The orator cleared his throat, folded his gloved hands across his chest, and began to speak:
“Now I must reveal the main purpose of our order,” he said, “and if this purpose coincides with yours, you will join our brotherhood to good purpose. The first and foremost purpose, and at the same time the foundation of our order, upon which it rests and which no human force can overthrow, is the preservation and transmission to posterity of a certain important secret... handed down to us from the most ancient ages and even from the first human being, a secret upon which, perhaps, the fate of the human race depends. But since this secret is of such a nature that no one can know or make use of it unless prepared by long and diligent self-purification, not everyone can hope to attain it quickly. Therefore, we have a second purpose, which is to prepare our members as far as possible, to reform their hearts, and to cleanse and enlighten their minds by the means revealed to us through the tradition of men who devoted themselves to the search for this secret, thereby making them capable of receiving it......
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
War and Peace. Volume 2. Chapter 3. Part 2.
“Now I must reveal the main purpose of our order,” he said, “and if this purpose coincides with yours, you will join our brotherhood to good purpose. The first and foremost purpose, and at the same time the foundation of our order, upon which it rests and which no human force can overthrow, is the preservation and transmission to posterity of a certain important secret... handed down to us from the most ancient ages and even from the first human being, a secret upon which, perhaps, the fate of the human race depends. But since this secret is of such a nature that no one can know or make use of it unless prepared by long and diligent self-purification, not everyone can hope to attain it quickly. Therefore, we have a second purpose, which is to prepare our members as far as possible, to reform their hearts, and to cleanse and enlighten their minds by the means revealed to us through the tradition of men who devoted themselves to the search for this secret, thereby making them capable of receiving it......
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
War and Peace. Volume 2. Chapter 3. Part 2.