Page 167 - Global Freemasonry

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)

Hell-Fire Club." In that gossipy age there was much speculation about
the infernal activities of the society, and in 1765, Charles Johnstone pub-
lished a roman a clef entitled Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea, which
was popularly believed to reveal the secrets of the "Medmenham
Monks." ...
…the Monks' most important precursor is the Hell-Fire Club founded
around 1719 in London by Philip, Duke of Wharton (1698-1731). Whar-
ton was a prominent Whig politician, Freemason, and atheist who
sought to ridicule religion by publicly presiding over festive gather-
ings with "satanic" trappings… and Wharton went on to become
Grand Master Mason of the London Grand Lodge in 1722…
By 1739, Dashwood was on the homeward leg of his journey. On his
way, he stopped in Florence to see the Abbe Nicolini, and it was there
that he met Lady Mary Wortley Montagu… [who] would eventually
join... Dashwood in the Divan Club. ...Unfortunately things were not
going well for Freemasonry in Italy. Pope Clement XII had recently is-
sued the bull In Eminenti Apostalatus Specula, unleashing the Inquisition
against the lodges. By early 1740, the pontiff was dead, and Dashwood
went to Rome for the conclave that would elect the new pope. There he
playfully assumed the identity of Cardinal Ottiboni, one of the chief per-
secutors of the Masons, and lampooned him publicly in a scurrilous
mock ritual….
The "chapter-room" is the key to understanding the Monks' activities. Its
furnishings remain unknown, and consequently the use to which it was
put remains a mystery. Sensationalist authors assume it was a satanic
sanctuary, although it seems more reasonable to conclude that it was
used for Masonic ceremonies. John Wilkes, an important member of
the Medmenham circle who did not become a Freemason until after his
parting of the ways with the group, whines in an article defaming his
former friend: "No profane eye has dared to penetrate into the English
Eleusinian mysteries of the chapter-room, where the monks assembled
on all solemn occasions, the more secret rites were performed and liba-
tions poured forth in much pomp to the BONA DEA." … Sir Robert Wal-

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