CONTENTS

CHAPTER I I

on THE MY STIC

CHAPTER I I I

Tan SEARCH AFTER Tmrm

A DOCTRINE or CORRESPONDENCE

CHAPTER v

Tun MAN 01? DESIRE

CHAPTER V I

LATER LIFE AND m mog

CHAPTER VI I

THE FRENCH MYSTIC

DURING the second half of the

century it may be sa id without ethat the inte llectual, historica lcentre of all things was in the

R ance . The sta tement obta ins not onlybecause of the great .

upheaval of revolutionwhich was to close the epoch

,but because of

the activitieswhich prepared thereto . I knownot what gulls dispart us from the scheme andorder of t hings signified by the name ofVolta ire, by D iderot and the Encyclopssdists

at large, or what are the points of conta ctbetween the human understanding at this dayand that which was conceived

,

by Condorcetm his memorable treatise . But about theimport and consequence of their place and timeI Suppose that no one can question . The same

land and the same period were the centre alsoof occult activities and occult interests

, which Imention at once because they belong to my

the years that followed thereon . Occultismi lways in the world, and among the French)plc especia lly there has been a lways someposi tion to be drawn in this direction . I n

1 e ighteenth century,however

,the sources

the mostp art are not to be found in France .

e persuasive illum inations of Swedenborg,

deep searchings of Ja cob Bohme into God,

n and the un iverse,the combined theosophy

1 magic represented by earlier and la terJalism

,and a strange new sense of the

sterics com ing out' from a sleep of the

turies w ith the advent of Symbolical Freesoury— these and some others w ith a root

genera l likeness were foreign in respect ofir

‘

or1gms, but they found their homes in

the occultsciences, as othermerchants travel in

‘

t he waresof the norma l commercia l world . I refer ofcourse to Sa int-Germain and Cagliostro, butthey are signal examples or types, for theydid not stand alone .

‘ There were men withnew gospels and revelations of all kinds therewere alchemists and magi in the byways

,as

we ll as on the public roads and in the King’shaps above all there were those

who travelled in Rites,mean ing Masonic Rites

,

carrying strange charters and making cla imswhich had never been heard of previous ly inthe a ge

-long chronicle of occult things .

When one comes to reflect upon it,the great,

many-sided M ason ic adventure may be '

sa idto stand for the whole

,to express it in the world

of signs,as actua lly and historica lly speaking

there came a day,before the French Revolution,

when it seemed about to absorb the whole .

All the occult sciences,a ll the ready-made ;

evangels,all philosophies

,the ever-transpiring

new births in time ceased to be schemes on

paper and came to be embodied in Grades .

So also the past,though it may be thought

to have buried its dead,began to give them

back to the Bites,and not as sheeted ghosts,

but as things so truly,

risen . and so muchaffirm ing life that they denied the ir own dea thand even

’

that they had fa llen asleep . Of suchwas the Rosy Cross . It came about in thismanner tha t our Emblematica l Institution,

which was born ,so to speak

,at an Apple-Tree

Tavern and nursed in its early days at the

Bummer andGrapes or the Goose and Gridiron ,

may be sa id to have passed,

through a secondbirth in France . It underwent otherw1se a

grea t transformation,was clothed in gorgeous

vestments and decora ted w ith magn ificenttitles . It contracted in like mariner the adornment of innumerable spiritual marn ages

,which

were fruitful in spiritua l progeny. I have

pronoun ced its encom ium elsewhere and tha tof the Bites and Grades

,the memorable Orders

and Chiva lries which came thus mto be ing .

‘

More numerous still w ere the foster sons and

daughters,be ing things connected w ith M asonry

but not belonging thereto,even in'

the w idestsense of its Emblematic Art . Of illegitimatechildren by scores

,things of rank imp

‘

ostureor gross delus ion ,

I do not need to speak . It issuffi cient to say tha t Holy Houses of M asonrywere everywhere in the land of France

,and

be sought in the spirit of the dreamers,for

whom something had happened which openedall the the doors and unfolded amazing vistasof possibility on every s ide about them .

The man who held the keys and indeed hadforged them was no other than V olta ire

,who

in this connection stands of Course for an

in te llectua l movemen t at large,which move

men t meant emanc1pation from the fette rs ofthought and a ction . To summarise the s ituation in a sentence

,apart from the Church and

its dogma , all things looked poss ible for a .

moment . The peculiar M ason ic “system ofmora lity

,ve iled in allegory and illustrated by

symbols m ight lead human ity e ither ba ckto the perfection w hich it had lost or forwardto tha t w hich it des ired and could in minddescry dim ly

,however far away. The new

prophets and the ir vaun ted reve la tions m ighthave God behind the ir gospe ls, .and the darknessof the occult sciences m ight ve il unknownM asters

,rather than em issaries of perdition .

Condemned practices,forbidden arts m ight

lead through clouds of mystery into light ofknow ledge

,and in this light history m ight ca ll

to be written out anew. W e kn ow at this daythat M ason ic legends are matters of fondinvention

,but some of them are old at the root

,

and we can understand in the e ighteenthcentury how they came to pass as fa ct, moreespecia lly s in ce the root of some was a SecretTradition in Israel . When it came about

,

like a fortune to those who devised .

It is from this poin t of view that we must

survey the amaz ing grow th of M asonry in a ll its

multitude of forms . sha ll conclude tha t itwas pursued zea lously ,

w ith a heart turnedtowards the truth , and as one who be lieves thathe may not stand alone

,I am not imprepared

to think that some of the traditiona l histories,

to us . as monstrous growths,represented to the

makers their mews on the probability of thingspresen ted in the gu ise of myt h . It was savedin th1s manner for them from the commoncharge of fraud . This is my judgment of thet ime

,and there is one thingmore on the wonder

s ide of the subject,the expectations and the

vistas seen in fron t , As the time drew on forV olta ire to be ca lled away and when the chiefHigh Grades of M asonry connoted a reactionfrom much tha t is typ ified by h is name

,there

rose up another persona lity holding one keyon ly

,but it looked like cla vis

,abscondilorum a

constitutions mundi . This was Anton M esmer,prom inen t in Paris ian c ircles

,a M ason l ike the

rest of them,and destined presently to have

more than one Grade enshrin ing h is discoveryand designed for the Spread of its tenets .

there was a root of truth at least in the longpas t of M agia ,

in the entran cements of vestaland pythoness

,above a ll in occult medicine .

So Opened some other doors,

and.when

Puysegur discovered cla irvoyance— a ga in as it

m ight be for a moment—fi the mystery o f a ll the

hiddenness looked on the poin t of unve iling .

But the doors shut“sudden ly, the dreams and

the epoch closed in the ca rnage of the Ih ‘

suehRevolution, and thereafter rose the ba leful '

cresset of Cors 1ca .

because it is imposs ible to pass over it in pre

sent ing a picture of the period,but more

especia lly because the life of the mystic SaintM artin is bound up therew ith for a certainnumber of years . Among the R ites whichma ttered at . the momen t his name connectswi th two

,be ing the glory of the Strict Oh

se rvance and the problema tica l Order of E lectPriesthood .

‘ Behind the first there lies the

mystery of its Unknown Superiors,but

”

this,

when reduced to its equiva len t in s imple fact,means the circumstances under which and

the people by whom its root-matter was

commun ica ted in Fran ce to Baron von Hund,

who returned w ith it to his Ge rman Fatherlan dand there formed it into a R ite

,w hose adven t

marked an epoch for evermore in M asonry. But

L'Ordrc dca E

‘Ius Coi ns . but the la st is a nonsense

gm.'

thb plura l of the Hebrew Cohen a Priest beingum.

t stood and whence,if

'

from anywhere,

'cd on his own part— as,for example

,the

7058 . I cannot trace here the history ofct Observance : it cla imed to representnation in

'

secret of the Kn ights Templarbe ruled by a hidden headship appe tto that source . It may ah ost be sa idtook M ason ic Germany by storm

,and

its banners triumphantly a ll oversave only in those British Is les whereand Craft of Emblemat ic Freemasonry .

in 1 7 1 7 among the taverns of London .

1 pieces ultimate ly because it was in no

osition to prove its cla ims than was theself to justify its recurren t appea ls to"y past . But the poin t which concerns,t before its karma overtook it the R itel iciled in France and had headquarters3 under the governmen t of a Provin cia l'rior of Auvergne . It was transformedhose auspices from a Holy House ofple into a Sp iritua l House of God, i ntheof a sacred Chiva lry pledged to theHis glory and the promotion of pea ce

graphica l errors,

a ll his inte llectual giftsn otw ithstanding and also his spiritua l dedi

eviden ce before us— tha t he emerged into thelight of his M asoni c ca reer for the first t ime i n

1 7 60 and that the pla ce was Toulouse , wherehe presented himse lf a t a certa in Lodge

,bearing

a hieroglyphic charter and laying cla im tooccult powers . A year later he emerged aga inat Bordeaux

,where he appears to have been

recogn ised on his own terms by another Lodge,

which he had sa tisfied in respect of his cla ims .

I n 1 7 66 he proceeded to Paris and there la idthe foundations of a SovereignTribunal, whichincluded severa l prom inent M asons . He was

aga in at Bordeaux in 1 7 67 , and three yearsla te r there are sa id to have been Lodges of hisR ite not only at that city but at M ontp e ll ier,Avignon ,

La Rochelle and M etz,as we ll as at

Paris and V ersa illes . The Temple at Lyonswas founded a little late r .Such is the external story of the R ite in bare

outline , up to the time when- for my presentpurpose-it can be merged in tha t of baintMartin . And now as to that for which it stood

at least oneLodgewhich held that he had provedshow later on the '

extent ofour present knowledge respecting the contentof h is Rite . It had a certa in ceremonialprocedure

,which — like all R itua l —must have

been sacramenta l in character,or w ith a certa in

meanmg u plied'

by its modes and forms but

only to the least extent was it otherw ise ve iledm a llegory and illustrated by symbols . On

the con trary,it was concerned w ith the

commun ication of a secret doctri ne by w ay ofdirect instruction and w ith a praCtice whichmust be ca lled secret in the ordinary sense

which atta ches to the idea of occult art orsc1ence . The kind of practice was that whichendeavours to establish commun ication ‘

w ithunseen intelligence by the Observances ofCeremon ia l M agic. There was procedure . ofthis kind in the course of the Grades

,or

‘

of someat least among them

,and Pasqua lly, the Grand

Sovereign,was a lso Grand M agus or Operator.It will be seen in a

. word that the Ri te of ElectPriesthood had a very different undertaking inhand fromanything embraced by the horizonof Craft M asonry or the rank and file of HighGrades . The doctrine embodied a part icularV iew concern ing the Fa ll of Man and of all

an imated things belonging . to the materialorder it looked for the restoration of all, and

on man as the divinely appointed agent ofthat great work to come.

bearings and the coronet superposed thereon,but I have not come across his genealogym anyextantmemoria l . He was described very oftenin the past

,and even by early French

biographers, as the Marquis de Sa int-M artin,

but this is a mistake and has been rectifiedsome time smce it does not appear that therewas any title in his branch of the fam ily.

Though he suffered little in conven ience whenthe French Revolution came

,he was included

among . the prescribed, mean ing the nobleclasses . He was of Toura ine stock

,and was

bor n at Amboise in that district on JanuaryIt 13 sa id that his mother died soon

after and that the father marr1ed aga in . W e

have his own evidence that fil ia l respect was asacred sentimen t of his infancy that all hishappiness was perhaps due to his stepmothertha t her teaching inspired him ,

with love forGod andman

’

; and that the intercourse of the irminds took place in perfect freedom.

‘ Thereare various indications of his delica cy in early

seven times in babyhood that hisrough sketch ; that he had very little astral

,

1

mean ing psychic force ; that he could playpassably on the violin

,but that owing to

physical weakness his fingers could not vibratewith sufficient power to make a cadence .

‘ I

mention these points to show that,albe it

Saint-Martin a tta ined a fa ir age, he seems to

have been a lways phys ica lly fra il,

amidstgreat menta l activities . For the rest

,there is

no need to dwell upon his youth, as regardsexterna l facts

,nor have many transpired .

He was educated at the college of Pent-Leroywas designed for the career of the law andentered thereupon, but it proved so entirely

‘

distasteful that his father a llowed ‘

him to

exchange it for the profession of arms, he be ing.

then about twenty-two years of ago.

On the inward side,or as regards his early

dedications, we have the benefit of his own

intimations,too . brief and few as they. are .

There 18 a work of the past, by a writer namedAbadie, on The Art of Sell Knou ledge, and

though on my CWn part I have not broughtaway 11 0m it any st1 iking recollections, it hada certa in repute in its day. Sa int-Martin tellsus that he read it with delight in his youth,though . he recogn 1sed later that it was characterised by sentiment rather than depth ofthought . It was instrumenta l probably in

disposing him towards the life of contemplation1 Portra it, pp. 4.

was also

owed his love forustico.

so the tings of hisese he tells

( 1) t amidst all theconfus ions of osophy

, he had atta inedcertitude as to and his own soul , (2) thatthe seeker for wisdom had need of nothingmore ; (3) that the foundation of all his happi~ness must be in contentment only with thetruth (4) that absorption inmateria l thingswas incomprehensible for those who knewthe treasures of reason and the spirit ; (5) thathuman science expla ined matter by matter,and that after its putat ive proofs there wereother demonstrations needed

,

inmost prayer of his soul was for bidetherein to the exclus ion oi all e lse , in whichmanner he came to see

,thus early

,that Divine

Union is the true end of man ; for I find thisfurther thought set down as belonging to hisfirst spiritual years

,namely, (7 ) that we are

lwidowcd and that we are called to a secondmarriage 1

The influence of the Due de Choiseul secureda commission for SambMartmin the regimentof Foix . The next three years of his life, whichare practica lly a blank

,so far as memoria ls

are concerned,have been filled up by

biographers, following on obvious lines and

1 Portrait. pp. 58. a. 13. 127 . 128. so, 21. 1 7 .

of a soldier offering any barrier to

dedications,they opened a path before

which he followed w ith advantage for a cer‘

distance and remembered h is experience thew ith un fa il ing affection and reverence . Ar

learn by his correspondence,Martines de l

qua lly had married the n iece of a retired m:

in the regimen t“

of Foix,and he was km

persona lly by the brother-officers of SnM artin

,De Gra inv ille among others, a nd i n

end by Sa in t-M artin himself . De Gra inyDe Ba lzac and Du Guers were in itiates ofE lect Priesthood

,and at sCme uncerta in

between August 13 and October 2,l'

Sa in t-M artin was rece ived into the Or

According to his own test1mony‘

h e had ta

the first three Grades en bloc, apparentlyverba l commun ication . They were

,

contezon h im by M . de Ba lzac . l There is no rec

as to how they impressed him,but am

severa l references to the Grand Sovereigrthe R ite on the part of his disciple for a pethere is one which apperta ins more especi+ n H m i n i t i a l

‘

saf fro n. n f t hm r n n n n p o h n n

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least one occasion ,some years subsequently,

as we sha ll see more particularly at the closeof the present monograph .

I n the absence of the R itua ls, which have

never been prin ted while I have fa iled to findmanuscript copies in England

,e ither 111‘

privatehands or in any M ason ic or other library, ourava ilable know ledge of the Grades is confinedto the Catechisms and to the correspondencementioned above . I w ill take these sourcesseparately, as the first is concerned w ith thedoctrine and symbolism of the Rite , and the

second w ith its peculiar pra ctices .

‘

l ) Apprentice E lect Priest — The instruction of this Gradeimparted perfect knowledge— ex hypothesi

on the existence of the Grand Architect of theUn iverse

,on the prmciple of man

’s spiritua l

emanation and on his direct correspondents

w ith his M aster . It is . obvious tha t . the

knowledge in question was conveyed dogmatica lly. As regards the origin of the Order

,it

derived from the Creator Himself and had been

1 Papus : M a rtines dc Pasqually, Paris, 1895, pp. 1 1-14.I bid . , pp. 215 cl seq.

EARLY LIFE OF THE MY STIC 23

the days of Adam,that is to

to Noah,from Noah to

Melchisedek, and afterwards to Abraham,

Moses, Solomon ,Zerubbabe l and Chris t . The

mean ing is that there has been a lways a SecretTradition in the world

,and its success ive epochs

are marked by successw e custodians . It is inthis sense also that the purpose of the Orderis sa id to be the ma intenance of man in his

primeva l virtue,his spiritua l and divine powers .

(2) Companion Elect Priest. -Having beentold of our first estate in the previousDegree, the Candidate bears in the nextconcern ing the Fa ll of Man and personifies itin his own case . He has passed from the per

pendicular to the triangle , or from union w ithhis First Principle to the triplicity of ma te rialthings . The Grade of Compan ion typifies thistransition . The Candidate is engaged tocounteract the work of the Fa ll

,in which his

own spirit has been undone,and his whole

world is in trava il thereupon ,to a cqu ire the

age of perfection .

”The root of a ll is in a living

rea lisation of,what is implied by the first

estate of man,his ambition

,h is lapse and his

pun ishmen t . There is one a llus ion to the

pouring out of a more than human blood,but

this subject is reserved to some la ter stage ofadvancement in the Order . (3) Particula rM a ster Elect Priest — In the conventiona lsymbolism

,the C andida te passes from the

triangle to the c ircles : he is a t work in the

circles of expiation, which are sa id to be six

and in correspondence w ith six conceptionsemployed by the Great Architect in con

structing the Un iversa l Temple . The . symbolism of the Temple of Solomon is expla ined inthis Degree , and its members are ca lled to thepractice of charity, good example and all

duties of the Oi der,for the re integration of

the ir individua l p1 1n01plos, their M ercury,

Sulphur and Salt,in that u nity of D ivine

Principles from which they first came forth .

Here i s the on ly distinct Hermetic referencefound in the memoria ls of the Bite . (4 ) Electill usion— The Candidate enters the c ircle ofreconcilia tion

,and in common w ith h is peers

is engaged henceforward in warfare w itli v the

enem ies of D ivine Law and of man at large onearth . W e hear a lso

,but vaguely

,concern ing

One W ho is the Elect of God,Who has

reconciled earth w ith man and all w ith‘

the

Grand Architect of the Un iverse . It is to’

be

noted that in references of this kind we are left

sumably in cases where t hey had not beentaken previously. I n the Grade of ElectMaster he is warned to cut himself off fromall clandestine secret societies

,commun ica ting

apocrypha l instructions, which are contraryto D ivine Law and to the Order) ? (5 ) Gra ndM a ster Pri

"

,ests surnamed Gra nd A rch itects .

The Candidate was thirty-three years old inthe fourth Grade and he has now a tta inedthe age of e ighty. It . would seem tha t herece ives some kind of ordination . It is a Gradeof light and the Temple is ablaze w ith light .There are four W ardens, who represent the foursynibolical Angels of,

the four quarters ofheaven

,. recalling the occult mystery of the

Enochian Tablets, according to the memoria lsof Dr. John Doe in The Fa ithful Rela tion .

i

The

ordination —whatever its form— is sa id to beoperated by the thought and w ill of the Eternal,and by the power, word and intention of Hisdeputies . The members of this Grade are

occupied w ith the purification of their physica lsenses so that they may participate in the workof the Spirit . They are engaged otherw ise in-constructing new Tabernacles and rebu ildingold . There are sa id to be four kinds ofTabernacles in the Un iversa l Temple

,be ing

( 1 ) the body of man, (2) the body of woman

,

(3) the Tabernacle of M oses, and (4) tha tof the Sun, or the

“tempora l spiritua l ”

Tabernacle which the Great Architect of theUn iverse has destined to conta in the sa crednames and words of materia l and spiritual

26

reaction ,distingu ished by w isdom as by a

torch of un iversa l tempora l l ife .

” There is nofurther a llusion to this Spiritua l Sun . The

Candidate now hears the Name of Christ,apparently for the first time in his progressthrough the R ite . I t must be sa id that theCatechisms are rather obscure documents, andinferences drawn therefrom as to procedure inthe R itua ls are therefore precarious

,but it

would seem that the Candidate in this Degreebegins to take part in those magica l operationswhich are the chief concern of the R ite

,as we

sha ll see . (6) Gra nd Elect o] Zerubbabel — ThePr ince of the People is represented as n typeof Christ and h is work as typical of redemption.

I n the M ason ic Grade known as. the Roya l

Arch the Candidate testifies tha t he belongs to .

the tribe of Judah,but a Grand Elect on the

contrary protests aga in st such an imputation .

He is of the tribe of Ephra im ,described as

( 1) tha t which has a lways enjoyed freedom,

and (2) the last of the tribes of Israel but thefirst of the Elect . H is earthly age is definedto be seven ty years, while tha t of his spiritualelection i s seven . The seven ty years of capt ivity are those of materia l life

,or life apart

from e lection and from the ordination of truepriesthood The e lection a tta ined by the

J : J “ A “ fi a n ce A n ‘n n \ f ‘\n Qfl l m.

H1 1 0 ' a n d : A “

the Spirit can rebuild . This be ing so,it is

diffi cult to see why members of the Gradeare ca lled Grand Elects of ZerubbabeL (7 )

wanting,

as a lready seen,there be ing no

Ca techism extant . But the true Rose Croz’

z

is of Christ , and w ithout it Pasqually’s R ite

would have been left at a loose end,for it looked

through a ll its Grades to that D ivine Eventwhich ushered in the Christian Era .

,I n the above enumera tion . respecting the

content of the Rite I have taken its Ca techismsas my guide but it rema ins to add

‘

thatlthere is

some eonfusxon on the subject . A letter of theGrand Sovereign has been quoted under dateof Jm e 1 6

,1 7 60

,in w hich the Grades are set

out a ccording to the following list i ( l ) Apprentice

, (2 ) Compan ion , (3) Particular Master,(4 ) Grand Elect MaSt

’

er, (5 ) Apprentice Priest,

(6) Compan ion Priest,

M aster Priest,

(8) Grand M aster Architect .‘ To these Ra gon

added a Grade of Kn ight Commander,

‘ w hichPapus seeks to ident ify w ith tha t of RoseCroix . I find no tra ce of the lette r in publis hedPasqually memoria ls , a nd the date is certa inlywrong . Asregards ‘

Ragon ,his mammoth lists

of Degrees, Bite s and Orders are utterlyu ncritical

,but the fact that i n this case he

>rrcsponds to no title extant in either scheme,

I it is certa inly not Rose Croix,this be ing

ways represented by R>I"in Sa int-Martin’s

irrespondence . Am idst variations and un

rta inties,we are,I think, justified i nregarding

[6 Grade-Names a t the head of the severa lttcchisms as those apperta ini ng to the Ritei ts completed form .

On the smu‘face of these documents there is>thing to suggest that the Grades to whichey are attributed were connected w ithremon ial M agic . They belong to the partdoctrine and the part a lso of symbolism

,the

tter including officia l secrets—4 s 1gns, tokens,e s and similar accidents of purely Masonicnvention . For

.

the practica l part we must.ve recourse to

‘

the correspondence ofs qua lly " and -as it may seem , perhapsrlously

n -to tha t of Sa in t-M artin . The

Papus : Sa int-M a rtin ; pp. 92 ct seq.

See Papas : M artines do Pasqually, chap itren .pashim.

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very Thursday at any hour of the day[ ascr '

em met, standing in the centre of 1

30111 at night before re i h ing, facing 13111nd the De Pro"media on both knees and wi ce bowed to the ground . (4) The clothi

rescribed is elaborate,including all i nsig1

f the Order that the Novice was entitl

a wear,but here it will be sufficient to s

hat as he must be deprived of all metaven pins

,he removed h is ordinary clothi

xoept vest, drawers, socks and felt slippeiver these he placed a . white alb, w ith bro .

ame-coloured borders . (5 )'He described t

agment ‘

of a circle on the East side of the recad a complete Ci l

‘

ClO of retreat on t he W'

c

de,placing the proper inscriptions at t

roper poin ts,w ith the symbols and w;

Lpers . (6) These arrangements completed,rost

’

rated himself at full length w ithin t .

estern circle in . complete darkness,for

>aee of six m in utes,after which he arose a1

ghted all the tapers belonging to tha t cirelHe then prostrated himse lf w ithin t ]

stern segment, pronounemg one of t ]

ames inscribed thereon and supplicatu

ed,in virtue of the power

‘

given to B

names-to grant that which was desired by the

other operations, including the use of a

particularof certa in invocations which are not given inthe text . (9 ) The operation was to last onehour and a half, onward from midnight

,no

food having been taken s ince noon. There areother directions, not a lways in harmony withthose which preceded , but the instruction .

is

left unfin ished,and as regards these i nitial

operations we do not know wha t purposethey served or .what man ifestations characterised success therein .

About two years later Pasqually suppliedfurther directions of a more advanced or at leastmore e laborate kind

,the circle of retrea t be ing

now located in the centre of the room ; but

aga in the procedure depends on particularswhich“have been sent previously and the natureof which 18 unknown . W e hear alsoof visions

,

described as white , .

,blue clear ruddy white

,

and so forth ; of visible spa rks,of goose-flesh

sensations,as of things seen and fe lt by mere

novices of the Order . As to purpose,however

,

and result-there is still nothing that transpires,

except indeed the complete fa ilure of W illermoz

to obtam any satisfaction . The letters ~

of

Sa i nt-M artin to the same correspondent on thesame subject may be sa id practica lly to beginas those ofPasqually ended,

and they are modelsof clear exposition, compared w ith those of the

Grade and a prayer or invocation for da ily use .

W e hear a lso of a simple form of ordinationunder the in itia ls G . R . ,

to which I havea lluded previously of extended and reducedvers1ons of some Grades ; of Elect and PriestlyGrades . There are references to Latin origina lsof certa in workings to procedure

O

w ith

Candidates on the ir reception as Grand Architeets

,evidently magica l in character ; forms

of conjuration and exorcism of evil spiritswhich do not differ generically from those ofhistorica l Rituals and much on the formationof circles

, w ith the ir proper modes of inser1ption . These things do not extend our knowledge

,except upon poi nts of deta il

,and after

m idsummer,1 7 7 3

,th e character of the corre

spondence changes . Sa in t-M artin had suppliedfor a period the place

,as it were

,of a secretary

to h is occult M a ster,but Pasqually was ca lled

to St . Dom ingo in 1 7 7 2 on tempora l busmess

of his own and was destin ed never to returnIt follows tha t the Ceremon ia l M agic of the

Elect Priesthood is by no means fully ava ilable

1 The first is da ted Ma rch 4 . 1 7 7 1 . The le tters a re

prin ted in extcas o by Papa s in his work on Sa int Martin ,a lready cited.

published sources ; but so far as

,

thedure is

the art except as these records differ one fromanother. This be ing the ease, and asmost of usare acqua inted w ith the preposterous concernsofArt M agic in the past, we have , in the nextplace

,to account as we can for an opinion on

his early school expressed by Sa int-Martinlong after he had abandoned it and a ll its waysI will not concea l from you that in the schoolthrough which I

' passed,

now more thantwenty-five years ago,

commun ications of a llkinds were numerous and frequent

,that I had

my share i n these like all the others,and that

every sign indicative of the Repa irer was

found there in . He sa id a lso : There wereprecious things in our first school

,and I am

even disposed to believe tha t M . Pasqua lly,towhom you allude and who

,s ince it must be

sa id,was our Master, had the active key of

all that our dear Bohme sets forth in his

theories,but that he did not regard us as fitted

for such high truths .

”I n the peculiar

term inology cf Sa int M artin,the Repa irer

sign ified Christ, and what therefore were thosecommun ica tions obta ined as the resultof invocations recited m magica l circles drawnw ith chalk on the floor and inscribed

,as in the

1 Le tter of Sa int-Ma rt in to Baron de Liebistorf (Kirchborger , da ted Ma rch Se e Lettres I néd ttcs dc

L. 0. e Sa int-M a rti n , Pa ris , 1862, or E . B. Penny’

a trans

lation . ent itled Theosoph io Correspondence.”bid Letter of J uly 1 1 . 1 7 90.

3

ady , He presents us w ith further extractsn the letters of M artine s de Pasqua lly,

who“ms there in ( 1 ) that if the thing— La chose“0 not as I have certified and had it not11 man ifested as it wa s

,not only in my own

c um but in that of -so many others whored to know it, I should have abandoned it '

ze lf and should have been in consc 1ence

11d to dissuade those who approached i t ind fa ith (2 ) tha t in respect of the fa ilure oflermoz there was no genud for surprise1use the Thing is sometimes severeards those who des ire it too ardently beforetime .

” l One would think that La chose

ified s imply the subject or matter in hand,

according to Papus it was the IntelligenceM ysterious Being which man ifested in

onse to the invocations . W e are torpret the reference in this sense when Sa in ttin says

,in his commun ication to W illermoz

l arch 25,1 7 7 1

,that he was convinced

ern ing the thing before having received the1 Papas : Martines dc Pasqually, pp. 104, 105.

most effi cacious of our ordinations .

” I do notknow how Papas satisfied himself respectingthis forced and arbitrary construction

, but

whether it is correct or not, there is no questionas to the fact tha t a M ysterious Be ing mam

fested by the evidence of the archives or thatit was ca lled subsequently by other names

,

such as the Unknown Agen t charged w ith thework of in itiation

,

”an express ion of W illermoz .

It follows that .we have good ground fora ccepting the view of Abbé Fourn ié , anotherdisciple of the R ite

,when he sa id that Pasqually

had the faculty of confirm ing his instructionsby means of externa l visions

,a t first vague

and passing w ith the rapidity of lightn ing, butafterwards more and more distinct and tpro

longed ) ” Having established “

this point offact

,which suffi ciently distinguishes the Grand

Sovere ign from other purveyors of HighM ason ic Grades in France of the e ighteenthcentury

,and his R ite a lso from many scores of

contemporary institutions,we have to ascerta in

-if we cam— wha t characterised the man ifestations, so tha t they justified Sa int-M artinin the extraordinary view which he he ld con

cern ing them,not in the first flush of occult

experiences,but at a mature period of l ife .

M eanwhile I have sketched his position and

environment at the beginn ing of h is intellectua lcareer. As a result of exchanging the profession

See Fourn ie’

s work,‘

entitled‘

Cc qua no us avona été,cc que nous sommes ct cc que nous mendrons . Londre s ,801 .

therefore to choose a path .

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put 0 11 record long a fter his opinion that thefirst Soj ourn a t Lyons ia '

1 7 7 3 was not

much more profitable than others which hemade la ter and especia lly in It wasimportant

,however, in another and very

differen t way, for it marked the beginn ing of hisliterary life . I t wa s a t Lyons

,

"he te lls us

,“that I wrote the book Des Erre iu'

s ct de la'

Verz’

lé,partly by way of occupation and

'

becausewas ind ignan t w ith the philosophers so ca lled,having read in Boulanger

‘

that’ the origin ofre ligions was to be sought in the terrorJeeas ioned by the catastrophes of Nature .

1 wrote some thirty pages a t first, which I

ahowed to a c ircle that I was instructing at thehouse of M . W illermoz

,and they pledged me to

ontinue . It was composed towards the end of17 7 3 and at the beginn ing of 1 7 7 4

,in the space

If four months and-by the kitchen-fire , for therewas no other at which I could warm myself.1 Letter of Sa int-

‘

Martin'

to K irchbergcr, da ted J uly 12,17 92 .

S oo the Notice H {storiquc pre fixed to th e French tra nsa tion o f Fra nz V 0 11 Ba ader

’

s S ecret Teach ings of 111 0 1 113163

16 Pasqua lly. Pa ris , 1000. pa xlii .

turned on my foot and burned me somewhat

He was not therefore m residence during thosemonths w ith his M ason ic friend . he was probably en penszon somewhere, and not too wellsituated because of his means . The task wasexecuted w ith great expedition, having regardto its subject and the deep searching demandedthroughout its length indeed

,his applica tion

must have been unremitting,the result coma

pr1sn1g nearly five hundred pages . The nextpoint which it is requisite to note , for reasonswhich w ill appear innncdiate ly,

is that it iswritten in the first person

,which indeed recurs

continually,so that the P ictlosome I ncomm

whose name appears on the t itle is w ith thereader from beginn ing to end . The individua lnote was characteristic of

_

Sa int-M a rtin’s

writings throughout his l iterary life, but it 13to be observed that though ever present it wasnever ins istent and was never touched byegotis in . He spoke from the fullness of theheart

,as from an unfa iling founta in

,and has

even put 011 record h is feeling that there wasnot enough

'

paper in the world to conta in a ll

that he had to del iver, could he only reduce it to

writing . He had a lso a certa in sa cred tenderness towards the children of h is mind, evenwhen he dwe lt on their imperfections . I n a

word,he was a typica l l iteraryman of the bette r

kind,as well as a true mystic .

Portra it, p. 23.

of his affectionate attachment to man, and

be ing concerned only with making war on

erialistic philosophy, he could not permthe reader to see ‘pr

’

ecisely where he was be ingled, because it .would have set him at once in 5

Oppo sition,

the Scriptures having fa llen intosuch discredit among men.

”I t follows not

only that they are not quoted in the work,but tha t Christ Himself is referred to in a ve iledmanner, as the Acti ve and Inte lligent Cause,the Agent, Guide ofMan

,etc . It would be easy

to enumerate other poi nts,

show ing tha tSa int-Martin’

s first work was‘

schemed and

ec gitated and written from his own basis,

under one reserve only,that the root-matter

of its doctrine is presented as coming from. a

secret source,that he was .

under pledgesconcern ing . it

,and that owmg to these a

reservation was imposed upon him,so that his

e lucid'

ations could be carried only to a certainpoint . Here is a clear issue, and as regards thesource itself we are not in doubt concern ing it,since the year 1899, when Martines de Pas o

qually’sj important T

‘

ra z’

té de lo Réinte’

gration

dos Etres was published for the first time inFrance . It is practically possible to checkevery ,

point of reticence registered by Sa intMartin and to see what l ies behi nd it byreference to this treatise, it being understood

1 Portra it, p. 4os

cannot te ll .

contrast with it the counter-view put forwardby Dr. Papas on the a lleged authority of hisMarti nistic

‘

archives . He affi rms, ( I ) that the

book Des Erreurs was due a lmost entire ly to aninvisible origin (2) that the Be ing whom

in 1895 he had certified as a lways designatedunder the enigmatic name of La chose was

ca lled the Unknown Philosopher ; (3) tha t itwas he who gave forth the work as regards themajor part (4) that he dictated 166 w h en

d’imtructc

’

on ; (5) that some of these weretranscribed by Saint hlartin ; (6) that the Un

known Philosopher gave orders for Sa intMartin to assume this name and that ( 7 ) thesa id Agent himself destroyed about e ightyc

'

ahz'

ers in 1 7 90 to prevent them falling into the“

hands of RobeSpierre’s emissaries

,who were

making unheard-of efforts‘

to acquire them .

”

It follows that Sa int-M art in has given an

altogether misleading account of his first'

book,and that in spite of its strong and preva ilingrsonal note it cannot be called his work .

have, however, collated his statements, and

those.who know bhu ‘

sra likely to prefer hisversion of the matter to archives largelyunpubl ished and not ava ilable for inspection,

.en,therefore

,he states further that the

hives include various sheets of instructions1 1nu11icatcd 'by the Unknown Agent and

iotatcd by the hand of Sa int M artin 11 0. haveregard it in the l ight of later revelat ions1plied by the President of the M artin istler remembering that 111 1899 he promised toidnoc proofs in a volume devoted to the

stio. That volume appeared in 1902 and

ita ined fifty unpublished letters of Sa intrtin

,to some ofwhich I have referred . They ,

prefaced by a biographica l summary written.und the documents . I n ne ither one northe1er is any ray of light cast upon the previousims they are indeed the subject of a llusioniy in a single sentence . But we obta inexpected enlightenment in other respects .

1creas there i s no evidence whatever ofnmu nications dictated by the Unknownent during the l ife of Pasqua lly or for over1 years after h is death

,we .are told by Dr.

pus, though thcre is no a llus ion to the factSa int-M artin ’

s letters,that in 1 7 85

,the Agent

question ,who seems to have rema ined in

ayance s ince t he.dea th of the Grand

vere ign ,began toman ifest at Lyons

,where he

tated“nearly one hundred folios

,

” be ing>se precisely of which the majority were

Papus : fil a rtin e’

s isme, W illermos imne , M a rtin isme c

110-1V apo1111er1'

e. Pa ris , 1899, pp . 14-16.

43

burned in17 90. The archives of the Order, 11is added , include the bulk of those that were

transcribed and annotated a mass of writteninstructions prior to 1 7 85, we are told only ofteachings that are l ikely to have been “h eardand to have been incorporated i nto his work bythe author of Des E 1“ ,1 eurs

It will be seen that the ground is changedcomplete ly and that we are getting nearer tothe probable facts of the case . I do not doubtthat illermoz and h is c ircle rece ived ps 1 chiccommunications in one or another psychiccondition

,induced by prolonged operations

inspired by that intent,or w ith the a id of

luc1ds the intervention of whom is ad

m itted . I do not doubt that they were

reduced into writing, and as the news of wha twas taking place brought Sa int-M art in to

Lyons w ith a ll possible speed, it is certa in thathe read

,he may well have transcribed and

annotated,but a ll this was yea rs subsequently

to’ the publica tion of Des Erreurs cl de la Vérile'

.

I am preferring no charge whatever aga instDr. Papu

s,who sealed a laborious life by a

heroic death in the cause of the s ick and

wounded during the Great W'

ar. YVe were,

moreover,persona lly acqua inted, and our

relations were a lways cordia l . But he was

unfortunately a most inaccurate writer,and

the present monograph might be exte nded to

Papas Lou is Cla ude dc Sa int-M artin, pp. 1 5,25 .

3 I bid . , p . 3 1 .

which were in the possession of a . certa in M.

Cavern ier and had transcribed some of them,

devoting one week to the task .

‘ In 1 899 itlooks as if some originals had come into his

possess1on ,though he does not expla in how .

I conceive that in this year he was in confus ionas to the dates

,exten t and precise nature of the

psychic commu nications . By 1902 he had

made better pr‘

ogress w ith them and modifiedhis affi rmations -a ccordingly

,but w ithout

overtly w ithdraw ing anything . I conce ive tha tin this manner the question may be perm ittedto rest

,un less and un til the present custodians

of the archives may decide to proceed furtherw ith the work of the ir publication . It seemsto me that I have adopted a reasonable and

.m iddle g round which a ccounts for the factsw ithout a ccusmg anyone . Under the aegis ofPasqua lly the Rite of the Elect Priesthood wasone of occult instruction as w e ll as occultpractice and the pageant— such as it may havebeen— o i cumula tive Grades . The teach i ngwas of course under pledges

,and tha t part

of it which Sa int-M artin felt perm itted to unfoldwas p ut forward in his first book . La chose

may refer to Pasqua lly’s Guide in the unseen

,

howsoever commun ica tion was . establishedsupposing that Papus 1s correct in

'

his underM a rtines do Pasmcally, p. 14.

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own vocation and forfeited a ll our titbut He who repa irs restores

,in virtue 1

capacity for restoration Which has alw

rema ined with us . It follows that at the tof re integration the estate of man will invirtua l un ity w ith tha t of the Repa irer

,

true name is Christ,whereas Sa int-Ma :

says tha t in respecto

of our potenc 1es we areChrists .

‘ Sa int-Martin ’

s exposit ions are

Craft Freemasonry,ve iled in a llegory z

illustrated by symbols.

” The nature o fFa ll is clouded in this manner

,for it is sa id ti

man descended into the region of fathers t

mothers,o therw ise into the circle of physi

generation,i nplace of those generations wh

are spiritua l . It is a parable of original un ity asubsequen t divorce, of the separation betwc

1 D es Erreurs cl de la Ven’

té. A Edimbourg, 1Second s Pam

'

s, p . 130. The words are : Parcc Que "lea homm

‘

es sent ales C-H-R .

subject and object, or ofthe lover and belovetin another fornr of imagery. Now ,

the waydivision is the way of errors, but that of trtis the way of un ion , or this at least is hotunderstand Saint-M artin in the te stimon

which he bears to rea lity. I n a sense h is 6

work is de omnibus reous , but here is the U

of a ll. H aving regard to,

its suggestpresentation

,to its origina lity of thought a

style,and— not least of a ll— to its studi

reservations and a llusions to a hidden sourceknowledge

,I can understand its extraordins

effect upon prepared m inds of France in 1

year 1 7 7 5 .

A DOCTRINE OF CORRES‘

PONDENOES

W E have seen that Sa int-Martin completedliterary experiment in the early part of land in the autumn of that year he pa id a 8

visit to Ita ly,in the company of a bro

of W illermoz . They returned apparen tlyLyons

,where Sa in t-M artin must have 1

occupied for some time m see ing his v

through the press . I t -appeared in 1 7 7 5 w

the pseudonym of the Unknown Phi]

pher,

”and bearing the imprin t of E dinbu

which,however

,must be understood as Ly

W e do not k now when he left tha t city, buwas m Paris at the end of July

,at Lyons a

in the autumn,at Tours on a flying vis it,

then at Bordeaux in 1 7 7 6 . He had retw

to Paris in M arch 1 7 7 7 . Pasqually had

at l le rt-nu-lh'imzo on September 20, 1

having nom inated Cuignet do Lestere as

successor,he a lso be ing residen t in the V

Indies . The Temples of‘

the Elect Priestlwere left to their own devices

,and the m ig

pageant of the Strict Observance drew sev

under that obedience . W illermoz becamestated previously— Grand Prior of Anverand having profited nothing in attempto follow Pasqually

’s instructions concerz

DOCTRINE OF CORRESPONDENCES 49

and more immersed in M asonry,especia lly its

High Grades . W hatever sympa thy may haveexisted origina lly between him and Sa intMartin —when they were merely correspondents—the ir paths were now dividing, and the hornmystic was dispos ing of the occult yoke placedupon him by his early M aster . There is

evidence of stra ined relations when Sa intMartin wrote from Paris on July 30

,1 7 7 5 ,

to'

dissuade W illermoz from suppos ing that hewas seeking the latter’s convers ion to his

own views or was presuming to pronoun cejudgment upon h im . At the same t imecerta in matters

,the n ature of which does not

emerge in the letter,made it necessary for the

peace of both that he should ano longer be a

guest of his friend,though for the sake of the

Order and its membe rs he must return to

Lyons and rema in there a g1ven time . Itshould not appear, in other words, that therewas estrangement between himself and Willermoz . W hen ,

therefore,he took a lodging

in isolation, it would be expla ined that he was

followi ng up chemical experiments . W hetherthe device served its purpose we do not know,

but afterit reached a term the two correspondents do not seem to have met one another forten years . They continued to write occas iona lly

,and they rema ined friends .

It has been suggested that Des Erreurs filledthe purse of Sa int-M art in

,but the evidence of

his improved position cannot be accounted for

thenceforward he was not w ithout modestmeans . It has been suggested a lso that theauthorship of the book was kept a profou ndsecret . This is

'

unlikely in the nature of things,

forit was obviously we ll known at Lyons priorto publica tion . It has been sa id by one of hisbiographers that he became known w idelyand was in request everywhere .

” H is own

memor1a l notes bear w itness to the distinguishedcircle . of his acqua intance , and so a lso do hisletters . It is unnecessary to labour the point,and as

,for the rest, h is life in socia l a nd in

tellectual c ircles during the seven yearsbe tween 1 7 7 5 and 1 7 82 has left l ittle traeo

b ehind it, pass on to the latter date, to which

h is second book belongs .

.I n one

‘

of those unconcerted intimationswhich seem to epen for a moment his wholeheart of purpose

,Sa int-Martin says that his

work has its fount’

and course in the Divine.

‘

He is a lluding to work of life rather than books,but it is true of a ll that he wrote, and the

Tableau Na tural des‘

Rappo'

rts qai existent

entre Dz'

eu, l

’Homme ~et l

’Umfwrs was assuredly

undertaken for the'

justification by means ofthe ir unfoldment of the ways of God to man .

It was written at Paris,as he tells us

, partlyin the Luxembourg at the house of theMarquise

tions,and it has a ll the atmosphere of a trun

cated document issued from a Temple of theM ysteries

,or at least a

“

Secret College . The

Natura l Scheme of“

Correspomicnces , on the

surface,Withholds nothing

,

5yet it adopts

another a ir of mystery. The entirely anonymous publishers state in a prefatory note ( 1)that they rece ived the M S . from an unknownperson ; (2) that it had numerous ma

‘rginaladditions in a different hand , (3) that theyseemed diil

‘

ercnt from the rest of the work ; and(4) that in printing they had been placed inquotation commas

,to

,distinguish them from

the rest of the text . When taxed on thc sub

icot by Baron de ‘Liebistorf,Sa int-M artin

admitted ( 1) that the passages referred to

were his ; (2) that the publisher regarded themas out of keeping with the rest of the work ;(3) that he gave the explanation which he did toprepare readers ; and (4) that he was allowedto have his

’

way.It happens that the para

graphs m quotations are the most enigmatica lparts of the work, and suggest derivation fromPasqually

’s occult instructions ; it happens

1

therefore, what he says does not quite covermay take it as the best that

could do without discovering his source . In

any case , the paragraphs were wr1ttenm ~i e .

expressedw by himself, and, for the rest, theirconsequence is not in proportion to theirobscurity.

The j'ableaa compares the universe to a

great temple the stars are its lights,the

earth is its altar,all corporea l be ings are its

holocausts,and man , who is . priest of the

Eternal,offers the sacrifi ces.

” It follows fromthe logic of the symbolism that he himself ischief holocaust

,and this must be the sense

in which it is sa id also that the universe isl ike a great fire lighted since the beginning

of things for the purification of all corruptedbe ings . Finally

,it is “a great a llegory or

fable which must give place to a grandmora lity .

” When it is affirmed elsewhere thatthe externa l world is illusory

,the reference

presumably 19 to its surface sense,apart from

the mward mcamng. God 13 the mean ing andGod the grand mora lity creation is notmerelyHis v1s 1ble sign ,

but a channel through whichHis thoughts are communi cated to intell igentbe ings . Here is the only mode of commumca

tion for fa llen man,namely, through signs and

emblems . But these and the whole sign ifyinguniverse are earnests of God’s love for corruptedcreatures a nd evidence that He is at work un

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SAINT MARTIN

man originated in the w ill of man,and

it must be stamped out . His

defin ed as the abuse of the knowlepossessed concern ing the un ion of the pof the un 1verse w ith the un iverse .

penalty was the priva tion of this knoThe defin ition is dogmatic

,aud it is 1

tha t Sa int-M artin can throw no lightreal nature of the a lleged knowledgewise he must have undone the cr1me

own person . He is least convmcmgdiscussing the legendary Fa ll

,and mos

conveying his own . thoughts apart froforma l system . W hen he tells i 1s tha i1s m God

,that it is written in a ll abi

that its messages are meant for our ri

that the light w ithin leads to the light w ithat the principle of be ing and of l ife 13

us,that it cannot perish

,tha t the regcn

l

of our virtucs’is poss ible ; and tha t

a scend to a demonstra tion of the Acti ‘

Invisible Principle,from which the u .

dcr1vcs its existence and its laws we 11 ]

ia -t-he presence of the mystic who is spon the warrants of his proper insight . .

Sa int-Martin rema ined less or more at Paris,

W illermoz is at t imes scarcely inte lligible inthe absence of the latter

’

s comm un ications .

W illermoz evidently was pa ss ing through a

strenuous period,connected perhaps w ith

embroilments consequent on the M ason icConvention of W ilhelm sbad

,held in 1 7 82,

‘

and

the fate of the Strict Observance . There isone a llus ion which sugg ests vague ly the historical transformation of tha t Rite a t Lyonsprior to 1 7 7 8

,and the creation thereby of the

Kn ights Beneficent of the Holy City . But

there is no certa inty on the subject,and for

the rest we learn only of Sa int-M artin’

s briefinterest in the discovery of M esmer

,his con

nection w ith a soc iety instituted by that greatcomet of a season

,and his presence a t certa in

cures opera ted magnetica lly by Puyse'

gur .A s ingle remark informs us tha t he would takeno part in the Convention of Paris

,summoned '

by the R ite of the Ph ila lethes . lY e reach in thismanner the month of April

,1 7 85, when Sa in t

M artin had rece ived such news from lV illermoz

tha t in his reply of the 29th ( 1) he expresses5 5

so SAINT-MARTIN

his rapture on learn ing that the sun has risen

on Israe l ; (2) he a ffirms that the man so

chosen is for him henceforward a man of God,whom he will venerate as the anomted one

of the Saviour (3 ) he entreats him to pardonwhatever wrongs he may be thought to havecomm itted aga inst him 011 his own part ;(4 ) he ascribes a ll differences which havearisen between them to his own 1g11oran

'

ce ;(5 ) he condemns himself for his temerity inhaving published anything ; (6) he asksVl

’

illcrmoz to intercede for h im w ith somethingwhich appears to be ca lled La chose, whoseplace he has take n u nasked ; (7 ) he prays tobe en lightened on the faults of his own heart

,

the errors of his m ind and of his works ;(8) he places himse lf under his orders and

terms h im his master,holy friend

,father in

God and Christ Jesus .

It looks evident m a word that Sa int-M artinstood ready to set as ide a ll his previous viewsand inferentially those which had a lwaysdisposed him towards the inward way of thomystics rather than tha t of his first M aster .W ha t, therefore , had occurred 1 I have foresta lled the event unavoidably i n my th irdchapter . According to Dr. Papus, the archivesin his possess ion show that a fter prolongedfa ilure \\1llern1oz reached the end of ‘

his

labours,tha t he obta ined phenomena '

o i the”

highest importance,

”which culminated in

1 7 85,or th irteen years after the dea th of his

initiator,M artines de Pasqually.

” More ex

haps, La chose-mate ria lised at Lyons and

gave instructions which— as we have seen

were reduced to writing .

‘

Occurrences of this kind bemg mnumerable

at the present day, I suppose that we are

not in a pos ition to sympa thise w ith the

raptures of . Sa in t-M artin ,his tears or his

changmgfront . H is next letter,datedMay 13,

indicates that he had been reassured and con

soled by W illermoz,for which he pra 1ses God .

He wa its now on a summons to Lyons,that he

may see and hear for h imself. Meanwhile he andhis correspondent 11 111 rema in u nited throughtime and etern ity. On J 1u1e 30 he has madepreparations for the j ourney and is looking togreet W illermoz soon after the letter under tha tdate . Of what followed . we know little and

next to nothing,except that fifteen months

later Sa i nt-M artin is at Paris,bewa ilin g his

imprudence in having spoken -too freely tocerta in brethren and thus prejudiced the“enj oyments ” of his friend .

‘ I n January,1 7 87 , he is i nLondon ,

where he rema i ned forsome s ix months

,making the acqua i ntance of

Law and the astronomer Hersche l,the Comte do D ivonne, Dutons and the

Russ ian Prince Galitzi'

n, with whom he was

domiciled . It was in London . a lso,as he tells

3 M a rtines do Pasqua lly , p . 1 13.

See hi s letter to W 1 llermoz of October

58 SAINT-MARTIN

us,that he wrote his third book,

L’Homme dc.Dés ir, though it was not published till 1 7 90

,

and then at Lyons . It is importa nt not onlyin itself

,as one of S aint-M artin’

s most inspiredwritings, but as show ing beyond debate that ,whatever exper1ences had awa ited hi m a t

Lyons,they cooled the ardour kindled by the ir

first indications,and he had returned to his

own path w ith an increased sense of dedication .

I can say only that the hunger and thirst afterGod are in a ll its pages . This 13 not

,however

,

to suggest that he is denuded of a ll i nterestsi n the Lyons phenomena : his on ly letterwritten to W illerm

‘

oz while in England o ffers acontrary indication but the i nterest appearsdetached

. I n July, 1 7 87 , Sa int-Martin passed throughParis on his way

'

to Amboise , where his fatherhad been stricken w ith para lys is . I n September he was aga in at Lyons

,but it was in the

absence of Thereafter he pa id a

second visit to Ita ly,vis iting Siena and Rome .

I n the early part of 1 7 88 Papus reports that theapparitions of the Agen t had ceased, accordingto a letter of W illermoz .

l I n April of thatyear Sa in t-M artin is a t Paris and about tovis it his fa ther

,

"

who is still a live,a t the native

place of both . I n June he proceeded to

Strasbourg,where he resided for

.

three years,

the happiest of a ll his l ife . As I sa id long agoIt was here

,under the auspices of Rodolphe

Salzmann,also mystica lly disposed

,and of

1 Sa int-M artin, p. 31 .

THE MAN OF DESIRE

cherished woman friend,that he made his

first acqua intance w ith the writings of JacobBohme ; here he became int imate w ith the

Cheva lier de Silferhielm,a nephew of Sweden

borg ; and a ll his horizon w idened under theinfluence of the Teutonic theosopher. On

December 1 6,1 7 89

,he asked W illermoz whether

he could participate in the in itiation a t

tached to the Re’

gime Rectifié w ithout be longingto its Symbolica l

'

Lodge . I do not think thatPupus k new what this meant

,and therefore

w isely offered no word of comment . But the

Régime Ecossms A na en et Reclzfié was the

Strict Observance as transformed at Lyonsand ratified a t W ilhelmsbad ; more especia llyit was the Craft Degrees of this R ite and the irsupplement the Grade of St . Andrew . Beyondit were the novitia te and chiva lry of the HolyCity, and these aga in beyond were two fina lGrades

,which I do not propose to specify by

n ame,as they were and are in the hiddenness .

It is to these that Sa int-M art in refers underthe vague

.t itle of in itiations .

”He did

not apparently get a stra ight answer,and on

July 4,1 7 90

,he asked 11’iller1n oz to advise

the proper quarter of his resignation from the

Interior Order the novit iate and chiva lry—and from all lists and registers in which his

name may have been inscribed s ince 1 7 85 . He

points out tha t in the spirit he had never beenintegrated there in . His intention apparentlywas to rema in among the Coe

'

ns the

Elect Priesthoodw bnt how nominally we can

imagi ne from the utter deta elnuent ofhis letter, ‘the references to his simple mode of life

, anda bove all his closi ng words

,in whi ch he

from those complicmted paths which had alwaysW earied him . It is an e loquent commentaryon the man ifestations of Lyons

,the dictated

mstruetions of La chose,the astra l trave llings

of D ’Hauterive

,and the cla irvoyances of the

lucids who seem to have ass isted at the

operations . There are no further letters fromSa in t-M artin to 1Villermoz

,and a lready duri ng

this year, in some early month , the Agen t had' rece ived “on demand ”

and had destroyedmore than e ighty folios of his dictatedinstructions

,the same not havmg been pub

lished,

as 11 illermoz states in a letter quoted

It follows that the Unk nown Agent chargedw ith the work of i nitiation had undone tha twork

,and whether or not, as suggested— but

Papus seems doubtful e — the man ifestationscontinued at interva ls till 1 7 90

,it would seem

tha t there is no record of proceedings,and the

whole thing sagged out . The Elect Priesthoodm issed its mark with all his ceremon ial

,all his

occult powers,Pasqually scored a fa ilure

,and

the M aster who emerged from the unseen,

1 W e may compa re tha t wh ich he wrote to Kirohbe rgeron March 6, 1 7 93 I cannot a nswer tha t the formswhich showed themselves to me may not have beena ssumed forms th is is wha t makes these ways so

faulty and suspicious.

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LATER LI FE AND warrmos

1 at Strasbourg and, I think, towards‘

thehis sojourn i n this city of blessed memo1at Sa int~Martin wrote another of his

1in1 of which,

as he tells us,is to de

what we should expect in regenerat1on ,

” 1

scnts three epochs of symbolism : the

orresponds to the history of Israel,

ed as that of universal election, man’s

nature being the Promised Land,3 it is necessary to cast out the wicked> latrons na tions that have ruled there in

,

vhich the a ltars of the Lord must beinstead and the Law procla imed by thepart of our nature . The second epochof the Christ-Life

,which must be

ed and born within us for.the work of

cniption'

. All stages of the Divine Lifeestine are marshalled to illustrate theF

the NewMan from the moment ofHisithin us to that of mystica l death

,and

e descent into ‘the underworld to the lasteat‘est mystery on the M ounta in ofon . To the Second Advent belongs the30011 of symbolism

,being that of the

Letter to Kirchberger, June 8, 17 92.

as

The sojourn at Strasbourg came to an

1 7 9 1 , and for perhaps a year Sa int M arichiefly at Paris

, where he wrote his nexi

aga inst the wonders and prophecies 3time

,

” to indicate the degree of abase :into which man has fa llen and of whipassion for lower marvels

,like those 0

nambulism,appears to be the prime ex

The thesis in this sense is a strange but pmcommentary respecting the transmutainterests on the part of one who for a mwas integrated in a school of M esmer a 1a friend or fellow-worker of Puysegur .Home was p artlyw ritten as a counsel"Duchesse do Bourbon and very likelyhouse . It appeared prior to LeNthough composed subsequently :however, were published in 1 7 92,

Terror notwithstanding . Sa int-Martstill in Paris during that dread ordeal .streets near the house I was in were abattle the house itselfwas a hospita l wW ounded were brought and

,m

threatened every moment with inpillage I n the midst of all this Iat the risk of my life, to take care ofhalf a league from my dwell ing .

"

Letter to Kirehberger. August-9 5,

inferred from a later record that the dwellingwas that of the Duchesse .

of Saint

towards the French Revolution, of certa in

things without importance or consequencewhich occurred to him therein . I am concernedonly with the deeper issues of his l ife and

thoughts. A writer on errors and truths hadobviously something to say on the basis ofgovernments, the autho1 ity of sovereigns and onjurisprudence

,while a searcher of religion and

theosophy, who had pa ssed through the world

crisis at the end of the e ighteenth century at itsvery heart and centre

,could ne ither fa il to have

his part therein nor to leave us reflectionsthereon . W e have Philosofldcal and ReligiousCons idera twns on the FrenchRevolution

,Lighton

Huma n Associa tion and a few other pamphletswhich do not ca ll to be named .

Saint-M artin had a lso some activities ofanother kind 1mposed upon him

,as

,e . .g when

he was ca lled to the Ecole Norma le institutedto tra in teachers for public instruction . Thesethings did not last and left no mark behindthem . I n September, 1 7 92, the hea lth of hisfather called him aga in to Amboise

,where he

remained for a year,or a considerable time after

t he father’s death . W e hear of him then at

Petit Bourg,a c ountry house of the Duchesse

de ‘

(Bourbon,and afterwards at Paris till the

spring of 1 7 94,when “a decree aga inst the

privileged and prescribed classes, amongst

LATER LIFE AND WRITINGS 65’

return to Amboise till it was cancelled in his

capital'for a period . His time appea rs to have

been divided between Paris and his nativetown till the end of 1 7 99, and I mention thisyear because on December 24 Sa in t M art inlost so much by the death of the BaronKireha

berger de Liebistorf, a kindred spirit w ithwhom he had ma inta ined for five years what Idescribed long ago as the most memorable

,

the most beautiful, the most fascinating of alltheosophica l correspondences .

” 1 It becameava ilable in English so far back as 1863, but theedition has been out of print for decades ,and Iquestion whether there could be a better giftthan an annota ted translation at the presentday by one who knows Sa int-M artin ,

h is workand his period . It conta ins the true marrow,

spirit and quin tessence of the French'mystic,

and has been referred to often m my . notes .

His devotion to Jacob Bohme was the chiefmenta l characteristic of his late r life ; it isever present in his correspondence ,

abovedescribed

,but I have never been able to see

that it changed his own views : it may be trueto say that it deepened them,

but he was on

sure mystic ground already before the Ten

tonie theosopher gave him his own light .

66

I do not think that it would have helped himto a lter for the better one l ine of L

’Homme dc

Désir,though he has left it on record that in

the light of Jacob Bohme he should havewritten Le Nouvel Homme differen tly

,or per

haps not a t all. I n the year 1 800L’E’

sprit des

Chases appeared at Paris in two volumes,w ith

a Lat in epigraph on the title in which it wasaffirmed that man is the m irror of the total ityof things .

”Concern ing this suggestive work

Sa int-M artin has offered three points of i11formation ( 1 ) That it was projected origina llyunder the title of Na tura l Revela tions , collectedfrom origina l notes, w ith additions thereun to

(2 ) tha t it embra ces the whole circle of thingsphysica l and scientifi c

,spiritua l and D ivine ;

(3 ) that it is a kind of introduction'

to the

works of Jacob Bohme . The last in its fina lreduction must be ca lled indica tive of intention

,

and Sa int-M artin,I do not doubt

, was conscioustha t his own intimations were in . bonds ofsp1r1tual espousa ls w ith his great

’

German

peer,but in the ir contributions to the higher

literatm'

e of the soul there are no two mysticsso utterly un like each other m a ll the ir formsand modes . It is a question ; therefore , of

penetra ting be low the surface , when that whichwe reach is the heart of un ion common to a ll

who have followed the grea t quest of experiencein God . It is certain that Sa int-M artin gr ewda ily in the consciousness of such un ion w ithBohme

,and

,when he continued 111 his own

manner to deliver his own message it seemed

somnambulism and we are involved there in,

whence— I suppose— it may be,

inferred tha tshe wa its on our awaking and passes out ofsleep m us . These things and many othersare notions which were with Sa int-M artinfrom the beginn ing . Occasiona lly there are

higher and deeper things than tho se whichwe have heard previously

,but they are not of

Bohme nor of any other than the Frenchmystic himself— as

,e .g. ,

that the soul becomesthe Name of the Lo rd

,and the Name is

declared ‘

w ithin it .There are practica lly no materia ls for the

externa l life of Sa int-M artin after the y ea r1 7 99 the Portra itHistorique te lls us practica llynothing

,and we know of him only by his books . .

In the closing years of his life he was workingzea lously a t translations of Bfihme

,Aurora

,

The Three Princ iples , Forty Questions and

Threefold Life of M a n,but he had made a

beginn ing much earlier . W e ars not concernedw ith these versions

,. but Le M inistére de

l’Homme-Esprit,

‘ published in 1 802,his las t

origin al W ork,is in some respects the most

important of a ll,and from his own poin t of

view was written mere clearly than the rest,

though he felt its remoteness from common1 I t appeared a t Pa ris as the work of te Philosophe

I nconnu .

hurh an notions and human interests . I t has

been held to illustrate his in tention of marryinghis first school ” to the Teuton ic theosopher

,

but aga in the kind of marriage is that of theun ity a t the root of a ll the grea t mystics-andthe ir great subjects . For the rest, the book isbu ilt on the bas is of his own anterior writings,the substance of which he presents in the

open ing pages,as he gives a lso a summary of

Bohme and indica tes unawares certa in sa lien tpo ints of doctrina l correspondence betweenthe la tter and M a rtines de Pasqua lly exhibitedin La Réintégra tion des Elms . Apart from a ll

systems and a ll authorities , the M i nistry is a

book of innumerable detached l ights,some of

which belong to the order of first magn itude .

It is poss ible to name on ly its intimations ofimmorta lity,

”. of dea th and the ga te of life

,

of the path which 1s opened in regeneration,

of spi ritua l life and its commun ica tion,of the

Sa bbath a tta ined by Na ture , the Sabba th ofthe soul, and the Sa bbath of the Word . Thereis a lso the doctrine of the Eterna l W ord , as itpassed through the a lembic of the Frenchmystic’s m ind

,its rela tion to the un iverse and

man,how it is the mea sure of a ll things and is

the very W ord of Life , in opposition to thatwh ich Sa int-M artin ca lls the W ord of Dea th .

'

The M in istry has been te rmed his'

sWan’s

song,but . it is ra ther his last contemplation

,in

which ”

he opened many wells of thought andlooked across many paths of vis ion . On

J anuary 1 8, 1803, he recorded in h is notes that

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I 'rwillbe seen that I have depended throughouton printed documents

,no others be ing ava il

able to research in England,but that the

sources of many which have been quoted are

in the archives of the M artin ist order . Theywould appear to form

,however

,comparatively

a sma ll part of those which have been cert ifiedas extan t at different periods . W e are told 1

1 ) tha t thearehives of the Elect Priesthood weredeposited in 1 7 81 w ith Sava lette de Langes,who was the R esident of the Phila lethes ;

(2 ) that a fter his death they were sold indiscrim inately, together w ith those of the

t la lethes and the Rite Ecossa is PhilosOphzque,and were purchased for next to nothing bythree M ason ic Brethren

,who returned them

to the proper quarters , two of them reta in ingthose of the Elect Priesthood

,as they had

been members of the Bite ; (3 ) tha t thisrestitution took place in 1800 ; (4) that thetwo custodians delivered them in 1809 toanother member

,named Destigny, on his

1 Se e Nouvelle Notice H istoriquc, prefix ed to the Frenchtransla tion of von Baader

’s S ecret Teachings 0]

pp. clx ix-c lxx ii .

a lready in possession of the surviving W'

e

Indian archives ; (6) that m 1812 h is collectic

which had been taken in to Ita ly pr ior to t iRevolution : ( 7 1 tha t the whole rema ined 1his keeping til l 1868

,when he transferre

them to M . V illa‘

rial,a yea r before his dea tl

in whose possess 1on they cont inued a t lea:

till the end of 1 899 . They comprised th

records of eleven Orients— o therw ise Lodgesof the Order

,those of Le ogane in the 1Ve1

Indies havmg been lost in a fire,and those

Lyons having come into the hands of Papw

otherwise of the M artin is t Order.As regards the archives ofLyons we are to"by Papus whence and how they or the ir tramcripte were derived by him . His a ccoun t habeen summarised in my second chapte r.have specified also the documents in th

hands of M . M atter’s descendants, he be inh imself a descendant “of Rodolphe 'de Sa l?

mann,whom I have mentioned previously a

one of the Strasbourg circle . They are sa i

to include the correspondence of Sa intrMarti

with Sa lzmann himself, w ith Mme de Bmcklixthe Comte do D ivonne and others

,as a lso the

of Salzmann . But there are Owners of othccollections— D’

Efiinger, Tournyer, M un ier‘

who are not even names to us . Of each an

I

a ll it has to be sa id that nothing has beenheard of them for over twenty years and thatthe Grea t 11’ar has in tervened . W e have beenprom ised for the same period a H istoire

Canera le de l’

Ordre des 121118 Coons and a studyof W illermoz based 011 the archives of Lyons

,

but they have not appea red a nd we are not

like ly to see them . I n view of the wea lth ofma teria l it may well be that the defin itivelife of Sa into Martin and of his earlier if not

la te r concerns still rema ins to be done . Ihave presented a mere outline

,and in some

sense a supplement to my former extendedw .orkIt rema ins to speak briefly of .L

’O‘

rdre

M a rtinists . W e learn frOm Cam ille Flammarion tha t be tween 1860 and 187 0 he w es

a cqua in ted w ith a littéra teur named HenriDelaage , who is mentioned a lso by EliphasLevi ; that

‘

he heard much from Delaage

concern ing M . de Chaptal, his grandfa ther, who:,knew Sa in t-M artin

,apparently fa irly well . '

These are the bare facts,to which it may be

added that a t the beginn ing of his occult l ifePapus seem ingly got to know Dela 1ge and

rece ived from h im,some months before the

latter’s dea th,what is termed a pa uvre dépcit,

‘

constitué pa r dear lettres cl quelques points-w i n

fact,the modern M artin ist c ipher I

written in his time two or three occult books

They do‘

not suggest his connectionsociety for the exposition of Sa int

fa ils to expla in why the cipher was com

munica ted or what -it sign ified to the previouscustodian . It led him

,however, to bel ieve

and procla im in te rms of certitude that Sa intM artin had h i mself in itiated M . de Chaptal

and to establish or re constitute L On ireMarh’

n

isle in 1884 . Between 1887 and 1890 he pro~

duced R itua ls for the Order,arranged in three

Degrees,which I have pra ised on several

occas ions for the ir s incerity,simplicity And

reserve in respec t of cla ims . They were

termed ( 1 ) Associate , (2 ) In itiated M artin ist,and (3) In itiator, the last — as implied by itstitle— c onveying a licence for the propagationof the Order by a ll who had atta ined this itshighest rank . Every person who held the

Th ird Degree could thus constitute a new

centre . The mode adopted was usua lly thatwhich is known techn ica lly as commun iest ion

,

”.that is to say, persona lly and not in

Lodge or Temple . To my certa in knowledge

SAINT-MARTIN

reception was arranged even by post. I t is

obvious that after this manner a vast membership could be secured in a very short space,assuming any reasonable zeal among the

workers and something colourable or attractiveon which they could act . Moreover, therewere no fees of any kind . T here 18 no questionthat L’

Omhe Martimste spread rapidly in

France, and in addition to the delegates constituted automatica lly by the Third Degreethere were Lodges i n various towns. Therewas membership a lso in other countries, England itself not excepted , while the Order wasspecia lly successful in North and South

W e hear a lso of propagation in

Egypt and even Asia .

In 189 1 a Supreme Council was constituted at. Paris and ruled the whole Order. It became acentre a lso for numerous collateral in terests , allcarefully organised , including esoteric g roupsand 11aenlhos of Science and Philosophy, whichheld examinations apparently and granted

t the ir value . Papas Was an indeworker; and before the century was

out it must be acknowledged that he was at

the head of a movement which may be a lmostcalled colossa l

“

in respect of its magn itude .

The reasons are not far to seek : it was a formof in itiation and it made no cla im on M asonry ;it rece ived both sexes ; it . had a distin ctreligious side , apart from dogma ; and —e 11tside

all sectarian ism~ it was in some sense a Chris.tian thing. As such

,it must have appea led . to

Latin Church interests .

occult sciences, which it claimed to teach andalso to reconcile with the regnant science of theday. As such, its apparent justifications, ifnot

Research, the Schools ofNancy and Sa lpe‘

triére,not to speak of the less recogmsed thoughnot less momentous school of An ima lMagnetism. But having offered this appreciatien

'

I have virtually set L’Ordre Martiniste at

the poles asunder . from Sa int-Martin the

mystic . In late and early writings Papat when the disciple of

his own'

path,having left

that of ster, he not only established a

Mason ic Rite ,as others had sa id previous ly

,

but a lso an Order of his own which spread evenintO 'Russia . Now, his se-called evidences areout of court in every case . I have examinedthem long since and as idethere is no need The

Masonic historians wereand titles when they foisted a Rite on Sa intsMartin,

and Papus was reading in a glass ofvis ion when he saw the mystic at the head of anOrder propagated like his own . I

,leave it at

this,though it‘ is diffi cult to understand how

he could have dece ived himself . He has not

escaped criticism of a rougher kind , but to meit seems that he had a constitutional incapacityfor pronouncing validly on

‘ questions of

SAINT-MARTIN

evidence , and that anything passed for proof inrespect of h is own bias .

The fa ct rema ins tha t in 1899 or thereaboutsL

’Ordre M artin iste may be sa id to have reached

its zen ith ,but it had sown

,I think

,a lready the

seeds of its own destruction . It had begun toencroach on the M ason ic ' fie ld

,and wa s

approa ching perilously the pos ition of an

un authorised aspect of the Craft ..Pra ctically

the entire branch of the Order in NorthAmerica

,extending to thousands , broke away

from the Supreme Council at Paris and re

incorporate d independently on this accoun ta lone . A. few on ly continued under the oldobedience

,among others the nove list M argaret

B .

b

Peeke,who was rewarded by Papus w ith the

Grade of Rose Croix ,

“There are no sta tisticsbefore me

,but

'

it seems certa in that in Francewhere F memasonry,

such a s it is,must be

ca lled exceedingly strong — the course takencould have been scarcely less than disastrous

yet it was not amended in consequence . The

years went on,and I think tha t an

offi cia l M art inist publication,came to an end

before the W ar. But the Great W ar came,

which broke up everyt hing belonging to occultin terests of the organ ised kind . The GrandM aste r Papus died in the course of it, in the

heroism of a phys ic ian’s service . The peace ofV ersa illes was at last signed

,and at no long

Th is is ce rt ified by The Sta r in the East. a maga zine

of the period whi ch'

repre se nte d in America the inte re sts

o f the French Ma rt in ists .

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inherent in teres t of the su bjects he has chose n .-London 11m .

“A notable series of etud iee."

The Boot-ma n.

Swnnd and revised editiun

Alchemy : Ancien t and Modern . Be ing a.

brief a ccount ' of'

t lto'

a lchem is tic doctrines and

their rela tions, to mystic ism .

on the one hand ,a nd

to recent discov'

erivs in physica l science on the

other band ; toge ther w ith some pa rt iculars re

gard ing the lives a nd teachings of the mos t noted

a lchem ists . By l l . STANLEY Rxneaova,

(Le nd ), F.C .S. 1 6 pla tes , demy cloth .

7 s . 6d . net.

ll r. Redgrave grin s s ca refu l end unbiased accoun t of a lchemy,and traces i ts progress un t i l i t ~ is D‘l l O l

‘bt‘d by sc ient ific chemistry.

He also gives , from is ) man‘

s m in t of n o t, pe rhaps the mod

lne id account that hen ye r bee n rendered ot the modern theories“msm r and“barf — The

O ccultists and Mystics of all Ages .

By RALPH Samm y , A u thor of “A Short Life

of Abraham Linco ln ,”

etc . Crown 8 1 10, cloth,

illustra te d . 4s . 6d. net .

Con te n ts . Apollonine of Tyana Plotinus M ichae lBoot Pa rseeh ua Emanuel S wedenborg n lioetroAnna K ingsford and Edward Ma itland.

Th is book may not inac cu rate ly be described st romance—m lth e wo rd in its m dest underst anding . i t des ls w i th the deoda sasayi ngs of w onderin l pe o ple ,

w ho each in tu rn he lped to n nuh i andto remake the sta te of the world . Th is book can he cord ia l ly commended eo s ll love rs of these engross lng subJeots.

“-1'Ae Lodia ’I t“.

W ILLIAM RIDER SON . LIM ITED,

8 Pa ternoster Row , London, E C4