death, as I am of existence here. It may be said, you cannot be as sure as you are of sensory experience. I say I can. A physicist is never limited to direct sensory impressions, he has to deal with a multitude of conceptions and things for which he has no physical organ: the dynamic theory of heat, for instance, and of gases, the theories of electricity, of magnetism, of chemical affinity, of cohesion, aye, and his apprehension of the Ether itself, lead him into regions where sight and hearing and touch are impotent as direct witnesses, where they are no longer efficient guides. In such regions everything has to be interpreted in terms of the insensible, the apparently unsubstantial, and in a definite sense the imaginary. Yet these regions of knowledge are as clear and vivid to him as are any of those encountered in everyday occupations; indeed most commonplace phenomena themselves require interpretation in terms of ideas more subtle, the apparent solidity of matter itself demands explanation,— and the underlying non-material entities of a physicist's conception become gradually as real and substantial as anything he knows. As Lord Kelvin used to say, when in a paradoxical mood, we really know more about electricity than we know about matter.

"That being so, I shall go further and say that I am reasonably convinced of the existence of grades of being, not only lower in the scale than man but higher also, grades of every order of magnitude from zero to infinity. And I know by experience that among these beings are some who care for and help and guide humanity, not disdaining to enter even into what must seem petty details, if by so doing they can assist souls striving on their upward course. And further it is my faith-however humbly it may be held-that among these lofty beings, highest of those who concern themselves directly with this earth, of all the myriads of worlds in infinite space, is One on whom the right instinct of Christianity has always lavished heartfelt reverence and devotion.

"Those who think that the day of the Messiah is over are strangely mistaken it has hardly begun. In individual souls Christianity has flourished and borne fruit, but for the ills of the world itself it is an almost untried panacea. It will be strange if this ghastly war fosters and simplifies and improves a knowledge of Christ, and aids a perception of the ineffable beauty of his life and teaching: yet stranger things have happened; and, whatever the churches may do, I believe that the call of Christ himself will be heard and attended to, by a large part of humanity in the near future, as never yet it has been heard or attended to on earth. "My own time down here is getting short; it matters little: but I dare not go till I have borne this testimony to the grace and truth which emanate from that divine Being, the realization of whose tender-hearted simplicity and love for man may have been overlaid at times and almost lost amid well-intentioned but inappropriate dogma, but who is accessible as always to the humble and meek.

"Intercommunion between the states or grades of existence is not

limited to messages from friends and relatives, or to conversation with personalities of our own order of magnitude,—that is only a small and verifiable portion of the whole truth,-intercourse between the states carries with it occasional, and sometimes unconscious, communion with lofty souls who have gone before. The truth of such continued influence corresponds with the highest of the Revelations vouchsafed to humanity. This truth, when assimilated by man, means an assurance of the reality of prayer, and a certainty of gracious sympathy and fellow-feeling from one who never despised the suffering, the sinful, or the lowly; yea, it means more—it means nothing less than the possibility some day of a glance or a word of approval from the Eternal Christ."

HENRY BEDINGER MITCHELL.

(To be continued)

So likewise, when Christ that bright Sun has risen in our hearts above all things; when the demands of our bodily nature which are opposed to the spirit have been curbed and discreetly set in order; when we have achieved the virtues in the way of which you have heard in the first degree; when, lastly, through the ardour of our charity, all the pleasure, and all the peace, which we experience in these virtues, have been offered up and devoted to God, with thanksgiving and praise:—then, of all this there may come down a sweet rain of new inward consolation and the heavenly dew of the sweetness of God. This makes the virtues grow, and multiplies them twofold if we hinder it not. This is a new and special working, and a new coming of Christ into the loving heart. And by it a man is lifted up into a higher state than that in which he was before. On this height Christ says: Go ye out according to the way of this coming.-JOHN OF RUYSBROECK.

We should also rather seek our rest upon Him and in Him Whom we mean and love, than in any of the messengers He sends; that is to say, His gifts.-JOHN OF RUYSBROECK.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

I

II

N the history of the French Revolution by Mrs. Nesta Webster, referred to in a previous number of the QUARTERLY, perhaps the most important of the given causes of the revolution, next to the Orleanist conspiracy, was the activity of the German Order of Illuminati, headed by Adam Weishaupt. In the book itself, the magnitude and the menacing character of the program of this Order are strongly emphasized, while comparatively little information is given; but in the July number of The Nineteenth Century, Mrs. Webster, in an article entitled "Illuminism and World Revolution," gives a detailed history of the Order, not only linking it with the events of the French Revolution, but suggesting the probability of its active influence in the present world-situation.

There are several available histories of the Order. The one from which Mrs. Webster apparently draws most largely is the contemporary account published in 1798 by John Robison, a professor in the Royal University of Edinburgh, and a Mason familiar with Masonry all over Europe. The title of his book is The Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of Europe-Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. The facts are these: Dr. Adam Weishaupt (born 1748) was a professor of Canon Law in the University of Ingolstadt, Bavaria. He had been educated among the Jesuits, but had become bitterly hostile to them-an antagonism which was apparently reciprocated-and was actively anticlerical and in sympathy with the free-thinkers of the University. He acquired a high reputation in his profession, and the number and position of those who attended his lectures gave him no small influence. With his students as the first members, he founded an Order in 1776, first called the "Ordre des Perfectibilistes," but soon changed to the Order of the Illuminati. According to Robison, the Order was designed to abolish Christianity, overturn all civil government, and rule the world,-cloaking the most subversive doctrines under the expressed intention of freeing men's minds from the shackles of blind and absurd superstition, and bringing about a state of universal happiness. The Order was said to abjure Christianity and to refuse admission into the higher degrees to all who adhered to any of the three confessions. 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 regarded as narrow-minded prejudices, incompatible with universal benevolence; liberty and equality were considered the inalienable rights of man, and accumulated property as an insurmountable obstacle to the happiness of any nation whose laws favoured it. The

principle that the end justifies the means, is supposed to have shaped all their policies. Anything was allowable if the Order could derive advantage from it, for the great object of the Order was held to be superior to every other consideration. The fact that much of this program is exactly duplicated in the French Revolution, is regarded by Mrs. Webster as among the conclusive proofs of the influence and activity in France of Weishaupt and his followers during all that period. The Feast of Reason she regards as the corollary of Weishaupt's teaching that "reason should be the only code of man". In the destruction of manufacturing towns, the burning of libraries, the guillotining of Lavoisier, and the feeling against scientists in general, she sees the direct outcome of Weishaupt's teachings against the "mercantile tribe," against the sciences, and against civilization in any form. She quotes Robison as stating that the "actual ceremonies which took place when women of easy morals were placed on the high altars, were modelled on Weishaupt's plan of an 'Eroterion' or festival in honour of the god of Love." And from the same source she draws the statement that the Jacobin Clubs all over France were organized by the revolutionary committees under the direct inspiration of the Bavarian Illuminati, who taught them their "method of doing business, of managing their correspondence, and of procuring and training pupils."

Everything about the Order was protected by the strictest secrecy. Not only was its existence concealed, but within its ranks no member was acquainted with anything beyond his own grade, and advancement came only to those who were tried and tested,-doctrines that were likely to revolt a man, being withheld until a safer time. The members adopted the names of noted persons of antiquity, Weishaupt, for instance, being known as Spartacus, a man who headed an insurrection of slaves in Rome in the time of Pompey. (Mrs. Webster, in substantiation of her theory that the Order is still active, sees significance in the fact that "in the very city where Spartacus-Weishaupt founded the first lodge of the Illuminati, the German World Revolutionists have adopted the name of Spartacists.") Weishaupt, who had long been interested in Freemasonry, but, according to one authority, could not afford (financially) to become a Mason, was finally admitted, together with Zwack, his closest associate in the Order, to the lodge in Munich. The advantage of combining the Order with Freemasonry soon became apparent to him, his plan being to have his first degree, the Minervals, identical with the Masons, and the higher degrees, secret. The explanation was given that those in the higher, secret degrees adhered to the Strict Observance, while the Munich. Lodge did not. Dissension, just prior to this time, in two of the lodges, aided his plan, the dissenting members and Weishaupt's own adherents establishing a new lodge in 1779. As their numbers increased, the Order contrived to place its members in positions that would give them influence and power-either directly, as in the case of those who held prominent public offices, or indirectly, as in the case of tutors to youths of distinc

tion. Membership grew rapidly, until there were branches in practically all the European countries and also in America.

It was not long before suspicion was aroused. The Elector of Bavaria became alarmed, and an investigation was begun. At first nothing could be discovered. The majority of Freemasons had no knowledge of the Illuminati. Some had heard of them, but knew nothing more. In 1783, before a court of inquiry, two professors admitted membership, gave considerable information-whether true or false-and as a result, the Order was suppressed and Weishaupt banished. The most extreme measures were taken against the members, trials being carried on with the severity, and with some of the methods, of the Inquisition. No papers of the Order were found, the members claiming that the latter were burned since they had no need of them after the Order was suppressed, claiming also that whatever information transpired could not be correctly interpreted, since all their teachings were expressed symbolically or were intentionally disguised. Much of the correspondence between Spartacus (Weishaupt) and Cato (Zwack) was seized, from which the following extracts are indicative:

"The head of every family will be what Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest and the unlettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the code of laws to all mankind. .. True, there may be some disturbance; but by and by the unequal will become equal." Elsewhere it is stated that family life, national life, all the ties and restraints which civilization imposes, must cease to exist.

"The allegory on which I aim to found the Higher Orders is the fire worship of the Magi. We must have some worship, and none is so apposite." Members in the earlier degrees were told that the religion contained in the Order was the "perfection of Christianity" and would be imparted in due time.

"Jesus of Nazareth, the Grand Master of our Order, appeared at a time when the world was in the utmost disorder.. . He taught them [the people] the lessons of reason. To be more effective, he took in the aid of Religion-of opinions which were current—and, in a very clever manner, he combined his secret doctrines with the popular religion and with the customs which lay to his hand. Never did any prophet lead men so easily and so securely along the road of liberty. He concealed the precious meaning and consequences of his doctrines, but fully disclosed them to a chosen few. . . Let us only take Liberty and Equality as the great aim of his doctrines, and Morality as the way to attain it, and everything in the New Testament will be comprehensible; and Jesus will appear as the Redeemer of slaves."

Further portions of the correspondence which are made a great deal of, are plans for a Sisterhood connected with the Order, and a confession of immorality on the part of Weishaupt himself.

Much of the account as given by Robison exposes a deplorable state of affairs-deception, double dealing, espionage, coupled with a plan that