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Article SECRET SOCIETIES. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Secret Societies.
connection with the Gild Mysteries , which , however , . seem clearly to have derived their name from " mestier , " Norman-French , and not " mysterium , " Latin , though "mestier" and "mysteria" may have the same root . What really gave rise to the Vehm Gericht has never been clearly ascertained , but its institution seems to point to a previous
similar condition of things , and the idea of " secret judges " was not a new one . It has been averred , and not without much show of reason , probably that the persecution of the Waldenses and Albigenses , the Boni Homines of Lyons , the White Men of Italy , the Lollards of England , the Wallons , & c , led to the formation of secret relig ious societies ; and no doubt we think can exist also that the Hermetic associations , contemporaneously with all others , from very early
ages have existed in the Avorld . The early Christians are said to have adopted the system and terminology of the Ancient Mysteries , though not their teaching , for the Christian life and hourly struggles of those fiercer days ; and the " Disciplina Arcani , " and the " mysterium " and " mysterias" were used by the early Christians in reference to the
great solemn usages of Christianity . Some Avriters have liked to describe the early Christian , in the catacombs and under persecution , as bound by secret ties of sympathy and recognition . The whole use of " mysterium , " in classical and early Christian times , requires consideration , as it comes from " muo , claudo , " I shut ; and hence Ave have
the word " muesis , " initiation , and " mustai , " initiated ; and the classic writers also used the words , " mysteriaches" and " mystagogus , " from the Greek " musteriarchos " and "mustagogos . "
As we have said before , many Craft Gilds were secret , and especially the Mason Gilds ; and in France there was the Compagnonage , which , in its better form , probably had a heirship with Freemasonry , and in its perverted use Avas the precursor of the Carbonari , the Tenduors , and many other hurtful secret societies . There are no
doubt traces of political and religious secret societies at the great epochs of the English Reformation and the French Revolution , though the aims of these two movements were happily and essentially distinct . Previousl y to the Revolution in France one of the most mischievous associations which ever existed , though it happily hardly
endured ten years , Avas founded by Weishaupt , a Roman Catholic Professor , and based on those lines of Jesuit social destructiveness of which traces may be found , both in the " prolusiones" of their acknowledged Avriters and the essays of their inferior adepts . It is a remarkable fact , Avell knoAvn to book collectors , that many Jesuit works are printed " cum
per-missu superiorum , and many without , and that there is an apparent difference of meaning between the words " cum auctoritate " and " cum permissu . " In one sense , the Jesuit organization is the greatest secret
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Secret Societies.
connection with the Gild Mysteries , which , however , . seem clearly to have derived their name from " mestier , " Norman-French , and not " mysterium , " Latin , though "mestier" and "mysteria" may have the same root . What really gave rise to the Vehm Gericht has never been clearly ascertained , but its institution seems to point to a previous
similar condition of things , and the idea of " secret judges " was not a new one . It has been averred , and not without much show of reason , probably that the persecution of the Waldenses and Albigenses , the Boni Homines of Lyons , the White Men of Italy , the Lollards of England , the Wallons , & c , led to the formation of secret relig ious societies ; and no doubt we think can exist also that the Hermetic associations , contemporaneously with all others , from very early
ages have existed in the Avorld . The early Christians are said to have adopted the system and terminology of the Ancient Mysteries , though not their teaching , for the Christian life and hourly struggles of those fiercer days ; and the " Disciplina Arcani , " and the " mysterium " and " mysterias" were used by the early Christians in reference to the
great solemn usages of Christianity . Some Avriters have liked to describe the early Christian , in the catacombs and under persecution , as bound by secret ties of sympathy and recognition . The whole use of " mysterium , " in classical and early Christian times , requires consideration , as it comes from " muo , claudo , " I shut ; and hence Ave have
the word " muesis , " initiation , and " mustai , " initiated ; and the classic writers also used the words , " mysteriaches" and " mystagogus , " from the Greek " musteriarchos " and "mustagogos . "
As we have said before , many Craft Gilds were secret , and especially the Mason Gilds ; and in France there was the Compagnonage , which , in its better form , probably had a heirship with Freemasonry , and in its perverted use Avas the precursor of the Carbonari , the Tenduors , and many other hurtful secret societies . There are no
doubt traces of political and religious secret societies at the great epochs of the English Reformation and the French Revolution , though the aims of these two movements were happily and essentially distinct . Previousl y to the Revolution in France one of the most mischievous associations which ever existed , though it happily hardly
endured ten years , Avas founded by Weishaupt , a Roman Catholic Professor , and based on those lines of Jesuit social destructiveness of which traces may be found , both in the " prolusiones" of their acknowledged Avriters and the essays of their inferior adepts . It is a remarkable fact , Avell knoAvn to book collectors , that many Jesuit works are printed " cum
per-missu superiorum , and many without , and that there is an apparent difference of meaning between the words " cum auctoritate " and " cum permissu . " In one sense , the Jesuit organization is the greatest secret