Devil-Worship in France; or, The Question of LuciferWaite, Arthur Edward
Religion
Devil-Worship in France; or, The Question of Lucifer
Waite, Arthur Edward
Satanism
That the witnesses of Lucifer are in all cases attached to the Latin
Church, whether as priests or laymen, is no matter for astonishment when
it is once realised that outside this Church there is no hostility to
Masonry. For example, Robison's "Proofs of a Conspiracy" is almost the
only work possessing, deservedly or not, any aspect of importance, which
has ever been penned by a Protestant or independent writer in direct
hostility to the Fraternity. Moreover, Catholic hostility varies in a
vanishing direction with distance from the ecclesiastical centre. Thus,
in England, it exists chiefly in a latent condition, finding little or
no expression unless pressure is exercised from the centre, while in
America the enforced promulgation of the _Humanum Genus_ encyclical has
been one of the serious blunders of the present pontificate as regards
that country. The bibliography of Catholic Anti-Masonic literature is
now, however, very large, nor is it confined to one land, or to a
special epoch; it has an antiquity of nearly 150 years, and represents
most of the European continent. That of France, which is nearest to our
own doors, is naturally most familiar to us; it is also one of the most
productive, and may be assumed to represent the whole. We are concerned
with it in this place only during the period which is subsequent to the
alleged foundation of the New and Reformed Palladium. During this period
it falls obviously into two groups, that which preceded any knowledge of
the institution in question and that which is posterior to the first
promulgation of such knowledge. In the first we find mainly the old
accusations which have long ceased to exert any conspicuous influence,
namely, Atheism, Materialism, and revolutionary plotting. Without
disappearing entirely, these have been largely replaced in the second
group by charges of magic and diabolism, concerning which the
denunciations have been loud and fierce. One supplementary impeachment
may be said in a certain sense to connect both, because it is common to
both; it is that of unbridled licence fostered by the asserted existence
of adoptive lodges. We shall find during the first period that Masonry
was freely described as a diabolical and Satanic institution, and it is
necessary to insist on this point because it is liable to confuse the
issues. Before the year 1891 the diabolism identified with Masonry was
almost exclusively intellectual. That is to say, its alleged atheism,
from the standpoint of the Catholic Church, was a diabolical opinion in
matters of religion; its alleged materialism was a diabolical philosophy
in matters of science; its alleged revolutionary plottings, being
especially directed against the Catholic Church, constituted diabolical
politics. Such descriptions will seem arbitrary enough to most persons
who do not look forth upon the world from the windows of the Vatican,
but they are undeniably consistent at Rome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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