Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
his morality . This has been the method of the sages in all times , and of the great legislators in all countries . These divine men were sensible that corrupted minds could have no relish for heavenly truths till the heart was purified from it ’ s [ sic ] passions ; for which reason they spread over religion a secret vail , which opens and vanishes when the eyes of the understanding are able to support it ’ s [ sic ] brightness . 28
This is how Anaximander , the epitome of incredulity in the novel , fell into error : “ He held as divine truths all the fables of the poets , and stuck to the literal sense of their allegories ; he adopted all the vulgar opinions as principles , in order to degrade religion , and make it monstrous .” 29 Later , it is the Jew Eleazar who declares : “ Those who stop at the letter find expressions in our sacred books that seem to humanize the Deity [ ... ]: But the true sage penetrates into their hidden meaning , and discovers mysteries in them of the highest wisdom .” 30 It must therefore be understood that the sacred texts do not demand blind faith . They cannot deliver their message unless they are felt in the heart — the only effective way to wholly receive the divine word . The novel thus sets out a propaedeutic of Pure Love while helping the reader to develop the right state of mind and soul for the correct practice of faith .
Robert Granderoute has asked , as did Pierre Chevallier before him , whether The Travels of Cyrus “ did not contain some characteristic elements of Freemasonry .” 31 Scholarly opinion tends to favor this hypothesis but reduces it to simple philosophical tolerantism . Although this idea is undoubtedly correct , it perhaps does not go far enough . For while The Travels of Cyrus can most certainly provide a key to understanding the Discourse of 1736 , this is also because it uses the same range of themes and references . In the following , we will refer to the Épernay manuscript because today it seems more or less certain that it is by Ramsay ’ s hand . 32
To begin with , The Travels of Cyrus , at least in its first edition , is dominated by discursive passages to the extent that the novel comes across as a series of biographical and spiritual statements . The role of the young prince is that of a listener , receiving pieces of information that he must collate and connect in order to progress toward true faith . Simply put , the experience of any Freemason reading the Discourse would be akin to that of the protagonist in The Travels of Cyrus . Following the various stages of Freemasonry ’ s history , this reader , like Cyrus , travels across geographical space and mythical , rather
28 Ramsay , The Travels of Cyrus , pp . 103-104 . 29 Ramsay , The Travels of Cyrus , pp . 161-162 . 30 Ramsay , The Travels of Cyrus , p . 269 . 31 Granderoute , Le Roman pédagogique , p . 287 . ( Our translation ).
32 Andrew Michael Ramsay , Discours prononcé à la loge de Saint Jean , le 26 Xbre , 1736 , manuscript 124 , Bibliothèque Municipale d ’ Épernay .
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