Abhandlung über die allgemeine Zusammenkunft der Freymaurer, bei den Gesundbrunnen in Wilhelmsbad

...down. He who speaks only for himself will stand only once on this side, and instead of then adding up to eighteen on his fingers, a somewhat ready Rechner calculator or accountant will, without embarrassment, sum up a larger total with his pen. If a simpler and fairer manner is found, let it be chosen. (*) This is so simple that it did not deserve to be printed. However, the man who counted the votes on his fingers at the Convent assembly in Wilhelmsbad certainly understood arithmetic very well in other respects. R. v. S.

If Despotismus despotism had crept into a union based on Gleichheit equality; if, through the help of an undertaking prepared in secret, presented with a clever turn of phrase and approved with lightheartedness, the purpose of the union had been abandoned without specifying a new one, would one not then be able to say with Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman: "Why did you not leave us as we were, for then we at least knew what we were." The author provides a Latin citation: "Would that the Republic had stood in the state in which it began, and had not fallen into the hands of men who desired not so much to change things as to overturn them." Cicero, On Duties, Book II, Chapter 1.

If some individual members of the society believed they had found the true purpose...

(*) This margin note refers to the counting of votes mentioned in the main text.

(e) Latin: "Utinam Respublica stetisset, quo coeperat statu, nec in homines non tam commutandarum rerum quam evertendarum cupidos incidisset." Cicero, De Officiis, Book II, Chapter 1.

...to have found it, or if they had announced such a purpose as the most honest and just, and thereby caused the old one to be abolished, Latin: "All the more detestable is the monstrousness of those who have torn their country apart with every crime, and are and have been occupied in its utter destruction." Cicero, De Officiis, Book I, Chapter 17. and yet remained firm in keeping this new purpose secret, could one not then suspect that this purpose might not be upright, and consequently contrary to justice? (*) Perhaps! But perhaps also that this purpose was of a kind that was not suitable for a society of so many ill-chosen people, and that the intention of these "mysterious ones" might be to make that great crowd dissatisfied, in order to continue a more purified union with the more noble and receptive ones. R. v. S. And then one would say to them with Plato the Greek philosopher: "Your science does not have justice as its foundation." Latin: "Knowledge that is separated from justice is to be called cunning rather than wisdom." Cicero, De Officiis, Book I, Chapter 19.

And if their knowledge were truly useful, would this not then be a theft from the property of others, because everything that is useful...