Let it be said once and for all, secret societies have not always been formed for evil purposes. On the contrary, many have arisen from the highest aspirations of the human mind, the desire for a knowledge of eternal verities. The evils arising from such systems has usually consisted in the perversion of principles that were once pure and holy.
If I do not insist further on this point it is because a vast literature has already been devoted to the subject, so that it is only mentioned briefly here. -A & B Book Pub
