Secret societies and subversive movementsWebster, Nesta Helen
History
Secret societies and subversive movements
Webster, Nesta Helen
Secret societies
The art of Frederick the Great, as of his successors on the throne of
the Hohenzollerns, was to make use of every movement that could further
the design of Prussian supremacy. He used the Freemasons as he used the
philosophers and as he used the Jews, to carry out his great scheme--the
destruction of the French monarchy and of the alliance between France
and Austria. Whilst through his representatives at the Court of France
he was able to create discord between Versailles and Vienna and bring
discredit on Marie Antoinette, through his allies in the masonic lodges
and in the secret societies he was able to reach the people of France.
The gold and the printing presses of Frederick the Great were added to
those of the Orléanistes for the circulation of seditious literature
throughout the provinces.[422]
So as the century advanced the association founded by Royalists and
Catholics was turned into an engine of destruction by revolutionary
intriguers; the rites and symbols were gradually perverted to an end
directly opposed to that for which they had been instituted, and the two
degrees of Rose-Croix and Knight Kadosch came to symbolize respectively
war on religion and war on the monarchy of France.
It is no orthodox Catholic but an occultist and Rosicrucian who thus
describes the rôle of Masonry in the Revolution:
Masonry has not only been profaned but it has been served as a
cover and pretext for the plots of anarchy, by the occult influence
of the avengers of Jacques du Molay and the continuers of the
schismatic work of the Temple. Instead of avenging the death of
Hiram, they have avenged his assassins. The anarchists have taken
the plumb-line, the square, and the mallet and have written on them
liberty, equality, fraternity. That is to say, liberty for
envyings, equality in degradation, fraternity for destruction.
Those are the men whom the Church has justly condemned and that she
will always condemn.[423]
But it is time to turn to another masonic power which meanwhile had
entered the lists, the Martinistes or French Illuminés.
French Illuminism
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account