Funeral Oration for the Obsequies of Karl von Hund

not just the unhappy creator to stun the curious; no, he went much further and brought principles to light which, if they were not already the sentiments and foundations of the Order upon which he gave them up, would necessarily make our destruction, of every world, and also perfectly justify the abolition of our O. in old times. And today I would be the first to leave our O., and all our Bbr. Brothers who loved virtue and righteousness would follow me. But without prejudice, that beginner kept, though God be thanked, few, who fortunately banished his poison?. Our beginner, if he had not himself been forced by the true zeal of some Bbr. to shy away from the light and to hide in dark corners (where he and his secrets belong), but even there, if not completely and utterly eradicated, should be observed until his own confession [provides] our full conviction.

Our Bishop did not live to see this outcome of the matter; he was therefore deceived about this and also otherwise saddened, as every righteous person must be at such occurrences. His soul suffered when he saw that, instead of thinking of means to make themselves and the O. useful, to give the O. intensity, one ran after every fanatic who hid deceit and godlessness under the cloak of secrets, and thereby drew even the contempt of the profane upon the O., which, if we follow our rules, if we testify ourselves in the future with works of charity, must deserve the love and respect of the whole world.

See now, my Bbr., what procured the O. in Saxony its inner good name. Was it not the charity by which our Bbr. helped block the way to misery, so that one asks if it had been maintained behind the flax and yarn in those bleaching yards? Who thinks of the school in Altdorf without blessing our Bbr.? Will all the grumpy heads

+ our Bbr.

of a Schützler possibly a detractor or specific surname have procured the O. more honor? Has that institution in Prague not procured field and protection from the great Maria Theresia, and has it not made the grace of the first head of Christianity, His most honorable Imperial Majesty Joseph II, philanthropic toward us? Could anyone else ever, as the direction and preservation of the whole fund, have been able to procure more respect in the world for our rank and Bbr. than to understand his lot?

Let then, my Bbr., [be gone] with all those high-praised secrets which, even if we possessed them, would not make us happy for a moment. Through ourselves we want to become happy; through noble actions should the world learn to know us, since we have the pure intention to promote its and our well-being merely with these auxiliary means.

Beware, my Resign: Bbr., especially of the secret art. It has already led many onto wrong paths. Reason should never [leave] the paths which we can manage to share, with the providence of the Highest. Let us listen to the nature; let some of us make discoveries in chemistry, but beware of wanting to make gold out of us and our society. Suppose that we [had] the secret to make the bitter many table salt, saltpeter; would we want to be the half saltpeter-boilers? The wise man among us will use everything to make himself and his fellow man happy, but for that reason never to darken our main purpose, which is infallible: to save the miserable, to help those suffering advice, to assist the benefactor, and to bring counsel to the oppressed and to be close to the eyes.

Forgive me, my Bbr., that I [include] here an out-