VI. Our success greatly depending on the moral conduct of the Areopagites, the General will pay particular attention to prevent all public scandals which might hurt the reputation of the Order. He will represent to them in the strongest colours how much bad example will contribute to alienate from the Order the kinds of persons who might otherwise prove its most useful members. 29
VII. The better to preserve that respect which virtue commands from inferiors, the General will assume the character of austere morals. That he may always have the grand object present to his mind, and be wholly occupied with the duties he has to fulfil; let him never lose sight of that great maxim so frequently inculcated in his letters by the founder, as the leading feature to which he owed all his successes. Multum sudavit et alsit, abstinuit venere et vino. He neither feared heat nor cold; he abstained from wine and women, that he might always be master of his secret, always be master of himself, and prepared for all exigencies where the interests of the Order might require it. 30
VIII. The General shall be the central point for the Areopagites, as the latter are for the whole body of Illuminees. That is to say, each Areopagite holding correspondence with the National Inspectors is to make a report of all the Quibus Licets sent, and of all the secrets discovered by the corresponding Inspector; the secrets thus flowing from all parts will ultimately settle under the eye of the General. 31
IX. The functions of the General, and the success of his dispositions, greatly depending on the information he receives by means of this correspondence, he will distribute it among his Areopagites, assigning to each that of a particular nation whose Inspector is to transmit all his reports to him. 32
X. The principal heads of this correspondence shall be—1st, The number of the brethren in general, that the force of the Sect may be ascertained in each nation.—2dly, Those brethren who distinguish themselves the most by their zeal and intelligence—3dly, Those adepts who hold important offices about the Court, in the Church, Armies, or Magistracy: also what kinds of services might be expected from or prescribed to them in the grand revolution which our Order was preparing for human nature.—4thly, The general progress which our maxims and our doctrine were making in the public opinion; how far nations were prepared for the grand revolution; what
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strength and means of defence still remained in the hands of the civil and ecclesiastical powers; what persons were to be placed or displaced; what engines were to be played off, to hasten and secure the success of our revolution; and the means necessary to bind the hands of those who might resist. 33
XI. If from this correspondence he should judge it necesssary to dismiss any of the brethren from the Order, (and all the rights recognized by the adepts as inherent in the Order, particularly that of Life and Death being in the hands of the General) he will have to decide what further punishment is to follow the ejectment: whether the culprit is to be declared infamous throughout all the lodges of the Order, or whether the pain of death is to be pronounced against him. 34
XII. The General, after having chastised the imprudent, cowardly, and treacherous adepts, will turn his attention toward the discovery of those brethren who may be best fitted for seconding his views in each empire. Without making himself known to them, he will establish a line of communication between them. He will himself prepare the links of this immense chain after the manner laid down by our founder as the grand means of governing, from his mysterious centre, all the diverging ramifications of the Sect to the extremities of the earth; as a means of vivifying invisible armies in an instant, of putting them in motion, of directing their course, and of irretrievably executing the most astonishing revolutions, even before the very Potentates whose thrones are overturned have had time to surmise their danger.
XIII. The use of the chain is obvious and easy. To touch the fist link is all that is required. A single stroke of a pen is the grand spring that imparts motion to the whole. But the success depends on the choice of the time. In his hidden abode the General shall meditate the means, and catch the propitious moment. The signal of universal revolution shall not be given till a time when the combined force and instantaneous efforts of the brethren shall be irresistible.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
