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
_trente-troisieme_, who has come out of Freemasonry to expose and revile
the order.
The two narratives which comprise the exposure in question are
respectively entitled, "Adriano Lemmi: Supreme Chief of Freemasonry,"
and "Palladism, the Cultus of Satan-Lucifer." Both these books contain a
violent impeachment of the Italian Grand Master, which, if it concerned
us, would not convince us. Its main points go to show that in the days
of his boyhood, Lemmi was guilty of an embezzlement at Marseilles, for
which he is said to have suffered at the hands of justice; that he led
the life of a Guzman d'Alfarache, in itself sufficiently romantic to
condone an offence which should have been effaced with its penalty,
supposing the allegation to be true; that he subsequently found himself
at Constantinople, where he was thrown among Jews, and is there charged
by his accuser with the commission of a still more terrible crime; he,
in fact, became a proselyte of the gate, and suffered the rite of
circumcision. Later on he is depicted as a political conspirator, an
agent and friend of Mazzini, Kossuth, and the patriots of the
Revolution, in connection with whom he is made responsible for
innumerable villainies which connect him with the apostleship of
dynamite. We may pass lightly over these matters, nor need we delay to
inquire after what manner Adriano Lemmi may have amassed the wealth
which he possesses, nor what questions on the subject of a monopoly in
tobacco may have been raised or dropped in the Italian Parliament. All
these points, including Signor Lemmi himself, are as little known as
they are of little moment in England, and they are wholly outside our
subject, except in so far as they exhibit the methods of his accuser,
which, indeed, are so objectionable in their nature as to go far towards
exonerating their object. Signor Margiotta, at any rate, puts himself so
clearly in the wrong, and is altogether so virulent, as to place the
inference of personal animosity almost in the region of certitude; one
is therefore tempted to accept the explanation offered by the victim,
that the Marseilles scandal turns upon a mistaken identity, and his
explicit denial that he ever underwent the rite of Jewish initiation.
Furthermore, I believe that I shall represent the opinion of tolerant
Englishmen when I say that to insult and abuse a man for adopting
another faith, however opposed to our own, and even ridiculous in
itself, is an odious method in controversy, and for myself I see little
to choose between a proselyte of the gate, a renegade Mason, and a
demitted Roman Catholic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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