[ 282 ]
THE TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION
OF THE POWER, OR
GOVERNMENT OF ROME PAGAN,
OR, THE TAKING AWAY OF THAT WHICH HINDERED, AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE POWER OF THE MAN OF SIN, AS RECEIVING AUTHORITY OVER THE CHURCH OF CHRIST; FROM WHENCE THE BEGINNING OF THE 1260 YEARS, AND THE WITNESSES PROPHESYING IN SACKCLOTH, SHOULD BE RECKONED.
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It has been justly remarked by Mr. Mede, that to fix the duration of the Church's purity, or the beginning of the
reign of the man of sin, we ought not to look so much for the commencement of the power of the Pope as an individual,
as upon the apostasy of the Church from the purity of Christian worship, by means of spiritual fornication or the
worshipping of idols, of which the Pope was to be the head, and his city (spiritually called Babylon) the metropolis;
but the body was to be the Roman empire, divided into ten kingdoms, and reunited under this head, preserving the
image of the former Roman government. * This new idolatry, is that treading
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* Therefore the beginning of that apostasy, or spiritual idolatry and fornication, by the worshipping of images, and the doctrine of the intercession of saints and angels, instead of the one mediator, Jesus Christ, as involving every other heresy, must be looked for, as the commencement of the great aera from which all others must be reckoned (and not the temporal power of the Pope,) notwithstanding those other heresies may have preceded it, "for the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and
THE TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION, &c. 283
down, or profaning the court of the Temple of God; that is, of his visible worship in the Church of Christ, by this kind of new Gentilism, unto which the forty-two months are attributed, as well as to the beast.
the invention of them, the corruption of life, for the worshipping of idols, not to be named, is the beginning, the cause, and the end of all evil." * The apostle foretels this event. † Speaking; of the mystery of Godliness in the 16th verse, which should be connected with the 1st verse of the next chapter, which was "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory," says "yet the spirit had expressly foretold, that in the latter times, (notwithstanding all this) some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," or rather, as it is in the original, of Demons; that is, that there should be a departing from the faith of the assumption of Christ to the right hand of the throne of glory and incommunicable majesty in Heaven, whereby he hath a name given to him above every name, and whereof no creature in Heaven or earth can be capable. What then, is the essence of this dreadful evil, so denounced by the Spirit of God? It is the doctrine concerning demons, or demon Gods. These among the Pagans, were an inferior sort of deities, existing between the Gods and men, as mediators. Plato says, "every demon is a middle being between God and mortal men. God is not to be approached by men, but all commerce and intercourse is performed by the mediation of demons." So says Apuleius -- "Demons are middle powers, by whom both our desires and merits pass unto the Gods. They are carriers between men on earth and the Gods in Heaven, Hence of prayers, thence of gifts! Vide Park. Lexicon, title Deimonion, page 139,140. So the apostle, 1 Cor. 8 ch. 5 & 6 -- "for though there be that are called Gods, whether in Heaven or in earth, (as there are Gods many and Lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
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* Wisd. of Solom. 14 ch. 12 & 27 v.
† In his first epistle to Timothy, 3 ch. 16 v. & 4 ch. 1 v.
284 THE TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION, &c.
Pages 284-393 not yet transcribed.
294 TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE POWERS.
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." And this power of the Roman emperor as Pontifex Maximus, was that which St. Paul mentions "only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way," as if he had said, the established power and authority of the Roman emperor, as Pontifex Maximus, will prevent the rising of the man of sin in power, till the Roman empire shall be shaken to its centre, and "then" taking advantage of that important period, "shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy by the brightness of his coming: even him (that is the man of sin) whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all powers, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness, in them who perish." We shall be exposed to be misled, if we do not attend to the character of the Pontifex Maximus under the Roman government; it being generally conceived by the translation into the English word High Priest, that it was the same office, as that of Priest with us. But the real signification of the word is the great sacrificer. The word Priest is a modern word, derived from the Saxon word Priester, Presbyter or Presbuteros, in the Greek, and so answers to the Presbyter or Bishop of the New Testament. But there is no officer in the Church of Christ, that comes up to the idea of a Pontifex Maximus of the ancient Pagans, whose duty it was to slay and offer continual sacrifices, and to foretel future events from the appearance of the entrails of the beasts, from whence their title was taken, and should have been translated into English, the great or chief sacrificer.
I am aware of the danger of indulging a visionary spirit in tracing and calculating times and periods, not expressly
OR, GOVERNMENT OF ROME PAGAN. 295
revealed in the Scripture: therefore in any attempt that has been made, to show when the prophesy of the witnesses in sackloth commenced, no pretensions to knowledge on this subject are presumed, farther than what is set forth by the Holy Spirit. But, as has been already observed, there are duties enjoined to be performed, and certain evil consequences to be avoided in those times called the last times, the latter times, and the last times of the latter times, it becomes therefore the duty of every Christian to inquire of their approach, while there can be no necessity of knowing absolutely the very precise moment. We have but barely looked back to facts that we know have come to pass, and have compared them with the words of prophesy, in the best manner we are capable; at the same time claiming, as has been before hinted, a great latitude and every proper indulgence for, or on account of our ignorance of precise dates of chronologic truths, the manner of reckoning time, &c. &c.
If what has been said shows sufficiently, that the purity of the Church continued but 360 or 365 years, or thereabouts, from the prophesy of St. John in 96, or 100, and that from the end of that period, to wit, about 460 till the year 500, the apostasy of the Church was completed, by the establishment of idolatry in the worship of images, saints, and angels, which is the whoredom of the Church in forsaking the true God, or rather having other mediators than the Lord Jesus. Then the time of the reign of the man of sin, or the commencement of the 1260 years, being also that of the witnesses prophesying in sackloth, follows of course, and continued till about the year 1760; and as the rise of the man of sin appears to have been progressive from 460 to 500, so, it may be supposed, his fall will also be progressive from 1760 to 1800. This
296 TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE POWERS.
may, in some measure, account for Daniel's remarkable addition of 30 days to the number of 1260, which will bring us to the year 1790. Daniel goes one step farther, and declares those peculiarly blessed, who shall live to see the end of 1335 day or years, which brings us to the year 1835, as a period of great joy and exultation. *
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* This addition of 45 years to the 1290, seems to be prefigurative of the space between the commencement and finishing the signs of the times, or the remarkable events immediately ushering in the advent of the Saviour, as the burning of Rome -- the total destruction of the man of sin -- the return of the Jews, &c. &c. -- The children of Israel were 45 years from their leaving, Egypt, to their taking actual possession of Canaan: it was about 45 years from the birth of Christ to the calling of the Gentiles.
Since writing this, I have taken up Dr. Priestly's comparison of Moses and the Hindoos, where, in page 402, he says, of Daniel's other prophesy of 2300 days or years, "that having neglected to mention the date from which it is reckoned, it ought to be accounted from the time of the vision, in like manner as the prophesy in Gen. xv. 13. of the 400 years service of the Israelites in Egypt, which was literally fulfilled, if reckoned from the time of the vision, but did not exceed 215 years, of actually dwelling, in Egypt." If this is done, he says the prophesy will end in 1760; and if the promise to Abraham, of the last return of the Jews to their own land is taken in, (or at the beginning of) the fourth generation, an) each generation to have intended 1000 years, as is contended by some able writers, then it will happen about the year 1835. And it is worthy of notice, that the angel, when communicating with Daniel, says, "these things," which he was about to reveal to him, "were noted in the Scripture of 'Truth:" the Scripture could be no other, than those parts of the Old Testament then written. Vid. Dan. x. and 21.
It is remarkable, that when the prophesy relates to the Church of Christ the period is mentioned by 1260 days, according to the measurement by the Sun, the author of light, but when it relates
OR, GOVERNMENT OF ROME PAGAN. 297
These several periods seem to be remarkably important in Daniel's prophesy, and promise to be productive of extraordinary events to the Church of Christ; and particularly to be the latter times of the last times, when the great wonders related in his prophesy will be more clearly understood by events that may then happen, when the wise shall begin to understand.
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to the Heathen emperor, or the power of the Dragon, it is mentioned by months which are governed by the moon, as ruling the night. In Daniel it is called a time, times, and half a time -- that is three years and an half, or 1260 days. The time of the Gentiles treading under foot the holy city, was to be forty and two months, equal to 1260 days. The time of the witnesses prophesying in sackloth was 1260 days. The woman fleeing into the wilderness, was to be fed 1260 days. When she fled into the wilderness from the power of the Dragon, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time, equal as before to 1260 days, from the face of the serpent. Power was given to the Dragon to speak great things and blasphemies, forty and two months.
The children of Israel, in passing through the wilderness, also had precisely 42 encampments, predictive of the 42 months or 1260 days of the Church or woman being in the wilderness. All these terms refer to one and the same period.
Still I would not be contentious about precise times. There is but one other construction that, in my opinion, has much weight with it -- that is the year 606, at which time the Pope was more formally vested with temporal power, though he was well established in it before -- and at the same time the impostor Mahomet appeared in the world, who might be the star falling from Heaven. The difference of time is but trifling, when considering events on so great a scale -- the necessary consequences will be the same, and mankind are equally interested in observing a conduct, highly proper in either case.
[ 298 ]
THE
STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
DURING THIS PERIOD OF 1260 YEARS, FROM THE YEAR 500. -- PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO THE PURITY OF PUBLIC WORSHIP AND ATTENTION TO THE INSTITUTIONS AND ORDINANCES OF THE GOSPEL.
IN the beginning of this century, Theodoric, the successful king of the Ostrogoths, having removed the emperor of Rome out of the way, and seized the throne, determined to settle his new government in peace, so as to render it durable in his family; he therefore did not hesitate to acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor at Constantinople, though in reality it was vox and praetrea nihil, being barely in words, and a mere pretence.
The next great object he turned his attention to, was the Bishop of Rome, whom he found best calculated to give a permanent degree of stability to the new acquired authority of the purple. This idea he formed with great judgment, on the knowledge he had of the entire subjection of the people to the authority of the bishops in general, and particularly of him who sat in the chair of St. Peter, and who they generally considered as the chief pontiff and vicar of Christ himself, and who began to assert his independence on every human power, and on whom all the other bishops were in a manner becoming dependent. Theodoric accordingly took this important engine for the accomplishment of his purposes, but oppressed
THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, &c. 299
the bishop of Rome with emoluments and honours, according as his avarice or love of power suggested. The Christian system had been heretofore taught in native beauty, and perfect simplicity, in which it was originally promulgated by Christ and his apostles. But few disputes about vain subtleties or researches into the hidden things of God, had began to disgrace the real Church of Christ, as her severe discipline never suffered Heretics and Schismatics to continue in communion with the Catholic and Apostolic Church.
But it must here be remarked, for the sake of historical accuracy, that in the latter end of the last century, while the man of sin was rising to his state of manhood, that offences in the church began to increase and multiply. "No opportunity," says Mr. Gibbon, "could be more favourable for the display of the Pope's ambition, his deceit, and his superstition, than the unhappy state of the Christian world in the 5th century. The members of the eastern and western Churches, were divided into parties by religious disputes, the most unimportant; in consequence of which they persecuted each other with the greatest animosity and rancour. They were erroneous in the faith, and degenerate in practice." Their credulity and ignorance fully prepared them for the reception of him whose coming was after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. * Although, as yet, they had kept from spiritual whoredom or image worship.
The Pope of Rome had began to shew his attachment to power and a fondness to lord it over God's heritage. In 445 Leo obtained a rescript from Valentinian the 3d. commanding all bishops to hold and observe as a law,
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* 2d Thess. ii, 9,
300 THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
Pages 300-345 not yet transcribed.
346 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL
The Christian Fathers, and indeed the whole Christian Church of the first three centuries, contemplated these awful events, with great emotion, as the harbingers of their promised deliverance -- Their faith and hope in the promises of the Gospel were strong and powerful, and they rejoiced in the firm expectation of the second coming of their Lord and master, in glory. They rushed, even to martyrdom, with joy, as they expected by suffering with their crucified Redeemer in his humiliation, they should partake with him in his glory and exaltation.
THE
PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS,
BOTH CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. (OR THE TEN KINGDOMS INTO WHICH IT WAS DIVIDED, AND PARTICULARLY IN THE Dekaton, OR THE TENTH PART OF IT, WHICH WAS TO FALL) COMPARED WITH THOSE FORETOLD BY THESE PROPHESIES, AS TO HAPPEN ABOUT THIS PERIOD OR TIME OF THE END.
IF we turn our attention to the present state of Rome, including Italy, to Germany, Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, and indeed all the European part of ancient Rome with which we are best acquainted, the most careless observer must allow, that the vial appears to have been already "poured out upon the seat of the Beast, and his kingdom has become full of darkness -- they have gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven."
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 347
That a government extraordinary in its commencement, unusual and sudden in its progress, and supernaturally powered and victorious in all its struggles with its neighbours, has lately risen up...
(pages 347 to 351 have not yet been transcribed)
352 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL.
being verified. "And the ten horns which thou sawst upon the beast (that is, those powers that before had but one mind, and had given their power and strength unto the beast) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire, for God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give the kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. *
From 1764 to 1775, the disputes between Great Britain, (another of the ten kingdoms) and her colonies
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* But although the fall of the Papal power would probably have been effected, without the intervention of the French revolution, from the natural progress of knowledge, it is not unworthy of observation, that whilst those powers, which hitherto had been the avowed supporters of Papal pretensions against the spread of heresy and schism, had become rebellious against Papal rights, consecrated by sacred prescription, and, in some cases, menaced even the personal authority of the Pontiff; the schismatic princes of the north affected to treat the holy see with unequivocal marks of deference and distinction. Frederick the great, and Catharine (of Russia) regarding the Pope, less as a fallen and vanquished enemy than a respectable relic of a worn out, superstition, sometimes amused themselves by the singularity of affectionate correspondence, and the interchange of benevolent offices with the holy Father. The king of Poland had bowed with resignation, when the code of the enlightened Zamoiski, restraining the jurisdiction of the Papal see, and abridging the privileges of the clergy and the monastic orders, had met the indignation of the Pontiff; and through the ecclesiastical influence, the refusal of the diet. Gustavus III. had published an edict, giving full toleration to the Catholics of Sweden, and had paid his respects to the holy father in the seat of his spiritual empire: and the stern independents of the other hemisphere, every way remote from the modern Babylon, had solicited and obtained, through the organs of congress, a consecrated primate for the Catholic part of their community." †
† New Ann. Reg. 1798, p. 298, 299.
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 353
began, and were carried on to such a crisis, by the obstinate and unreasonable determination of the British cabinet to bring them to unconditional submission, as to produce the war of 1776, by which she lost the thirteen American colonies, who, with the aid the king of France, secured their independence, and in 1783 were acknowledged, by the crown of Great Britain, as separated from her jurisdiction, and an independent nation, under the style and title of "the United States of America."
By this glorious and important revolution, an asylum for all the oppressed of the earth, of every nation, and every party, was not only secured in this free and fertile region, but the principles of rational liberty were established and made known to the world, and the inestimable fact (till now scarcely credited) of a people governing themselves, strictly speaking, verified by actual experiment.
But before we proceed any further in our intended investigation, it will tend to cast much light on our future observations, to take a short review of the state of things in Germany and France, for some years before and at this time, as far as relates to the project of a reform of the governments, by many who called themselves philosophers and friends of the human race.
When king James, of England, abdicated the crown, and with his followers took refuge in France, they carried with them the knowledge of Free Masonry; and for their amusement erected several lodges in that kingdom, which, in a few years, spread over the continent. The known principle of secrecy, fundamental in the institution of this society, which, in England, had ever been, at least politically, innocent, was made use of
354 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL.
(as to name) for political purposes on the continent, by the disaffected to government, and religion in general, and screened certain new formed societies, under the name of lodges, from public suspicion.
In process of time they became sources of disaffection to kings and religious establishments of every name, though supported and protected by the friends of both. These societies, however foreign to, yet under the name of free masons, became places of free political investigition, sporting the most dangerous sentiments, unawed by any fear of the animadversions of the executive powers, from the known obligations of secrecy laid on every member.
Various additional degrees, made more palatabale to the vain and ambitious, by several flattering orders, with stars and garters, were ingrafted on the three simple orders of ancient Masonry.
These societies, for a time, were very pleasing to the late king of Prussia, from whom was carefully kept, their schemes against kingly government; but they were attentive to humour his aversion to the Christian religion. They were patronized by him and his friends Voltaire and D'Alembert, with the principals of the pretended philosophers of the day, by whom they became united with various other societies established for the express purpose of opposing and destroying the religion of Jesus Christ. * When united, they greatly increased, under
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* In 1761, Voltaire writes to the king of Prussia, "Had I but one hundred thousand men, I well know what I woulddo with them." Frederick answers, "It is not the lot of arms to destroy the wretch, (meaning Jesus Christ.) He will perish by the force of truth." But, in 1775, he thinks that force must be used to strike the last blow at religion. Voltaire again: "To Bayle
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 355
the different names of Free Masonry -- Illuminati --the . German Union -- Amis Reunis -- Chevalier Bienfaisant -- Philalethes -- Sublime Masonry -- Jacobins --Cordeliers, &c. &c
They received great addition to their celebrity, by the accession of the Duke de Chartres, the richest subject in France, Rosseau, Diderot, and others, who were more than industrious to propagate the principles of revolution, rebellion, atheism, and infidelity, wholly subversive of good government, religion, and morality. *
Even the Christian religion, which was the principal object of their bitterest enmity, when it would serve
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your forerunner, and to yourself, no doubt, is due the honour of that revolution, working in the minds of men. But to speak the truth, it is not yet complete; bigots have their party, and it will never he perfected, but by a superior force. From government must the sentence issue, that shall crush the wretch. Ministers (of state) may forward it, but the will of the sovereign must accede; -- without doubt, this will be effectuated in time, but neither of us can be spectators of that long wished for moment."
Voltaire says, "O my brethren, we should march like the Macedonian phalanx -- it was only vanquished, when it opened. Let real philosophers unite in a brotherhood, like the Free Masons; let them assemble and support each other; let them be faithful to the association. Such an academy will be far superior to that of Athens, and to all those of Paris. Rosseau declares he wrote his new Eloisa for this express purpose. If you are not sufficiently zealous, you bury your talents, you seem only to contend, while you should abhor and destroy the monster.
Such is our situation that we shall be the execration of mankind, if we have not the better sort of people on our side; -- we must gain them, cost what it will. Labour, therefore, in the vine-yard -- he who knows no other difference between himself and us but by his dress, wishes to die on a heap of Christians, immolated at his feet. †
† 3d vol. Kett. p. 51
356 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL.
their turn, was attempted to be brought to their aid, to deceive those who appeared attached to it. They persuaded them "that the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel were the objects of the Society's pursuit, as they were all typical of the final triumph of reason and philosophy over error and superstition. That these philosophers were possessed of the important secret, intended to be communicated to the world by its great founder, which had not, till this period, taken place, because the time had not before come that the world could bear it, as he had told his disciples, while he was yet with them."
Before the year 1750 these ideas became very general, and the lodges became schools for making proselytes to every strange and absurd doctrine.
The Duke de Chartres, or Orleans, was, in process of time, made grand master of one of the most famous of these lodges, at Lyons, known by the name of Loge des Chevalier Bienfaisant. This nobleman, from his education, principles, and practice, was ripe for any and every iniquity either in Church or State. His immense riches raised his vanity and ambition to expect and seek after the government of the world. To obtain his unbounded desires, he made no hesitation in adopting the maxim "that the end would sanctify the means," whatever they might be, which was a fundamental and established principle of these societies. These lodges now extended through France, under the name of the affiliated lodges: were instituted at Paris, Strasburgh, Lyle, Thoulouse, Alsace, Lorraine, and other places; and, for some time, took the name of Philalethes.
"In 1764 they instituted a club at the house of Baron Holback, at Paris, of which Voltaire was elected honorary and perpetual President. To conceal their real design, which was the diffusion of this new philosophy,
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 357
they called themselves Oeconomists. From this club was issued an inundation of books and pamphlets, calculated to impair and overturn religion, morals and government; and which spreading all over Europe, imperceptibly took possession of public opinion. As soon as the sale was sufficient to pay the expenses, inferior editions were printed and given away, or sold at a very low price -- circulating libraries of them formed, and reading societies instituted: while they constantly denied these productions to the world, they contrived to give them a false celebrity through their confidential agents and correspondents, who were not themselves always entrusted with the entire secret."
This is greatly confirmed by my lord Orford's letters, in the year 1765. He writes from France, "The Dauphin will hold out but a very few days -- His death, that is, the near prospect of it, fills the philosophers with the greatest joy, as it was feared he would endeavour the restoration of the Jesuits. You will think the sentiments of the philosophers very odd state news. But do you know who the philosophers are, or what the term means here? In the first place it comprehends almost every body; and, in the next, means men who, avowing war against Popery, aim, many of them, at a subversion of all religion, and still many more, at the destruction of regal power. How do you know this? you will say, you who have been confined to your chamber. True, but in the first period, I went every where, and heard nothing else; in the latter I have been extremely visited, and have had long and explicit conversations with many who think as I tell you, and with a few of the other side, who are no less persuaded that there are such intentions." *
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* 5th vol. p. 123.
358 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL.
In 1768, and to 1770, they became united, under the parent lodge of Lyons. There is sufficient evidence to presume that here the most dangerous principles both to Church and state were adopted. The lodge of Paris was afterwards moulded into the Jacobin club, and soon ruled the kingdom. Those of Alsace and Lorraine, with Spire and Worms, invited general Custine into Germany; and delivered Mentz into his hands. One Zimmerman, an abandoned enthusiast in the service of these
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* At an early period of the revolution in France, this fraternity of illuminated Free Masons took the name of Jacobins, from the name of the convent where they met. "They then counted 300,000 adepts, and were supported by two millions of men, scattered through France, armed with torches and pikes, and all the necessary implements of revolution." Till the 12th August, 1792, the French Jacobins had only dated the annals of their revolution by the year of their pretended liberty. On that day, when the king was carried prisoner to the temple, after it had been declared that he had forfeited his right to the crown, the assembly decreed that to the date of liberty the date of equality should be added in future, in all public acts, and the decree itself is dated the fourth year of liberty, and the first day and year of equality. It was on that day, for the first time, that the secret of Free Masonry was made public. That secret, so dear to them, and which they had preserved with all the solemnity of the most inviolable oath. At the reading of this famous decree they exclaimed, "We have at length succeeded, and France is no other than an immense lodge. The whole French people are Free Masons, and the whole universe will soon follow their example. I witnessed this enthusiasm. I heard the conversations to which it gave rise. I saw Masons, till then reserved, who freely and openly declared, yes! at length the grand object of Free Masonry is accomplished! all men are equal and brothers -- all men are free. That was the whole substance of our doctrine -- the object of our wishes --the whole of our grand secret!" †
† Banuel.
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 359
societies, went about through France, preaching liberty and the principles of illuminatism. He would mount the rostrum, when urging his revolutionary system, and with a sabre in his hand, would bawl out, "Behold Frenchmen, this is your God, this alone can save you." When Custine broke into Germany, Zimmerman got admission to him, and offered to deliver Manheim into his hands; to accomplish which, he proposed to set some corners of the city on fire, and assured him of support. Custine declined the offer. When he was afterwards on his trial, this wretch appeared against him, and accused him of treachery to the common cause. Custine answered, "hardly," said he, "had I set my foot in Germany, when this man, and all the fools in the country, besieged me, and would have delivered up to me their towns and villages. What occasion had I to do any thing to Manheim, when their prince was neutral."
It was from similar sources that so many brilliant victories have been given to the French arms through out Europe, as some individuals of these fraternities were generally sent forward as pioneers. They previously insinuated themselves into offices and commands of the most important nature, and high trusts, on purpose to betray their employers in the hour of conflict; and thus to introduce the sans-culotte Jacobins into every kingdom in Europe.
This was the more easily accomplished, as these lodges were frequented by persons of all ranks, and of every profession, who were bound by the most solemn obligations to prefer the interests of the order to every other consideration.
360 PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BOTH CIVIL.
The idle and the frivolous found amusement and glittering things to tickle their satiated fancies, while men of understanding, who were restless, disappointed, or fond of change, were deluded by the prospect of universal dominion, founded on a new philosophy, that would free mankind from all religious scruples and civil obligations, and thus bring on the ancient though savage life of Druidism, and the Heathen philosophy. At this same time the republicans, the democrats, and the revolutionists, were gratified with the idea of dethroning kings, destroying aristocracy, and establishing liberty and equality, over the face of Europe.
Thus many unguarded and unsuspicious men became the dupes and tools of the declamatory eloquence of the crafty and licentious abbeys, sophisters, and writers of every denomination.
In a few years, improbable as it may appear at first view, even the emperor Joseph, with other royal adepts, became poisoned with these principles, covered artfully by various pretences, to suit the purposes of those disorganizers. These lodges became frequented, in Germany, by a prince bishop, and the greatest part of his chapter; and all the office-bearers, were dignitaries of the Church, which they were designed to destroy, to its very foundation. The orations delivered before them, were as pointed against superstition and credulity as if written by Voltaire himself.
Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, D'Argenson, Egalite, Rosseau, Condorcet, Robinet, Mirabeau, Mably, La Harpe, the Duc de Lazune, Abbe Perigord Talleyrand bishop of Autun, Petion, Abbe Bertholis, Marmontel, Abbe Seys, and Annacharsis Cloots, with various other prominent characters in the French revolution,
AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. 361
belonged to these societies. Mirabeau and Tallyrand bishop of Autun, were wardens of the lodge of Jacobins.
In this manner were the most corrupt and immoral principles spread over the kingdom of France, under the mask of moral instruction, and that in a manner unperceived or unnoticed by the government.
In 1773 the new philosophy was protected in Russia, by the empress; and the defenders of religion were at the last gasp in Poland, under the influence of king Poniatowski. The friends of revelation were already discountenanced and brow-beaten by the government of Prussia, under Frederick, the father of every violence against revealed religion. In the north of Germany the philosophy prevailed in every quarter, under the smiles of princes and dukes.
Frederick writes, "Philosophy is beginning to penetrate into superstitious Bohemia, and into Austria, the former abode of superstition. In our Protestant countries we go on much brisker. In Paris, many philosophers are to be found behind the counters."
These lodges are said to have increased to the number of 266, under the Duc de Chartres, (or Egalite) but the most famous partizan in this nefarious business, and one who, in Germany, had the chief hand in improving the system of illuminatism, in the most villainous projects, was Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of the canon law, in the University of Ingoldstadt. He had been educated among the Jesuits, but afterwards became their bitter enemy. His aim was to obtain the government of the world for his order. He endeavoured to persuade the Jesuits to join him, but his schemes were so big with destruction to all order and decorum in human life; so ruinous to every civilized government,
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that he could get but two of that older to join him, which produced the enmity to them above mentioned.
In 1783 his pernicious doctrines leaked out, and elector Palatine being greatly alarmed, instituted a court of inquiry to examine into their principles and conduct, when on the examination of four professors of the Marianen academy, who belonged to the order, "It appeared that the order was said to have abjured Christianity. Sensual pleasures were restored to the rank they held in the epicurean philosophy -- self murder was justified, on stoical principles -- death was declared an eternal sleep -- patriotism and loyalty were called narrow-minded prejudices, and incompatible with universal benevolence. Continual declamations were made on liberty and equality, as the unalienable rights of men The baneful influence of accumulated property was declared an insurmountable obstacle to the happiness of any nation, whose chief laws were framed for its protection and increase. Nothing was so frequently discoursed of as the propriety of employing, for a good purpose, the means which the wicked employed for evil purposes; and it was taught that the preponderancy of good in the ultimate result, consecrated every mean employed; and that wisdom and virtue consisted in properly determining this balance."
However, the society denied all this -- yet the elector broke up the order, banished the professor Weishaupt, with many others, and some were imprisoned; yet, notwithstanding this just punishment, the society soon rose with fresh vigour, under a new name.
To form some small idea of the designs of the principal supporters of this adventurous fraternity, it will be
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necessary to transcribe the oath or declaration of a candidate for the degree of "llluminatus minor," at large. "I. N. N. protest before you, the worthy plenipotentiary of the venerable order into which I wish to be admitted, that I acknowledge my natural weakness and inability; and that I, with all my possessions, rank, honours, and titles, which I hold in political society, am at bottom only a man; I can enjoy these things only through my fellow men, and through them, also, I may lose them. The approbation and consideration of my fellow men are indispensably necessary, and I must try to maintain them by all my talents. These I will never use to the prejudice of universal good, but will oppose, with all my might, the enemies of the human race and of political society. I will embrace every opportunity of saving mankind, by improving my understanding and my affections, and by imparting all important knowledge, as the good and statutes of this order require of me. I bind myself to perpetual silence, and unshaken loyalty and submission to the order, in the persons of my superiors: here making a faithful and complete surrender of my private judgment, my own will, and every narrow-minded employment of my power and influence. I pledge myself to account the good of the order as my own, and am ready to serve it with my fortune, my honour, and my blood. Should I, through omission, neglect, passion, or wickedness, behave contrary to this good of the order, I subject myself to what reproof, or punishment, my superiors shall enjoin. The friends and enemies of the order shall be my friends and enemies; and, with respect to both, I will conduct myself as directed by the order; and am ready, in every lawful way, to devote myself to its increase and promotion,
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and therein to employ all my ability. All this I promise and protest, without secret reservation, according to the intention of the society, which require from me this engagement. This I do, as I am, and as I hope to continue, a man of honour."
A drawn sword is then pointed at his breast, and he is asked, will you be obedient to the commands of your superiors? He is threatened with unavoidable vengeance, from which no potentate can defend him, if he should ever betray the order. In the explanation of these terms of devotion to the order, they say, speaking of the authority due to the ruling powers of civil government, being of inferior moral weight to that due to the order, "these powers are despots, when they do not conduct themselves by its principles; and it is, therefore, our duty to surround them with its members, so that the profane may have no access to them. Thus we are able, most powerfully to promote its interests. If any person is more disposed to listen to princes than to the order, he is not fit for it, and must rise no higher. We must do our utmost to procure the advancement of the Illuminati into all important civil offices."
These are the means by which they gained an ascendancy among the nobility, the clergy, and the laity, of almost every government in Europe. Nay, after various experiments, finding women necessary to carry on their abominable practices, they established various lodges of ladies, whose moral principles they first totally perverted, by eradicating every former idea of chastity and virtue from their minds; "there is no way," say they, "of influencing men, so powerful, as by the means of the women. These should; therefore, be our chief study; we should insinuate ourselves into their good opinion --
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give them hints of emancipation from the tyranny of public opinion, and of standing up for themselves. It will be of immense relief to their enslaved minds, to be freed from any one bond of restraint; and it will fix them the more, and cause them to work for us with zeal, without knowing that they do so: for they will only be indulging their own desires of personal admiration." Again, "the great strength of our order lies in its concealment; let it never appear in any place in its own name, but always covered by another name, another occupation. None is fitter than the three lower degrees of Free Masonry; the public are accustomed to it -- expects little from it; and, therefore, takes little notice of it. The power of this order must surely be turned to the advantage of its members -- all must be assisted, they must be preferred to all persons, otherwise of equal merit. Money, services, honour, goods, and blood, must be expended for the fully proved brethren; and the unfortunate must be relieved by the funds of the society."
Let me here ask the reader to compare these principles and hard terms, with the requirements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which, in the end, is to procure for the real disciple and subject of the divine grace promised therein, eternal life and everlasting happiness; and behold the incalculable difference and miserable servitude of sin and satan, and adore the infinite riches and invaluable blessings of redeeming love.
It is noted in the minutes and journals of the order as follows: "By the activity of our brethren, the Jesuits have been kept out of all the professional chairs of Ingoldstadt, and our friends prevail. The widow Duchess has set up her academy entirely according to our
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plan, and we have all the professors in the order; five of them are excellent; and the pupils will be prepared for us. We have got A_____ put at the head of the treasury, and he has the Church money at his disposal. By properly using this money we have been enable to put our brother B_______s's household in good order, which he had destroyed by going to the Jews. We have supported more brethren under similar misfortunes. Our ghostly brethren have been very fortunate this last year, for we have procured for them several good benefices, parishes, tutorships, &c. All the German schools, and the benevolent society, are at last under our direction. We have got several zealous members in the courts of justice, and we are enabled to afford them pay, and other good additions. Lately we have got possession of the Bartholomew institution for young clergymen, having secured all its supporters; -- through this medium we shall be able to supply Bavaria with priests."
They say, in the list of their lodges, that they have several in America. They accounted all princes usurpers and tyrants; and all privileged orders their abettors, -- they aimed to establish one common government in Europe, and universal atheism.
We are indebted to the late valuable work of Dr. Robertson, of Edinburgh, for the greatest part of this short abstract of these societies; it is well worth the perusal of every man who is a lover of order, or wishes to understand the revolutionizing system of many of the first founders of the French republic. Dr. Robertson's character, if some of the first people in this country from Scotland, are to be believed, is well established for learning, integrity, and strict veracity. I have not hesitated to use his language as well as his facts. This learned treatise has
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been lately reprinted in Philadelphia, and the narration, as well as the veracity of the author, in general, has been greatly supported by a letter from Mr. William Smith, of Connecticut, who declares, "that during the late revolutionary war, while the French navy lay at Newport, in Rhode-Island, which was in the year. 1778, a Dr. Renauld, chaplain to the admiral's ship, a German by birth, gave him the following account: -- That he (the chaplain) was under great apprehensions, lest at his return to France, he should share the fate prepared for all ecclesiastics, if the king of Prussia and Voltaire's scheme should succeed." * -- in that case, he supposed, the whole world would be deluged with blood. He said, that a project was said to be set on foot, some time before Voltaire's death, to commence a crusade against Christianity, and to extirpate all the silly followers of the wretch, (meaning the great author of our holy religion.)
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* From the secret correspondence of these philosophers, it appears, that in 1743, Voltaire was plotting, with the king of Prussia, to plunder the ecclesiastical princes, and the religious orders, of their possessions. In 1764 he sent a memorial to the duke of on the abolition of Tythes, in hopes of depriving the clergy of their subsistence. In 1770 he writes, "I like to cover these harlequin bull-givers, (the Popes) with ridicule, but I had rather plunder them." D'Alembert advised, that the clergy should be deprived of their consequence in the state, before they were plundered of their possessions, and that the danger of letting the clergy form a distinct body in the state, should therefore be represented in strong colours. Frederick says, "If we wish to diminish fanaticism we must not begin with the bishops; but if we succeed in lessening the friarhoods, especially the mendicant orders, the people will cool, and they being less superstitious, will then allow the power to bring down the bishops as best suits their states. This is the only possible mode of proceeding." †
† 3 Kett. p. 106.
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Their plans to abolish the Sabbath day -- extirpate the priesthood, and destroy the Holy Scriptures; so that by removing all restraints from the consciences, the bands of society might be entirely dissolved, and all civil government disorganized, under the specious pretence of enlargement and freedom. He knew not the name of the society collectively, but the individual name was Ego-ipse, signifying self-existence.
There was said to be upwards of 50,000 of them in France. Talleyrand Perigord, bishop of Autun, was at their head, and much in the same proportion were they in all the kingdoms of Europe, they having in each country, one or more principals. It was said, that the society was intimately connected with Free Masonry, that it was apprehended every Mason was an Ego-ipse. It had got into the several universities and academies upon the continent, with a view to mature and spread the diabolical system of universal devastation and bloodshed. He observes, that the leading principles of the Ego-ipse society were, that no relation or connection exists between one man and another; -- that all things are eternally existing from necessity; -- that the names of father, mother, sister, brother, husband, and wife, are fraudulent impositions of priest-craft, to bind the unwary in chains of ignorance of man's true nature and inherent divinity; -- that every man is his own God, his own lawgiver, * and amenable only to himself; -- that men, unenlightened by true philosophy, are no more than so many blocks of wood or stone; and if a kick of the foot, or a push
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* The noted Thomas Paine, in his Age of Reason, says, that he does not believe in the Creed of the Jewish Church, the Roman Church, the Greek Church, nor of any Church that he knows of; his own mind being his own Church.
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of the hand, can remove these out of one's way, a ball, or a thrust of a sword, with equal ease and propriety, can remove the other. It was apprehended that the leading men of this association contemplated the subversion of all governments, religious as well as civil, and, in time, the exaltation of themselves to supereminent grandeur and opulence, upon the ruin and misery of millions.
If this scheme succeeded in Europe, it was said, they would penetrate into Greece, then into Egypt, with a view of extending their conquests over the kingdoms of Africa and Asia --Christianity seemed to be the principal object of their detestation, and they were determined to extirpate it if possible, and to revive the old Heathen philosophy and superstition of Druidism."
Does not all this fully show, that at this time one of the great prerequisites of the commencement of the government of the beast, or antichrist, was manifested to every reflecting mind, "That transgressors had come to the full."
This account given so long ago, with so many corroborating and peculiar circumstances, shows the relator to have been well acquainted with the principles of illuminatism, and strongly supports Dr. Robertson's facts and reasonings, and aids our forming a proper opinion for the late unaccountable success of the French arms throughout the continent.
My confidence in Dr. Robertson's account, is farther strengthened by personal information received from a lady of my acquaintance, of a most excellent character, who assured me, that while living in the city of London, a few years ago, perhaps about ten, a person of distinction was sent over from France to London, to initiate her father, (who was a worthy Clergyman) herself, and sister
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Pages 370 to 485 have not yet been transcribed.
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awful distance from him. He had incense burnt in the apartments, which he was expected to visit. He told the senate, on receiving their address, on his assuming the consulship for life, that he was called by the Almighty to restore the reign of order, justice, and peace, upon earth. In the beginning of the war between England and France, he allowed the clergy of the latter to entitle him the new Cyrus, and the Christ of Providence. -- He got the Jews together, and set them haranguing about him till they hailed him the chosen of the Lord -- His cherished anointed -- The minister of eternal justice -- The living image of the Deity. He admitted the hair-brained students of Leipsic to address him in the language almost of deification. On his return to Paris, after the peace of Tilist, he disclosed the impious object that was lurking in his mind, by ordering a temple of victory opposite the legislative mansion, and his palace, to be placed between them. To humor the same feeling, on his return from Bayonne, (in 1808) the people of the South of France were ordered to strew branches if palm trees before him; and instead of his being received by the municipal bodies, the archbishop of Thoulouse was directed to issue his mandamus to the clergy, prescribing the peculiar ceremonies they were to use on his entering their parishes. In his Catechism, which he published, he tells his people, and orders them to believe, that he is the image of God upon earth, and that to honour and serve him, is to honour and serve God himself."
Here we shall leave this part of our work, though in an unfinished state, and wait the event, which appears to be awful and alarming, under every view of the subject, to the nations of Europe, and proceed to the consideration of the seventh head.
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