune.
Above all, we must keep an observant eye on the country which will be reputed to
be the cradle of the Sect, or at least its main theater. If there existed one, for example,
where everything that is a place of trust was only given to Sectarians, where every man
became null or proscribed as soon as he did not adopt the new dogma, where the
children of the Fatherland would find itself being supplanted at every moment by
Usurpers whose unique merit is apparent or blind credulity. If age, experience, most
important services, proven loyalty,
67
the most universally recognized talent, were annihilated in front of an intruder from a
dressing room. If, I say, there existed a country such as that which a delirious imagination
has just represented, it would be the one to which one would have to apply one's
brushes, in the hope that the images would reflect in the distance the day of truth.
There were cries against the regime of the Society of Jesus; it was deleted. We spoke
out against the abuse of Monasticism, the convents were diminished. We pleaded the
cause of the Protestants, they were restored to the rights of Citizens.

We demand the proscription of lettres de cachet, the authority will not delay in making
the sacrifice. We have taken up the cause of humanity in the person of the Negroes, our
nephews will see their chains fall. There are no abuses capable of resisting combined
force, reason and eloquence. See the Agioteurs shamed and dispersed, see the
monopolies destroyed, see the Turcarets and the Mondors banned from the Financial
System; and then dare to distrust your strength, you to whom heaven has entrusted the
power of reason and the empire of eloquence!
But far from us from timid considerations, this politeness which is introduced into our
writings at the expense of the truth. We owe respect to error, when it is not voluntary,
but not to conspirators. Have we accused Demosthenes of having lacked urbanity
towards Philip? Cicero for Catiline? and Philip, however, had only done what Conquerors
do. He had destroyed Olynthus; he had won the neighboring towns through his
generosity, this is what we saw and what we have just seen in Holland. His policy was
cruel, and his means barbaric (Note XII). The Athenians erected a statue to Demosthenes
for showing the rare courage that breaks the will of tyrants. We still pay homage to the
virtue of Cicero, for having discovered the conspiracy of Catiline, ready to redden his
hands with the blood of his fellow citizens; he is given all the more honor because
Caesar secretly favored this plot. Is there less glory today in unmasking perfidies a
hundred times more dangerous than that of Catiline, and protected by more than one
Caesar?
Glory will one day open its temple to anyone who has had the good fortune to stifle
the Sect in its cradle. There must be no armies, no bloodshed, no
68
deaf persecutions; it is enough to publish what one strives to keep under the thick veil
of the most important secrets.
It is a matter of investing an essential fact with all the characteristics of truth, of
put before the eyes of the multitude interested in verifying it and telling them.
Accipe nunc Danaum insidias et crimine ab uno Disce omnes.......

VIRG. Aeneid., l. II.
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CHAPTER XII
What we thought of the Illuminated, and what we think of them today
One of the most worthy means of the human spirit would be to look back into past
centuries, and to convince ourselves by the august testimony of history, that what
occupies visionaries today with so much success, has already appeared in the doctrine
of their predecessors. Having convinced ourselves of this truth, it would be fair to
examine how they ended up, and the reputation they left behind them. Those who
imitate them, or who surpass them, read, in what has happened, the decrees of posterity,
what their contemporaries already think. If the hatred of nations has pursued for
seventeen lukewarm shadows of Nero, Tiberius, Domitian; if ridicule still accompanies
the names of Deacon Paris, Gassener, Schroepfer, they will pursue their successors
with the same determination.
Agapie, towards the end of the fourth century, formed a society of which one of the
dogmas was that there was nothing impure for pure consciences, that it was better to
swear and perjure oneself than to discover the mysteries of their society .
We are told today that the body is nothing but a puny shell, that it can do whatever it
pleases, without the soul taking part in all its follies. Agapie died mad, and the sect was
destroyed.
Gabriéli, Roman Prelate, allowed himself to be seduced by the spells of a mystical
Doctor named Oliva. They held nocturnal assemblies, in which they offered the Demon
human blood. In modern mysteries we have seen that he is made to drink, and that if
the Demon is not the idol of the temple, at least he is represented by large black ghosts.
Pope Alexander VIII declared Gabriéli and Oliva incapable of possessing benefices, and
had them locked up in a castle.
Did the Count of Saint-Germain, so highly protected, do anything other than imitate
Guillaume Postel, whose mania was to make himself older than himself?
70
was. To impress those who knew him, he painted himself and blackened his hair, and
was therefore called Postellus restitutus. Like his successors, he claimed that the Angel
Resiel had revealed divine secrets to him.
What do the most moderate biographers say about it today? “He would have done much
honor to letters, if by reading the Rabbis and contemplating the stars he had not lost his
head. »
John Roermonde was only the precursor of Emmanuel Swedenborg, inspired by
God, like him, to reestablish pure doctrine, preaching that in a short time the kingdom of
the new Jerusalem would be founded. The Swedish Apostle does not imitate him in his
other follies, because he lived at a time when one does not make an equal distribution
of all goods with impunity, even though one has received the sword of Gideon. But the
substance of the doctrine led to the same consequences, Roermond was burned.
Cardan awakened in recent centuries the secret philosophy of the Cabal and the
Cabalists. From then on it populated our globe with invisible spirits, which we could
resemble by purifying ourselves. We are told today that there are intermediate beings
between us and the divinity, and that evil Spirits are the secret agents of all the evils
that torment us. In what form have historians transmitted to us this prototype of modern
madness? Here it is: “He had the gait and words of a madman, and he pointed out his
madness, as much as his knowledge, in Medicine and Mathematics. »
Gabrino creates Knights of the Apocalypse. He calls himself the Prince of the
Seventh Number. The weapons of his sect are a saber and a blazing star. Many of
these Knights were simple artisans who always worked with their sword at their side.
Although very dangerous, they were very charitable. Everything that Gabrino, who thus
called himself Monarch of the Holy Trinity, did, is still practiced faithfully today, and even
with more fanaticism. The worthy Chief, finding himself in the Church on Palm Sunday
in the year 1694, while the antiphon was being sung, Who is this King of glory, walked,
sword in hand, among the Ecclesiastics , and exclaims that it was him. He
71
died five years later at Petites-Maisons. About thirty of his disciples were arrested; the
rest dispersed.
The Doctor Pierre Apono, who owed his mystical knowledge to seven elves holding
their academic sessions in a bottle, by a magic whose secret has been lost, brought
back in the evening the money he had lost in the morning.
This happy madman found a Duke of Urbino who placed his statue among those of
illustrious men. The Senate of Padua had it erected alongside that of Livy.
Don't we see his successors finding such fanatical protectors every day? If they don't
get statues, at least they have medals, and they don't even need to get back the money
they spend during the day.
Read the story of Valentin Greatrik, Irish, who lived in 1665. "He was a man of fairly
good house, who had been Lieutenant of a Company during the Irish War, and who had
subsequently held some offices in Corck County. He had a great appearance of
simplicity in his morals. He seemed to have the gift of healing.... This Impostor, half
Prophet, half Doctor, attributed all illnesses to Spirits; all infirmities were for him demonic
possessions.... The King ordered him to go to Whitehall, where the Court was not too
convinced of his gift of miracles.... He could not persuade the Philosophers, it was
written against him with force; but he also had his defenders. He published a letter in
which he gave an abbreviated history of his life. » His credit diminished as he became
known. Soon without followers, without help and without esteem, he was forced to
disappear.
Let us add to these examples the tragic adventure of Mademoiselle de la Palus,

Initiated by Curé Gaufredi.... Without doubt it is terrible to burn a madman; but here are
the effects of this sect.... the ridiculous project of the Librarian of Richelieu, Jacques
Gaffarel, wanting to give the history of the underground world, that is to say, of the
Spirits inhabiting hell and limbo.. .. the unfortunate Martin Gonzalves, burned by the
Inquisition, to teach him to call himself the Angel Michael.
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O detestable errors! O madness of the human spirit! These examples would prove
to you, if this nomenclature did not ultimately become monotonous and tedious, Great
Men of the day! Boast of your origin, glory in your founders, and your role models.
Strange blindness! we do not dare denounce, proscribe, anathematize the same
scandalous turpitudes that past centuries have covered with ignominy. We are warned
by history, supported by the advice of sensible people, we are guided by experience,
and we do not know how to tear down modern idols, or make them expire under the lash
of ridicule.
Committant eadem diverso crimina fato,

Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema.
We might say that because madmen have abused the doctrine, we should not
conclude against it, and that chemistry and poetry have made many people lose their
minds. To respond to this objection, it is enough to explain what has always been
thought about the occult sciences. We can go back to the mysteries of Ceres, which
present several points of connection with the Illuminated Ones. In both associations
there are Initiates, secrets, nocturnal assemblies, oaths, and we can apply to both this
verse from Lucretius:
Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque, mensque.
As (Note XIII) in our days the most virtuous men were proscribed if they had not
been Initiated; such was Epaminondas, one of the greatest Heroes of Greece. As in our
days the Hierophants sold to gullible men the power of a world which was not theirs:
Let's see what people thought in Greece about the Initiates. Since their
establishment, “contempt for the most sacred oaths and contracts was always increasing,
to the point that Polibe frankly admitted that there was no longer a shadow of good faith
in Greece. There we saw unfortunate people perjure themselves a hundred times in one
day, under the pretext that heaven had been assured to them by the Hierophants.... It is
absurd, they were told, to celebrate during the night of
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mysteries which would still be very dangerous when celebrated in broad daylight. It is
absurd to demand the most absolute silence concerning a doctrine which cannot be too
public, if it is true; and if it is not true, you are the most guilty of mortals in preaching it. »
Isn't that what we could say to the Illuminated? “It was necessary,” they added, “to
protect by great force things that were so weak in themselves, and which could not have
supported themselves if it had been permitted to discuss them according to ordinary
rules and common notions; but as it was forbidden to the Initiates, under penalty of
death, (as well as in our days to speak of the mysteries) those who had been victims of
the Hierophants, did not dare to complain about it, nor to stop those who were going to
be drawn into the same abyss; and it is by such extraordinary means that superstition
retained its energy for so long, and perpetuated its empire for so long.5 "
In all times, in all countries, Magicians, Soothsayers, Sorcerers, Alchemists,

Visionaries, any beings trading with the devil, have been deemed evil, mad, rogues,
duped when speaking of Iamblichus, Plotinus, Porphyry, a famous author says: it is
from their ashes that we saw born in the middle of the eighteenth century, "the
Illuminated, the Mystics, the Physiognomists, the Adepts, the Jugglers, the Prestigiators,
and all that we can imagine infamous and dangerous men among a civilized people.
Some countries of Europe appear threatened with falling not only into the absurdities of
theurgy, but into a complete state of madness and imbecility.
It is from the mouths of the Sectarians themselves that I would like to hear what
they think of each other; everyone goes astray, but it is not in the same errors. Now,
with what determination do they not destroy each other? Listen to the Visionaries ridicule
the Spiritual Magnetizers, that is to say those who make a superstitious alloy of the
immediate influence of God and a purely physical cause. See the Illuminated ones
themselves, proscribed with
5
Philosophical Research on the Greeks, volume II, part III, page 217 et seq.
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a fanatical audacity, the gullible disciples of Swedenborg. How harshly is the pious
Lavater treated by his Antagonists? I am not talking about the true Philosophers, who
must have necessarily confused it with all those who attack reason, I am only talking
about the Sectarians enemies of their belief.
They all consider the whole world as their domain, of which their rivals are the usurpers.
Everyone believes they are called to carry out a revolution; everyone prepares it. All are
more or less successful; all are plunged back into nothingness.
But as long as the paroxysm lasts, the earth suffers, a new scourge torments it, blood
flows, nature groans, Society decomposes, and the calamity strikes everything that
exists at this period.
This is the history of all Sects. This is how that of the Illuminated will end. How
many evils would come to he who would suffocate him in the cradle, and who would
justify a moment of violence by the laws imposed on him by the past, the unsuccessful
repository of all salutary lessons. What use
are our literature, our historiographers, our academies, if not to preserve useful
memories? We praise ourselves at pleasure; we constantly boast of our progress; we
raise our century above the others; what do these vain apologies mean? We recreate
the same scenes as our predecessors and even more ridiculous. I don't know which
Writer told us that the foolishness of fathers was lost on the children. Never has this
truth been felt better than in the present moment. Reading our modern brochures,
listening to the Doctors of the day, they seem to speak of discoveries, whereas they are
only tedious repetitions. A German Professor even proved to us that Magnetism was
renewed from the Greeks. I do not claim to place this curious branch of Physics among
the reveries of the Illuminated; but only to prove that what we believe to be the least
known has already occupied those who preceded us on this globe, who only reproduce
the same ideas in different brains.
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CHAPTER XIII
What we think of the Founders of the modern Sect
All associations, under whatever name they have existed, have gloried in their
Leaders. The Religious Orders boasted of having given Popes to the Church and
obtained the apotheosis of their Founders. The honors of canonization do not lead to
the worship of reasonable men; but at least they were never lavished on immoral men,
and the suffrage of the Nation had preceded the decrees of Rome.
In the sect of the Illuminated, where everything is bizarre, the leaders of the sect
have left the most equivocal name, if not completely banned. Arius, father of one of the
errors which reigned with the most empire in the first centuries of Christianity, and which
has since degenerated into Socinianism, Arius, I say, was gifted with great eloquence,
and respectable by austerity of his morals.
“Quesnel had a heart beyond his birth and his fortune, a singular talent for writing easily,
with unction and elegance. » It was not extraordinary to give in to the gentle persuasion
of Fénelon who was mistaken in such good faith. Luther had a strong imagination, aided
by the mind, nourished by study. Calvin made supporters through his spirit, and retained
them through his zeal, his activity and his address. But what men are those whose
contemptible existence I am going to recall for the last time! or rather, why give a kind of
existence to men who would rather have deserved the animosity of the laws than
confidence; adventurers without birth, without education, without natural spirit, without
acquired talents; emerged from the dregs, wandering under
supposed names, having only imbeciles for protectors, only fanatics for followers,
only dupes for supporters. What a bizarre and monstrous assemblage of principles!
Getting lost in the higher regions of spirituality, raising the human condition, to the point
of putting it in contact with these powers stripped of all material envelope, and giving it
for everything
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work, any reward, the vile profession of purifying, of transmuting metals; to associate,
so to speak, the gifts of the Divinity, such as thought, the knowledge of celestial things,
with the gifts of the earth; as if, in the eyes of the broad naturalist, there were some
difference between diamonds and earth, between gold and copper.
This Saint-Germain, after having scandalized thirty towns and duped two hundred
apprentice chemists, meets a Great, born liberal and sensitive: he resolves to end the
course of his juggling with him: Here is the speech he gave to him: “For almost eighty
years old, (he was then seventy-seven) I seek a man, a man of whom I can make a
chosen vessel, and fill with the celestial dew that I gathered in the promised land. He
must know nothing, and be adept at everything. Other knowledge would hold in his
memory the place of that which I must introduce there; and light and darkness, pure and
impure, God and man do not combine together. I know you little from myself, and a lot
from those you do not know, but whom you will know one day. Heaven placed in your
pure soul the seeds of all qualities; let me develop them; become the celestial vessel
into which supernatural truths will flow. You are invited, or at least you will be, to rule
kingdoms; lend your care and genius to humans, but give your time and study to the
Supreme Master. At the age of twenty-seven, you will find yourself, in a few months,
turning ninety. I will have excited, worked, achieved for you; become a prodigy for the
rest of humans, you will be nothing in the eyes of God, if you are content to be the light
of a planet. Custodian of the most astonishing secrets, you will be able to stop the
march of the stars, and will hold in your hands the destiny of empires; but knowledge is
only a treasure as long as the one who gives it directs its use. »
The Great, astonished to be a genius, enchanted to become a prodigy, beside

himself thinking that he was going to rule Europe, lowers his eyes, prostrates himself,
and only gets up to go and have a castle worthy of him prepared. Thaumaturge.
When it was well established, preparations began, and the great day was
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fixed. What are the secrets that we see hatching? The art of giving copper more luster
and ductility, the way of purifying fine stones, two marvels that three German Chemists
taught in their learned lessons. What are we still experiencing? A purgative that each
Pharmacopolis composes and sells to the people: a host of liqueurs, of which more than
one Distiller had already paid secrecy in France and Italy. Besides, the stars trod like
Ordinarily, Europe experienced no revolution, not even a very small part which persisted
in refusing the political medicine that was being prepared for it. We lived on promises
for several years, nothing happened; we surprised even God in his very human functions.
Eyes were never opened, and while burying the Prophet, people believed in his
miraculous ascension.
What was this Schropfer (XIV), the God of the Illuminated today? A Cup Player, ten
times less skillful than Jonas and Pinetti. Punishable charlatan, who, to surprise your
confidence, began by attacking your reason. How is a man who drank punch not
unmasked? And isn't it a hundred times more apparent that we are rather his accomplice
than his dupe? It was so easy to convince yourself that his miracles were due to
electricity; but instead of seeing in him only a Precursor of Comus, we tried hard to find
an inspired Reformer.
What is the Order of Knights and Initiated Brothers of Asia (Note XV), in which
Harmonica publicly favored deceptions, and where a spirit called Gablydone plays one
of the principal roles. It seems that we wanted to imitate the last efforts of delirium, and
completely dishonor reason
human.
Among those who have highly espoused the principles of institutions, dividing their
leisure time between tricks of the crook and tricks of Visionaries, is there a single man
whom the Sciences recognize, whom the Universities recognize, including Germany
has granted the reputation, whose works, marked with the seal of genius and profound
reason, make a great Writer admire a great lost Man? Is it then on the faith of vulgar Or
minds,
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abject by their ignorance, ridiculous by their pretensions, unknown to all who think that
it will be necessary to adopt a new order of things? A century is barely enough to
familiarize ourselves with the sublime ideas of Newton, to take advantage of the
discoveries of Franklin, to convert Chemistry into a useful art, to learn to think in Bayle,
in Shastbury, in Locke, and we will become the Disciples from whom...? Supplement,
Readers, and compare the famous names that I cite with the contemptible names that I
keep silent. You see, like me, what a frightening gallery I could lead you into. Perhaps I
should bring together the portraits of modern Charlatans in one place, tear off their
masks? It's not the courage that I lack, but in the eyes of timid readers, personalities
would weaken what I have said; and for some victims who it would be right to immolate,
there are some who still need to be pitied and tried to enlighten.
A single reflection would produce this happy effect, if reflection had not become the
rarest thing among most men. Even among the Sectarians, the name Enlightened One
has become an insult. We want to be known as a Hernhute, as an Anabaptist, as a
Quaker, as a Jew even. But we want to see spirits and not be suspected of them. Out
of a hundred Sectarians there are not two who dared to publicly maintain that they have
seen immaterial beings as they assert among themselves. There is not one in a
thousand who wanted to tell in public what he does in the nocturnal sessions. Now, what
is a Doctrine to be ashamed of? what is a cult that we disavow. Finally, I know such an
Enlightened One whom Society rejects from its midst, who is refused the smallest job;
who has attracted universal contempt, and who, in the administration of the Order, is
invested with responsibility; important, and the confessed author of a vast
correspondence. How do you sup with a man you wouldn't dare approach while out
walking? crime is therefore not a subject of exclusion in this abominable brotherhood?
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CHAPTER XIV
From the state where the countries deemed protective of the Sect are found
The desire to connect the atom of mud on which we are agitated, causes us to cast our
gaze, without it, on the Nations which surround us; allies or enemies, in the security of peace,
or in the horrors of war; in lethargic languor, or in prosperous activity. This moment offers us
France giving the world the spectacle of a revolution whose motives must be well known before
judging the means; England meditating on some great projects, invoking, in secret, much less
victory than peace; Poland seeming to want to shake off the yoke of oppression; Holland, where
we see the tranquility of helplessness, but where we hear the dull murmurs of despair. In the
midst of interests so foreign to the subject we are dealing with, one would be tempted to believe
that the system of the Illuminated is a barely visible point. Our fears seem like chimeras, our
paintings pass for exaggerations. Ah! If unbelievers lived in certain countries, they would see
how weak our color brushes are, perhaps too cautious.
Yes, there are countries where there are a hundred Cagliostro, raised in ranks, favored by
the gifts of fortune, who only have to speak to be believed. Their guilty iniquities are revealed;
the imposture of a retired ventriloquist; the fraudulent fumigation through which bodies appear
shadows; the incredible stupidity of a sixty-year-old in love, certifying to his unfaithful mistress
that a spirit is revealing to him, through the chimney pipe, the story of his numerous perfidies.
The horror of their initiations, the crime of their oaths, the infamy of espionage are divulged in
twenty different books. The newspapers and gazettes are filled with the follies of a lost people.
No one contradicts these assertions; the Curious are witnesses to it, many are its victims,
honest souls are torn apart by it. Well ! the perpetrators of these calamities
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disastrous people peacefully enjoy the confidence of their Masters, or rather their
authority. There are men who are weak enough, writers who are venal enough, readers
who are stupid enough, to come to their defense.
Without doubt they will not bring iron and fire into the Kingdoms. We are no longer
in the time of civil wars. Moreover, it is not civil wars that destroy Empires: it is the
confusion of good and bad principles; it is the internal unraveling in all parts of the
Administration; it is the extinction of all patriotic feeling; it is the infamous trade in human
blood which depopulates the soil, which imports without enriching the countries where
the paid machines are transplanted; it is the stagnation of knowledge, of the arts, of
everything that makes up enlightened Society.
There are countries where commerce, the distributor of all powers, is suspended in
its progress. We assassinate national industry, we proscribe what we must allow, we
tolerate what we must defend, we seem to restore freedom, and we consume the
embarrassment. Where do these strange misunderstandings come from? From the
profound ignorance of the Chiefs. We were only able to choose from among incapable
beings, and because we took the least inept, we did not have educated men. This is a
point on which we cannot weigh too much. Who are the disciples of this new religion?
Men who are imbeciles, talkative or intriguing. One writes mystical letters, or at least the
lines, the other talks and always boasts of the secrets he does not have, or stealing
those he abuses: this one, always in the air, steals from Course to Course, spies,
catechizes, and seals his divine mission, with promises that take the place of miracles;
he makes his country the meeting place for all the madmen of Europe, who still appear
wise next to him. Pauséas, with a benign appearance, with flat hair, a hypocritical look,
a honeyed tone, his pockets full of topicals against gout, insults the Philosophers, puts
an unbelieving father of a family to begging, peddles mystical libels, and stains to convert
the sermons of the Priests into seditious speeches. Mézarion promises to astonish
Europe with a complete revolution, and familiarizes himself every day with the divine
spirits
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who must one day surrender to his cooperators. What are the worthy instruments that
make the serene machines act? Scoundrels adorned with ribbons, officers who sell girls,
canons who play comedy, literary musicians, financiers who ape disinterestedness, fiery
preachers, theologians, by turns atheists and deifies, a philosophical histrion, a impure
abbot, spending the day at the banquet and the night with Messalina. These are the
great men of the day, the teachers of the nations, the lights of the new Gospel.
Sky ! what Tyrant dishes have you delivered to the world?
What choice should we make among this disgusting mass of vices, weakness,
imbecility? Also, in all genres, the regions are struck by sterility! There are barely a few
energetic souls, and like these plants which grow on foreign soil, we see that they were
born for vigorous efforts; but every year they degenerate. The extremities are such that
the calamity is in its final period, since we blush for our Homeland. Ah! why do we blush?
Because we calculate all the degrees of its decadence.
Suffering is a lot, but falling away is everything. The man accustomed to glorying in his
country experiences deep sorrow when he sees premature degradation, the work of a
century overturned in a day. The evils are undoubtedly not completed in such a short
space, and that itself is an evil. As soon as the machine is shaken, we are certain of its
fall, and we have the pain of seeing every day a part of the building fall away.
If all the misfortunes are already so noticeable, a time when the sect is only showing
itself successfully, what will it be like when time has familiarized men with absurdities?
For such is the human spirit; time accustoms him to the most bizarre objects. The
mysteries are celebrated today in remote and almost unknown places; in twenty years
they will be celebrated in temples.
To anyone watching, change is rapid. Today we see men arriving, who had voluntarily
immersed themselves in a useful
82
darkness; brazen panegyrists, attaching themselves to the chariot of those who

considered themselves lucky when they obtained indulgence; soldiers, hitherto placed
in the temple of glory, go and burn their laurels at the feet of people who caress them to
degrade them, unable to disguise themselves as their praises taint whoever welcomes
them.
We still see men who, at the beginning of a new era, generously declared
themselves for the party of truth, deserting it little by little, finding possible what had
seemed absurd to them, joining forces, under the pretext of being instructed , become a
zealous apostle, believing that he is only a fair defender.
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CHAPTER XV
Various means of weakening the credit of the Sect
It is you that the earth implores, you, custodians of science and engineering!
Far from you the precautions calculated on the storms of the future. It is neither by general
truths, nor by allusions whose meaning is distorted by self-love, nor by allegories beyond the
sagacity of the vulgar readers, that we must combat a scourge threatening Kings, nations,
society; it is by unmasking the sectarians, it is by denouncing them. How little courage this
war will require if people of letters reflect that Kings need their creative lights much more than
they need their meager pensions.
What would a country be without Jurisconsults, without Priests, without Doctors, without
Engineers, without Architects, without Arithmeticians, without Artists, without Guardians of

History. The immense People that the sciences form and polish would exist without Kings; but
Kings would not exist without him, or they would reign over brutes, over harsh fields, over the
land of fire. Let the honest, sincere and truly educated man therefore learn to esteem himself,
not to indulge in foolish pride, which would obscure his talents and weaken his means; but to
nourish this courage of the soul, which is the first of the virtues, or rather the home where all
are purified and strengthened.
FIRST MEDIUM
Writings of Men of Letters
What means will he use? First of all, unfortunately, we must employ the present
generation: care must be given to the one that follows it. It is by making people adore and
respect the truth, it is by representing Religion under the guise of Wisdom, it is by substituting
the art of fair reasoning for the puerilities of the first Schools, for poetic fictions, and for the
figures of eloquence too much
84
popular. It is by making men, and not Rhetoricians, Jurisconsults,

Naturalists, that the mind will take a form rebellious to the errors which
seize it so easily.
SECOND MEDIUM
Inspire a love of reading
Why do the most revolting absurdities find such easy access? This is,
it must be admitted, because no one reads. I completely subtract the
peoples sown in the countryside; and I dare to admit that there are not ten
people out of a thousand who cultivate their minds. There are not five who
are enlightened, there is not one in a thousand who is deeply instructed (Note XVI).
This frightening calculation is unfortunately all too accurate. The first cause
of this indifference to reading is that there is too little benefit in devoting
young people to study. The places which bring, commonly, honor, are also
the most lucrative, and almost all reserved for titled ignorance.
The second cause is that nothing is rarer than Teachers who know how to
communicate their enlightenment. The talent of teaching is the last period
of clarity of mind. Few Masters know the difficult art of awakening the desire
to know. In private education, tutors are pedantic or they are nothing. And
of all the conditions of life, perhaps there is not one where it is so rare to
find a man at the level of his place.
THIRD MEAN
New Education
Careful education would lead to a very effective remedy. It is a wisely

directed journey, for those to whom fortune permits it, and there are those
to whom their position commands it. Ideas expand in the spaces we travel
through. We learn in England to blush at credulity; and although this famous
island contains species of Sects, all as humiliating to reason as Jansenism,
the Moravians, the Hernhutes, at least it holds the
85
Saint-Germain, the Cagliostro at a great distance. It contains, if necessary, the Gordons.

In other countries the application to commerce, in Switzerland agriculture, pleasure in
France, the fine arts in Italy, natural history in some parts of Germany, the fanaticism of
liberty in America, distract from these dark and fanatical thoughts, which exercise their
sway with too much success in some parts of the North.
FOURTH MEAN
Reform in the Order of Freemasons
I will not hesitate to present a major reform in Masonry as a remedy. But this
delicate article is capable of a very detailed explanation; and I ask the Reader to weigh
my words scrupulously.
The Order of Freemasons may be less ancient than we believe (Note XVII), but
spread throughout the world, its object is charity, equality of conditions; and perfect
harmony. England is its cradle, although the observations of the Historian of Alsace
have nevertheless spread some doubts.
Their regime was in turn spoiled, purified, reformed, perfected. The more confident
Englishman has obeyed the same laws since lukewarm times; Francis, always eager
for pleasure, mixes a little gaiety with the most holy things. Le Germain, more solid,
wanted to take the institution to a more sublime level. The assemblies have an estimable
purpose. A single individual full of zeal is often reduced to sterile wishes; for what can a
single man do against the general misfortune? But the large number who contribute to
this or that operation can do a lot; and it is to the point that two Lodges in a town have
sometimes made begging disappear.
After this very sincere profession of respect, I will allow myself to observe that
abuses have crept in. Sometimes it served as a pretext for outrageous dissipation, as
an asylum for fanaticism, and more often lent its regime, its temples, its speakers, to the
sect of the Illuminated, as we have more fully established. It would therefore be a
question of preserving this beneficial society, and of
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prevent abuses (Note XVIII), and rather imitate the Emperor who keeps it
with modifications, than Naples who drives it out with ignominy. Would it
not be possible to direct the Freemasons even against the Illuminated, by
demonstrating that while they work to preserve harmony in society, they
sow the seeds of discord everywhere, and prepare the destruction of
Freemasons in any country where the succession of reigns will only bring
once a philosopher Sovereign (Note XIX). If in Frederick's good days the
picture of evil had been brought before his eyes, he would have taken the
ax to the root and toppled the tree, instead of cutting down the parasitic
branches. The Freemasons would therefore remedy great evils if they
destroyed, 1°. the chapters, the mysterious assemblies of the high ranks;
2°. if they abolished extraordinary contributions, and limited themselves to
the modest expenses of maintaining a Lodge; 3°. if the Scottish Lodges
obtained from the Governments the suppression of the Eclectic,
Sinzendorffian, Reformed Lodges; 4°. if they only chose as speakers
people known to have a little philosophy in their principles, and true
enlightenment, to unmask if necessary the hypocritical views of the Illuminated.
The effect of these means will be neither rapid nor complete; but he will
start a revolution. If the Freemasons cannot exist with the modifications, I
say this with regret, then it would be better if they did not exist. The good
they do cannot be compared to the harm they cause.
FIFTH MEAN
Ridicule
It is to the Theater that we should entrust the annihilation of this dark

Sect. The protective Sovereigns would undoubtedly not allow it to be
performed before their eyes. But there are still countries from which the
Illuminated are banned. If two or three theaters did justice to it, jokes would
circulate, happy features would be applied everywhere; we would cite the
new Aristophanes. Ridicule taints, consideration declines, and soon we
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deserts a Party that has become the subject of universal sarcasm. It is not a The State
Bourdaloue. We enjoy needs a Molière, perhaps more than a paradox to say that
the benefits of the first every day, and we no longer see traces of the eloquence of the
second. I do not insist on a doctrine which is so easy to abuse and so difficult to
demonstrate error.
If ever men provided a great subject for comic verve, it is in the bizarre association
of the Visionaries. The weakness of credulity, the failings of false minds, what we call
stupidity, that is to say the inability to put two things together, the detours of hypocrisy,
the clumsiness of liars, ridiculous fears would become a fertile source of jokes under the
brushes of some modern Plautus. And while honesty, delicacy, sometimes reproaches
us for the laughter that the image of our faults presented with witty malignity extracts
from us, here virtue, probity, should rejoice in hearing the victims cry out under the stylus
of the epigram or under the rod of satire. Pity then would become a kind of crime; and
those to whom nature has not given the talent to sharpen an epigram must compensate
themselves by the publicity of their votes, and the intoxication of their applause.
The Nation that most needs remedies is little sensitive to the salt of irony, and its
language is little suited to spreading it. However, we see the dawn of a more refined
taste; and four or five plays over the past few years have led us to presume that the
Theater could use the language of careful reason and delicate wit.
In vain we try to demean periodical works; however, these are the ones we read; it
is the story of the moment, of discoveries, of beautiful deeds. The Witnesses exist; the
Characters are in scenes. They confirm or deny the omens; they maintain hope. The
Journals are the annals of Nations; it is this historical deposit so vaunted among the
Chinese, and less reality perhaps than among us. There are those devoted to Military
Art, Agriculture, Commerce, Physics, Religion; why shouldn't there be one that would
record the errors of the human mind, and especially
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those which tend towards the destruction of Society? Les Éphémérides du Citoyen en
France inspired the taste for rural economy. This science has spread over different
branches of Government; we studied its mysterious progress, verified the suspected
abuses, presented the remedies. Hence the works on the Theory of Taxation, on the
Rights of the People, on Perception. MM.
Quesnay, de Mirabeau, Beaudeau, le Thrône, Dupont, Turgot, and so many others,
have rendered repeated services to their Country. Why not hope for the same success
from a work directed by thoughtful feathers, against enemies so weak, although so
dangerous, who, like these nocturnal birds, lose their existence at the sight of the sun.
We must not fight them, but make them known. Nothing can better serve such a project
than a storm which, by its nature, is the work of everyone, where everyone is called to
deduce their proofs; work which, without being approved by the Government,
nevertheless has a kind of sanction, and promptly distributes the truths of which it is
made depository.
These means are weak and uncertain; who is more imbued with their inadequacy!
They will be increased by Citizens who do not yet despair of the Fatherland. As for me,
whom circumstances have placed in the cruel necessity of delving deeper into the
perversity of the Sect and knowing the extent of its ravages, I admit that my hope is
wavering and that my courage is almost defeated; I see all the passions interested in
supporting the system of the Illuminated; I see the Leaders of Nations precipitating their
People into the abyss; and the evil is all the more irremediable because they believe
they are pouring torrents of light on them and improving their conditions; I see that the
Leaders of the Sect, having also become the rulers of the Kings, should abdicate the
authority they have usurped and renounce the treasures at their disposal. I see that all
the great resources which Society makes precious use of to restrain the inclinations of
men, such as Religion, the Law, are without force to break an association which has
made itself a cult, and places itself above of all human legislation. I finally see a chain of
calamities whose end is lost in the night of ages, similar to these underground fires
whose insatiable
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activity devours the bowels of the globe and escapes into the air in a violent and
devastating explosion.
Hey! why, people will cry, inspire your discouragement in us? Would you answer
that your fears are not exaggerated? what remains for us to try, if the evil is without
remedy?
Most men are so far from being able to repeat this objection that they hardly believe
in the existence of the scourge which will overwhelm them. The moment we are
convinced of this, the essential blow is dealt to the Sect. True men, dedicated to the
Fatherland, friends of virtue, will form a league against anything that is suspicious. I
sound the alarm, not so that people embrace my fears and follow my banner, but so that
a salutary concern may descend into all hearts. To free themselves from this secret
trouble, everyone will question their oracles; from this multitude of responses will be
born an agreement of opinions which will relieve minds. Evil itself is worse than the
vague desolation of uncertainty. One of the most learned men of this century replied to
one of his friends who said to him: Is this association of Theosophists such a great evil?
“it is not an evil, it is the assembly of all evils. »
If we could say everything we know, while only saying the truth, what a frightening
picture we would present! But even that; that we are obliged to remain silent, what does
he announce?
Moreover, if in the course of this Essay, where I did not have to think about style, I
had moved away from this wise moderation, which is almost always at the expense of
general utility, perhaps I would be excusable, if we reflect that I am constantly interrupted
by a new calamity. Sometimes it is a Being removed from the mud, from contempt, to
be brought back into the light, and to take away a place from those who had the right to
claim it; sometimes it is the advice of enlightened ignorance; which precipitates a Nation
into steps whose imprudence perhaps a century will not erase. It is always a new step
towards decadence, a spectacle all the more desolate because it does not leave even
the hope of a better fate.
90
O you who fill the earth with great deeds and great virtues, Fame! carry your
harmonious trumpet elsewhere, and pity the destiny of the Austrian and the Hungarian,
who will, for a foreign cause, brave the fire of the cannon, the horrors of the plague, and
the cruelty of slavery; say the magnanimous courage of these Magistrates, who carried
the honor of the Laws into the languor of exile, and preferred to save the remains of the
Magistracy to reassemble them in happier times, than to legitimize the blow which struck
them in recognizing authority; tells the Nations friends of liberty, that the Patriots are
preparing to rise from their ashes, and are amassing vengeance to bring it forth in more
prosperous times; teach timid Europe, by the example of a reasonable Pontiff, the use
it must make of these treasures, useless to the glory of the Saints, who, if they exist,
despise the childishness of the earth. But buried in a salutary silence, the shameful
operations of proud incapacity, the barbarities and the pillaging of paid brigands; the
multiplied outrages done to the souls of Great Men. Never publish that a Captain, even
more passionate than valiant, counts for nothing the victims sacrificed to his ambition,
provided that their blood makes the laurels grow; leave in unofficial oblivion names
unworthy of being known, and the greatest of your benefits will be to spare them the
shame of appearing in History; spread a thick veil over the odious intrigues spun by men
who have conspired to shame the Sovereigns, unworthy maneuvers which leave
services without rewards, virtue without honor, talent without protection, truth without
homage, the Fatherland without glory, the Throne without support, genius without
employment, Society without harmony, hearts without friendship, mind without spring,
reason without exercise, the unfortunate without asylum, the wise without hope, and
even Kings without security.
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NOTES
FIRST NOTE
And other Theosophists go, whose names should have the fate of their talents,
that is to say, remain forever unknown (page 14)
They are widespread throughout Germany and known from mystical books,
or hieroglyphic correspondences. In Weimar there is a Mr.
B... Revered Pontiff of this new Church, an honest man moreover; but tormented
by the desire to play a role; in Scheswick, two brothers who judge the validity of
miracles and canonize the Saints of Eclectic Freemasonry; in Breslau, a fanatical
Military man, full of virtues and courage, but so blinded by the Coryphées of the
Sect, that he would fight for them as he fought for the Fatherland; in Hamburg, a
Society unknown to the multitude, but making Proselytes whom it dispersed
throughout Prussia and Sweden. In a word, there are few cities where there are not
places of error.
NOTE II
A Banker puts Melchizedek above Jesus Christ (page 17)
This is not the place to write a complete dissertation; but the Banker is not the
first who has ventured such an opinion. It is true that his supporters say that
Melchizedek is an allegorical character, whom they take on with characters specific
to the divinity. On this subject, one can appease one's curiosity in the dissertation
on Enoch, which Voltaire used in his questions on the Encyclopedia.
NOTE III
We cannot say that the Visionary System has replaced Philosophy (p. 18)
It is true that women, formerly amiable, instead of giving in devotion, throw

themselves into Theosophy; that the people of the world begin to
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do theologians, and that there is a disposition to credulity, unknown even at the end of
the reign of Louis XIV. It seems that men can only ever change their errors, and that
they are condemned to be dominated by daring philosophers or by credulous reasoners.
NOTE IV
They were governed by a single man more despotically than by the most absolute
Monarch (page 21)
Unfortunately we must agree that this is how we must govern men, when we want
to use them usefully. Justice must be severe; in matters of government, extreme severity
is little more than despotism.
Kingdoms, armies, great bodies can only exist when they are held by a firm will. I know
well that this reasoning admits many nuances, but I know even better that in practice
they fade away.
NOTE V
Or the sessions on rue Platrière (page 26)
There was in this street a kind of Temple whose High Priest was M. d'E***, the one
who has just opposed the registration of the Edict in favor of the Protestants. Magnetism
was the pretext, but the goal was an exhortation to go back to the hidden sources of all
light, contained in Theosophy. A small printout was distributed, on which was also a
mass of hieroglyphic engravings. The note, the Preacher, the Institution were made fun
of; and she has fallen, at least for the moment. M. d'E*** will set up his trestles
somewhere else. He must preach or remonstrate. However, we are beginning to give
him the justice that is due to him; if visionaries approach, sensible people withdraw.
This man greatly reduced the benefit that the Government intended for non-
Catholics. By dint of rioting, of crying scandal, he formed a party; to soothe a body
always ready to catch fire, we have
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sought tempers and weakened a grace that resembled justice. If courageous pens had
put Mr. d'E*** in his place, he would have been deprived of the power to do harm: but
everything is libel in the eyes of certain people. Wicked people and fools have so many
protectors that they enjoy the freedom they take away from others.
NOTE VI
Or the nocturnals of Berlin (page 31)
"Mr. de..... overwhelmed by affairs of state, and who can only give his precious time
to Jewish bankers, has nevertheless found the means of decorating a mysterious room
in his house, to evoke the spirits , and perform the ceremonies of worship received in
Jesuitism. This house was sold to the King, who must present it to Mr. Dubosc, one of
the High Priests of this Religion. As soon as the King was seized from the Throne, this
place was contacted for magical operations. But how can Jesus and Belial be reunited?
This question does not embarrass the Apostles who know how to make proselytes to
their Religion through hypocritical gentleness. The shape of this enchanted apartment is
square; one of the sides is lined with small furnaces, in which the mystery of fumigation
is carried out. In the middle of this temple is a small elevation, on which the Spirit
appears under a white veil, a veil woven in France, and which is brought from this
kingdom, we find only the qualities attributed to it. This veil hides from the eyes of blind
spectators, a man who enters the mound, when the hour of charlatanry approaches: the
imposter who lends himself to this gross deception, is a ventriloquist, and imitates
language quite well as credulity lent to the spirits. Not content with this innocent
deception, the corners of the temple are furnished with magic mirrors, in which those we
conjure represent themselves. A great Lord often witnesses this cabal of a new kind; but
the impression is so strong on him that he can only resist it with the help of restorative
drops. They are the composition of the ventriloquist Steinert, who receives a five hundred
crown pension from this august proselyte, for the art of distilling this magical and
comforting potion. He
94
is implied that we give this juggling all the trappings of a religious festival, that we put
ascetic expressions into the mute and eloquent mouth of the ventriloquist, and that we
take all the precautions to shroud the whole thing in clouds mystery. What to think now
of a state where the leaders of this combined imposture hold the first rank, either in civil
affairs or in the military? What can we say, when we see that it is through this testing
room that the subjects placed by B.... and W.... must pass?
These gentlemen have a perfidious art of seducing minds tending to credulity, and
winning them over to Jesuitism. They are a skillful mixture of their occult knowledge and
their known credit; they promise fortune or distinctions, seize the leaders of the State,
and thus ensure a certain number of votes for their guilty operations. Finally, they hide
their unbridled ambition under an apparent moderation, and confuse Masonry, the
Illuminati and the Martinists: they use popular errors in their system, and rising above,
call themselves citizens of the world; They graduate the confidences, the preparations
with great art, and even redouble their caution, since followers have been defectors from
their order, unable to appease their revolted conscience at the sight of the horrors which
are naturalized in this sect. But these virtuous apostates could not reveal the mysteries,
either because they had taken oaths, or because their lives were threatened; that's what
we saw in the way they hid their true feelings. »
“The example of the Cagliostros, of the Lavaters, proves that the Kings, the Dukes,
the Greats of this world have an invincible penchant for what is supernatural, but without
becoming wiser or more human as a result. What then can be the motive which brings
down the pride of Kings to these vile brotherhoods, where, despite the exterior of
respect, their ignorance and their credulity are only flouted. If there was a secret in this
order, it would be precisely the Greats who would not learn it. How can they be
fascinated by people who can never serve a State, since their correspondence, their
machinations, their apostolate must take a time that business demands: they want
95
revive the magicians of Egypt; but the century of the Pharaohs has passed, and despite
their efforts, there will not be a second one. As soon as they learn that, in any part of
the world, there is an educated man, or reputed to be so, they call him; and this new
burden for the State weighs on it due to
of his birth and ability. »
(Secret Letters, or Correspondence on the early days of the reign of Frederick

William.)
NOTE VII
These are the Salon des oubliettes (page 29)
Pleasure house of Cardinal de R., Castle located in Ruelles, a town two leagues
from Paris. A financier has since become its owner. He imagined that treasure was
buried there; ordered a search, and found a closed well, at the bottom of which were
the bones of about forty corpses. They were so many victims immolated for the safety
of the tyrant.
(Corresp. Litt. Secret).
NOTE VIII
And that the Journal de Berlin made known (page 34)
We want to talk about the Monatsfchrist, far superior to all the Journals of Berlin,
and most of those of Europe. He was criticized for dwelling too much on the affairs of
the enlightened. Is there a more important issue for Germany today? When this
periodical work were entirely devoted to it, it would be a great good for reason and for
humanity. Enough others will teach us that Damis made a comedy, that Cléon gave a
lovely novel: that there is at least one man of wit, a true philosopher, in pursuit of error.
It is this Journal which has preserved for us the following anecdote.
Letter on an anecdote from Swedenborg
In the January 1788 issue, there is talk of Swedenborg, his mystical feelings, his
alleged apparitions, and the imbecile fanaticism
96
which, nowadays, accredits such extravagances. I do not belong to the sect of

visionaries, I have not openly taken sides against them, although I consider their
chimeras to be harmful, and I consider it one of my duties to prevent, as much as
possible, the progress of the error. It is with this in mind that I share with you the
following anecdote.
In 1771, a person I cannot name; after having praised Swedenborg's opinions to
me, lent me an extract from his works. In the preface was one of his very proven
miracles, it was this one.
“The late Queen of Sweden Louise Ulrique had charged Swedenborg to find out
from her brother, who had been dead for several years,6 the reason why he had not
responded to a certain letter she had written to him. Twenty-four hours later, Swedenborg
told the Queen the contents of her letter, which no one, except her brother and herself,
could know. Dismayed, she was forced to recognize in this great man a miraculous
knowledge. »
How do we respond to the facts, especially when those who report them call people
who are still alive to testify? Shortly afterwards I was in Stockholm; I rarely heard of
Swedenborg: his chimeras had few supporters there, and his marvels were only
recounted as follies.
Despite this, I have reason to believe that from then on the society which calls itself
philanthropic existed, and worked to enlighten minds; but thrown into the whirlwind of
the Court and the great world, I paid little attention to mystical assemblies. However, I
had occasion to speak to the Queen-mother of Swedenborg; she told me with strong
persuasion the anecdote of the letter, and anyone who knew this enlightened sister of
the great Frederick knows that she was nothing less than fanatic, and that the temper of
her mind was completely opposed to such chimeras: However she seemed so convinced
of Swedenborg's supernatural knowledge, that I barely had the courage to venture some
doubts, or suspicions about a secret intrigue elsewhere; an I am not easily fooled, ended
all contradiction.
6
The late Prince of Prussia, died in 1778, brother of Frederick II, and father of today's King.
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I had to keep quiet and wait for a more favorable moment. The next day, I went to
see the virtuous knight Beylon, with whom I found one of the most enlightened Swedes,
Count F. The conversation turned to Swedenborg. I recount what the Queen had told
me. The old knight looks at the count: both smile, as if they knew the secret mechanisms
of this story; I showed curiosity, and this is how Mr. Beylon clarified the mystery.
“The Queen was considered the main motive behind this revolution which occurred
in Sweden in the year 1756, and which cost the lives of MM. of Brahe and Horn.
The party which then triumphed almost came close to demanding an account of the
blood shed. In this critical situation, she wrote to the Prince of Prussia, her brother, to
ask for his advice. The Queen received no response. The Prince having died shortly
afterwards, she never learned the cause of his silence. When she charged Swedenborg,
before the Senators Counts of T. and H., to go and ask the spirits, the Count of H., who
had intercepted the letter, knew as well as the Count of T., why Her Majesty had not
received a response. Both resolved to take advantage of this singular circumstance to
send their opinions to the Queen on various subjects which they hoped to make palpable
to her. They will, therefore, find the visionary during the night, and dictate to him his
response. Swedenborg, lacking supernatural inspiration, seized this revelation, ran the
next day to the Queen, and in the silence of his cabinet, he told her that the soul of the
Prince his brother appeared to him, and had charged him with announce, that he had
not responded, because he had disapproved of his conduct; that his imprudent policy
and his ambition were the cause of the bloodshed; that he ordered her on her part to no
longer meddle in state affairs, and above all to no longer stir up troubles of which sooner
or later she would be the victim. »
“The Queen, thrown into the greatest surprise, from that moment believed in the
Spirits, in their interpreter Swedenborg, without however entering into any details which
could confirm what he was putting forward. The Lords, Swedes who had just administered
this moral and political medicine to the Queen,
98
were careful not to talk about it, since she would never have forgiven them, even after
the revolution of 1772.”
“As long as the Queen lived, few people in Sweden knew about this
anecdote, and this is how she discovered herself. »
“The old knight Beylon, who happened to pass by the Sudermann at three o'clock
in the morning, where Swedenborg lived, saw the two senators come furtively out of his
house. He had been present when the Queen gave the commission to Swedenborg;
from this he easily guessed the plan, remained silent, content that the Queen had
received this lesson. »
“Here is the key to a story, which has probably won more than one follower to the
Theosophical sect. I attest to the truth of this story which, since; was confirmed to me
by a person of a higher rank. »
“Knight Beylon told me many other traits of Swedenborg that he had known. Some
are erased from my memory, others are public; the majority are not very important. »
“It is up to you, Sir, to name me, if anyone raises doubts about the truth of this
story; if no one contradicts it, I will remain under the veil of incognito. In the solitude that
I have made for myself, it hardly suits me to break spears with the inhabitants of the new
Jerusalem: before becoming one with them, I wait until we have found the beautiful city
with its walls of jasper; and that part of the gold pavement was given as security. »
I am, etc.
February 9, 1788.
The story of Queen Ulric has been so often told that an explanation was very
desirable, especially at a time when the Thaumaturge finds so many Followers. The
anonymous author admits facts so clearly, and supports them with circumstances so
particular, that few people will raise doubts about the authenticity of his story. However,
to be completely impartial, we must here publish that another person, equally worthy of
belief, clarified the same fact to us in a different way, that is to say by denying his
99
existence according to what he heard from the Queen's own lips. This is the second
version:
“I found this noise generally accepted in Stockholm. Swedenborg had given the
Dowager Queen news of the late Prince of Prussia. We
assures that she had only given this commission to test the truth of her visions; but what
was her astonishment when the Prophet, publicly admitted to a conversation, told her
everything she had asked. »
“Having free access to the Queen, I one day seized the opportunity to ask her for
the truth of the narrow facts. She replied to me, smiling, that she was not ignorant of any
of the writings that were being spread, nor of the motives of the people who accredited
them against their own convictions. »
Swedenborg had offered to prove to the Queen the truth of the visions on which his
belief was strangely wavering. She spoke of the secret plans according to which in times
of trouble there had been very profane intentions concerning the heavenly gift of working
miracles. This relates to the first version, which supposes the Thaumaturge becoming
the organ of a party
secret.
Could it not be that in the first moment the Queen had sincerely believed in the
celestial power of Swedenborg; but reflection led her to seek a more natural explanation,
and to hide her suspicions, perhaps she seemed to still believe in the miraculous way
which had revealed everything. Who knows if Swedenborg didn't confess the whole plot
to him.7
Abbot Pernetti, editor of the Works of Swedenborg, relates that the Queen of
Sweden asked the Theosophist, to test his knowledge, the content of a letter she had
written to her brother, and that Swedenborg had fully satisfied her; that, on her last trip
to Berlin, she had admitted some Academicians to her table: they asked her the truth of
the story of the revealed letter, she replied: Oh! as far as history is concerned
7
This is not to be assumed. Never has the Enlightened One confessed to lying.
The admission of a single imposture would discredit his entire life. It is essential to appear infallible. There is no middle
ground between the role of divine man and that of imposter.
100
of the Countess of Mansfeld, this one is real. She was asked for a sum which she had
already paid; but for which she had lost the receipt. She complained about it to
Swedenborg, who, twenty-four hours later, told her that her late husband had appeared
to her to tell her the receipt was due. She indeed found herself at the place he
designated. The truth is that the paper had by chance served as a mark for a mystical
book, which the Count had lent to Swedenborg; and as this type of book was kept locked
in a cabinet intended solely for this use, the Prophet had no difficulty in designating the
place where the receipt was deposited.
This way of responding sufficiently proves that the Queen did not believe in
Swedenborg's prophecies. She called him crazy, visionary, which is quite synonymous;
and although she recognized qualities and enlightenment in him, he was not a man she
esteemed. If we summarize what Mr. Beylon related, and what the Queen has said
since, it is not difficult to conclude that she would have discovered or strongly suspected
the fraud. This does not make a demonstration; but any other opinion is infinitely less
probable, and unfortunately this is what our historical knowledge is reduced to. It is
enough to prove that the facts most generally spread among the Illuminated do not
support for a moment the torch of criticism, and that we owe only the deepest contempt
to these clumsy impostures or these absurd tales.
NOTE IX
This is what happened to these same Paulicians; of which the Empress Theodora had one hundred
thousand slain (page 59)
Theodora resolved to effectively procure the conversion of these Paulicians, or to

deliver the Empire from them if they stubbornly opposed their true happiness. It is true
that those to whom she gave the commission, and the strength to work on it, were taken
away with too much rigor and cruelty, because instead of first applying themselves to
bringing them back gently and with charity, upon learning of the truth, they seized these
wretches, who were scattered in the towns and villages, and it is said that they put to
death nearly
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a hundred thousand men throughout Asia, through all kinds of torture; which forced
everything else to surrender to the Saracens, who knew how to use it some time later
against the Greeks. But the Empress, who had no part in this inhumanity of her
Lieutenants, did not take advantage of it so that the Empire at least was cleansed of this
vermin during her reign of fourteen years. The Queen did not have no part, what insipid
flattery!
(Mainbourg, History of the Iconoclasts, book VI, page 263, Hollande edition.)
NOTE
It almost extinguished the Jesuit regime (page 40)
Many people imagine that they still exist under different names; that Russia
preserves the seed; and that in each country there are men depositaries of the laws, the
principles, the secrets of the Society of Jesus.
What is Religion without worship? How could ambitious men remain in the shadows for
twenty years, awaiting the uncertain moment of resurrection, and then the times of
vengeance? It is imprudent to deny everything; but also isn't it unfair to believe
everything? If the Jesuits still exist, at least it is not in a way likely to alarm the
Sovereigns. Without Ganganelli's destructive bull, perhaps we would arm them against
the Illuminated, like Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon.
launched against the Jansenists.
NOTE XI
If he cannot prevent the frightening convulsions which agitate the bowels of the globe, he
foresees their explosion (page 45)
Mr. Dominique Salfano, Watchmaker and Mechanic from the city of

Naples, invented a seismometer.
It is a pendulum whose rod is eight and a half king feet long, from the center of
oscillation to that of the lens, which is in the shape of a weight. It is supported by a
strong iron bar driven into a main wall.
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The weight is thirty-six pounds of lead under the brass that covers it.
At the end of the weight is attached a miniature brush, which dyes with any liquor,
for example Chinese ink, marks the direction of the earth's impulses on a paper placed
on the compass placed horizontally and adjusted by the needle .
Four or five inches above the weight hangs a bell from the
diameter of four inches, and the figure of that of hourly clocks.
At the four cardinal points of the periphery, four leaves remain hanging, at equal
distances, attached by wires to the bar which supports the pendulum.
These striking clappers on the bell serve to warn the Observer at the time of shaking.
The first test of this machine was very imperfect; the second acquired perfection;
the third, which we have just described, was completed ten days after the first news of
the earthquake of February 5 at half past noon. The pendulum, until now, has remained
motionless to any other shaking whatsoever, particularly that caused by the passage of
cars in the busy street of Maddalone au Jésus, and at the corner of that of the Cisterna
d'ell' olio, where the respectable and modest author works. It was he who recently
adjusted Ramsden clocks and added his own.
The last tremor which overthrew Calabria, with the reserve of a few days, this
machine was in continual movement, sometimes more, sometimes less, and sometimes
in one direction and sometimes in another. What was particularly remarkable was that
the strongest blows had been coming since half past ten, approximately until half past
one in the afternoon. But the most violent came at noon. They usually started again
from five to eight o'clock, and from half-past ten in the evening until half-past one after
midnight, always with the same gradation.
(Journal des Gens du Monde, volume 7, 1784.)
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NOTE XII
And this is what we have just seen in Holland (page 46)
And undoubtedly to shed less blood than in the last plunder of Holland, the
Prussians had gained, bought, corrupted, as you wish, regiments in the service of those
who still held out for the Fatherland. “Who only turned their weapons against the
cowardly Stipendiaries of the Stadtholder. » They resisted the Prussians who entered
their countries against the faith of treaties, against the law of nations.... They were the
ones who ruined, pillaged and sacked houses; who made desolate wives shed tears of
blood; who made widows, left mothers in tears by taking away their children, by raping
their daughters.
(Historical summary on the revolution which has just taken place in Holland, p. 26.)
NOTE XIII
Like Epaminondas, one of the greatest Heroes of Greece (page 48)
This is now what the so-called secret that was revealed to the devotees was
reduced to. The Hierophant announced to them that those who had first been washed
in the waters of the Ilisse and finally led in procession to the sanctuary of Ceres would,
after this mortal life, dwell in the fortunate Groves at the bottom of the Elysian Fields,
and would enjoy the pleasures there ineffable which should no longer have an end;
while all other humans, that is to say those who had not been initiated, would be plunged
into the quagmires of Tenare, and tormented forever by the ever-recurring tortures of
poetic hell.
We did not even except from the number of these outcasts, the greatest hero and
the most virtuous man that the land of Greece had seen born, that is to say Epaminondas
who had never been initiated and who could not be so according to the laws of his
country; for the Thebans had, by a perpetual and irrevocable edict, forbidden all
nocturnal mysteries, and all nocturnal initiations, whatever
104
whatever name one could give them, and under whatever pretext one sought to
introduce them.
(Research on the Greeks, by M. de Paw, page 211, volume II.)
NOTE XIV
What was Schroepfer, the God of the Illuminated? (page 51)
Sir,8
I flatter myself that an old man overwhelmed by illnesses and afflictions will
appear excusable in your eyes if he responds a little late to the letter with which
you honored him almost three months ago. Reflecting on the matter you are
talking to me about, and which undoubtedly deserves the most serious attention,
I thought it necessary to take a look at the way we think today. Pyrrhonism,
according to which ancient philosophers believed that, to find the truth, it was
necessary to begin by doubting, this principle that laziness or fear seemed to
have put to sleep in the lukewarm past, has awakened in our days, and
encouraged through the freedom to think and say whatever we think, has, so to
speak, become a general principle, by means of which we flatter ourselves that
we are no longer, as in the past, the dupe of vulgar opinions. But as it often
happens that the remedy we use to cure one illness produces another, this
same principle, which should serve to remove old prejudices, leads us to adopt
new ones. The Skeptic, who doubts everything, necessarily admits the possibility
of truth, as well as of non-true, and while he doubts the existence of a thing, he
also doubts its non-existence; so that he is equally disposed to believe nothing,
and to believe too much. It is then that incredulity becomes the target of
superstition, and that ridicule finds defenders, or at least adherents. We see
strong minds getting up from the table because there are thirteen of them there.
I saw the Marquis d'Argens very worried because of an overturned salt shaker,
believing that it brought him bad luck. Finally, we saw
8
This letter, of which we cannot name the Philosopher Author, is a piece which
would acquire a great degree of interest, if it were permitted to say from whose pen it came.
105
superior men, great geniuses, profound philosophers, regulate their actions on the
predictions of a visionary, very devoutly attend the assemblies of a magician, and lend
themselves to the crudest artifices of an imposter; all, because he who says, perhaps it
is not, says enough, it could be that it was. We should therefore not be surprised that, in
a century that is considered enlightened, we still believe in specters and ghosts.
The wise man rightly doubts, but he does not stop there: he examines, he weighs, he
tries to discover the truth. Convinced of the limits of his mind, he never undertakes to
deepen the mysteries of the divinity, he respects the truth of the Gospel, whose pure
and simple doctrine is so reasonable, so consoling for his heart, so suitable for him. to
make better, that he is careful not to call into doubt this source of his felicity; and he
refrains from training on less essential dogmas, the rash explanation of which would
only serve to disturb his peace and that of others. He only subjects to his research those
subjects who are susceptible to it, and whose results may be of some use. Among this
number is, it seems to me, the appearance of specters, or the opinion that it sometimes
happens that spirits are seen, clothed, no doubt, with a material body, without which
they would not be visible. . I do not deny the possibility, since I do not know enough
about the properties of these incorporeal beings to be able to judge whether they have
or do not have the faculty of taking on a body, whether aerial or other, which made
perceptible to our eyes: I am content to examine the facts that are reported, and the
witnesses who testify about them. It is only too probable that several of these facts
would seem less miraculous to us, if we knew better the nature, the extent of its laws,
and the secret of its mechanisms. You have heard of the famous Schrœpffer, who, in
our countries and almost throughout Germany, caused so much noise. This cafe owner,
alleged reformer of the Order of Freemasons, came to Dresden, where, by means of

certain phenomena, he turned the heads of Princes, ministers and many people whose
address he had. fascinate the eye, and who attributed to him extraordinary gifts of
divinity, while Doctor Crusius, happier in the explanation of metaphysics than in that of
the apocalypse, the
106
taken for an emissary of the Devil, who, through his magic, confused the minds of
humans. However, he was only a good physicist and a bold deceiver, who, in his
nocturnal assemblies, for which he made long preparations, where he only admitted the
elect and gathered many mirrors and lights, was able to produce certain forms that the
imagination of those present, heated by the punch that was drunk there and by all the
strong religious pretenses, took for souls evoked from the other world, of which he
maintained that all the inhabitants were at his orders. I spoke to someone who, being
there, had the courage to pass their finger through one of these figures or shadows. He
told me that he first felt a great electric shock, but having it, some time later, when he
was sweating and his hand was wet, passed a second time, the shock was much less
strong; which seems to prove that electricity entered into these operations, and that it
was only very natural magic. The said Schroepffer, after having extorted a lot of money
from his followers, went to Leipsick, and killed himself there with a pistol shot. This
suicide, which his friends considered as an unfortunate consequence of the abuse he
had made of the gifts that God had granted him, was, with more reason, explained by
others as the effect of the despair in which he had feared that his impostures would be
discovered, given that the immense sums which he assured that the spirits would bring
incessantly did not arrive, and that in a chest which according to him, must contain great
treasures, and that a curious person had the audacity to open, all he found was old
paperwork. Men are naturally inclined to believe in the marvelous and to talk about it,
which is the source of many exaggerations and lies. For the same reason, we eagerly
grasp the circumstances that strike us, without paying attention to those that make the
thing explainable. The less gullible rarely have the opportunity to do the necessary
research; sometimes they are even prevented from doing so by higher orders who
suppress everything relating to an apparition which could alarm the people who are
believed to threaten their lives. The Queen of Prussia has just given a similar order, on
the occasion of the white woman, whom she, as well as her ladies, believe to have seen,
and who appears, it is said, every time that someone of the royal family must
107
die. All of Berlin is currently concerned about this white woman, whose shoe we have
so far been unable to discover, which is very important, given that she appears in boots
to announce the death of a prince, and in slippers for that of a princess. Her portrait was
taken from the time of Frederick I, and we find that her physiognomy is not changed at
all, which proves that women from up there last longer than those from down here. I
have never seen a specter, and I admit that all those who claim to have seen one do not
seem to me to be indisputable witnesses, not to mention that they did not have the
boldness to touch and carefully examine the object that presented itself to their eyes.
We are only too familiar with the effects of the imagination which, when it becomes
heated, transports, so to speak, to the external senses the objects which it conceives
internally, in such a way that man creates an illusion to his own senses. I suspect that
good old Gleditich in Berlin was in this situation, when he thought he saw the face of the
late president at the academy. He found himself there alone, went into an adjoining
room, and re-entering the room, he no longer saw anything there. When he returned
home, he admitted to his wife that he had been seized with fear, and therefore unable
to approach the alleged specter and examine it carefully. Enthusiasts, especially, in
whose minds there is more heat than light, are subject to such visions. To establish the
truth of an apparition, it would therefore be necessary to have the testimony of several
courageous, well-organized and truthful people, all of whom had seen it at the same
time and examined it in cold blood; and I confess that as yet I know of no fact which has
been proved in this manner.
So let me be permitted, without wanting, as I said, to deny the possibility of the thing,
that I dare to doubt the truth of the stories that are told, until I am convinced of it. by
such proofs as I believe I can require, for the reasons alleged above. I realize, too late,
in truth, that instead of a letter I wrote a dissertation. Forgive, Sir, if my prolixity has
annoyed you; the richness of the material attracted me. My eyes are so weak that I am
obliged to dictate; I cannot even reread what has been written; your indulgence will
excuse the mistakes.
108
I have the honor of being with infinite consideration; Sir,

etc.
NOTE XV
The Order of Knights and Initiated Brothers of Asia (page 51)
This Order has just become known very recently through two small works9 : its
origin seems very modern. The first to discover it supposes that it originated in Vienna.
Their language is Thessalonian hieroglyphic. This new Order, so little known at first, has
nevertheless already spread from Italy to Russia. The hieroglyphics all appear to be
taken from Hebrew. The top leadership is called the small and confident Synedrion of
Europe. The names of the Employees, by which they evade their inferiors,10 are Hebrew.
The marks of the third principal grade are Lurim and Thumin, which must be worn
attached to the chest, of which the old and true original type is preserved in Vienna. This
last notion is especially pleasant at this moment when there has once again been a
dispute over the true form of these priestly ornaments. Here are some more details from
the first book, which contains the laws, statutes, etc. The Order is already sending its
apostles to travel. The clothing consists of Spanish-style warmers and jackets; the coat
is, according to the different degrees, black, black and white, purple.
The triangle and the cross also differ. We welcome, without regard to birth or
religion, every honest man who believes in God and confesses him publicly. We only
require that he has passed the first three
9
I. Authentic News from the Initiated Knights and Brothers of Asia, for the examination of
Freemasons.
II. Do we receive, can we receive Jews among the Freemasons? Caused by
the work of an Anonymous, for the examination of Freemasons.
Authentic news from Asia, by Frédéric de Bascamp, named Lazapoloki.
10
Furthermore, it is ordered that the same names remain in the Order; “if a Brother dies, his name
and his place remain with the one who replaces him; this increases the impossibility of knowing
the individual who is hidden under a given name.
109
degrees of Freemasonry in a lodge of S. John or Melchizedek. It is known that the

Lodges of S. John are only for Christians: those of Melchizedek, all equally good and
conforming to the law, exile, in large numbers, in Italy, in Holland, in England, in Portugal,
in Spain , and receive Jews, Turks, Persians and Armenians. This Order is for all of
Europe intended for the great goal of union. Those who are naturally crippled, lame or
one-eyed cannot, without a dispensation, reach high ranks (such as the priesthood). The
Order has the true secrets and moral and physical elucidations of the hieroglyphics of
the most venerable Order of Freemasonry. ; There are five degrees of the Order, under
the following names: the Seekers, the Sufferers, these are only degrees of trials;
afterward come the three main ones, the Knights and Initiated Brothers from Asia to
Europe, the Masters of the Sages, the Royal Priests, or true Rosicrucian Brothers, or
the grade of Melchizedek.
When one has reached the principal degree, one is obliged, by one's oath, to remain
and live in the Order, according to the laws. The Synedrion consists of seventy-two
members. The number of the third principal degree is also fixed at seventy-two. But the
Synedrion also has detachments, one of three, another of five, one of seven and another
of nine. Two ducats and a contribution of one florin per month are paid at reception. The
letter of incorporation for the master's degree cost seven ducats. For higher mastery,
twelve ducats.
For a provincial chapter, twenty-five; and for a general chapter, fifty ducats. The most
essential are the points of submission that a Brother Initiate must sign towards the
Synedrion.
The titles of the latter are:
Superiors in dignity, merit and wisdom, Fathers and Brothers of the seven Churches
unknown to Asia, provided that the Fathers themselves are not unknown.
The Initiate promises perfect submission and true and inalienable obedience to the
laws of the Order. As all the mysteries of the Order are a true light, he promises to follow
them faithfully, those which are not yet known to him, until the end of his life, without ever
asking who gave them to him
110
given,11 where they came from, where they actually come from, where they will come
from in the future; for whoever sees the clarity of light, need not worry where it draws its
principle from. He promises not to persecute any of the different branches of
Freemasonry, but to love and honor all the Brothers of the different systems, and to do
good to them all, however different they may be. This marks the great goal of the union.
We must also tolerate the different sects, which nevertheless treat each other as
heretics, and could be defamed and persecuted. He further declares that with all his
strength he will protect, and will work with as much activity as honesty, for the
enlargement of the very venerable Order of Knights and Initiated Brothers of Asia, to
support its studied members. He also promises to instruct without delay, with truth and
honesty, the venerable Order, the very respectable little constant Synedrion, the General
Chapter of the Order, the Chapter of his province.
The Grand Masters destined for the great goal of union, remain masters and are sure of
their secrets, which directly relate to their Order. This is a remarkable point. Thus, there
still exist secrets including the leaders who possess all the true mysteries (as said
above); know nothing; and that each Brother who learns something about it is forced to
report it to them. In this way they will perhaps be able to comfortably maintain their titles
as the highest and superior attendants in wisdom, for they will learn well almost
everything that comes to their knowledge.
How can a good, scrupulous Brother not prefer to do too much rather than too little? He
was therefore obliged to promise to denounce everything that could be related to the
Order, but which, in the chain of things, can always predict whether a slightly remarkable
event will not have an influence on something else. remarkable and sacred. For this, it
is necessary that the
11
Who gave the Order these (so-called) secrets? This is the big and captious question for
secret societies.
But also the Initiate who remains and who must remain eternally in the Order never learns
it. He not only dares to ask for it; he has to promise never to ask.
In this way, those who share the secrets of the Order remain masters.
111
concepts are given without delay; and as there is not enough time to think, we take the
safest course, and we ask the wise possessor of the true mysteries everything that can
have the most distant connection, Oh, what juggling !
Besides this first work that we have just cited, which, as we see, contains
depositions and facts, as well as a remarkable preface, there appears a second, written
with great vehemence, in which we do not does not deny the authenticity of the acts
reported, but only makes fun of publicity, which is nevertheless so useful; and on page
14, we give, according to suppositions, a plan of the system of the Initiates, which,
undoubtedly, as this author affirms, must mean that this system is more approved than
blamed. This writing does not contain only two remarkable points. Without doubt Jews
can be received among the Freemasons, (which the other Anonymous denies by citing
the Lodges of Melchisedech) as proof, it is said that the Jew from Hamburg, David-
Moïse Hertz, was received into the Lodge from Chalcedonia to London; which was
proven by a testimony of the great English Lodge, of July 26, 1787. He also says that
there is only the first article of the old book of constitution, composed by order of the
Brother Duke of Montague, by Brother Jacob Anderson, and printed in London in 1722,
which requires that a Freemason should know the three great articles of Noah, to which
it is expressly added that it is not necessary to profess the Christian Religion . This
author further says, that it is not only the established Lodges of England which are in
conformity with the law.
The other Anonymous had found among the papers which concern the Order of the
Initiates of Asia, the address of Mr. Baron Ecker of Eckhof in Schleswig. His opponent
claims to know Mr. Baron very well and his brother does not deny his relations with the
Order of the Initiates; but only gives, with much praise, some news about them to the
two brothers. The eldest of these Best is called Jean-Henry, Baron Ecker de Eckosen;
he is Privy Councilor of Hohenlohe Weldburg ; he lived in Vienna for a long time; he has
recently been living in Schleswig. The youngest, Jean-Charles, Baron Ecker de Eckosen,
is of the same Court Intimate Councilor of Legation and charge d'affaires. For ten years
he has lived in
112
Hamburg. The Author vaguely defends them against certain traits which must have been
common among the Freemasons, mainly against the elder. Certain liaisons into which
they entered seem to be the subject. In the justification, this feature seems remarkable
to me (page 64); Never was it made a crime for the Mason to seek the truth where he
thought he found it and when he put the recognized truth into action where he could.
The two Best are Grand Cross, (the younger also Chancellor) of the Temporal Order of
the Foundation of the Knights of the Highest or Divine Providence; as this Order has
recently been spoken of in several writings, I will cite a few points.
This Order has been called for several years (at least since 1786) the Order of
Saint-Joachim. There are perhaps only a few Readers who know a printed account of
this Order, extracts from its statutes recorded in the Eclectic Journal (Lubeck gr. 8.)
second notebook 1785, on the following page. According to these notices, the Order
was established in Leutméris in Bohemia in 1756. On the page, we find the reception
ceremonies. The procession goes to the chapel of the Order, the Candidate remains in
the sacristy; the Knights enter the chapel, where the Ecclesiastic is giving a speech.
After that the Candidate is introduced, and he is asked if it is still his free will, and if he
seriously wants to enter the Order; after having affirmed it, we exhort him to think
carefully, and we take him back. Brought back after that, questioned again and received
afterwards, he took the oath and received the habit of the Order; at the end we sing the
Te Deum.
Page 10, it says:
“Protestant Members of the Order must leave the chapel until the Te Deum begins.
Thus, judging from these words, they do not dare to be present while the Grand Master
exhorts the Candidate, nor when the latter makes his protests and his oaths on his
obligations to fulfill. This difference is very strong for an Order which consists of members
of both Religions.
An Order without name or ceremonies, of which one seems to use the Harmonica.
The thing is singular, and the details so interesting, that my
113
Readers will see them with pleasure extracted from a small brochure. Mr. Rollig12
has just had a fragment on the Harmonica printed in Berlin, in which there are also
previous letters written several years ago. The first two are dated from Vienna. Here is
a very remarkable one.
“You have provided me, through your recommendation to MNZ, with very interesting
knowledge; he seemed to have already been informed of my arrival either by you or by
someone else. The Harmonica had his full approval. He spoke to me about certain
particular Essays, of which I understood nothing. It is only since yesterday that many
things have become understandable to me; and I no longer doubt the reason which
made me receive so well. Yesterday towards the evening, he took me to his countryside,
the arrangement of which, especially that of the garden, is extremely beautiful.
Temples, caves, waterfalls, labyrinths, underground passages, provide the eye with so
much diversity that one is enchanted. A very high wall which surrounds all this, only
displeases me. It hides from the eye an enchanting view. I had been obliged to take the
Harmonica with me, and to promise MNZ to play only a few minutes in a marked place
as soon as he signaled me. To wait for this moment, he took me, after showing me
everything, to a room at the front of the house; he left me telling me that the arrangements
for a ball and an illumination necessarily require his presence. It was already late, and
sleep seemed to want to surprise me, when I was interrupted by the arrival of some
carriages.
I opened the window, but I could see nothing; I understood even less the low and
mysterious whispering of the arrivals. Shortly after, sleep actually took hold of me; and
after having slept about an hour, a servant came to wake me, who offered to carry my
instrument, and asked me to follow him. As the Servant ran a lot and I walked slowly, it
followed that I had time (curiosity urging me) to follow
12
Let us see a preferable description of his Harmonica in the Journal, February 1787, page 175.
114
the heavy sounds of the trumpets, which seemed to me to come from the depth of a
cellar.
Can you imagine my surprise? when, having gone halfway down the stairs, I saw a
vault in which, while mourning music was being played, a corpse was placed in a coffin;
next to it there was a man dressed all in white, but full of blood, who had a vein in his
arm closed; except for the people who helped, the others were all At the entrance to the
vault, I wrapped in long black cloaks and with drawn sword. saw heaps of skeletons of
of the other, and the illumination was done by lights whose men piled up, one on top
flame resembled the brilliant spirit of wine, which increased the horror of this frightening
place. So as not to lose my Driver, I hastened to return. I found him returning through
the garden door when I arrived there. He quickly took me by the hand and dragged me
with him. I never saw anything that reminded me of the fables of a chimerical world, like
my entry into the garden. Everywhere there was light, countless lanterns, the murmur of
distant waterfalls, the song of artificial nightingales, the balmy air that I breathed, what
prestige! and what more was needed to believe I was transported to these enchanted
regions! I was assigned a place behind a green cabinet, the interior of which was divinely
adorned, into which shortly after someone had passed out,13 and immediately I was
given a sign to play. As I was then more occupied with thinking about myself than about
others, many things were lost on me; however, I was able to observe that the fainted
man came back to himself, after I had played about a minute, and that he asked, with
extreme surprise; where am I ?
Whose voice do I hear? Jubilations of joy, accompanied by trumpets and kettledrums,

were the response; we ran to arms, and plunged into the interior of the garden, where
everyone was lost to me.
13
Probably the one that had been bled in the vault, but I cannot be sure. The clothes were superb and pleasant, in shape and color. I
don't stink
recognize nothing.
115
I am writing this to you after a short and interrupted sleep. If I had not taken the
precaution of writing this scene down in my tablets yesterday before going to bed, I
would take the whole thing for a dream today. Farewell. »
Where is the firm and unshakeable man who, after long preparations, a long wait,
an exalted imagination, can remain calm before such scenes, and who does not see in
a moment when reflection must necessarily leave him, everything that his masters, by
initiating him, want him to see and hear, whether they are the genies of heaven or hell.
Without dwelling further on this, I will still cite an Order or a magical Work and witty
quotation, where the Harmonica was used as in Vienna.
When we made, three years ago, in the Journal de Merlin, mention of the force that
this enchanting instrument had on the imagination on the occasion of Mesmer who used
it to act more strongly on his Convulsionnaires, we spoke of this superficially.14 For the
Lavater protocol and the print had long been known here. But although Lavater thinks
rather badly of the Berliners, they did not want to publish these papers; they did him no
honor; he alone and his faithful friends circulated them. They are printed now to be
known, judged by everyone; but not in Berlin. I will only mention again a few words of
Mr. Roellig, taken from the work we have cited, page 17. “What the Harmonica can
become in the hands of deceit and fanaticism, I have not need to say it. We have
already started using it. Germany does it. This engraving, full of mystical characters,
figures, barbarisms, had the name of a fantastic chimera, the Harmonica. Do we want
other proof? that we ask for the history of our time; she speaks loudly about things that
I find prudent to keep quiet. The story is as it follows. Count F. de Th. to V.
14
1785, January, page 21, where we say in the note: Several readers will perhaps remember on this occasion having had a famous magic print from
southern Germany, on which is the Harmonica. Lavater's Protocol on the Spiritus Familiaris Goblidone, with added parts and a print. Frankfurt and Leipz,
1787, six sheets, large in-8°.
116
known as one of the most amiable Lords of the noblest and best character, who has
against him only too much inclination towards mystical and secret things, appeared to
certain active people, both because of his birth and his way of thinking and of his
liaisons, a subject of great enough consequence to crowd around him and take
advantage of his penchant for mysticism. For this purpose, as is customary to do in such
cases, a very ordinary Adventurer was employed. Formerly he had been a Cup Player;
so he carried with him a tin talisman. The Count himself recognized him as ignorant and
a bad subject. It was passed off as the Organ of a spirit; he was very calmed despite his
incapacity and his baseness. He heard the spirit Gablidone, who spoke through him and
told him what he should answer. He had been in close contact with him for many years.
He had (since his Arca) a kind of intuitive knowledge of its forms, and could furthermore
notice when the spirit kissed the magical writing of the name of Jesus. (As he often did.)
This Impostor, who always talked about numbers, was called the Calculator.
Gablidone was the soul of a Jewish Cabalist, who died even before the birth of
Jesus Christ, who had been persecuted by his father, because of his magical
occupations, and who, in a transport of anger, had raised the magical sword15 on him.
It is to atone for this crime that poor Gablidone (as he calls himself) is obliged to be in
the service of eight calculators, for many centuries, and to answer all their questions.
There are seven of these helpful spirits. One served Mohammed, under the figure of a
dove; the other is attached to the oracle of Delphi. The King of Prussia, Frederick II,
must also have had one of these calculators, which, during the Seven Years' War,
rendered him great services. Spirits were very attached to him from the beginning; but
then left him because of his unbelief. This poor Gablidone gave
15
This sword, it is said, kills as soon as it is raised against someone, without touching the man; the print represents him leaning against the Harmonica, and
marked with the number 45. This number often appears on the plate, and is explained, as is done, in a very remarkable manner. This sword would therefore
be very formidable in the hand of this number. Nearby there is Psalm 178, verse 7: The Lord is with me to uphold me, and I will see my joy in the enemies.
117
thus, through the mouth of the calculators, lessons followed to the Count and his friends,
to one for twelve, to the other for ten years. These lessons were always accompanied
by many ceremonies, as well as kneeling, prayers, recitation of psalms; here, we had
very interesting revelations, P.
Ex. where the lost things remained16 ; what was the state of the dead.
Some believe they are between two rocks; and imagine that these rocks, always
advancing, will reduce them to the thickness of a sheet of paper.
The Emperor Francis was charged, without remembering his dignity; of the inspection
of all his snail shells, from north to south, which he carries out with all possible dexterity.
The spirit sent them three more true particles of the cross of Jesus Christ, which had
the virtue of making any substituted crucifix wood disappear and soon lose, as soon as
they touched it. He also presented the Count with a dirty towel, in which there was the
mark of the hand burned with an invisible substance. He discovered to them that the
true names of the Magi, who came to the manger of our Lord, were not as the church
had hitherto believed, Gaspar, Melchior, Balthazar; but Vrasapharmion, Melchizedek,
Baleatsirasaron, The spirit of Gablidone granted two more great favors to the two
friends; one was his own portrait; the other to receive them into the order of the Magi.
For these two things, a lot of preparations were necessary. For painting, it was necessary
to put paper, colors, brushes behind a screen. Those who were waiting, prayed to God,
began to sing, to the sound of the bell, which gives the signal for prayer, the fifty-seventh
psalm of penance; the conspiracy took place, and they heard, behind the screen, a
small noise, thought they saw the shadow of a small hand; when everything was quiet
they approached and found a dirty, poorly painted portrait (perhaps old and put there
furtively)
16
He refused the explanation about the stolen belongings; for, said this wit of a Jew, it is not proper for the Christian to make inquiries about thieves. Which
could put him into temptation or revenge; or to request restitution of what was taken.
118
similar to that of a Catholic priest.17 : Much more preparation was required for the
reception, and if anything had been neglected, it was necessary to start all over again. It
would be hard to believe how much, during operations, a magical force weakens the
memory (one would have thought that it would rather be strengthened); he received
confessions, lists of sins, each written on a different paper; prayers and psalms had to
precede. At the end a hollow ball appeared, made of bone, in which were found the
marks of the Order, which one was obliged to wear on the bare chest. So here they have
reached the highest level of magic; they were no longer strangers or witnesses, but
citizens. The calculator was obliged to give up his tin talisman to the Count. Alas!
However, everything was not done. Usually in these things, when you think you are all
ready, you miss the last important point. All that was needed was an instruction in magic
to achieve the dignity of master, or calculator. The Juggler had been dead only twelve
years, but still too soon; now we must obtain the lessons that are missing, from another
Mage called Masson; but unfortunately ! We have been looking for this Masson for a
long time without being able to find him. Don't you think you're reading a fable by Count
de Gabalis? Well ! these are the things that we adopt with avidity, these days, that we
treat as holy. Anyone who does not suppress these follies in their principle will
undoubtedly be dragged to the end. So it is only the first resistance of a healthy reason
that we propose to advance by illuminating this world, while a philosophy, as paradoxical
as the modern one, hides beneath enthusiasm, to induce the mind to seek great
geniuses beneath charlatanism, and profound wisdom in absurdities. This is how
Schoeffer and Lavater do infinite harm. When the good, kind Count of Th. asks the last
one for clarification on the holy cabal, or true magic, far from taking the trouble to
demonstrate to him the madness of such sciences, the deceitfulness of the Teachers,
and the danger of getting into contact
17
A black coat, with a white ruff, falling on the shoulders, a figure of a Visionary,
a black cap on the top of the head.
119
with them ; he listens with avidity to the absurdities that people want to tell him about
Gablidone and Masson, makes a protocol and sends it to his Partisans,18 without
adding a word of exhortation against this magical superstition. He contemplates and
depicts the little picture brought to him in Zurich, which the so-called spirit must have
painted; he says in his protocol (page 51) that the drawing is completely different from
what an ordinary man who had been a painter would have done.
To show all the madness that this magic teaches, I will copy some pieces of the
papers that the spirit has dictated. “Page 66, in the second degree are men who never
offend their creature either in its majesty or in its divinity. So that you are informed of
these main words, know that majesty is when the three perfectly magical sources,
without beginning and without end, are united in one being, and make only one body of
the visible and invisible substance. If a human offends the father with design, with his
will the son, and by execution the holy spirit, then he sins against the united majesty; it
is lost, because no part remains inviolate.
You call such offenses mortal sins; to speak vulgarly, it can pass. Whoever sees what
mortal sin means will say that he has sinned against majesty; but there are only those
who are initiated in secret studies, and who never give to any sovereign of the world,
the title of majesty, because the name comes from a divine word of Magus . My King
Frederick knows this well, he who is only healed by these men given to supernatural
things. Does he receive a petition with his other titles, without that of majesty? The
supplicant is first introduced; because he sees there that he has received magical
instructions. In the second place, what you call a venial sin, I call a violation of divinity.
Then each source is isolated and has communication only through very thin veins, so
that when a sin is thrown into the source, the source of the holy spirit does not feel it.
The source of the son is blood, and it relieves everything. Man receives grace and
18
Perhaps if it was Pseuniger who copied it and circulated it, we can clearly see that it amounts to the same thing. Lavater wrote it in 1781.
120
help, the redeemer did what he had to. This summary can instruct him to put the difference
between these two main words into necessity.
Perhaps Mr. Schloffer, in his new manner, will also discover a treasure of wisdom, as
he found in the Works of Swedenborg. The Reader can look for proof of this in the Berlin
Journal. Jan. p. 33; he adds again, Swedenborg undoubtedly appears only a crude
visionary,19 if we explain his works literally.
It still seems to me worthy of notice: That

Gablidone, just like Swedenborg, predicted a religious and physical revolution, p. 57.
in the year 1800, “there will be a very remarkable revolution on our globe, and there will
be no other religion than that of the patriarchs. » 2°. Let him speak (page 64) of a majesty,
Tetragrammatic
to the contemplation of which the being raised to the first degree of beatitude will
reach; which he explained to Cagliostro, Hagion, Melion, Tetragrammaton, as three holy
and Arabic words.
3°. That he describes the appearance of the Lord on the fourth step of the altar, pag,
34. His body is encircled in the middle of a triangle; its brilliance is of inexpressible beauty.
The angle retains its redness, its sentence is short, it says: Venite ad patres Osphal. thus
again fathers to whom the Lord invites But who are these fathers? Osphal?
N. B, This article had to be translated literally. Without this the Reader
would not have fully grasped this excess of unreason.
NOTE XVI
There is not one in a thousand who is educated (page 85)
Suppose a city inhabited by a hundred thousand people. There are only less than a
thousand of them who read, and fewer still are there five hundred who have a cultivated
mind. Go to the Academies, to the Libraries, see the few
19
In the German Museum, January 1788 p. 57.
121
of Amateurs. Consider how few people in theaters know what is said there. The Scholars
are easy to count; there are not six hundred in London or Paris; let alone a hundred in
the city taken as an example.
NOTE XVII
Perhaps even less than we think (page 86)
Extract from a Letter from Mr. Abbot Grandidier, to Madame de ***, on the Origin of the
Freemasons
You know, undoubtedly, Madam, this society that England has transmitted to us,
and which bears the name of Freemasons. Its members, spread throughout Europe,
have multiplied there, and perhaps much more than the honor and interest of this society
demanded. I will neither praise nor satirize it here, Madam. I will not even seek the
reasons for the inviolable secrecy that it requires, and of the particular oath that it
attaches to it: I am not initiated into its mysteries, and I find myself unworthy to see the
light ; I don't know if everything is quiet, like in the valley of Josaphat, where a woman
never chatters : the fair sex must complain of the rigorous laws, which exclude them
from seeing the sun and the moon and the Grand Master of the Lodge ; This is a new
insult that men have done to him, believing him to be incapable of keeping a secret, but
they have lost more than the women; they deprived themselves of these innocent
pleasures, which give pleasure to societies through the gentleness and talents of an
amiable sex. It’s your home; Madam, that we had to look for the model.
I will also admit that the teacher of the Freemason society was not a Frenchman; it
must have been repugnant to his heart and his character. Nor will I seek its origin in the
construction of the ark of Noah, who was, it is said, a very venerable Mason ; or in that
of the temple of Solomon, who is considered the most excellent Mason. I will be careful
not to delve into the history of the Crusades, to discover the first Masons in these
Crusader Barons, who are supposed to have devoted themselves to the divine art, to
the royal art of the re-edification of the temple, or in these former soldiers of Judea, who
we
122
claims to have been named Knights of the Dawn and of Palestine.20 These ridiculous
opinions, which the Freemasons only dare to present under the veil of allegory, do not
deserve to be revealed by a layman. I dare to flatter myself, Madame, of presenting to
you a much more probable origin; it is neither to the east nor to the west... the Lodge is
well covered, so it is not she who will provide me with the proofs. I didn't have the good
fortune of working from Monday morning until Saturday evening ; but I have in my
profane hands authentic documents, true acts; which date back more than three
centuries, which show that this much-vaunted society of Freemasons is only a servile
imitation of an ancient and useful brotherhood of true Masons, whose capital was
formerly Strasbourg. Most people in this town ignore debt anecdote; our Strasbourg
Lodges will not be sorry to know it.
The Cathedral Church of Strasbourg, and especially its tower begun in 1277, by
the architect Ervin de Steinbach, is one of the masterpieces of architecture.
Gothic. This building, in its totality and in its parts, is a perfect work, and worthy of
admiration, which does not even find its equal in the universe. Its foundations have been
so solidly laid that, although exposed; it has so far resisted storms and earthquakes.
This prodigious work carried the reputation of the Masons of Strasbourg far and wide.
Duke Milan wrote, in 1479, a letter to the Magistrate of this city, in which he asked him
for a person capable of directing the construction of the superb Church which he wished
to erect in his capital.21 Vienna, Cologne, Zurich, Friborg had towers built in imitation of
that of Strasbourg, which was not completed until June 1439; but they equaled it neither
in height, nor in beauty, nor in delicacy. The Masons of these different factories; and
their students who spread throughout Germany, formed, to distinguish themselves from
the common people of Masons, associations to which they gave the
20
The Author of a book printed in 1766, and entitled L'Étroite ; Flamboyant, tom, I, pag, 41,
53, appears to adopt the latter sentiment.
21
I have a copy of this Letter in Italian.
123
German name for hütten, which in French means lodges; but they all agreed to recognize
the superiority of that of Strasbourg, which was called haupthütte, or great Lodge.22
The project was therefore conceived to form from these different associations a
single society for the whole of Germany; but it did not take on a solid consistency until
twenty years after the entire construction of the Strasbourg tower.
The different Masters of the particular Lodges assembled in Regensburg, where
they drew up, on April 25, 1459, the act of brotherhood, which established the Head of
the Cathedral of Strasbourg, and his Successors, as sole and perpetual Grand Master
of the brotherhood general of the Free Masons of Germany.
Emperor Maximilian confirmed this establishment by his diploma given in Strasbourg in
1498; Charles V, Ferdinand, and their successors renewed it.
This society, made up of masters, journeymen and apprentices, formed a particular

jurisdiction: the Strasbourg society embraced all those of Germany. She held her court
in the Lodge, and judged without appeal all the causes brought to her, according to the
rules and statutes of the brotherhood.
These statutes were renewed and printed in 1563. The Lodges of Masons of Swabia,
Hesse, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, Turingia, and the countries along the Moselle,
recognized the authority of the Grand Lodge of Strasbourg. In the very century in which
we live, the masters of the Strasbourg factory fined the Lodges of Dresden and
Nuremberg; and this fine was paid. The Grand Lodge of Vienna, to which the Lodges of
Hungary and Styria reported, the Grand Lodge of Zurich, which had all those of
Switzerland under its jurisdiction, had recourse to the Lodge of Strasbourg in serious
and doubtful cases.
All members of this society had no communication with
the other Masons, who only knew how to use mortar and trowel. They adopted as
characteristic marks everything that could relate to
22
Old register of the tribe of Masons linked to Strasbourg.
124
their profession, which they considered as an art much superior to that of simple Masons.
The square, level and compass became their attributes. Determined to form a separate
group in the crowd of workers, they imagined rallying words among themselves, touches
to recognize each other, and signs to distinguish themselves: they called this the sign of
words, das vortzeichen the salute der gruss . Apprentices, journeymen, and masters
were received in ceremonies over which they held secrecy. They took freedom as their
motto, and sometimes even abused it to refuse the legitimate authority of the Magistrates.
You would think you recognize, Madam, by these features, the modern Freemasons.
Indeed, the analogy is sensible: the same name of Lodges, to signify the places of
assembly; the same order in the distribution; the same division into master, companions
and apprentices: both are presided over by a Grand Master. They also have particular
signs, secret laws, statutes against the profane: finally they could say to each other: my
brothers and my companions recognize me as a Mason. But our Masons of Strasbourg,
despite the obscurity of their work, prove by ancient and authentic titles, their state and
their origin; and our Freemasons, English, Germans, Neapolitans, even despite Hiram
and the temple of Solomon, cannot prove the same. I even believe that the tower of
Strasbourg is a more sensitive monument than the famous brass columns Jakim and
Booz. However, I could be wrong, for I am in darkness, and I am going to seek the light
in the north.
I would also add, Madam, that this tribunal of the Lodge of Masons exists today in
Strasbourg; and although its jurisdiction is much diminished, it is still considered the
Grand Lodge of Germany. The inhabitants of our city had help there for all disputed
cases relating to buildings: the Magistrate even gave him full knowledge of them, in
1461, prescribing to him, the same year, the forms and laws which he would observe;
which was renewed in 1490. The judgments it rendered bore the name of hüttenbrief or
letters of Lodge. The city archives are full of these kinds
125
letters, and there are few old families in Strasbourg who do not keep some in their
papers. But the Magistrate took away, in 1620, from the Lodge of Strasbourg, the
jurisdiction he had entrusted to it over buildings; the abuse she had made of her authority
necessitated this suppression.
I am, etc.
In Strasbourg, this November 24, 1778.
NOTE XVIII
Who keeps it with modifications (page 87)
Translation of a note in the own hand of His Imperial and Royal Majesty the
Emperor, concerning the Order of Freemasons
Freemasonry has spread so widely in my States that there is almost no small

provincial town where we do not find Lodges, and it is of the most serious necessity to
establish a certain order there. I do not know their mysteries, and I have never had
enough curiosity to penetrate them; it is enough for me to know that Freemasonry
always does some good, that it supports the poor, and cultivates and protects literature,
to do something more for it than in any other country. But as reasons of state and good
order require not leaving these people entirely to themselves and without a particular
inspection, I am thinking of taking them under my protection, and granting them my
special grace, if they drive well, under the following conditions
1°. There will only be one or two Lodges in the Capital, and if it is impossible to
accommodate all the brothers, at most three. In cities where there are regencies, one,
two or three Lodges will also be allowed. All Lodges in provincial towns where there is
no regency are rigorously defended, and the guest who suffers from assemblies in his
house will be punished like a criminal who allows forbidden games.
2°. The lists of all Lodges and their members will be sent to the Government, the
days of the assembly always marked; and all three
126
month we will send an exact detail of the members who have been received into the
Lodge, or who have left it, but without announcing the titles, dignities and grades that
they have in
the Lodge. 3°. Each year the Government will be informed of the Director of the Lodge.
In return for all this, the Government grants Freemasons reception, protection and
freedom; leaves the interior of the Lodges and their constitution entirely to their direction,
and will never carry out any curious research.
In this way, the Order of Freemasons, which is composed of a large
number of honest people known to me, who can become useful to the State will ; and we
communicate this order to the Provincial Governments.
JOSEPH.
PS The execution of this order begins on January 1st.
NOTE XIX
If in the golden days of Frederick II (page 87)
Educated people have claimed that the great King was not so incredulous about
magic and visions that Fame published him. Whatever his way of thinking, it is true that
he would have proscribed this dangerous sect. This would not be the only occasion
where he disobeyed his own impulse, and where his reason made him do the opposite
of what he was inclined to do. From the moment he saw the pretext for abuse, without
further examination, he would have destroyed the Sect.
NOTE XX
Men friends of virtue would form a league (page 87)
I would like above all, I would like to arm the reason, and, if necessary, the self-
esteem of those among the Princes whom the Lavaters and other deceptive or deceived
followers, fanatics or knaves, have managed to seduce, against the shameful
extravagances and the gross fascinations which have infatuated them, Eh! What will
they gain from this pitiful ease, from these deplorable weaknesses? The loss of time
more precious to them than to other mortals, the emptiness of repentance and regret,
and the fall of their personal regard.
127
What ! the accumulation of deceptions of all these Jugglers, more or less skillful
copyists, but always copyists of each other, and their eternal non-success, do they not
say enough that their promises are lies? that for Princes, there are only treasures in a
wise economy, and enlightened beneficence which multiplies the rich and happy within
their States; of happiness only in the peace of a good conscience and the fulfillment of
their interesting duties, the only enjoyment on which it is impossible for them to become
bored; of divination than in foresight and in the knowledge of men, of magic than in the
great art of inspiring confidence and making oneself
to like.
And if these miserable Charlatans, always driven by the thirst for gold or that of
intrigue, distanced from the Courts which they obsess, the wise and the good citizens,
always not curious to compromise themselves with Adventurers and Charlatans; if
distracting the attention of Princes, from the true sources of public prosperity, they
arrived by the almost irresistible Force of habit, or by the seductions of self-love which
does not want to be deceived; if they managed to circumscribe them, to chain them, to
stupefy them in the hideous and sterile circle of their disappointments and their prestige;
if hatred for resistance, this contagious and fatal disease of all absolute Princes, would
change these dark reveries into a system of intolerance and persecution; ah! what would
become of you? the toys and the Victims, the Preachers and the Satellites of the most
shameful superstitions that have ever infected the earth
(Letters on Cagliostro and on Lavater by M. le Comte de Mirabeau.)
NOTE XXI
On belief in Spirits
Reason does not conceive that there can be Spirits capable of bodily operations;
but she sees that those who imagined them made one mistake after another. Believing
in the existence of a first being governing the worlds, which his power had created, men
supposed that he could not
128
govern them only by having under his orders Ministers, spiritual beings, ready to carry
his supreme wishes everywhere. They likened God to a King; but they did not see that
a Spirit could neither occupy nor travel through a space. We cannot conceive of a mind
going left and right; our soul acts within us without this movement. Suppose a man who
is both a Naturalist and an Agronomist, when he examines a ciron, his soul is in a ciron;
when he examines the sun, his soul is a million leagues away; but it has not covered
any space.23 Let us apply this reasoning to Spirits. If there are any, they cannot
descend, nor ascend, nor appear, nor disappear, nor speak, nor make noise. These
bodily operations destroy the idea we can have of a mind; it is also useless to assign
them a stay. A hundred million billion Spirits can live together on the point of a pin, as in
these vast deserts that our imagination imagines between the residence of the stars of
the Empyrean.
The reasoning thus destroying the first principles of this Opinion, only experience
would remain. However, facts have never satisfactorily proven the appearance of Spirits;
if a story were proof, all stories would have to be admitted, at least the Asians would
refer to theirs; Africans would do the same; this would result in multiplied contradictions.
An Englishman, Glamvill, wrote that there existed beings who had a more subtle
body and a more perfect soul than ours. Where do these aerial creatures exist? Who
makes their history? But even if we suppose them to exist, that does not add any more
to the present question than if a writer were to assure us that Mars is inhabited by men
who are thirty feet tall. The only response to suppositions is to suppose in turn that this
is not the case; then the argument is over.
So this is where reason stops; but, it will be said, this proves nothing.
There, where reason stops, religion begins to enlighten us; however, she confirms
23
One could respond to this by confusing the soul and the thought.
129
absolutely the appearance of good and bad Spirits, and tells us of their different
operations.
We answer that Religion itself can hardly exist with this doctrine. If through his
Ministers, his Prophets, his Apostles, it pleased God to interrupt the laws of nature, and
to do things which could not be done without the aid of his Almighty Power; How does it
happen that there is another power that can perform the same miracles? The first would
then find itself infinitely weakened, and belief is disconcerted. However, this is the result
of the doctrine of evil spirits. Either they would be subject to God, and then he would be
the author of evil, allowing it, which seems blasphemy, or they would be equal; then God
is no longer Almighty, which would be another blasphemy. Religion is therefore, by the
sanctity of its dogmas, contrary to this doctrine.24
What would finally be the means of appeasing, on this point, the restless curiosity
of men? There are few; but one could say to a small number, to judge such a question,
one must be very educated. There are so many ways to deceive the senses with the
secrets of nature. The last century had the same wonders as this one. They have been
explained by very natural means; Is it not a strong presumption that those who astonish
us at this moment will also find interpreters?
If we go back to the origin of these errors, we will find them in the character of man.
Being presumptuous, he is tormented by the desire to read into the future; weak, he
fears the first steps he will take in unknown regions. He would like to fly, on the wings of
science, towards the author of everything, and
24
Here the Author goes too far. Who knows God's plan? Who was his counsel?
How do we ensure that the apparent annoyances that agitate the world do not serve the purpose of its Author, by
producing, through this movement, a general happiness, which a lethargic monotony of Nature could never achieve?
There are so many kinds of bliss, and there must be such an infinite variety of all things in this Universe, that the limited
mind of man should never pronounce on the views of its Author, when it permits that which seems to us to be an evil.
130
constantly losing sight of his nature, he exhausts himself in useless efforts, which only
serve to demonstrate his impotence.
He is both enlightened and ignorant, great and contemptible, too full of knowledge
to arm himself with stoic virtue, he constantly floats between action and rest. Unsure
whether he is God or brute, whether he should prefer his soul or his body. He is born to
die, he reasons to wander. His very reason is for him only a kind of delirium. If he does
not listen to it, everything for him is obscure; if he consults it too much, everything seems
uncertain to him. Chaos of reasoning and passions, continually abused and disillusioned
by himself, he falls, gets up and constantly falls back down. He is created master of all,
and of all he is the prey. The only judge of truth, he rushes from error to error, he is
finally the glory and the enigma of creation.
Such is man; no one has appealed to Pope's opinion, and it is such a being to
whose testimony we would rely, when he boasts of overturning, at his will, the laws of
nature? to summon to his little tribunal beings who, if they existed, would be of a much
greater stature than his own? to establish a correspondence between the sky and him,
on the dark depths of the future? No, no, let us let this lying mass of visions, impostures,
and tales perish in oblivion, which stupidity, interest, pride, and stubbornness have given
rise to in turn.
There are men hungry for fame without talent to acquire it, without art to create
illusions. They resort to this occult science; and thanks to some appearance of success,
they make proselytes; time destroys their frail buildings; they only carry contempt from
their contemporaries.
There are others whose nerve weakness is such that it makes them timid about the
future, credulous about the present, troubled about the past; They constantly have
before their eyes the image of these Spirits, avenging ministers of the crimes of the
earth. Floating between remorse and worry, they believe everything because they don't
examine anything.
Some look for dupes, tax the ease of the rich, surprise the credulity of weak minds,
defy the sarcasm of the
131
Philosophers, and find, among attempts of all kinds, some momentary compensation for
the humiliations inseparable from this dangerous profession.
Still others, deceived by their organs, are subject to a kind of illness which makes
them visionaries; they see things that do not exist,25 and hear imaginary sounds. A year
before, a man who became deaf heard continuous music, which even seemed very
harmonious to him.
Finally, a last class, and it is the most numerous, was duped by some clever
Charlatans: time has erased the traces of deceit, and has left, in their seduced
imagination, only the results which struck them.
Often forced to defend their own judgment suspected of having been deceived, they
made the facts personal, and became the Apostles of an error of which they had only
been the instruments.
(Literary Mixtures, by M. DE LUCHET.).
End of Notes
25
See in the Analytical Essay on the Faculties of the Soul, not Mr. Bonnet, the story of the visions of
a grandfather of this illustrious Philosopher; as he saw, in broad daylight, his room filled with people
who were not there, his house unfurnished, the doors guarded by armed men. Habit alone could teach
him to distinguish appearance from reality; still, he was often wrong. All these illusions only came from
the disturbance of his pupil.
132
CONTENTS
WARNING ................................................. .................................................. .......... 4
INTRODUCTION ................................................. .................................................. .......... 5
CHAPTER ONE: On the inclination of men to extraordinary things ........................ 14
CHAPTER II: Moral provisions of European Nations ......................................... .... 21

CHAPTER III: Of Jesuitism, as the primary source of the theosophical system ................... 26
CHAPTER IV: Of Freemasonry, considered as the most useful establishment to the

Illuminated .............................. .................................................. ............................................. 31
CHAPTER V: What the Sect of the Illuminated is .................................. .................... 34

CHAPTER VI: Circles ............................................. .................................................. 38
CHAPTER VII: Tests used to constitute an Illuminated Member of a Circle ......... 45

CHAPTER VIII: That the Sect of the Illuminated must necessarily destroy the Kingdom where it
will be protected .................................. .................................................. ................................... 50
CHAPTER IX The Kings are most interested in destroying the new Sect ............................. 57
CHAPTER X: That the Sect of the Illuminated would destroy Society itself, if it could be
destroyed ............................. .................................................. ............................................. 62
CHAPTER _ _
CHAPTER XII: What we thought of the Illuminated, and what we think of them today............ 70
CHAPTER XIII: What we think of the Founders of the modern Sect .............................. 76
CHAPTER _ _
CHAPTER XV Various means of weakening the credit of the Sect .............................................. ......... 84
FIRST MEANS: Writings of Men of Letters .......................................... .................... 84
SECOND MEANS: Inspire a taste for reading ......................................... .................. 85

THIRD WAY: New Education ............................................. .................... 85
FOURTH MEAN: Reform in the Order of Freemasons .................................. 86
FIFTH MEAN: The Ridiculous .................................................. ........................... 87
NOTES .................................................. .................................................. .......................... 92
133
FIRST NOTE: And there go other Theosophists, whose names should have the fate of their talents,
that is to say, remain forever unknown .................... .............................................. 92
NOTE II: A Banker puts Melchizedek above Jesus Christ .................................. 92
NOTE III: We cannot say that the Visionary System has replaced Philosophy ....... 92
NOTE IV: They were governed by a single man more despotically than by the most absolute
Monarch .............................. .................................................. .................................. 93
NOTE V: Or the sessions on rue Platrière ......................................... ............................. 93
NOTE VI: Or the nocturnals of Berlin ......................................... ................................. 94
NOTE VII: These are the Salon des oubliettes ......................................... .............................. 96
NOTE VIII: And that the Journal de Berlin made known ......................................... ............ 96
NOTE IX: This is what happened to these same Paulicians; of which the Empress Theodora had one
hundred thousand slain ......................................... .................................................. ........................... 101
NOTE X: It almost extinguished the Jesuit regime ......................................... ................ 102
NOTE XI: If he cannot prevent the frightening convulsions which shake the bowels of the globe, he
foresees their explosion . .................................................. ......................... 102
NOTE XII: And this is what we have just seen in Holland ................................... ......... 104
NOTE XIII: Such Epaminondas, one of the greatest Heroes of Greece ............................. 104
NOTE XIV: What was Schroepfer, the God of the Illuminated? ............................................. 105
NOTE XV: The Order of Knights and Initiated Brothers of Asia .................................... ......... 109
NOTE XVI: There is not one in a thousand who is educated .................................. .............. 121
NOTE XVII: Perhaps even less than we think ................................... ................. 122
NOTE XVIII: Who keeps it with modifications ......................................... ........... 126
NOTE XIX: If in the heyday of Frederick II ....................................... ................. 127
NOTE XX: Men friends of virtue would form a league ......................................... ...... 127
NOTE XXI: On belief in Spirits......................................... .............................. 128
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THE VOCATION OF THE GOLDEN TREE

Beautiful literature, tools for personal development, identity and

This e-book is under the protection of the Swiss federal

Essay on the sect

© Arbre d'Or, Cortaillod, (ne), Switzerland, June

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

Barbarin sleepwalking, Cagliostro heals, Lavater consoles, Saint-Martin instructs, d'E

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

on the situation in which Nations are known to be protectors of fashionable errors.

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

In the obscure honors of some legion,

It remains to be examined to what extent it is permissible to explain the Great Ones,

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

Ah! what is there no way to correct men's mania for praising!

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

The Circumcellions decide to give freedom to the Slaves in the

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

An Italian woman begins to dogmatize in Secret in the vicinity of Orléans; his

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

In several countries, however, profane enlightenment is eagerly welcomed; but

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

When we consider the newly established establishments in Russia, in Spain, in

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

This idolatry of antiquity is only respectable as long as it serves us

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

The basis of the Jesuit Institute was study.

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ambition, bold blows (see Notes V and VI), dangerous actions.

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

The Circles are administrative committees of the Sect. There are as

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED

This knowledge, thus stolen from Kings and Individuals, circulates, as if by an

ESSAY ON THE SECT OF THE ILLUMINATED