lose
together and exactly resembling one another. No one moved, the doors
closed again, darkness reigning. The priest was no longer visible,
though continuing to speak: "Only the good and obedient are now
assembled here, and to them I announce that life is to us, and death
awaits beyond the door to seize the traitor who would disclose the holy
secrets of the order. Be faithful, my brothers, and never forget that
there is no place on the earth where the traitor is secure from the
avenging sword of the Invisible Fathers. None but the good and obedient
being here assembled, I now announce to you that the time of revelation
approaches, and that it will come when you are all zealously endeavoring
to extend the holy order, and augment the number of brothers. For the
extension of the order is nothing less than universal happiness. It
emanates alone from the Invisible Fathers, who link heaven to earth and
who will open again the lost way to Paradise. The supreme chiefs of our
holy order are the rulers of all Nature, reposing in God the
Father. [Footnote: The wording of the laws of the Order of the
Rosicrucians.--See "New General German Library," vol. M., p. 10. ] They
are the favorites of God, whom the Trinity thinks worthy of his highest
confidence and revelation. If you will take part in the revelations of
God, and witness the disclosing of the hidden treasures of Nature, swear
that you will be obedient to the holy order, and that you will strive to
gain new members.

"We swear it," resounded in an inspired chorus through the room. "We
swear unconditional obedience to the Invisible Fathers. We swear to
strive with all our means for the extension of the holy order.

"Unbelief, free-thinking, and self-knowledge are of the devil, who
steals abroad, to turn men from God. The pride of reason seeks to
misguide men, and lead them away from God and the secrets of Nature. The
devil has chosen his disciples, who teach sinful knowledge and arrogant
free-thinking, and who are united in Berlin in the Order of the
Illuminati. The Invisible Fathers command you to fight this shameful
order in word, deed, and writing. If any of you are acquainted with
one of the members, you shall regard him as your most deadly enemy, and
shall hate and pursue him as you hate sin and as you pursue crime. You
shall flee his intercourse as you would that of the devil, otherwise you
will be damned, and the Invisible Fathers never will forgive you, and
the secr