Page:Horrid Mysteries Volume 1.djvu/19

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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
ix

ment of their private views; because every mortal has his passions, and of course, brings them along with him into the Society, where they have a more extensive scope to range than under the eyes of the Public, being sheltered by the mask of secresy and concealment; because all these Societies degenerate, by degrees, through the ill-conducted choice of the members that gradually creep in; because they avocate useful citizens from serious civil occupations, misleading them to idleness, or to an useless activity; because they become the rendezvous of adventurers and idlers; favour all kinds of political, religious, and philosophical enthusiasm; and, finally, because they are, sooner or later, infected by a monastical esprit du corps, cause a great deal of mischief, and afford numberless occasions for cabals, quarrels, persecution, intolerance, and injustice."

This is the confession of a man that was, many years, a warm advocate for Freemasonry, and a superior of the Illumina-tors.

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