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  • Dec. 1, 1876
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    Article FATHER FOY ON SECRET SOCIETIES. ← Page 3 of 8 →
Page 7

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Father Foy On Secret Societies.

in it were called " Enlightenment . ' ' Why were they more enlightened than any other people ! They put it down that up to that time the whole of the world had been in darkness ; that it had been in darkness under kings and princes and creatures who had ministered to them ; and that the time had come when they were to throw off the cloak that had been on them

for centuries . On anyone joining the movement , the question was asked , " What hour is it V and the reply came " The hour of darkness outside and of light inside . " And what was the hour of light 1 It was the dispelling of darkness . And what was darkness ? The belief in any unseen

being and superstition . And what was superstition ? The belief in any future punishment . This doctrine was spread about by means of books , which exercised great power , and which induced the belief to be taken up by vast bodies of men .

After some years the princes of Germany became terrified , for they saw that the system had for its express purpose the throwing down of orders , and also the intention of hurling to ruin the palaces of the earth , and hence the maxim that became bruited about in connection with

the society , " Up with the cottage , and down with the palace . " In this way they tried to turn mens' minds by promising them a false liberty , which could scarcely exist if the world was not a fallen world , in which the inhabitants of it were subject

to various passions . The princes became terrified , and in various ways endeavoured by the public lavvs to put these Eclectics down . They were not , however , altogether enabled to do so . It was during the time of the persecution of these

societies that another project , the German Union , was started . The main object of the German Union was to corrupt the world . Books were to be spread about in every direction ; books of atheism were to be foisted upon the world , and

especially books of immortality , and at this moment they were fortunate or unfortunate in obtaining the services of a great German bookseller , named Nicolai , who went about the country attending fairs . This was of great advantage to them in issuing these books which had the pernicious object of destroying altogether the belief of men in another world , and also

their morality . Thus , in an exceedingl y brief and precise manner he had endeavoured to sum up what was the object of the secret societies , as they all banded together under the system of Illumination and the German Union , in order to corrupt

and destroy all that which was noble in the world . This accumulated and came to a crisis in the savage horrors of the French Revolution of 1793 , and of the Commune of 1870 . At that time , a character well known in history—viz , Mirabeau , the

revolutionist , spendthrift , and traitorhad been in Berlin , and brought the new system to Paris . The lodges in France at once proceeded to adopt all that was bad in the German Union . Their headquarters were at a club in the

neighbourhood of Versailes , but when the Revolution broke out they removed their headquarters to the Church of St . James , and hence the name of the Jacobin Club . Those who

had read the able and voluminous history of Sir A . Alison would be acquainted with all this , but he might be permitted to sura it up . Up to that time , in every Christian country the Ten Commandants were obeyed , and a man might not blaspheme

and tread oh the Scriptures . The first step of these secret societies—who became from that moment the rulers of France , for the very departments in which France is mapped out are only in accordance with the divisions of the country by the

Freemason lodges—was to shut up every church in France ; and it was even a penal crime to believe in the existence of God . They set up in the p lace of God the goddess of Reason to be adored ; and he hardly knew whether he could trust himself to tell them of some of the abominations

they practised in many of the churches . In the Cathedral of Notre Dame on one occasion , when one of these p hilosop hei' 3 was lecturing before a body of impi " people , there was seen on the altar a nude female , and there was a cry " Behold you 1 '

goddess ! " and the people , intoxicated wit ' delight , shouted out , "This is our goddess —we will have no other God but the God of Nature ! " They also abolished every system of religious education ; and whenever the doctriue had spread to other countries , there were these godless schools , which had turned out the men who baa fought over barricades and called out f 01

“The Masonic Magazine: 1876-12-01, Page 7” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 11 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01121876/page/7/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Monthly Masonic Sumnary. Article 2
SOME FURTHER REMARKS ON THE EXTRACTS FROM THE SHEFFIELD CHAPTER OF PARADISE MINUTE BOOKS.* Article 3
FATHER FOY ON SECRET SOCIETIES. Article 5
PRINCE BOLTIKOFF: Article 12
A VOICE IN NATURE. Article 16
"THE ALBURY MS."AN ANALYSIS. Article 18
AN OLD, OLD STORY. Article 22
TWO SIDES. Article 24
SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR PEACEFUL SOLUTION. Article 26
THE WOMEN OF OUR TIME. Article 30
GERARD MONTAGU; Article 32
THE ENCHANTED ISLE OF THE SEA. Article 35
CONTEMPORARY LETTERS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Article 37
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR. Article 39
RETURN OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. Article 40
A MEMORY. Article 41
DURHAM CATHEDRAL. Article 42
TRIFLES. Article 45
OLD GREGORY'S GHOST: Article 45
FURNESS ABBEY. Article 49
THE DAYS TO COME. Article 50
GRUMBLE NOT, BROTHER. Article 51
THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY. Article 51
A Review. Article 54
FREEMASONRY! Article 59
POETS' CORNER. Article 59
PARIS RESTAURANTS. Article 63
MASONIC CENTENNIAL SONG. Article 65
THE MASONIC PHILOSOPHY. Article 65
FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE. Article 67
LOST. Article 70
AN ESSAY ON EPITAPHS. Article 71
A PARABLE. Article 74
ADDRESS OF P.G.M. BRO. HON. RICHARD VAUX, AT CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN UNION LODGE. Article 75
SHORT IS THE WAY. Article 76
ADDRESS OF THE GRAND MASTER, J. H. GRAHAM, L.L.D., &c. Article 77
A PAGE FROM LIFE'S BOOK. Article 81
Correspondence. Article 82
REUNION. Article 85
ADDRESS OF THE V. H. AND E. SIR KT. COL. W. J. B. MACLEOD MOORE, OF THE GRAND CROSS OF THE TEMPLE, GRAND PRIOR OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA, Article 86
MASONRY EVERYWHERE. Article 93
NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND ART. Article 93
ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME. Article 97
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Father Foy On Secret Societies.

in it were called " Enlightenment . ' ' Why were they more enlightened than any other people ! They put it down that up to that time the whole of the world had been in darkness ; that it had been in darkness under kings and princes and creatures who had ministered to them ; and that the time had come when they were to throw off the cloak that had been on them

for centuries . On anyone joining the movement , the question was asked , " What hour is it V and the reply came " The hour of darkness outside and of light inside . " And what was the hour of light 1 It was the dispelling of darkness . And what was darkness ? The belief in any unseen

being and superstition . And what was superstition ? The belief in any future punishment . This doctrine was spread about by means of books , which exercised great power , and which induced the belief to be taken up by vast bodies of men .

After some years the princes of Germany became terrified , for they saw that the system had for its express purpose the throwing down of orders , and also the intention of hurling to ruin the palaces of the earth , and hence the maxim that became bruited about in connection with

the society , " Up with the cottage , and down with the palace . " In this way they tried to turn mens' minds by promising them a false liberty , which could scarcely exist if the world was not a fallen world , in which the inhabitants of it were subject

to various passions . The princes became terrified , and in various ways endeavoured by the public lavvs to put these Eclectics down . They were not , however , altogether enabled to do so . It was during the time of the persecution of these

societies that another project , the German Union , was started . The main object of the German Union was to corrupt the world . Books were to be spread about in every direction ; books of atheism were to be foisted upon the world , and

especially books of immortality , and at this moment they were fortunate or unfortunate in obtaining the services of a great German bookseller , named Nicolai , who went about the country attending fairs . This was of great advantage to them in issuing these books which had the pernicious object of destroying altogether the belief of men in another world , and also

their morality . Thus , in an exceedingl y brief and precise manner he had endeavoured to sum up what was the object of the secret societies , as they all banded together under the system of Illumination and the German Union , in order to corrupt

and destroy all that which was noble in the world . This accumulated and came to a crisis in the savage horrors of the French Revolution of 1793 , and of the Commune of 1870 . At that time , a character well known in history—viz , Mirabeau , the

revolutionist , spendthrift , and traitorhad been in Berlin , and brought the new system to Paris . The lodges in France at once proceeded to adopt all that was bad in the German Union . Their headquarters were at a club in the

neighbourhood of Versailes , but when the Revolution broke out they removed their headquarters to the Church of St . James , and hence the name of the Jacobin Club . Those who

had read the able and voluminous history of Sir A . Alison would be acquainted with all this , but he might be permitted to sura it up . Up to that time , in every Christian country the Ten Commandants were obeyed , and a man might not blaspheme

and tread oh the Scriptures . The first step of these secret societies—who became from that moment the rulers of France , for the very departments in which France is mapped out are only in accordance with the divisions of the country by the

Freemason lodges—was to shut up every church in France ; and it was even a penal crime to believe in the existence of God . They set up in the p lace of God the goddess of Reason to be adored ; and he hardly knew whether he could trust himself to tell them of some of the abominations

they practised in many of the churches . In the Cathedral of Notre Dame on one occasion , when one of these p hilosop hei' 3 was lecturing before a body of impi " people , there was seen on the altar a nude female , and there was a cry " Behold you 1 '

goddess ! " and the people , intoxicated wit ' delight , shouted out , "This is our goddess —we will have no other God but the God of Nature ! " They also abolished every system of religious education ; and whenever the doctriue had spread to other countries , there were these godless schools , which had turned out the men who baa fought over barricades and called out f 01

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