THE COMPANIONAGE.
238
and the sacrilegious profanations of our mysteries, wliiuh are tliere enacted, are
so horrible that it has been necessary in the preamble of tliis resolution only to mention the
minor portion. But tlie quality of this evil is sufiiciently known by the names by which the
superstitions,
doctors qualify
it
when
tliey call these practices superstitions, sacrilegious, full of
against the mysteries of our religion.
what more enormous
In
impurity and
sacrilege than
eifect,
blasphemy
to sport with the mysteries of religion, than to counterfeit the ceremonies of baptism, than to
abuse the sacred words ? ^ Whence should come this unhappy imitation but from him who has
always been the ape of God ? Why shut the windows and the door of their chamber where
?
they conduct their ceremonies, if not to show that it is a work of the prince of darkness
Why swear not to disclose it if the thing be good in itself ? Why not even tell it to their
and who would rather endure death than reveal what he
it is evident from aU this that there is evil
the tribunal of the confessional ?
Certes
even by those
practices, since they so fear being surprised, perceived, or recognised,
confessor
hears at
in their
who has
his
mouth
closed,
—
most familiar with them, and since they extract a promise under such solemn oaths never to
Is it not sufficient, these taverns to which these impious men
reveal it to whomsoever it be.
retire to
conduct their superstitions as in the temples of the demon, where they sacrifice to the
and reduce themselves to the condition of beasts by their drunkenness and
idol of their bellies,
undermining
orgies,
excessive expenses
tailors
health by their excesses, and impoverishing their families by their
Must there be beyond all this, public schools of indecency, as it appears the
tlieir
?
openly profess
But above
?
all,
must Jesus
Christ,
dead once
for
our
sins,
be crucified
by the sacrilegious hands and execrable actions of these miserable beings who represent
His passion in the midst of pots and pint measures ? Can we persuade ourselves, that amongst
Christians wlio ought to esteem themselves unworthy to touch anything destined to the
afresh
worship of God, some actually use sacred and holy ornaments, bread, wine, etc., in order to
burlesque what passes at the most holy and terrible of our mysteries ? Patience with idolaters
who, having no knowledge whatever of religion, turn to ridicule all that we hold most sacred.
But for Christians, regenerated in Jesus Christ by the sacrament of baptism, bought with the
price of His adorable blood, and instructed in the mysteries of our holy faith to employ the
most holy matters of our religion, in order to execute their accursed practices, and what is
worse still, that such should be done in the presence of heretics
What a scandal It merits
!
no
if
less
than temporal
fire
whilst awaiting the
they persist in this unhappy
"
state.
.
fire
eternal,
!
which they
shall surely not avoid
•
.
.
.-
Thory, in his history of the Grand Orient, reproduces the material portions of the preceding
revelations, and declares that his extracts are taken from old works, but