Rosicrucian Circular of October 4, 1782

It is remarkable enough that the Represented by the symbol of the Lodge of the Three Globes, through Zinnendorf and the Represented by the symbol of the Lodge Royal York de l'amitié, has become, against its own will, a fruitful source of many Represented by the symbol of the Lodge in and outside of Germany. The number of the remaining Represented by the symbol of the Lodge in Germany that do not belong to this three-fold order is of no consequence. All these three branches have the three so-called master Mason degrees in common with one another, only that in each system some side-circumstances are arbitrarily altered. Their so-called higher degrees, however, in which they all seek the true Johannine knowledge and genuine secrets, but—without our assistance—can never and in all eternity find, are what make them different.

The Represented by the symbol of the Lodge united under Prince Ferdinand believed they would find the secrets in the lost Represented by the symbol of the Order of the Templar Order, because they knew from old reports that this, like several old orders of knighthood, had formerly been founded by our secret ancestors and was in possession of the true knowledge of our most holy Represented by the symbol of the Order. They therefore made their suitable older brothers into Represented by the symbol of the Cross P.L. likely referring to a Templar grade according to the ritual still in existence. But since they found in the following that their hope to progress further through this way was vain, and because of the agitation started in Germany some years ago with this knightly image, their position in many countries became precarious, so various of these Represented by the symbol of the Lodge threw away this plaything—in some of them the true Represented by the symbol of the Order had already taken root—and are quite well off for it. A crowd of such Represented by the symbol of the Cross still continues this old knightly game, although their worthy leader has already renounced the Templar Order as well.

The so-called Zinnendorfians were kept in their Johannine degrees—which their founder cobbled together from falsified reports and some of our customs, which had been shared with him by a certain Swede, along with his own additions—and have been put off in vain for 16 or 17 years from one time to the next, that they would arrive at his true light. The main branch of the Royal York de l'amitié works entirely according to the well-known multi-degree system invented in France, and decorates its brothers with a multitude of dignities, degrees, ribbons, and jewels, with which I do not wish to fill the paper.

So motley does Freemasonry look in Germany as soon as it steps beyond the first 3 degrees. Thus, the forecourt of the Represented by the symbol of the Order swarms with Masons who have now been working for over 40 years, like the builders of the Tower of Babel, in the greatest confusion according to self-made, incorrect ground plans, with the exception of the few Represented by the symbol of the Lodge who for some time have received the true, genuine floor plan from us. Poor brothers of the forecourt, good dear Brother Freemasons! Who leads you to go beyond your prescribed 3 degrees? What do your time- and money-wasting so-called systems in the Johannine degrees serve? What benefit can you hope to gain from them? Have patience and merely work on your Temple building. Become good humans! Become good Christians! The true Represented by the symbol of the Sun Light will then not pass by your Represented by the symbol of the Lodge. The gracious Princess Aurora of divine truth will become quite alive for you too. For you! You good, dear Brother Freemasons, say to our children: for you the good, true Represented by the symbol of the Sun is reserved; to other sorts and peoples under the soft Represented by the symbol of the Moon gods, [we] prefer to share such, as soon as you possess receptivity and worth. Woe, woe to him who leads you away from the right path! Woe, woe to all false teachers, all messengers of Satan who [make] you temporally—and how anxiously I tremble for an immortal soul—also eternally unhappy.