Page:Devil-Worship in France 1896.djvu/59

Rh much old knowledge concerning adoptive lodges, the Illuminés, the Orders of Philalethes, of Martinez Pasquales, and of Saint-Martin, on which subjects few writers indeed can say anything that is new; but while specially devoted to the political activity of the Fraternity all over Europe, Deschamps tells us nothing of the conspiracy which produced the New Palladium, though the alleged collaboration of Mazzini gave it a strong political complexion; of Pike nothing; of Diabolism still nothing. I may add that his work claims to be verified at all points.

In the year 1886 another ecclesiastic, Dom. Benoit, published two formidable volumes on "Freemasonry and the Secret Societies," forming part of a vaster work, entitled "The City of anti-Christ in the Nineteenth Century." Like D'Estampes and Jannet, he distinguishes between a small number of initiates and a vast crowd of dupes who swell the ranks of the Fraternity. "Many Masons ascend the ladder of the grades without receiving the revelation of the mysteries." The highest functions of