On Jesuits, Freemasons, and German Rosicrucians

8
A 2

...and considers itself better, without actually being so.
The case may arise where the wicked band together to secretly overpower the good, satisfying their passions at the expense of the weaker—who, at this thought, would not become watchful of every secret institution? The author uses "geheime Einrichtung" to refer to any clandestine organization or established secret order, reflecting an 18th-century concern with how hidden groups might influence public life.

It can happen that men who have the well-being of the world at heart, and who sigh because so many public institutions have degenerated through the intrigues of villains, unite in silence to oppose despotism, stupidity, unbelief original: "Unglauben". In this context, it refers to a lack of moral or religious principles that the author sees as vital to society.—in a word, corruption!—to make wisdom, love, virtue, and freedom triumph once again, or the like. But it can also come to pass that cunning villains secretly unite to play the upper hand into their own grasp for the oppression of their brothers—how am I to know whether a society which [maintains] secret...

Ein