Text Pages \ John Cook Bennett manuscript portion of the ritual of the “Order of the Illuminati”

John Cook Bennett manuscript portion of the ritual of the “Order of the Illuminati”

Transcript

July 7, 1846

Constantine the Great, after his defeat of Magentius, received from heaven an express command to institute the "Order of the Illuminati" for the defence of the Christian religion. This command was brought by an angel who held in his hand a cross of gold.

Receive thou the accolade [<- this word is underlined in original] by which I now create thee an Illuminated, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and the special edict of the Imperial Primate our absolute sovereign. Thus, O Illuminated! do I consecrate on earth, by anointing from the chalice of sacred oil, what had already received the unction of heaven; and, in remembrance of this hour, let it bear witness to a friendship which will be cemented by eternal ties in the celestial kingdom.

[BACK]

Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. ["And God said: Let there be light. And there was light."]

Be faithful, bold and fortunate. In behalf of the true, holy, catholic, and apostolic "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," by an edict of the Imperial Primate, I now extend to thee the right hand of fellowship on the five points.

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NOTES:

Per Ben mcClintock, this comes from a collection at Yale.

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"The first five pages of James J. Strang weighed in the Balance of Truth give Miller’s account of his acceptance and subsequent rejection of Strang’s teachings, followed by a long refutation of Strang’s claim to be Joseph Smith’s successor. It asserts that Strang had secretly begun to organize “the kingdom” with 144 officers including himself as “Imperial Primate, Absolute Sovereign” and John C. Bennett as “Primier, Prime Minister, General-in-chief, and Successor to J.J. Strang.”"

— BYU Library > Digital Collections > Mormon Publications: 19th and 20th Centuries > James J. Strang, weighed in the balance of truth, and found wanting (https://lib.byu.edu/collections/mormon-publications-19th-20th-centuries/j/)