How to Detect and Reject the Illuminati
An Introduction to John Robison's "Proofs of a Conspiracy"
In 1798, not long after the American Revolution and toward the end of the French Revolution, a scientist, inventor, and professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland named John Robison published his most popular tractate Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. In four powerful and enlightening chapters, preceded by an introduction and concluded with a postscript, Robison unveils the nefarious plans of Adam Weishaupt and his co-conspirators to destroy all religions and civil governments in order to position themselves as the rulers of the world.
The subject of his work may sound like fiction or fodder for those whom we too often disparage as “conspiracy theorists,” but in his excellent book, Robison earnestly articulates truth. His efforts garnered the attention of the greatest American patriots and revolutionaries, including George Washington (see here and here) and Abigail Adams, the latter of whom introduced Robinson’s book to her sister Mary as follows:
To destroy and undermine Religion has been the cheif engine in the accomplishment of this mighty Revolution throughout Europe. we have felt no small share of the balefull influence, of the Age of Reason—but to have a through Idea of the deep laid system, you must read a Work lately publishd calld proofs of a conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, by John Robison … you will read the Book with astonishment… it was first publishd last sep’br in Edinburgh in his Letter he mentions a society calld a Theo Philanthropick, and describes it as a Theological & political mixture of deism, morality and Anti Christianity—that to propogate these doctrines, Persons had been sent lately to Hamburgh; and that dupont de Nemours was talk’d of as comeing out to America to establish such societies here—I have made the extract from his Letter at length, and sent it to dr Belnap together with Robisons Work, which fully unfolds the whole scheme, and displays the effects of the Principles in the Revolutions in Europe to their full extent. I thought I could not do a better service than to put our Country men upon their Gaurd… Robisons Book will shew you how much the corruption of manners has aided in the destruction of all Religions and moral Principles— all the new institutions strike at the root of our social nature.
Abigail Adams was an intelligent and prudent woman whose book recommendation to her sister I now impart to my modern audience. We have even more to learn from Robinson’s book today than she and her associates did during the early years of the American republic.
In his eloquent introduction to Proofs of a Conspiracy, Robison describes how he discovered “various schisms in the Fraternity of Free Masons,” and the debates over these schisms that raged in Europe. As one with a former relish for Masonry, Robison’s curiosity was roused by accounts given in Religions Begebenheiten (Religious Occurrences), a German periodical that provided detailed information about religious and philosophical movements, mystical ideas and figures, schisms, secret societies, and Freemasonry.
Robison probed deeply into these topics and composed his treatise in order to expose corrupt innovations in Freemasonry by “disturbers of the public peace.” Also in his introduction, Robison elaborates upon his discoveries:
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 cvil 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. (Proofs, p. 5)
Why did Robison write an entire book of proofs of a conspiracy? In the same introduction, Robison continues:
If all this were a matter of mere curiosity, and susceptible of no good use, it would have been better to have kept is 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 the expressions of the 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. (pp. 5-6)
Robison decries the “boasted principles” and methods of this secret association, the leaders of which not only aimed to break “all the bands of society,” but also to employ such methods “solely in order that the leaders might rule the world with uncontrollable power.” (p. 6) My own motives for relaying this information are the same as Robison’s motives for writing his book, namely “to do some good in the only way I am able.”
In the final paragraph of his introduction to Proofs of a Conspiracy, Robison identifies the principle conspirator and the name of his secret association:
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. (p. 7)
The titles of the four chapters in Robison’s book are 1. “Schisms in Free Masonry,” 2. “The Illuminati,” 3. “The German Union,” and 4. “The French Revolution.” Robison’s descriptions of the origins of and schisms within Freemasonry are valuable for the student of history, the student of Freemasonry, and any lover of liberty and despiser of tyranny. His work is so eloquently written and so rigorously reasoned that the burden rests on modern readers to prove if they might that there was not then, and that there is not now, a nefarious organization known as the Illuminati whose brazen purpose was and still is nothing short of attaining world domination.
Robison’s Proofs of a Conspiracy is valuable for us today not only because it reveals the true history and development of the Illuminati, but because it reveals patterns that can help us to better understand the underlying motives, doctrines, principles, and practices of all nefarious secret societies, or what Book of Mormon prophets called “secret combinations.” (see here and here) A careful study of Robison’s book will help the reader to discern and describe the secret combinations that infest our modern society.
With great dexterity, Robison ranges through the history of architecture, English, French, and German Freemasonry, the Jesuits, the Knights Templar and the Temple of Solomon, Hiram Abiff, French philosophy, the “religion” of reason, pantheism, the German spirit of enquiry, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, the philosopher’s stone, Protestantism and Catholicism, Adam Weishaupt and his Illuminati, secret oaths, signs, and symbols, cosmopolitanism, utopianism, anti-Christianity, anti-clericalism, and atheism, esotericism, the thought of Newton, Bacon, Locke, and Rousseau, natural philosophy, the role of women in society, the female mind, the importance of marriage and family, reading societies, booksellers, the German Union, the life and work of Dr. Carl Friederich Bahrdt, the French Revolution, the Duke of Orleans, the stoics and the epicureans, Illuminism in the United States of America, theology, English resistance to Illuminati doctrines, and much, much more. Proofs of a Conspiracy is a delight to read and infinitely more enlightening than anything that the Illuminati ever have produced or ever will produce.
Robison is especially critical of France, French philosophy, and any organizations like the Illuminati that erode religious belief and civic responsibility. He guards all nations against corruption and encourages virtue with the following exhortation:
I do not mean by all this to maintain, that the Mason Lodges were the sole corrupters of the public mind in France. - No. - In all nations that have made much progress in cultivation, there is a great tendency to corruption, and it requires all the vigilance and exertions of magistrates, and of moral instructors, to prevent the spreading of licentious principles and maxims of conduct. They arise naturally of themselves, as weeds in a rich soil; and like weeds, they are pernicious, only because they are, where they should not be, in a cultivated field. Virtue is the cultivation of the human soul, and not the mere possession of good dispositions; all men have these, and occasionally exhibit them. But virtue supposes exertion; and, as the husbandman must be incited to his laborious task by some cogent motive, so must man be prompted to that exertion which is necessary on the part of every individual for the very existence of a great society: For man is indolent, and he is luxurious; he wishes for enjoyment, and this with little trouble. The less fortunate envy the enjoyments of others, and repine at their own inability to obtain the like. They see the idle in affluence. Few, even of good men, have the candour, nay, I may call it the wisdom, to think on the activity and the labour which had procured these comforts to the rich, or to their ancestors; and to believe that they are idle only because they are wealthy, but would be active if they were needy. Such spontaneous reflections cannot be expected in persons who are engaged in unceasing labour, to procure a very moderate share (in their estimation at least) of the comforts of life. Yet such reflections would, in the main, but just, and surely they would greatly tend to quiet the minds of the unsuccessful. (p. 20)
In opposition to the Illuminists, Robison champions religion:
This excellent purpose [virtue] may be greatly forwarded by a national establishment for moral instruction and admonition; and if the public instructors should add all the motives to virtuous moderation which are suggested by the considerations of genuine religion, every advice would have a tenfold influence. Religious and moral instructions are therefore, in their own nature, unequivocal supports to that moderate exertion of the authority arising from civil subordination, which the most refined philanthropist or cosmopolite acknowledges to be necessary for the very existence of a great and cultivated society. I have never seen a scheme of utopian happiness that did not contain some system of education, and I cannot conceive any system of education of which moral instruction is not a principal part. Such establishments are dictates of nature, and obtrude themselves on the mind of every person who begins to form plans of civil union. And in all existing societies they have indeed been formed, and are considered as the greatest corrector and soothers of those discontents that are unavoidable in the minds of the unsuccessful and the unfortunate. The magistrate, therefore, whose professional habits lead him frequently to exert himself for the maintenance of public peace, cannot but see the advantages of such stated remembrancers of our duty. He will therefore support and cherish this public establishment, which so evidently assists him in his beneficent and important labours. (p. 20)
Robison’s rhetoric may remind us of other proponents of true religion and just morality such as Washington or Adams. Are religion and morality still, as George Washington proclaimed in his “Farewell Address,” indispensable supports of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity? Yes. Was our Constitution, as John Adams proclaimed, made only for a moral and religious people, and is it wholly inadequate to the government of any other? Yes. Are religious and moral instructions still, as John Robison wrote, unequivocal supports to that moderate exertion of the authority arising from civil subordination and necessary for the very existence of a great and cultivated society? Yes.
Robison was an equally vehement and vigorous opponent of the false religion of “reason” that Adam Weishaupt and the Illuminists attempted to wield in their quest for wealth, power, and world domination. Weishaupt was a despicable man, a man whom Robison described as a villain and a human devil who scrupled not “to murder his innocent child, and the woman whom he had held in his arms with emotions of fondness and affection.” (p. 81)
Throughout his book, Robison quotes directly from intercepted communications between Weishaupt and his wicked friends. Robison also lists the names of many people who were directly involved with the Illuminati and the lodges where they disseminated their opprobrious secrets. In essence, Weishaupt attempted to destroy Christianity and civil government while introducing a new and false religion of “reason” by degrees to unsuspecting initiates. His diabolical plan was to “make the secret doctrines of Christianity be received as the secrets of genuine Free Masonry,” and in the name of a false “liberty and equality” to cloak his true purpose of banishing Christianity along with all positive religion and civil government:
He [Weishaupt] employs the Christian Religion, which he thinks a falsehood, and which he is afterwards to explode and 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; or, if he finds them unfit, and too religious, he gives them a Sta bene, and then laughs at the fears, or perhaps madness, in which he leaves them. Having got them this length, they are declared to be fit, and he receives them into the higher mysteries. But lest they should still shrink back, dazzled by the Pandemonian glare of Illumination which will now burst upon them, he exacts from them, for the first time, a bond of perseverance. (p. 81)
Robison rightly mocks Weishaupt’s insane utopian schemes and his attempts to insinuate such schemes into Europe by the corruption of women, but he also warns that Weishaupt’s insidious designs were being implemented through “secret associations, which will by degrees, and in silence, possess themselves of the government of the States.” (p. 66) Illuminati initiates were enticed into the order by cunning questions that were meant to undermine their faith in Christ and traditional morality. Even more cunningly, Weishaupt sought to mimic Christianity and Christian education while simultaneously seeking to destroy it. He further enticed initiates into Illuminism by convincing them that “the Order will rule the world,” and that “every member therefore becomes a ruler.” (p. 82)
Another Illuminati trick was (and assuredly still is) to use the deception of false “mysteries” to draw potential acolytes into their web:
Hear what Spartacus [Weishaupt’s code name] himself says of hidden mysteries. “Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery. The hankering of the mind is irresistible; and if once a man has taken it into his head that there is a mystery in a thing, it is impossible to get it out, either by argument or experience. And then, we can so change notions by merely changing a word. (p. 85)
The Illuminati disseminated their evil doctrines in secret, but they also sought to bring their “opinions into fashion by every art,” and to “spread them among the people by the help of young writers.” One of the main tactics of the Illuminati was to “preach the warmest concern form humanity, and make people indifferent to all other relations.” (p. 68) In other words, the Illuminati worked under the guise of humanitarianism, religion, philanthropy, and charitable service to achieve their ultimate goals of procuring filthy lucre and absolute power.
In addition to infiltrating governments and Masonic lodges, the Illuminati infiltrated booksellers, reading groups, and other literary societies:
It is not by the wisdom nor by the profound knowledge which these writers display, that they have acquired celebrity, a fame which has been so pernicious. It is by fine writing, by works addressed to the imagination and to the affections, by excellent dramas, by affecting moral essays, full of expressions of the greatest respect for virtue, the most tender benevolence, and the highest sentiments of honor and dignity. - By these means they fascinate all readers; they gain the esteem of the worthy, who imagine them sincere, and their pernicious doctrines are thus spread abroad, and steal into the minds of the dissolute, the licentious, and the unwary. (p. 195)
Robison despised Weishaupt’s false doctrines and wicked ways, and he was unsparing in his exposition and critique of the Illuminati:
We are therefore suspicious of this Illumination, and apt to ascribe this violent antipathy to Princes and subordination to the very cause that makes trust Illumination, and just Morality proceeding from it, so necessary to public happiness, namely, the vice and injustice of those who cannot innocently have the command of those offensive elegancies of human life. Luxurious tastes, keen desires, and unbridled passions, would prompt to all this, and this Illumination is, as we see, equivalent to them in effect. The aim of the Order is not to enlighten the mind of man, and show him his moral obligations, and by the practice of his duties to make society peaceable, possession secure, and coercion unnecessary, so that all may be at rest and happy, even though all were equal; but to get rid of the coercion which must be employed in place of Morality, that the innocent rich may be robbed with impunity by the idle and profligate poor. But to do this, an unjust casuistry must be employed in place of a just Morality; and this must be defended or suggested, by misrepresenting the true state of man, and of his relation to the universe, and by removing the restrictions of religion, and giving a superlative value to all those constituents of human enjoyment, which true Illumination shows us to be but very small concerns of a rational and virtuous mind. The more closely we examine the principles and practice of the Illuminati, the more clearly do we perceive that this is the case. Their first and immediate aim is to get the possession of riches, power, and influence, without industry; and, to accomplish this, they want to abolish Christianity; and then dissolute manners and universal profligacy will procure them the adherence of all the wicked, and enable them to overturn all the civil governments of Europe after which they will think of farther conquests, and extend their operations to the other quarters of the globe, till they have reduced mankind to the state of one undistinguishable chaotic mass. But this is too chimerical to be thought their real aim. Their Founder, I dare say, never entertained such hopes, nor troubled himself with the fate of distant lands. But it comes in his way when he puts on the mask of humanity and benevolence; it must embrace all mankind, only because it must be stronger than patriotism and loyalty, which stand in his way. (pp. 80-81)
Robison contrasts “the natural road of instruction,” or natural education and the eloquence of example with the cunning and craftiness of Weishaupt and his associates. Robinson reminds his audience that
These reflections address themselves to all men who profess to conduct themselves by the principles and dictates of common sense and prudence, and who have the ordinary share of candour and good will to others. It requires no singular sensibility of heart, nor great generosity, to make such people think the doctrines and and views of the Illuminati false, absurd, foolish, and ruinous. But I hope that I address them to thousands of my countrymen and friends, who have much higher notions of human nature, and who cherish with care the affections and they hopes that are suited to a rational, a benevolent, and a high-minded being, capable of endless improvement. (p. 87)
Robinson also explains how Illuminism influenced the French Revolution:
Hence it has arisen that the French aimed, in the very beginning, at overturning the whole world. In all the revolutions of other countries, the schemes and plots have extended no furher than the nation where they took their rise. But here we have seen that they take in the whole world. They have repeatedly declared this in their manifestos, and they have declared it by their conduct. This is the very aim of the Illuminati. - Hence too may be explained how the revolution took place almost in a moment in every part of France. The revolutionary societies were early formed, and were working in secret before the opening of the National Assembly, and the whole nation changed, and changed again, as if by beat of drum. Those duly initiated in this mystery of iniquity were ready every where at a call. (p. 150)
It is important to note that among the “jargon of Illumination,” Robison includes terms such as “Citizen of the World,” “Liberty and Equality,” “the imprescriptible Rights of Man,” and “Morality.” (p. 151)
Robison’s delicious final condemnation of the Illuminati is a literary masterpiece that includes the following imprecation:
Never, since the beginning of the world, has true religion received so complete an acknowledgment of her excellence, as has been extorted from the fanatics who have attempted to destroy her. (p. 166)
Abigail Adams must have been inspired and stirred by Robison’s final exhortation to virtuous women, and Robison’s brilliant analysis of the nature of truth at the conclusion of his book ought to be enshrined in the hearts and minds of all men and women who valiantly oppose tyranny:
The above accounts evince in the most uncontrovertible manner the dangerous tendency of all mystical societies, and of all associations who hold secret meetings. We see that their uniform progress has been from frivolity and nonsense to wickedness and sedition. Weishaupt has been at great pains to show the good effects of secrecy in the Association, and the arguments are valid for his purpose. - But all his arguments are so many dissuasive ad-vices to every thinking and sober mind. The man who really wishes to discover an abstruse truth will place himself, if possible, in a calm situation, and will by no means expose himself to the impatient hankering for secrets and wonders - and he will always fear that a thing which resolutely conceals itself cannot bear the light. All who have seriously employed themselves in the discovery of truth have found the great advantages of open communication and sentiment. And it is against common sense to imagine that there is any thing of vast importance to mankind which is yet a secret, and which must be kept a secret in order to be useful. This is against the whole experience of mankind - And surely to hug in one’s breast a secret of such mighty importance, is to give the lie to all our professions of brotherly love. What a solecism! a secret to enlighten and reform the whole world. - We render all our endeavours impotent when we grasp at a thing beyond our power. Let an association be formed with a serious plan for reforming its own members, and let them extend their numbers in proportion as they succeed - this might do some good. - But must the way of doing this be a secret? - It may be to many - who will not look for it where it is to be found. - It is this, '“Do good - seek peace - and pursue it.” (pp. 170-171)
After a final warning about the spread of Illuminism to the United States of America, and his final praise for religion and virtue, Robison’s concluding exhortation echoes a warning from our Savior Jesus Christ:
After such avowels of our capacity to instruct ourselves, shall we still fly to those disturbers of the world for our lessons? No - Let us rally around our own standards - let us take the path pointed out by Bacon - let us follow the steps of Newton - and, to conclude, let us seriously consider a most excellent advice by the highest authority:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s cloathing, but inwardly are ravening wolves - BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM - Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (p. 196)
Amen.
Does vice still threaten to erode and destroy the nations of the world? Has Freemasonry been polluted by nefarious atheistic doctrines? Are there still secret societies like those that Robison describes in his excellent book Proofs of a Conspiracy? Are there still wicked men like Adam Weishaupt who lust after wealth and power and who deceive in order to become the rulers of this world? Do such wicked men still aim to destroy Christianity, positive religion, and civil government? Do evil and conspiring men still entice people into secret societies through mysteries and false promises of position and power? Do nefarious secret combinations still masquerade as philanthropies, churches, and humanitarian organizations? Are there still false prophets who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves?
The answer to each of these questions is “yes,” but one safeguard against the Illuminati and all modern iterations of the Illuminati is to read and understand John Robison’s excellent book Proofs of Conspiracy.