VI. The above accounts evince in the mofL

uncontrovertible manner the dangerous tendency of all myftical focieties, and of all aflbciations who hold iccret meetings We fee that their uni- form progrefs has been from frivolity and nonfenfe to wickcdneis and fedition. Wciftiaupt has been
at
CHAP, iv, tHE FRENCH REYOLUTION. 34!
at great pains to fliew the good effe^i-s of fecrecy iii the Aflbciation, and the arguments are valid for this purpofe. But all his arguments are fo many dilTuafive advices to every thinking and fober mind. The man who really wi{hes to dilcover ail abftrnfe truth will place himfclf, if poflible in a valin fituation, and will by no means cxpofe him- felf to the impatient hankering for fecrets and wonders-— and he will always fear that a thing which refolutely conceals itfelf cannot bear the light. All wilo have ferioufly employed them- felves in the difcovery of truth have found the great advantages of open communication of fen- timent. And it is againfl common fenfe to ima- gine that there is any thing of vafl importance td mankind which is yet a fecret, and which mufh be kept a fecret in order to be ufeful. This is againft the whole experience of mankind- — And furcly to hug in one's breall: a fecret of fuch mighty importance, is to give the lie to ail our profeflions of brotherly love. What a folecifm ! a fecret to fenlighten and reform the whole world. We ren- der all our endeavours impotent when we grafp at a tiling beyond our power. Let an aflbciation be formed with a ferious plan for reforming its own members, and let them extend in numbers in pro- portion as they fucceed — this miglit do fome good; But mud the way of doing this be a fecret? — It Inay be to many— who will not look for it where it is to be found— It is this:

but it is almofh aifronting the reader to fuppofe Arguments neceffary on this point. If there be 1 ncceffity for fecrecy, the purpofe of the aflbcia- tion is either frivolous, or it is felfifli.
2 U Now
343 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. C}iAf, lY^
Now, in either cafe, the danger of fuch fecrefe afiemblies is manifefl. Mere frivolity can never ferioufly occupy men come to age. And accord- ingly we fee that in every quarter of Europe where Free Mafonry has been eilabliQied, the Lodges have become feed-beds of public mifchief. I be- lieve that no ordinary brother will fay that the occupations in the Lodges are any thing better than frivolous, very frivolous indeed. The diflri- bution of charity needs be no.fecret, and it is but a very fmall part of the employment of the meet- ing. This being the cafe it is in human nature that the greater we fuppofe the frivolity of fuch an affociation to be, the greater is the chance of its ceafing to give fufficient occupation to the mind, and the greater is the riilc that the m.eet- ings may be employed to other purpofes which require concealment. When this happens, felf- interefl alone mufc prompt and rule, and now there is no length that fome men will not go, when they think themfelves in no danger of detedtion and punifhment. The whole proceedings of the fecret focieties of Free Mafons on the Continent (and J am authorifed to fay, of fome Lodges in Britain) have taken one turn, and this turn is «erfe6liy natural. In all countries there are men of licentious morals. Such men wifh to have a iafe opportunity of indulging their wits in fatire and farcafm ; and they are pleafed with the fup- port of others. The defne of making profelytes is in every breaft — andit is whetted by the reftraints of fociety. And all countries have difcontented men, whofe grumblings will raife difcontent in otliers, v/ho might not have attended to fome of the trifling hardfhips and injuries they met with,. had they not been reminded of them. To be dif- contented, and not to think of fchcmes of redrefs^
is
CHAP. iv. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 343
is what we cannot think natural or manly — and where can fuch fentiments and fchemes find fuch fafe utterance and fuch probable fupport as in a fecret fociety? Free Malbnry is innocent of all thefe things; but Free Mafonry has been abufed, and at lafl totally perverted — and fo will and muft any fuch lecret affociation, as long as men are li- centious in their opinions or wicked in their dif- pofitions.
It were devoutly to be wifhed therefore that the whole fraternity would imitate the truly benevo- lent conduft of thofe German Lodges who have formally broken up, and made a patriotic facrifice of their amufement to the fafety of the flate. I cannot think the facrifice great or coftly. It can be no difRcult matter to find as pleafing a way of
palling a vacant hour and the charitable deeds
of the members need not diminilli in the fmallefl degree. Every perfon's little circle of acquaint- ance will give him opportunities of gratifying his kind difpofitions, without the chance of being mif- taken in the worth of the perfon on whom he be- llows his favours. There is no occafion to go to St. Peterfburg for a poor Brother, nor to India for a convert to Chriftianity, as long as we fee fo many futferers and infidels among ourfelves.
But not only are fecret focieties dangerous, but all focieties whofe objedl is myClerious. The whole hiftory of man is a proof of this pofition. In no age or country has there ever appeared a myfteri- ous affociation which did not in time become a public nuifance. Ingenious or defigning men of letters have attempted to (how that fome of the ancient myfteries were ufeful to mankind, con- taining rational dodrines of natural religion. This was the ilrong hold of Wcilhaupt, and he quotes the Eleufmian, the Pythagorean, and other myf-
teries.
344 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP, iv,
teries. Biitfiirely their external fignsand tokens were every thing that is (liocking to decency and civil order. It is uncommon preturaption for the learn- ed of the eighteenth century to pretend to know- more about them than their contemporaries, the philofophers, the lawgivers of antiquity. Thefe give no fuch account of them. I would defire any perfon who admires the ingenious diifertations of Dr. Warburton to read a dull German book, calU Caraderjftik der Myjitrien der Altern^ publiilied at Frankfort in 1787. The author conteiits him fclf with a patient colledion of every fcrap of every ancient author who h^s faid any thing about ^hem. If the reader can fee anything in them hut the moil abfurd and immoral polytheifm and fa- ble, he muil take words in a ien{e that is ufelefs ia reading any other piece of ancient compofition, I haye a notion that the Dionyfiacs of lona had ibme fcientific fecrets, vi^. all the knowledo-e of practical mechanics which was employed by their architects and engineers, and that they were re • ally a Mafonic Fraternity. But, like the Illuminati^ they tagged to the fecrets of Mafonry the fecret of drunkennefs and debauchery ; they had their Sifter Lodges, and at laft became rebels, fubver- tcrs of the ftates where they were protected, till aiming at the dominion of all Ionia, they were attacked by the neighbouring dates and difperfed. They v^ere Illuminators too, and wanted to in- troduce the worfhip of Bacchus over the whole country, as appears in the account of them given by Strabo. Perhaps the Pythagoreans had alio fome icientific (ecrets ; but they too were Illumi- nators, and thought it their duty to overfet the State, and were themfelves overiet.
Nothing is fo dangerous as a myilic AiTnciation. The objc£t remaining a fecret ii) the hands of the
managers
I3HAP, iv, THE FRENCH P.EVOi.UTlOM. 54*
managers, the reft fimply put a ring in their own nofes, by whicli they may be led about at pieafure j and flill panting after the fecret, thej are the bet- ter pleafed the lefs they fee of their way. A myf- tical object enables the leader to (luft his ground as he pleafes, and to ^accommodate himfelf to every current fafhion or prejudice. This again gives him almoll unhniited power ; for he can make ufe of thefe prejudices to lead men by troops. He finds them already alTociated by their preju- dices, and waiting for a leader to concentrate their ilrengtii and i'et them in motion. And wheti once great bodies of men are fet in motion, with a creature of their fancy for a guide, even the engineer himfelf can^iot fay, " Thus far (halt thou *' go, and no farther.'*