[ANON.], MASONRY THE WAY TO HELL (1768)

This anonymous pamphlet is the most virulent attack on English Freemasonry that was published in England in the second half of the eighteenth century. The popularity of this ‘celebrated Sermon’ is illustrated by the fact that it was reprinted four times in 1768 and brought forth five different masonic responses within a few months.2 Both the anti-masonic sermon and one of the replies were translated into other European languages. The sheer number of editions – both of the attack and the vindications – shows that they must have been extensively distributed and widely read.