Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

6 SECRET SOCIETIESof Wilhelmsbad was the retention of the three symbolicaldegrees, with the addition of a new degree, that of the` 1 Knights of Beneficence," which was based on the principlesenunciated in St. Martin's book, Des Erreurs et de la Verite,and the Tableau Naturel . The foundation of the new Orderwas attributed to the influence of the Jesuits, because thethree initial letters of Chevaliers Bienfaisants, C.H.B ., areequal to 3, 8, 2 = 13, signifying the letter N, meaning Nostri .Another result was a league between Masonry and theIlluminati-and it is still a matter of speculation whetherthese latter were not behind the Jesuits-brought about bythe exertions of Spartacus or Weishaupt, who had long agodiscerned the influence he could obtain by the co-operationof the Masons, whom he, of course, employed as his unconscioustools . But Jesuitical influence, at that time, wastoo • powerful to be overcome ; they sided with, and thusstrengthened the influence of, the duke ; hence the oppositionof Germany to the principles of the French Revolution,which broke out soon after-an opposition which was likedischarging a rocket against a thunderbolt, but which wascarried to its height by the manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick,so loudly praised by courtly historians, and of whichthe German princes made such good use as to induce theGerman confederacy to surround France with a . fiery line ofdeluded patriotism . Freemasonry had been made the toolof prince- and priest-craft, though occasionally it turnedthe tables on the prince, an instance of which is recordedin the next paragraph.443 . Frederick William III. and the Masons.-The suddenretreat of the King of Prussia of this name, after havinginvaded France in 1 792, has never been satisfactorily explained. Dr. E . E . Eckert, in his "Magazine of Evidencefor the Condemnation of the Masonic Order," writes asfollows, quoting from a private letter from M . V -z, ofParis ; to Baron von S -z, at Vienna, which he qualifies as11 thoroughly reliable" :-"The King of Prussia had crossedour frontiers ; he -was, I believe, at Verdun or Thionville .One evening a confidential attendant gave him the masonicsign, and took him into a subterranean vault, where he lefthim alone . By the light of the lamps illuminating theroom, the king saw his ancestor, Frederick the Great,approaching him. There could be no mistake as to hisvoice, dress, gait, features . The spirit reproached the kingwith his alliance with Austria against France, and commanded: him immediately to withdraw therefrom . You