Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
elevates and summons to mind the most sublime truths . 36
Here again we find the concept of a common origin of religions , but also of the superiority of Judeo-Christian monotheism :
Each family , each republic and each empire whose origin is lost in an obscure antiquity has its own fable and truth , its legend and its history , its fiction and its reality . The difference between our traditions and those of all other human societies is that ours are founded on the annals of the most ancient people of the universe , the only one that exists today under the same name as in the past , without becoming confused with other nations , despite being widely dispersed ; and is finally the only one that has kept its ancient books , while those of almost all other peoples are lost . 37 nections between them . It is in this way that The Travels of Cyrus can be useful both to the historian and to the educated reader , who can be led toward an assimilation and understanding of the Discourse by the novel . In both cases , the author develops a similar ethic and tries to help us at last to become ready to receive the divine word clearly . As Marialuisa Baldi comments : “ most of the themes addressed in the final work published while the author was alive had already been raised in previous works ”. 38 Perhaps , in the end , the Discourse represents the perfect synthesis of themes developed in The Travels of Cyrus .
The Discourse has sometimes received the same criticism as The Constitutions of the Freemasons by James Anderson , being seen as nothing more than a golden legend , a holy story . This would be a misunderstanding of Ramsay ’ s message . He did not try to write a history . The historical references , the anachronisms , the implausibilities , should not be taken at face value . An attempt must be made to understand their precise associations and the con-
36 Ramsay , Discourse . 37 Ramsay , Discourse .
38 Marialuisa Baldi , Philosophie et politique chez Andrew Michael Ramsay ( Paris : H . Champion , 2008 ), p . 130 .
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