"Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a
concealed mystery. The hankering of the mind is irresistible;" Adam
Weishaupt (code-name Spartacus)
Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati and
Reading Societies.
Collected from Good Authorities by John Robison, A.M. Professor of
Natural Philosophy, and Secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Fourth edition 1798. [out of copyright - reproduce at will]
This is likely to be as interesting to freemasons as to those
non-masons intrigued by what might go on behind the lodge door.
Certainly the twentiy-first century attempt to turn everyone away from
politics and the message of Jesus Christ has been mightily successful.
This tract looks at the Eighteenth century origins of this ambitious
project. The idea was and is to make democratic government, through
masonic infiltration, so unworkable as to be rejected by the people. In
exchange we get a global state apparatus run by giant media
corporations, security and telecommunications companies.
Not least because of the masonic blood-oaths, freemasonry is
absolutely NOT compatible with Christianity. The uninspiring lead given
in today's mason-embracing Church of England and Opus Dei dominated
Catholic church should make us, and them, turn to the opening chapters
of Revelation which spell out how established church institutions are
going astray, with unbelieving clergy doing their worst and leading the
flock over the cliff. Which is where the man-made religion comes in.
The exasperating mess the British church and democracy are in begins
to make sense, and further light is shed on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
II's "powers at work in this country about which we have no knowledge".
Maybe you haven't seen the latest addition to the Bilderberg website
maam? [TG]
"[in] the Mason Lodges there the most ignorant of all the ignorant,
gaping for instruction from our deputies" [Weishaupt]
"No man is fit for our Order who is not a Brutus or a Catiline, and
is not ready to go every length. - Tell me how you like this?"
[Weishaupt]
"If a writer publishes any thing that attracts notice, and is in
itself just, but does not accord with our plan, we must endeavour to win
him over, or decry him." [Weishaupt]
We cannot improve the world without improving women, who have such
a mighty infiuence on the men. But how shall we get hold of them? ...We
must begin with grown girls ... It may immediately be a very pretty
Society, under the management of Ptolemy's wife, but really under his
management. ['Minos']
'He employs the Christian Religion, which he thinks a falsehood,
and which he is afterwards to explode, as the mean for inviting Christians
of every denomination, and gradually cajoling them, by clearing up their
Christian doubts in succession, till he lands them in Deism;'
[Robison]
'such are the characters of those who forget God.' [Robison]
'the world has been darkened by cheats, who have misrepresented God
to mankind, have filled us with vain terrors, and have then quieted our
fears by fines, and sacrifices, and mortifications, and services,'
[Robison]
"All things work together for good to them that love God"
[Romans 8:28 KJV]
"have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but
rather expose them" [Ephesians 6:11]
BEING AT a friend's house in the country during some part of the summer
1795, I there saw a volume of a German periodical work, called
Religions Begebenheiten, i.e. Religious Occurrences; in which there
was an account of the various schisms in the Fraternity of Free Masons,
with frequent allusions to the origin and history of that celebrated
association. This account interested me a good deal, because, in my early
life, I had taken some part in the occupations (shall I call them) of Free
Masonry; and having chiefly frequented the Lodges on the Continent, I had
learned many doctrines, and seen many ceremonials, which have no place in
the simple system of Free Masonry which obtains in this country.
I had also remarked, that the whole was much more the object of
reflection and thought than I could remember it to have been among my
acquaintances at home. There, I had seen a Mason Lodge considered merely
as a pretext for passing an hour or two in a fort of decent conviviality,
not altogether void of some rational occupation. I had sometimes heard of
differences of doctrines or of ceremonies, but in terms which marked them
as mere frivolities. But, on the Continent, I found them matters of
serious concern and debate.
Such too is the contagion of example, that I could not hinder myself
from thinking one opinion better founded, or one Ritual more apposite and
significant, than another; and I even felt something like an anxiety for
its being adopted, and a zeal for making it a general practice. I had been
initiated in a very splendid Lodge at Liege, of which the Prince Bishop,
his Trefonciers, and the chief Noblesse of the State, were members. I
visited the French Lodges at Valenciennes, at Brussels, at
Aix-la-Chapelle, at Berlin, and Koningsberg; and I picked up some printed
discourses delivered by the Brother-orators of the Lodges.
At St. Petersburgh I connected myself with the English Lodge, and
occasionally visited the German and Russian Lodges held there. I found
myself received with particular respect as a Scotch Mason, and as an Eleve
of the Lodge de ln Parfaite Intelligence at Liege. I was importuned
by persons of the first rank to pursue my masonic career through many
degrees unknown in this country.
But all the splendour and elegance that I saw could not conceal a
frivolity in every part. It appeared a baseless fabric, and I could not
think of engaging in an occupation which would consume much time, cost me
a good deal of money, and might perhaps excite in me some of that
fanaticism, or, at least, enthusiasm that I saw in others, and perceived
to be void of any rational support.
I therefore remained in the English Lodge, contented with the rank of
Scotch Master, which was in a manner forced on me in a private Lodge of
French Masons, but is not given in the Engtish Lodge. My masonic rank
admitted me to a very elegant entertainment in the female Loge de la
Fidelite, where every ceremonial was composed in the highest degree of
elegance, and every thing conducted with the most delicate respect for our
fair sisters, and the old song of brotherly love was chanted in the most
refined strain of sentiment. I do not suppose that the Parisian Free
Masonry of forty-five degrees could give me more entertainment.
I had profited so much by it, that I had the honour of being appointed
the Brother-orator. In this office I gave such satisfaction, that a worthy
Brother sent me at midnight a box, which he committed to my care, as a
person far advanced in masonic science, zealously attached to the order,
and therefore a fit depositary of important writings. I learned next day
that this gentleman had found it convenient to leave the empire in a
hurry, but taking with him the funds of an establishment of which her
Imperial Majesty had made him the manager. I was desired to keep these
writings till he should see me again. I obeyed.
About ten years afterward I saw the gentleman on the street in
Edinburgh, conversing with a foreigner. As I passed by him, I saluted him
softly in the Russian language, but without stopping, or even looking him
in the face. He coloured, but made no return: I endeavoured in vain to
meet with him, intending to make a proper return for much civility and
kindness which I had received from him in his own country.
I now considered the box as accessible to myself, and opened it. I
found it to contain all the degrees of the Parfait Macon Ecossois,
with the Rituals, Catechisms, and Instructions, and also four other
degrees of Free Masonry, as cultivated in the Parisian Lodges. I have kept
them with all care, and mean to give them to some respectable Lodge. But
as I am bound by no engagement of any kind, I hold myself as at liberty to
make such use of them as may be serviceable to the public, without
enabling any uninitiated person to enter the Lodges of these degrees.
This acquisition might have roused my former relish for Masonry, had it
been merely dormant; but, after so long separation from the Loge de Ia
Fidelite, the masonic spirit had evaporated.
Some curiosity, however, remained, and some wish to trace this plastic
mystery to the pit from which the clay had been dug; which has been
moulded into so many different shapes, "some to honor, and some to
dishonor." But my opportunities were now gone. I had given away (when in
Russia) my volumes of discourses, and some far-fetched and gratuitous
histories, and nothing remained but the pitiful work of Anderson, and the
Maconnerie Adonhiramique devoilee, which are in every one's hands.
My curiosity was strongly roused by the accounts given in the
Religions Begebenheiten. There I saw quotations without number;
systems and schisms of which I had never heard; but what particularly
struck me, was a zeal and fanaticism about what I thought trifles, which
astonished me. Men of rank and fortune, and engaged in serious and
honorable public employments, not only frequenting the Lodges of the
cities where they resided, but journeying from one end of Germany or
France to the other, to visit new Lodges, or to learn new secrets or new
doctrines. I saw conventions held at Wismar, at Wisbad, at Kohlo; at
Brunswick, and at Willemsbad, consisting of some hundreds of persons of
respectable stations. I saw adventurers coming to a city, professing some
new secret, and in a few days forming new Lodges, and instructing in a
troublesome and expensive manner hundreds of brethren.
German Masonry appeared a very serious concern, and to be implicated
with other subjects with which I had never suspected it to have any
connection. I saw it much connected with many occurrences and schisms in
the Christian church; I saw that the Jesuits had several times interfered
in it; and that most of the exceptionable innovations and dissentions had
arisen about the time that the order of Loyola was suppressed; so
that it should seem, that these intriguing brethren had attempted to
maintain their influence by the help of Free Masonry.
I saw it much disturbed by the mystical whims of J. Behmen and
Swedenborg-by the fanatical and knavish doctrines of the modern
Rosycrucians-by Magicians-Magnetisers-Exorcists, &c. And I observed that
these different sects reprobated each other, as not only maintaining
erroneous opinions, but even inculcating opinions which were contrary to
the established religions of Germany, and contrary to the principles of
the civil establishments.
At the same time they charged each other with mistakes and corruptions,
both in doctrine and in practice; and particularly with falsification of
the first principles of Free Masonry, and with ignorance of its origin and
its history; and they supported these charges by authorities from many
different books which were unknown to me.
My curiosity was now greatly excited. I got from a much respected
friend many of the preceding volumes of the Religions Begebenheiten,
in hopes of much information from the patient industry of German
erudition. This opened a new and very interesting scene; I was frequently
sent back to England, from whence all agreed that Free Masonry had been
imported into Germany. I was frequently led into France and into Italy.
There, and more remarkably in France, I found that the Lodges had
become the haunts of many projectors and fanatics, both in science, in
religion, and in politics, who had availed themselves of the secrecy and
the freedom of speech maintained in these meetings, to broach their
particular whims, or suspicious doctrines, which, if published to the
world in the usual manner, would have exposed the authors to ridicule, or
to censure.
These projectors had contrived to tag their peculiar nostrums to the
mummery of Masonry, and were even allowed to twist the masonic emblems and
ceremonies to their purpose; so that in their hands Free Masonry became a
thing totally unlike, and almost in direct opposition to the system (if it
may get such a name) imported from England; and some Lodges had become
schools of irreligion and licentiousness.
No nation in modern times has so particularly turned its attention to
the cultivation of every thing that is refined or ornamental as France,
and it has long been the resort of all who hunt after entertainment in its
most refined form; the French have come to consider themselves as the
instructors of the world in every thing that ornaments life, and feeling
themselves received as such, they have formed their manners
accordingly-full of the most condescending complaisance to all who
acknowledge their superiority, lighted, in a high degree, with this
office, they have become zealous missionaries of refinement in every
department of human pursuit, and have reduced their apostolic employment
to a system, which they prosecute with ardour and delight.
This is not groundless declamation, but sober historical truth. It was
the professed aim (and it was a magnificent and wise aim) of the great
Colbert, to make the court of Louis XIV, the fountain of human refinement'
and Paris the Athens of Europe.
We need only look at the plunder of Italy by the French army, to be
convinced their low-born generals and statesmen have in this respect the
same notions with the Colberts and the Richlieus.
I know no subject in which this aim at universal influence on the
opinions of men, by holding themselves forth as the models of excellence
and elegance, is more clearly seen than in the care that they have been
pleased to take of Free Masonry. It seems indeed peculiarly suited to the
talents and taste of that vain and ardent people. Baseless and frivolous,
it admits of every form that Gallic refinement can invent, to recommend it
to the young, the gay, the luxurious; that class of society which alone
deserves their care, because, in one way or another, it leads all other
classes of society.
It has accordingly happened, that the homely Free Masonry imported from
England has been totally changed in every country of Europe, either by the
imposing ascendancy of French brethren, who are to be found every where,
ready to instruct the world; or by the importation of the doctrines, and
ceremonies, and ornaments of the Parisian Lodges. Even England; the
birth-place of Masonry, has experienced the French innovations; and all
the repeated injunctions, admonitions, and reproofs of the old Lodges,
cannot prevent those in different parts of the kingdom from admitting the
French novelties, full of tinsel and glitter, and high-sounding titles.
Were this all, the harm would not be great. But long before good
opportunities had occurred for spreading the refinements on the simple
Free Masonry of England, the Lodges in France had become places of very
serious discussion, where opinions in morals, in religion, and in
politics, had been promulgated and maintained with a freedom and a
keenness, of which we in this favored land have no adequate notion,
because we are unacquainted with the restraints, which, in other
countries, are laid on ordinary conversation.
In consequence of this, the French innovations in Free Masonry were
quickly followed in all parts of Europe, by the admission of similar
discussions, although in direct opposition to a standing rule, and a
declaration made to every newly received Brother,
"that nothing touching the religion or government shall ever be
spoken of in the Lodge."
But the Lodges in other countries followed the example of France, and
have frequently become the rendezvous of innovators in religion and
politics, and other disturbers of the public peace. In short, I have found
that the covert of a Mason Lodge had been employed in every country for
venting and propagating sentiments in religion and politics, that could
not have circulated in public without exposing the author to great danger.
I found, that this impunity had gradually encouraged men of licentious
principles to become more bold, and to teach doctrines subversive of all
our notions of morality - of all our confidence in the moral government of
the universe - of all our hopes of improvement in a future state of
existence - and of all satisfaction and contentment with our present life,
so long as we live in a state of civil subordination.
I have been able to trace these attempts, made, through a course of
fifty years, under the specious pretext of enlightening the world by the
torch of philosophy, and of dispelling the clouds of civil and religious
superstition which keep the nations of Europe in darkness and slavery. I
have observed these doctrines gradually diffusing and mixing with all the
different systems of Free Masonry; till, at last, AN ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN
FORMED for the express purpose of ROOTING OUT ALL THE RELIGIOUS
ESTABLISHMENTS, AND OVERTURNING ALL THE EXISTING GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE.
I have seen this Association exerting itself zealously and
systematically, till it has become almost irresistible: And I have seen
that the most active leaders in the French Revolution were members of this
Association, and conducted their first movements according to its
principles, and by means of its instructions and assistance, formerly
requested and obtained: And, lastly, I have seen that this Association
still exists, still works in secret, and that not only several appearances
among ourselves show that its emissaries are endeavoring to propagate
their detestable doctrines among us, but that the Association has Lodges
in Britain corresponding with the mother Lodge at Munich ever since 1784.
If all this were a matter of mere curiosity, and susceptible of no good
use, it would have been better to have kept it to myself, than to disturb
my neighbours with the knowledge of a state of things which they cannot
amend. But if it shall appear that the minds of my countrymen are misled
in the very same manner as were those of our continental neighbours - if I
can show that the reasonings which make a very strong impression on some
persons in this country are the same which actually produced the dangerous
association in Germany; and that they had this unhappy influence solely
because they were thought to be sincere, and the expressions of the
sentiments of the speakers - if I can show that this was all a cheat, and
that the Leaders of this Association disbelieved every word that
they uttered, and every doctrine that they taught; and that their real
intention was to abolish all religion, overturn every government, and make
the world a general plunder and a wreck - if I can show, that the
principles which the Founder and Leaders of this Association held forth as
the perfection of human virtue, and the most powerful and efficacious for
forming the minds of men, and making them good and happy, had no influence
on the Founder and Leaders themselves, and that they were, almost without
exception, the most insignificant, worthless, and profligate of men; I
cannot but think, that such information will make my countrymen hesitate a
little, and receive with caution, and even distrust, addresses and
instructions which flatter our self-conceit, and which, by buoying us up
with the gay prospect of what is perhaps attainable by a change, may make
us discontented with our present condition, and forget that there never
was a government on earth where the people of a great and luxurious nation
enjoyed so much freedom and security in the possession of every thing that
is dear and valuable.
When we see that these boasted principles had not that effect on the
leaders which they assert to be their native, certain, and inevitable
consequences, we will distrust the fine descriptions of the happiness that
should result from such a change. And when we see that the methods which
were practised by this Association for the express purpose of breaking all
the bands of society, were employed solely in order that the leaders might
rule the world with uncontrollable power, while all the rest, even of the
associated, will be degraded in their own estimation, corrupted in their
principles, and employed as mere tools of the ambition of their unknown
superiors; surely a free-born Briton will not hesitate to reject at
once; and without any farther examination, a plan so big with mischief, so
disgraceful to its underling adherents, and so uncertain in its issue.
These hopes have induced me to lay before the public a short abstract
of the information which I think I have received. It will be short, but I
hope sufficient for establishing the fact, that this detestable
Association exists, and its emissaries are busy among ourselves.
I was not contented with the quotations which I found in the
Religions Begebenheiten, but procured from abroad some of the chief
writings from which they are taken. This both gave me confidence in the
quotations from books which I could not procure, and furnished me with
more materials. Much, however, remains untold, richly deserving the
attention of all those who feel themselves disposed to listen to
the tales of a possible happiness that may be enjoyed in a society where
all the magistrates are wise and just, and all the people are honest and
kind.
I hope that I am honest and candid. I have been at all pains to give
the true sense of the authors. My knowledge of the German language is but
scanty, but I have had the assistance of friends whenever I was in doubt.
In compressing into one paragraph what I have collected from many, I have,
as much as I was able, stuck to the words of the author, and have been
anxious to give his precise meaning.
I doubt not but that I have sometimes failed, and will receive
correction with deference. I entreat the reader not to expect a piece of
good literary composition. I am very sensible that it is far from it - it
is written during bad health, when I am not at ease - and I wished to
conceal my name - but my motive is, without the smallest mixture of
another, to do some good in the only way I am able, and I think that what
I say will come with better grace, and be received with more confidence,
than any anonymous publication. Of these I am now most heartily sick. I
throw myseif on my country with a free heart, and I bow with deference to
its decision.
The Association of which I have been speaking, is the Order of
ILLUMINATI, founded in 1775, by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of Canon law
in the university of Ingolstadt, and abolished in 1786 by the Elector of
Bavaria, but revived immediately after, under another name, and in a
different form, all over Germany.
It was again detected, and seemingly broken up; but it had by this time
taken so deep root that it still subsists without being detected, and has
spread into all the countries of Europe. It took its first rise among the
Free Masons, but is totally different from Free Masonry. It was not,
however, the mere protection gained by the secrecy of the Lodges that gave
occasion to it, but it arose naturally from the corruptions that had
gradually crept into that fraternity, the violence of the party-spirit
which pervaded it, and from the total uncertainty and darkness that hangs
over the whole of that mysterious Association. It is necessary, therefore,
to give some account of the innovations that have been introduced into
Free Masonry from the time that it made its appearance on the continent of
Europe as a mystical Society, possessing secrets different from those of
the mechanical employment whose name it assumed, and thus affording
entertainment and occupation to persons of all ranks and professions.
It is by no means intended to give a history of Free Masonry. This
would lead to a very long discussion. The patient industry of German
erudition has been very seriously employed on this subject, and many
performances have been published, of which some account is given in the
different volumes of the Religions Begebenheiten, particularly in
those for 1779, 1785, and 1786. It is evident, from the nature of the
thing, that they cannot be very instructive to the public; because the
obligation of secrecy respecting the important matters which are the very
subjects of debate, prevents the author from giving that full information
that is required from an historian, and the writers have not, in general,
been persons qualified for the talk.
Scanty erudition, credulity, and enthusiasm; appear in almost all their
writings; and they have neither attempted to remove the heap of rubbish
with which Anderson has disgraced his Constitutions of Free Masonry
(the basis of masonic history) nor to avail themselves of informations
which history really affords to a sober enquirer. Their Royal art must
never forsooth appear in a state of infancy or childhood, like all other
human acquirements; and therefore, when they cannot give proofs of its
existence in a state of manhood, possessed of all its mysterious
treasures, they suppose what they do not see, and say that they are
concealed by the oath of secrecy. Of such instructions I can make no use,
even if I were disposed to write a history of the Fraternity. I shall
content myself with an account of such particulars as are admitted by all
the masonic parties, and which illustrate or confirm my general
proposition, making such use of the accounts of the higher degrees in my
possession as I can, without admitting the profane into their Lodges.
Being under no tie of secrecy with regard to these, I am with-held by
discretion alone from putting the public in possession of all their
mysteries.
Go to Chapter 1
Queen
Victoria
