booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

and the world the abode of reasonable men. Morality alone will bring about this change imperceptibly.
Every father of a family will be, as formerly Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and unfettered lord of
his family, and Reason will be the only code of Man. This is one of our greatest secrets....[46]
But whilst completely eliminating any idea of divine power outside Man and framing his system on
purely political lines, Weishaupt is careful not to shock the susceptibilities of his followers by any open repudiation
of Christian doctrines; on the contrary, he invokes Christ at every turn and sometimes even in language
so apparently earnest and even beautiful that one is almost tempted to believe in his sincerity. Thus
he writes: This our great and unforgettable Master, Jesus of Nazareth, appeared at a time in the world when
it was sunk in depravity.... The first followers of His teaching are not wise men but simple, chosen from the
lowest class of the people, so as to show that His teaching should be possible and comprehensible to all
classes and conditions of men.... He carries out this teaching by means of the most blameless life in conformity
with it, and seals and confirms this with His blood and death. These laws which He shows as the
way to salvation are only two: love of God and love of one's neighbour; more He asks of no one.[47]
So far no Lutheran pastor could have expressed himself better. But one must study Weishaupt's writings
as a whole to apprehend the true measure of his belief in Christ's teaching.
Now, as we have already seen, his first idea was to make Fire Worship the religion of Illuminism; the
profession of Christianity therefore appears to have been an after-thought. Evidently Weishaupt discovered,
as others have done, that Christianity lends itself more readily to subversive ideas than any other religion.
And in the passages which follow we find him adopting the old ruse of representing Christ as a Communist
and as a secret-society adept. Thus he goes on to explain that " if Jesus preaches contempt of riches, He
wishes to teach us the reasonable use of them and prepare for the community of goods introduced by
Him,"[48] and in which, Weishaupt adds later, He lived with His disciples.[49] But this secret doctrine is
only to be apprehended by initiates: No one... has so cleverly concealed the high meaning of His teaching,
and no one finally has so surely and easily directed men on to the path of freedom as our great master Jesus
of Nazareth. This secret meaning and natural consequence of His teaching He hid completely, for Jesus had
a secret doctrine, as we see in more than one place of the Scriptures.[50]
Weishaupt thus contrives to give a purely political interpretation to Christ's teaching: The secret preserved
through the Disciplinam Arcani, and the aim appearing through all His words and deeds, is to give
back to men their original liberty and equality.... Now one can understand how far Jesus was the Redeemer
and Saviour of the world.[51]
The mission of Christ was therefore by means of Reason to make men capable of freedom[52]: " When
at last reason becomes the religion of man, so will the problem be solved."[53]
Weishaupt goes on to show that Freemasonry can be interpreted in the same manner. The secret doctrine
concealed in the teaching of Christ was handed down by initiates who " hid themselves and their doctrine
under the cover of Freemasonry,"[54] and in a long explanation of Masonic hieroglyphics he indicates
the analogies between the Hiramic legend and the story of Christ. " I say then Hiram is Christ," and after
giving one of his reasons for this assertion, adds: " Here then is much ground gained, although I myself cannot
help laughing at this explanation [obwohl ich selbst über diese Explication im Grund lachen muss]."[55]
Weishaupt then proceeds to give further interpretations of his own devising to the masonic ritual, including
an imaginary translation of certain words supposed to be derived from Hebrew, and ends up by saying: "
One will be able to show several more resemblances between Hiram and the life and death of Christ, or drag
them in by the hair."[56] So much for Weishaupt's respect for the Grand Legend of Freemasonry !
In this manner Weishaupt demonstrates that " Freemasonry is hidden Christianity, at least my explanations
of the hieroglyphics fit this perfectly; and in the way in which I explain Christianity no one need be
ashamed to be a Christian, for I leave the name and substitute for it Reason."[57]
But this is of course only the secret of what Weishaupt calls " real Freemasonry "[58] in contradistinction
to the official kind, which he regards as totally unenlightened: " Had not the noble and elect remained
in the background... new depravity would have broken out in the human race, and through Regents, Priests,
and Freemasons Reason would have been banished from the earth."[59]
In Weishaupt's masonic system, therefore, the designs of the Order with regard to religion are not confided
to the mere Freemasons, but only to the Illuminati. Under the heading of " Higher Mysteries "
Weishaupt writes: The man who is good for nothing better remains a Scottish Knight. If he is, however, a
particularly industrious co-ordinator [Sammler], observer, worker, he becomes a Priest.... If there are
amongst these [Priests] high speculative intellects, they become Magi. These collect and put in order the
higher philosophical system and work at the People's Religion, which the Order will next give to the world.
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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