170 - The Protestant Masonic Clergy.

The Protestant Masonic Clergy. Compiled from the author’s own writings and unpublished papers. With minutes. No place or publisher (Greiz, Henning) 1788. 8°. 136 pp. Contemporary paperback. Kloss 2734. VD18 10603794. Not listed in Wolfstieg. - A very rare, church-critical polemic from the Enlightenment. Includes the “Appendices to the Protestant Freemason Clergy, or Evidence on the History of the Society of Pure Doctrine and True Piety. Based on their unpublished original manuscripts.” - The anonymous author likely refers to the “German Society of Active Promoters of Pure Doctrine and True Piety” (German Society of Christianity), founded in Basel in 1780 by Johann August Urlsperger (1728–1806). - “It became a gathering place for Pietist and anti-Enlightenment forces, bringing together numerous interconnected ‘local societies’ throughout the German-speaking world, which were supported primarily by middle-class, interdenominational laypeople. To U.’s regret, as early as 1785 it abandoned its original apologetic-theological objectives and focused exclusively on the second aspect: edification and missionary-charitable work. U. became increasingly estranged from the German Christian Society and, after 1790, pursued the establishment of a theological seminary, for which he presumably even sought to enlist the support of Emperor Francis II/I. Impoverished and in poor health toward the end of his life, he moved with his ailing wife to Oettingen in the Ries region in 1796. He died during a trip to England at the “Freemasons’ Hospital” in Hamburg (W. Raupp in NDB XXVI, 671 ff.). - “And although the bylaws and fundamental principles of U.’s society were drafted with such moderation and wisdom that a publication like the *Fliegende Blätter* for Tolerance and Enlightenment in Dessau, which took the trouble to reprint substantially exhaustive excerpts from the foundational writings, could find no fault with them, this did not prevent the leading critical journals—such as Nicolai and the *Allgem. D. Bibliothek, the Berliner Monatsschrift, the Allgem. (Jena) Litteraturzeitung, or in anonymous pamphlets, such as: “On Jesuitism, Lavaterianism, and Urlspergerianism.” Krakow (Nuremberg) 1787, “The Protestant Freemason Clergy,” 1788—the worst and most absurd accusations and suspicions of secret Jesuit leadership, hierarchical ambitions, universal religious union, fanatical unchristianity, hostility toward cultural progress—not to mention the insults and vulgar abuse, which were also abundant” (E. Jacobs in ADB XXXIX, 355 ff.). - Binding slightly rubbed; front joint in the upper third shows signs of worm damage; some brown spots in places; a good copy.