Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society • Vol . 6 , No . 2 • Fall 2018 / Spring 2019
Ramsay ’ s Spiritual Entourage in France : From the “ Pure Love ” of Fénelon and Madame Guyon to “ Universal Brotherhood ”
By Aymeric Le Delliou
The 1736 oration that brought
Ramsay fame in the world of
Freemasonry begins with a wellknown appeal to philanthropy and the love of humanity in general :
Mankind is not essentially distinguished by the tongues spoken , the clothes worn , the lands occupied or the dignities with which it is invested . The world is nothing but a huge republic , of which every nation is a family , every individual a child . Our Society was at the outset established to revive and spread these essential maxims borrowed from the nature of man . 1
This idea of a universal brotherhood , with its basis in human nature , establishes love as the foundation of Ramsay ’ s politics . It is an old idea , springing from the Christian moralist tradition , but for Ramsay , this desire for a “ spiritual empire ” 2 is rooted in a metaphysics that could hardly be considered orthodox . My aim is to reveal its mystical foundations , no longer very apparent in modern references to his Discourses . The call for a universal brotherhood of the chosen is an inevitable consequence of the doctrine of Pure Love that he experienced at the house of Bishop François de Fénelon in Cambrai and later in the small community in Blois led by Madame Guyon . 3
1 Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay , Discours prononcé à la loge de Saint Jean , le 26 Xbre , 1736 , manuscript 124 , Bibliothèque Municipale d ’ Epernay . English editions show significant variations and omissions from the French , but an English version that is often used can be found in Gould ’ s History of Freemasonry throughout the World , revised by Dudley Wright , Vol . 3 ( New York : Charles Scribner ’ s Sons , 1936 ), 10 – 15 .
2 “ Ramsay ’ s Oration ,” in Gould ’ s History , 11 .
3 A critical biography of Ramsay has been produced by Georg Eckert , “ True , Noble , Christian Freethinking ”: Leben und Werk Andrew Michael Ramsays ( 1686 – 1743 ) ( Münster : Aschendorff , 2009 ). The universalist culmination of his thought is analyzed on pp . 608-637 . See also Marialuisa Baldi , Verisimile , non vero : Filosofia e politica in Andrew Michael Ramsay ( Milan : FrancoAngeli , 2002 ). A clearer perspective on the ascendency of mysticism can be found in Bernard Homery ’ s article , “ André-Michel Ramsay ( 1686-1743 ), une approche biographique ” in Ramsay l ’ Écossais , conference proceedings November 26 , 2016 , published by the Grand Collège des Rites Écossais of the Grand Orient de France , 19-68 .
1 doi : 10.18278 / rscs . 6.2.2