Will and Ariel Durant
The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
Excerpts referencing Freemasonry.
The terms freethinker and pantheist were apparently coined by [John Toland].
A pamphlet, Pantheisticus, expounded the creed and ritual of an imaginary secret society; perhaps Toland was a member of the "Mother Grand Lodge" of Freemasonry which was established in London in 1717. The society described by Toland rejected all supernatural revelations, proposed a new religion agreeing with philosophy, identified God with the universe, and replaced the saints of the Christian calendar with the heroes of liberty and thought. The society allowed its members to conform to the popular worship so long as, through their political influence, they could render fanaticism harmless.
Copyright © by Will and Ariel Durant Copyright renewed © 1989 Exclusive electronic rights granted to World Library, Inc. by The Ethel B. Durant Trust, William James Durant Easton, and Monica Ariel Mihell.
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