Barruel, L’Abbe Augustin.

Barruel, L’Abbe Augustin. Born October 2, 1741 as Augustin Barruel at Villeneuve de Berg, France, died October 5, 1820. His claim to a place in Ma­sonic literature lies in his Memoirs to Serve for a History of Jacobinism, published at London in 1797, wherein he said (Vol. II p. 382):

”Your whole school and all your Lodges are derived from the Templars after the extinction of their Order, a certain number of guilty knights, having escaped the pr*scription, united for the preservation of their h*rrid mysteries. To their impious code they added the vow of v*ngeance against the kings and priests who d*stroyed their Order, and against all religion which an*thematized their dogmas. They made adepts, who should transmit from generation to generation the same h*tred of the God of the Christians, and of Kings, and of priests. These mysteries have descended to you, and you continue to perpetuate their impiety, their vows, and their oaths. Such is your origin. The lapse of time and the change of manners have varied a part of your symbols and your fr*ghtful systems; but the essence of them remains, the vows, the oaths, the h*tred, and the c*nspiracies are the same.”

The date of that work placed Barruel among the early writers who advanced the Templar origin of Freemasonry, a story which took several variant forms. Since a great many Masonic orators and writers have subscribed to the same thesis, even with a sense of pride, such accusations of Barruel have really been crowded out of the public mind.