ceived in a London lodge in 1787; and the author of _Les Franc-Masons
ecrases_, published in 1746, states that he has seen three Jews received
into a lodge at Amsterdam. In the "Melchisedeck Lodges" of the Continent
non-Christians were openly admitted, and here again the Rose-Croix
degree occupies the most important place. The highest degrees of this
rite were the Initiated Brothers of Asia, the Masters of the Wise, and
the Royal Priests, otherwise known as the degree of Melchisedeck or the
true Brothers of the Rose-Croix.

This Order, usually described as the _Asiatic Brethren_, of which the
centre was in Vienna and the leader a certain Baron von Eckhoffen, is
said to have been a continuation of the "Brothers of the Golden and Rosy
Cross," a revival of the seventeenth-century Rosicrucians organized in
1710 by a Saxon priest, Samuel Richter, known as Sincerus Renatus. The
real origins of the Asiatic Brethren are, however, obscure and little
literature on the subject is to be found in this country.[436] Their
further title of "the Knights and Brethren of St. John the Evangelist"
suggests Johannite inspiration and was clearly an imposture, since they
included Jews, Turks, Persians, and Armenians. De Luchet, who as a
contemporary was in a position to acquire first-hand information, thus
describes the organization of the Order, which, it will be seen, was
entirely Judaic. "The superior direction is called the small and
constant Sanhedrim of Europe. The names of those employed by which they
conceal themselves from their inferiors are Hebrew. The signs of the
third principal degree (i.e. the Rose-Croix) are Urim and Thummim....
The Order has the true secrets and the explanations, moral and
physical, of the hierogyphics of the very venerable Order of
Freemasonry."[437] The initiate had to swear absolute submission and
unswerving obedience to the laws of the Order and to follow its laws
implicitly to the end of his life, without asking by whom they were
given or whence they came.

"Who," asks de Luchet, "gave to the Order these so-called secrets? That
is the great and insidious question for the secret societies. But the
Initiate who remains, and must remain eternally in the Order, never
finds this out, he dare not even ask it, he must promise never to ask
it. In this way those who participate in the secrets of the Order remain
the Masters."

Again, as in the _Stricte Observance_, the same system of "Concealed
Superiors"--the