Post by somequestions on Aug 12, 2008 8:05:53 GMT
I've been thinking about joining, but I have come across a few referances from Freemasons I would like some explanations on before I consider it further. Please forgive some of the typos below as I was reading this out of the books while typing and my fingers got a little tired after awhile. Please don't take this as an attack, I would simply like to hear the Masonic view of the following texts, all responses are welcome:
"If the sincere and thoughtful Mason would "take notice" of the symbolism and the use made everywhere in the Lodge of the word "Light," and remember that the real Initiates are called also "the Illuminati."
Quote by: J.D. Buck 32nd degree Mason
Source: The Genius of Freemasonry and the Twentieth Century Crusade (1940)
"Not only were many of the founders of the United States Government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few. The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body--unseen and for the most part unknown--and the unfinished pyramid upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was dedicated from the day of its inception."
These words written by Manly P. Hall 33rd Degree Freemason in his book on pg. 91 third paragraph of "THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES" 1928
"The day has come when Fellow Craftsman must know and apply their knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion , which places the energy of the universe at their disposal. Man can only expect to be entrusted with great power by proving his ability to use it constructively and selflessly. When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands, and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy. He must follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare."
[Manly P. Hall, 33rd Degree, K.T., The Lost Keys of Freemasonry or The Secret of Hiram Abiff , Forward by Reynold E. Blight, 33rd Degree, K.T., Illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp, 32nd Degree, Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, p. 48; Emphasis Added]
"In its internal organization the Order of Illuminati was divided into three great classes, namely, 1. Nursery; 2; Symbolic Freemasonry; and 3. The Mysteries; each of which was subdivided into several degrees..."
"Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" Page 405 By Albert Gallatin Mackey 33rd Degree Freemason
Albert Pike (December 29, 1809–April 2, 1891) was an attorney, soldier, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer (who was pardoned by Andrew Jackson, a fellow Mason) or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square). His statue was funded and built by the Scottish Rite.
Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction in 1859. He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the remainder of his life (a total of thirty-two years), devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order. Notably, he published a book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, of which there were several subsequent editions.
Pike is still sometimes regarded in America as an eminent and influential Freemason. His anti-Roman Catholic pronouncements were seen as representative of American freemasonry by Catholic sources.
Taken from the wikipedia article on Albert Pike. Also if you look up Morals and Dogma, you will find the complete title is "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry". So please no more remarks that this book is just his personal philosophy and not an official book of the lodge.
A copy of Morals & Dogma was given to every new member of the Southern Jurisdiction until 1974, when it was deemed "too advanced to be helpful to the new Scottish Rite member" http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Morals_and_dogma
Too advanced? Did it reveal the secrets of Freemasonry?
Albert Pike explained in Morals & Dogma how the true nature of Freemasonry is kept a secret from Masons of lower degrees:
"The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. The whole body of the Royal and Sacerdotal Art was hidden so carefully, centuries since, in the High Degrees, as that it is even yet impossible to solve many of the enigmas which they contain. It is well enough for the mass of those called Masons, to imagine that all is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whoso attempts to undeceive them will labor in vain, and without any true reward violate his obligations as an Adept. Masonry is the veritable Sphinx, buried to the head in the sands heaped round it by the ages. "
"Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it....
"The truth must be kept secret, and the masses need a teaching proportioned to their imperfect reason…"
"Every man's conception of God must be proportioned to his mental cultivation and intellectual powers, and moral excellence. God is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself..."
"The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god but the negation of God. The Devil is the personification of Atheism or Idolatry."
"Lucifer, the Light Bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!"
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry By Albert Gallatin Mackey
Page 109
"Avifnon, Illuminati of. (Illumines d'Avignon) A Rite instituted by Pernetti at Avignon, in France, in 1770 and transferred in the year 1778 to Montpellier, under the name of the Academy of True Masons. The Academy of Avignon Consisted of only four degrees, the three of symbolic or St. John's Masonry, and a fourth called the True Mason, which was made up of instructions, Hermetetical and Sweden-borgian."
Page 134
"Bode, Johann Joachim Christoph. Born in Brunswick, 16th of January 1780. One of the most distinguished Masons of his time. In his youth he was a professional Musician, but in 1757, he established himself at Hamburg as a bookseller, and was initiated into the Masonic Order. He obtained much reputation by the translation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey, and Tristran Shandy; of Goldsmiths' Vicar of Wakefield; Smollett's Humprey Clinker; and of Fielding's Tom Jones, from the English; and the Montaigne's works from the French. To Masonic literature he made many valuable contributions; amoung others, he translated from the French Bonneville's celebrated work entitled Les Jesuites chasses de la Maqonneris et leur poignard brise par les maqons, which contains a comparison of Scottish Masonry with the Templarism of the fourteenth century. Bode was at one time a zealous promoter of the Rite of Strict Observance, but afterwards became one of its most active opponents. In 1790 he joined the Order of the Illuminati, obtaining the highest degree in its second class, and at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad he advocated the opinions of Weishaupt. No man of his day was better versed then he in the history of the Freemasonry, or possessed a more valuable and extensive library; no one was more diligent in increasing his stock of Masonic knowledge, or more anxious to avail himself of the rarest sources of learning. Hence he has always held an exalted position amoung the Masonic scholars of Germany. The theory which he had conceived on the origin of Freemasonry, --a theory, however, which the investigations of subsequent historians have proved to be untenable, --was, that the Order was invented by the Jesuits in the Seventeenth century as an instrument for the re-establishment of the Roman Church in England, covering it for their own purposes under the mantle of Templarism. Bode died at Weimar on the 13th of December 1793."
Page 204
"Concordists. A Secret order established in Prussia, by M. Lang, on the wreck of the Tugendverein, which later body was instituted in 1790 as a successor of the Illuminati, and suppressed in 1812 by the Prussian government, on account of its supposed political tendencies."
Page 289
"Eques. A Latin word signifying knight. Every member of the Rite of Strict Observance, on attaining to the seventh or highest degree, received a "characteristic name" which was formed in Latin by the addition of a noun in the ablative case, governed by the preposition a or ab to the word Eques as "Eques a Sepente," or Knight of the Serpent, "Eques ab Aquila," or Knight of the Eagle, etc. and by this name he was ever afterwards known in the Order. Thus Bode one of the founders of the Rite, was recognized as "Eques A Lilio Convallium," or Knight of the Lily of the Valleys, and the Baron Hund, another founder, as "Eques ab Euse" or Knight of the Sword. A Similar custom prevailed amoung the Illuminati and in the Royal Order of Scotland, Eques signified among Romans a knight, but in the middle ages the knight was called miles; although the Latin word miles denoted only a soldier, yet, by the usage of chivalry, it received the nobler signification. Indeed, Muratori says, on the suthority of an old inscription, that Eques was inferior in dignity to Miles"
Page 325
"Francis II., Emperor of Germany, was a bitter enemy of Freemasonry. In 1789, he ordered all the lodges in his dominions to be closed, and directed and civil and military functionaries to take an oath never to unite with any secret society, under pain of exemplary punishment and destitution of office. In 1794, he proposed to the diet of Ratisbon the suppression of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and all other secret societies. The diet, controlled by the influence of Prussia, Brunswick, and Hanover, refused to accede to the proposition, replying tot he emperor that he might interdict the Lodges in his own states, but that others claimed Germanic liberty. In 1801, he renewed his opposition to secret societies, and especially to the Masonic Lodges, and all civil, military, and ecclesiastical finctionaries were restrained from taking any part in them under the penalty of forfeiting their offices."
Page 405
"Illuminati. This is a Latin word, signifying the enlightened, and hence often applied in Latin diplomas as an epithet of Freemasons.""Illuminati of Bavaria. A Secret society, founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt, who was professor of canon law at the University of Ingoldstadt. Its founder at first called it the Order of the Perfectibilists; but he subsequently gave it the name by which it is now universally known. Its progessed object was, by the mutual assistance of its members, to attain the highest possible degree of morality and virtue, and to lay the foundation fo the reformation of the world by the association of good men to oppose the progress of moral evil. To give to the Order a higher influence. Weishaupt connected it with the Masonic institution, after whose system of degrees, of esoteric instruction, and of secret modes of recognition, it was organized. It has thus become confounded by superficial writers with Freemasonry, although it never could be considered as properly a Masonic Rite. Weishaupt, though a reformer in religion and a liberal in politics, had originally been a Jesuit; and he employed, therefore, in the construction of his association, the shrewdness and subtlety which distinguished the disciples of loyola; and having been initiated in 1777 in a Lodge at Munich, he also borrowed for its use the mystical organization which was paculiar to Freemasonry. In this latter task he was greatly assisted by the Baron Von Knigge, a zealous and well-instructed Mason, who joined the Illuminati in 1780, and soon became a leader, dividing with Weishaupt the control and direction of the Order.In its internal organization the Order of Illuminati was divided into three great classes, namely, 1. Nursery; 2; Symbolic Freemasonry; and 3. The Mysteries; each of which was subdivided into several degrees making ten in all as in the following Table:
I. Nursery,
After a ceremony of preparation it began:
1. Novice
2. Minerval.
3. Illuminatus Minor.
II. Symbolic Fremasonry.
The first three degrees were communicated without any exact respect to the divisions, and then the candidate proceeded:
4. Illuminatus Major, or Scottish Novice.
5. Illuminatus Dirigena, or Scottish Knight
III. The Mysteries.
This class was subdivided into the Lesser and Greater Mysteries.
The Lesser Mysteries were:
6. Presbyter, Priest, or Epopt.
7. Prince, or Regent.
The Greater Mysteries were:
8. Magus.
9. Rex, or King.
Any one otherwise qualified could be received into the degree of the Novice at the age of eighteen; and after a probation of not less than a year he was admitted to the second and third degrees, and so on to the higher degrees; though but few reached the ninth and tenth degrees, in which the inmost secret designs of the Order were contained, and in fact, it is said that these last degrees were never thoroughly worked up.The Illuminati selected for themselves Order names, which were always of a classical character. Thus, Weishaupt called himself Spartacus, Knigge was Philo, and Zwack another leader, was known as Cato. They gave also fictitious names to countries. Ingoldstadt, where the Order originated, was called Eleusis: Austria was Egyptm, in regerence to the Egyptian darkness of that kingdom, which excluded all Masonry from its territories; Munich was called Athens, and Vienna was Rome. The Order had also its calendar, and the months were designated by peculiar names; as, Dimeh for January, and Bemeh for February. They had also a cipher, in which the official correspondence of the members was conducted. The Charecter (Symbol not shown), now so much used by Masons to represent a Lodge, was invented and first used by the Illuminati. The Order was at first very popular, and enrolled no less than two thousand names upon its registers, amoun whom were some of the most distinguished men of Germany. It extended rapidly into other countries, and its Lodges were to be found in France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. The original desin of Illuminism was undoubtedly the elevation of the...."
FIND PAGE 406
Page 419-420
"Jacobins. A political sect that sprang up in the beginning of the French Revolution, and which gave origin to the Jacobin clubs, so well known as having been the places where the leaders of the Revolution concocted their plans for the abolition of the monarchy and the aristocracy. Lieber says that it is a most surprising phenomenon that "so large a body of men could be found uniting rare energy with execrable vice, political madness and outrageous cruelty, committed always in the name of virtue" Barruel, in his Histoire de Jacobinisme, and Robinson, in his Proofs of a Conspiracy, both endeavor to proce that there was a coalition of revolutionary conspirators with the Illuminati and the Freemasons which formed the Jacobin clubs, those bodies being, as they contend, only Masonic Lodges in disguise. The falsity of these charges will be evident to any one who reads the history of French Masonry during the Revolution, and more especially during that par of the period known as the "Reign Of Terror," when the Jacobin clubs were in most vigor, entitled Les Jesuites chasses de la Maconnerie et leur Pognard brise par les macons, was the production of a perverse mind, prepared as a poison for the destruction of Masonry, and ordered it to be burned. During the Revolution the Grand Orient suspended its labors, and the Lodges in France were dissolved; and in 1793, the Duke of Orleans, the head of the Jacobins, who was also, unfortunatly, Grand Master of the French Masons, resigned the latter position, assigning as a reasons that he did not believe that there should be any mystery nor any secret society in a republic. It is evident that the Freemasons, as an Order, held themselves aloof from the political contests of that period."
Page 430
"Jesuits. In the last century the Jesuits were charged with having an intimate connction with Freemasonry, and the invention of the degree of Kadosh was even attributed to those members of the Society who constituted the College of Clermont. This theory of Jesuitical Masonry seems to have originate with the Illuminati, who were probably governed in its promulgation by a desire to depreciate the chareacter of all other Masonic systems in comparison with their own, where no much priestly interference was permitted. Barruel scoffs at the idea of such a connection and calls it (Hist. de Ja., iv. 287) "la fable de la Franc - Maconnerie Jesuiteque. For once he is right. LIke oil and water the tolerance of Freemasonry and the intolerance of the "Society of Jesus" connot commingle. Yet it cannot be denied that, while the Jesuits have had no part in the construction of pure Freemasonry there are reasons for believing that they took an interest in the invention fo some degrees and systems which Intended to advance their own interests. But wherever they touched the Institution they left the trail of the serpent. They sought to convert its pure philanthropy and toleration into political intrigue and religious bigotry. Hence it is believed that they had something to do with the invention of those degrees, which were intended to aid the exiled house of Stuart in its efforts to regain the English throne, because they believed that would secure the restoration in England of the Roman Catholic religion. Almost a library of books has been written on both sides of this subject in Germany and in France."
Page 442:
"The division of the ten Sephiroth into three triads was arranged into a form called by Kabbalists the kabbalistic Tree, or the Tree of Life as shown in the preceding diagram.In this diagram the vertical arrangement of the Sephiroth is called "Pillars" Thus the four Sephiroth in the Centre are called the Middle Pilla and the three on the right of the "Pillar of Mercy;" and the three on the left, the "Pillar of Justice" They allude to these two qualities of God, of which the benignity of the one modifies the rigor of the other so that the Divine Justice is always tempered by the Divine Mercy. C.W. King, in his Gnostics, (P, 12,) refers the right hand pillar to the pillar Jachin and the left hand pillar Boaz, which stood at the porch of the Temple; and "these two pillars" he says, "figure largely amongst all the secret societies of modern times, and naturally so; for these Illuminati have borrowed, without understanding it, the phraseology of the Kabbalists and the Valentinians." But an inspection of the arrangement of the Sephiroth will show, if he is correct in his general reference, that he has transposed the pillars. Firmness would more naturally symbolize Boaz or Strength as Splendor would Jachin or Establishment."
And the most interesting Page 450
"Knigge, Adolph Franz Friederich Ludwig, Baron Von. He was at one time amoug the most distinguished Masons of Germany; for while Weishaupt was the ostensible inventor and leader of the system of Bavarian Illuminism, it was indebted for its real form and organization to the inventive genius of Knigge. He was born at Brendenbeck near Hanover, October 16, 1752. He was initiated, Jan 20 1772, in a Lodge of Strict Observance at Cassel, but dies not appear at first to have been much impressed with the Institution for, in a letter to Prince Charles of Hesse, he calls its ceremonies "absurd, juggling tricks" subsequently his views became changed, at least for a time. When, in 1780, the Marquis de Constanzo was despatched by Weishaupt to Northern Germany to propagate the Order of the Illuminati, he made the acquaintance of Knigge, and succeeded in gaining him as a disciple. Knigge afterwards entered into a correspondence with Weishaupt, in consequence of which his enthusiasm was greatly increased. After some time, in reply to the urgent
entreaties of Knigge for more light, Weishaupt confessed that the Order was as yet in an unfinished state and actually existed only in his own brain; the lower classes alone having been organized. Recognizing Knigge's abilities, he invited him to Bavaria, and promised to surrender to him all the manuscript materials in his possession that Knigger might out of them, assisted by his own inventino, construct the high degrees of the Rite.
Knigge accordingly repaired to Bavaria in 1781, and when he met Weishaupt, the latter consented that Knigge should elaborate the whole system up to the highest mysteries.This task Knigge accomplished, and entered into correspondence with the Lodges, exerting all his talents, which were of no mean order, for the advancement of the Rite. He brought to its aid the invaluable labors of Bode, whome he prevailed upon to receive the degrees.
After Knigge had fully elaborated the system, and secured for it the approval of Areopagites, he introduced it into his district, and bagan to labor with every prospect of success. But Weishaupt now interferedl and, notwithstanding his compact with Knigge, he made many alterations and additions, which he imperiously ordered the Provincial Directors to insert in the ritual. Knigge, becoming disgusted with the proceeding, withdrew from the ORder and soon afterwards entirely from Freemasonry, devoting the rest of his life to feneral literature. He died at Bremen, May 6, 1796.
Knigge was a man of considerable talents, and the author of many books, both Masonic and non-Masonic. Of these the following are the most important. A work published anonymously in 1781, entitled Ueber Jesuiten, Freimaureren und deutsche Rosenkreuzer, i.e. "On the Jesuits, Freemasons and Rosicrucians;" Versuch uber die Freimaurerei, i.e. "Essay on Freemasonry" in 1784; Beytrag zur neuesten Geschichte des Freimaurerordens, i.e. "Contribution towards the latest History of the Order of Freemasons" in 1786; and, after he had retired from the Illuminati, a work entitled Philo's endliche Erkidrung, or "Philo's final Declaration" 1788, which progessed to be his answer to the numerous inquiries made of him in regerence to his connection with the Order.
Among his most populat non-Masonic works was a treatise on Social philosophy with the title of Ueber den Umgang mit Menschen, or, "On Conversation with Men" This work, which was written towards the close of his life, was very favorably received throughout Germany and translated into many languages. Although abounding in many admirable remarks on various relations and duties of life, to the Mason it will be particularly interesting as furnishing a proof of the instability of the author's opinions, for, with all his abilities, Knigge evidently wanted a well-balanced judgement. Commencing life with an enthusiastic admiration for Freemasonry, in a few years he became distusted with itl no long time elapsed before he was found one of its most zealous apostles; and again retiring from the Order, he spent his last days in writing against it. IN his Conversation with Men, is a long chapter on Secret Societies, in which he is scarcely less denunciatory of them than Barruel or Robinson."
"If the sincere and thoughtful Mason would "take notice" of the symbolism and the use made everywhere in the Lodge of the word "Light," and remember that the real Initiates are called also "the Illuminati."
Quote by: J.D. Buck 32nd degree Mason
Source: The Genius of Freemasonry and the Twentieth Century Crusade (1940)
"Not only were many of the founders of the United States Government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few. The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body--unseen and for the most part unknown--and the unfinished pyramid upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was dedicated from the day of its inception."
These words written by Manly P. Hall 33rd Degree Freemason in his book on pg. 91 third paragraph of "THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES" 1928
"The day has come when Fellow Craftsman must know and apply their knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion , which places the energy of the universe at their disposal. Man can only expect to be entrusted with great power by proving his ability to use it constructively and selflessly. When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands, and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy. He must follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare."
[Manly P. Hall, 33rd Degree, K.T., The Lost Keys of Freemasonry or The Secret of Hiram Abiff , Forward by Reynold E. Blight, 33rd Degree, K.T., Illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp, 32nd Degree, Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, p. 48; Emphasis Added]
"In its internal organization the Order of Illuminati was divided into three great classes, namely, 1. Nursery; 2; Symbolic Freemasonry; and 3. The Mysteries; each of which was subdivided into several degrees..."
"Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" Page 405 By Albert Gallatin Mackey 33rd Degree Freemason
Albert Pike (December 29, 1809–April 2, 1891) was an attorney, soldier, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer (who was pardoned by Andrew Jackson, a fellow Mason) or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square). His statue was funded and built by the Scottish Rite.
Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction in 1859. He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the remainder of his life (a total of thirty-two years), devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order. Notably, he published a book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, of which there were several subsequent editions.
Pike is still sometimes regarded in America as an eminent and influential Freemason. His anti-Roman Catholic pronouncements were seen as representative of American freemasonry by Catholic sources.
Taken from the wikipedia article on Albert Pike. Also if you look up Morals and Dogma, you will find the complete title is "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry". So please no more remarks that this book is just his personal philosophy and not an official book of the lodge.
A copy of Morals & Dogma was given to every new member of the Southern Jurisdiction until 1974, when it was deemed "too advanced to be helpful to the new Scottish Rite member" http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Morals_and_dogma
Too advanced? Did it reveal the secrets of Freemasonry?
Albert Pike explained in Morals & Dogma how the true nature of Freemasonry is kept a secret from Masons of lower degrees:
"The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. The whole body of the Royal and Sacerdotal Art was hidden so carefully, centuries since, in the High Degrees, as that it is even yet impossible to solve many of the enigmas which they contain. It is well enough for the mass of those called Masons, to imagine that all is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whoso attempts to undeceive them will labor in vain, and without any true reward violate his obligations as an Adept. Masonry is the veritable Sphinx, buried to the head in the sands heaped round it by the ages. "
"Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it....
"The truth must be kept secret, and the masses need a teaching proportioned to their imperfect reason…"
"Every man's conception of God must be proportioned to his mental cultivation and intellectual powers, and moral excellence. God is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself..."
"The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god but the negation of God. The Devil is the personification of Atheism or Idolatry."
"Lucifer, the Light Bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!"
Encyclopedia of Freemasonry By Albert Gallatin Mackey
Page 109
"Avifnon, Illuminati of. (Illumines d'Avignon) A Rite instituted by Pernetti at Avignon, in France, in 1770 and transferred in the year 1778 to Montpellier, under the name of the Academy of True Masons. The Academy of Avignon Consisted of only four degrees, the three of symbolic or St. John's Masonry, and a fourth called the True Mason, which was made up of instructions, Hermetetical and Sweden-borgian."
Page 134
"Bode, Johann Joachim Christoph. Born in Brunswick, 16th of January 1780. One of the most distinguished Masons of his time. In his youth he was a professional Musician, but in 1757, he established himself at Hamburg as a bookseller, and was initiated into the Masonic Order. He obtained much reputation by the translation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey, and Tristran Shandy; of Goldsmiths' Vicar of Wakefield; Smollett's Humprey Clinker; and of Fielding's Tom Jones, from the English; and the Montaigne's works from the French. To Masonic literature he made many valuable contributions; amoung others, he translated from the French Bonneville's celebrated work entitled Les Jesuites chasses de la Maqonneris et leur poignard brise par les maqons, which contains a comparison of Scottish Masonry with the Templarism of the fourteenth century. Bode was at one time a zealous promoter of the Rite of Strict Observance, but afterwards became one of its most active opponents. In 1790 he joined the Order of the Illuminati, obtaining the highest degree in its second class, and at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad he advocated the opinions of Weishaupt. No man of his day was better versed then he in the history of the Freemasonry, or possessed a more valuable and extensive library; no one was more diligent in increasing his stock of Masonic knowledge, or more anxious to avail himself of the rarest sources of learning. Hence he has always held an exalted position amoung the Masonic scholars of Germany. The theory which he had conceived on the origin of Freemasonry, --a theory, however, which the investigations of subsequent historians have proved to be untenable, --was, that the Order was invented by the Jesuits in the Seventeenth century as an instrument for the re-establishment of the Roman Church in England, covering it for their own purposes under the mantle of Templarism. Bode died at Weimar on the 13th of December 1793."
Page 204
"Concordists. A Secret order established in Prussia, by M. Lang, on the wreck of the Tugendverein, which later body was instituted in 1790 as a successor of the Illuminati, and suppressed in 1812 by the Prussian government, on account of its supposed political tendencies."
Page 289
"Eques. A Latin word signifying knight. Every member of the Rite of Strict Observance, on attaining to the seventh or highest degree, received a "characteristic name" which was formed in Latin by the addition of a noun in the ablative case, governed by the preposition a or ab to the word Eques as "Eques a Sepente," or Knight of the Serpent, "Eques ab Aquila," or Knight of the Eagle, etc. and by this name he was ever afterwards known in the Order. Thus Bode one of the founders of the Rite, was recognized as "Eques A Lilio Convallium," or Knight of the Lily of the Valleys, and the Baron Hund, another founder, as "Eques ab Euse" or Knight of the Sword. A Similar custom prevailed amoung the Illuminati and in the Royal Order of Scotland, Eques signified among Romans a knight, but in the middle ages the knight was called miles; although the Latin word miles denoted only a soldier, yet, by the usage of chivalry, it received the nobler signification. Indeed, Muratori says, on the suthority of an old inscription, that Eques was inferior in dignity to Miles"
Page 325
"Francis II., Emperor of Germany, was a bitter enemy of Freemasonry. In 1789, he ordered all the lodges in his dominions to be closed, and directed and civil and military functionaries to take an oath never to unite with any secret society, under pain of exemplary punishment and destitution of office. In 1794, he proposed to the diet of Ratisbon the suppression of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and all other secret societies. The diet, controlled by the influence of Prussia, Brunswick, and Hanover, refused to accede to the proposition, replying tot he emperor that he might interdict the Lodges in his own states, but that others claimed Germanic liberty. In 1801, he renewed his opposition to secret societies, and especially to the Masonic Lodges, and all civil, military, and ecclesiastical finctionaries were restrained from taking any part in them under the penalty of forfeiting their offices."
Page 405
"Illuminati. This is a Latin word, signifying the enlightened, and hence often applied in Latin diplomas as an epithet of Freemasons.""Illuminati of Bavaria. A Secret society, founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt, who was professor of canon law at the University of Ingoldstadt. Its founder at first called it the Order of the Perfectibilists; but he subsequently gave it the name by which it is now universally known. Its progessed object was, by the mutual assistance of its members, to attain the highest possible degree of morality and virtue, and to lay the foundation fo the reformation of the world by the association of good men to oppose the progress of moral evil. To give to the Order a higher influence. Weishaupt connected it with the Masonic institution, after whose system of degrees, of esoteric instruction, and of secret modes of recognition, it was organized. It has thus become confounded by superficial writers with Freemasonry, although it never could be considered as properly a Masonic Rite. Weishaupt, though a reformer in religion and a liberal in politics, had originally been a Jesuit; and he employed, therefore, in the construction of his association, the shrewdness and subtlety which distinguished the disciples of loyola; and having been initiated in 1777 in a Lodge at Munich, he also borrowed for its use the mystical organization which was paculiar to Freemasonry. In this latter task he was greatly assisted by the Baron Von Knigge, a zealous and well-instructed Mason, who joined the Illuminati in 1780, and soon became a leader, dividing with Weishaupt the control and direction of the Order.In its internal organization the Order of Illuminati was divided into three great classes, namely, 1. Nursery; 2; Symbolic Freemasonry; and 3. The Mysteries; each of which was subdivided into several degrees making ten in all as in the following Table:
I. Nursery,
After a ceremony of preparation it began:
1. Novice
2. Minerval.
3. Illuminatus Minor.
II. Symbolic Fremasonry.
The first three degrees were communicated without any exact respect to the divisions, and then the candidate proceeded:
4. Illuminatus Major, or Scottish Novice.
5. Illuminatus Dirigena, or Scottish Knight
III. The Mysteries.
This class was subdivided into the Lesser and Greater Mysteries.
The Lesser Mysteries were:
6. Presbyter, Priest, or Epopt.
7. Prince, or Regent.
The Greater Mysteries were:
8. Magus.
9. Rex, or King.
Any one otherwise qualified could be received into the degree of the Novice at the age of eighteen; and after a probation of not less than a year he was admitted to the second and third degrees, and so on to the higher degrees; though but few reached the ninth and tenth degrees, in which the inmost secret designs of the Order were contained, and in fact, it is said that these last degrees were never thoroughly worked up.The Illuminati selected for themselves Order names, which were always of a classical character. Thus, Weishaupt called himself Spartacus, Knigge was Philo, and Zwack another leader, was known as Cato. They gave also fictitious names to countries. Ingoldstadt, where the Order originated, was called Eleusis: Austria was Egyptm, in regerence to the Egyptian darkness of that kingdom, which excluded all Masonry from its territories; Munich was called Athens, and Vienna was Rome. The Order had also its calendar, and the months were designated by peculiar names; as, Dimeh for January, and Bemeh for February. They had also a cipher, in which the official correspondence of the members was conducted. The Charecter (Symbol not shown), now so much used by Masons to represent a Lodge, was invented and first used by the Illuminati. The Order was at first very popular, and enrolled no less than two thousand names upon its registers, amoun whom were some of the most distinguished men of Germany. It extended rapidly into other countries, and its Lodges were to be found in France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. The original desin of Illuminism was undoubtedly the elevation of the...."
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Page 419-420
"Jacobins. A political sect that sprang up in the beginning of the French Revolution, and which gave origin to the Jacobin clubs, so well known as having been the places where the leaders of the Revolution concocted their plans for the abolition of the monarchy and the aristocracy. Lieber says that it is a most surprising phenomenon that "so large a body of men could be found uniting rare energy with execrable vice, political madness and outrageous cruelty, committed always in the name of virtue" Barruel, in his Histoire de Jacobinisme, and Robinson, in his Proofs of a Conspiracy, both endeavor to proce that there was a coalition of revolutionary conspirators with the Illuminati and the Freemasons which formed the Jacobin clubs, those bodies being, as they contend, only Masonic Lodges in disguise. The falsity of these charges will be evident to any one who reads the history of French Masonry during the Revolution, and more especially during that par of the period known as the "Reign Of Terror," when the Jacobin clubs were in most vigor, entitled Les Jesuites chasses de la Maconnerie et leur Pognard brise par les macons, was the production of a perverse mind, prepared as a poison for the destruction of Masonry, and ordered it to be burned. During the Revolution the Grand Orient suspended its labors, and the Lodges in France were dissolved; and in 1793, the Duke of Orleans, the head of the Jacobins, who was also, unfortunatly, Grand Master of the French Masons, resigned the latter position, assigning as a reasons that he did not believe that there should be any mystery nor any secret society in a republic. It is evident that the Freemasons, as an Order, held themselves aloof from the political contests of that period."
Page 430
"Jesuits. In the last century the Jesuits were charged with having an intimate connction with Freemasonry, and the invention of the degree of Kadosh was even attributed to those members of the Society who constituted the College of Clermont. This theory of Jesuitical Masonry seems to have originate with the Illuminati, who were probably governed in its promulgation by a desire to depreciate the chareacter of all other Masonic systems in comparison with their own, where no much priestly interference was permitted. Barruel scoffs at the idea of such a connection and calls it (Hist. de Ja., iv. 287) "la fable de la Franc - Maconnerie Jesuiteque. For once he is right. LIke oil and water the tolerance of Freemasonry and the intolerance of the "Society of Jesus" connot commingle. Yet it cannot be denied that, while the Jesuits have had no part in the construction of pure Freemasonry there are reasons for believing that they took an interest in the invention fo some degrees and systems which Intended to advance their own interests. But wherever they touched the Institution they left the trail of the serpent. They sought to convert its pure philanthropy and toleration into political intrigue and religious bigotry. Hence it is believed that they had something to do with the invention of those degrees, which were intended to aid the exiled house of Stuart in its efforts to regain the English throne, because they believed that would secure the restoration in England of the Roman Catholic religion. Almost a library of books has been written on both sides of this subject in Germany and in France."
Page 442:
"The division of the ten Sephiroth into three triads was arranged into a form called by Kabbalists the kabbalistic Tree, or the Tree of Life as shown in the preceding diagram.In this diagram the vertical arrangement of the Sephiroth is called "Pillars" Thus the four Sephiroth in the Centre are called the Middle Pilla and the three on the right of the "Pillar of Mercy;" and the three on the left, the "Pillar of Justice" They allude to these two qualities of God, of which the benignity of the one modifies the rigor of the other so that the Divine Justice is always tempered by the Divine Mercy. C.W. King, in his Gnostics, (P, 12,) refers the right hand pillar to the pillar Jachin and the left hand pillar Boaz, which stood at the porch of the Temple; and "these two pillars" he says, "figure largely amongst all the secret societies of modern times, and naturally so; for these Illuminati have borrowed, without understanding it, the phraseology of the Kabbalists and the Valentinians." But an inspection of the arrangement of the Sephiroth will show, if he is correct in his general reference, that he has transposed the pillars. Firmness would more naturally symbolize Boaz or Strength as Splendor would Jachin or Establishment."
And the most interesting Page 450
"Knigge, Adolph Franz Friederich Ludwig, Baron Von. He was at one time amoug the most distinguished Masons of Germany; for while Weishaupt was the ostensible inventor and leader of the system of Bavarian Illuminism, it was indebted for its real form and organization to the inventive genius of Knigge. He was born at Brendenbeck near Hanover, October 16, 1752. He was initiated, Jan 20 1772, in a Lodge of Strict Observance at Cassel, but dies not appear at first to have been much impressed with the Institution for, in a letter to Prince Charles of Hesse, he calls its ceremonies "absurd, juggling tricks" subsequently his views became changed, at least for a time. When, in 1780, the Marquis de Constanzo was despatched by Weishaupt to Northern Germany to propagate the Order of the Illuminati, he made the acquaintance of Knigge, and succeeded in gaining him as a disciple. Knigge afterwards entered into a correspondence with Weishaupt, in consequence of which his enthusiasm was greatly increased. After some time, in reply to the urgent
entreaties of Knigge for more light, Weishaupt confessed that the Order was as yet in an unfinished state and actually existed only in his own brain; the lower classes alone having been organized. Recognizing Knigge's abilities, he invited him to Bavaria, and promised to surrender to him all the manuscript materials in his possession that Knigger might out of them, assisted by his own inventino, construct the high degrees of the Rite.
Knigge accordingly repaired to Bavaria in 1781, and when he met Weishaupt, the latter consented that Knigge should elaborate the whole system up to the highest mysteries.This task Knigge accomplished, and entered into correspondence with the Lodges, exerting all his talents, which were of no mean order, for the advancement of the Rite. He brought to its aid the invaluable labors of Bode, whome he prevailed upon to receive the degrees.
After Knigge had fully elaborated the system, and secured for it the approval of Areopagites, he introduced it into his district, and bagan to labor with every prospect of success. But Weishaupt now interferedl and, notwithstanding his compact with Knigge, he made many alterations and additions, which he imperiously ordered the Provincial Directors to insert in the ritual. Knigge, becoming disgusted with the proceeding, withdrew from the ORder and soon afterwards entirely from Freemasonry, devoting the rest of his life to feneral literature. He died at Bremen, May 6, 1796.
Knigge was a man of considerable talents, and the author of many books, both Masonic and non-Masonic. Of these the following are the most important. A work published anonymously in 1781, entitled Ueber Jesuiten, Freimaureren und deutsche Rosenkreuzer, i.e. "On the Jesuits, Freemasons and Rosicrucians;" Versuch uber die Freimaurerei, i.e. "Essay on Freemasonry" in 1784; Beytrag zur neuesten Geschichte des Freimaurerordens, i.e. "Contribution towards the latest History of the Order of Freemasons" in 1786; and, after he had retired from the Illuminati, a work entitled Philo's endliche Erkidrung, or "Philo's final Declaration" 1788, which progessed to be his answer to the numerous inquiries made of him in regerence to his connection with the Order.
Among his most populat non-Masonic works was a treatise on Social philosophy with the title of Ueber den Umgang mit Menschen, or, "On Conversation with Men" This work, which was written towards the close of his life, was very favorably received throughout Germany and translated into many languages. Although abounding in many admirable remarks on various relations and duties of life, to the Mason it will be particularly interesting as furnishing a proof of the instability of the author's opinions, for, with all his abilities, Knigge evidently wanted a well-balanced judgement. Commencing life with an enthusiastic admiration for Freemasonry, in a few years he became distusted with itl no long time elapsed before he was found one of its most zealous apostles; and again retiring from the Order, he spent his last days in writing against it. IN his Conversation with Men, is a long chapter on Secret Societies, in which he is scarcely less denunciatory of them than Barruel or Robinson."