The Illuminati

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Weishaupt was born of Westphalian parents at Ingolstadt (Bavaria), on 6 February, 1748, and lost his father in 1753. Although educated at a Jesuit school, he fell early under the influence of his free-thinking godfather, the director of the high-school of Ickstatt, to whom he owed his appointment as professor of civil law at the University of Ingolstadt in 1772. He was the first layman to occupy the chair of canon law at this university (1773), but, in consequence of the growing rationalistic influence which he exerted over the students both in his academic capacity and in his personal intercourse with them, he came into ever sharper collision with the loyal adherents of the Church and with those who were influential in government circles. As, furthermore, his obstinate nature led him to quarrel with almost everyone with whom his intercourse was at all prolonged, he felt the need of a powerful secret organization to support him in the conflict with his adversaries and in the execution of his rationalistic schemes along ecclesiastical and political lines. At first (1774) he aimed at an arrangement with the Freemasons. Closer inquiry, however, destroyed his high estimate of this organization, and he resolved to found a new society which, surrounded with the greatest possible secrecy, would enable him most effectually to realize his aims and could at all times be precisely adapted to the needs of the age and local conditions.
His order was to be based entirely on human nature and observation; hence its degrees, ceremonies, and statutes were to be developed only gradually; then, in the light of experience and wider knowledge, and with the co-operation of all the members, they were to be steadily improved. For his prototype he relied mainly on Freemasonry, in accordance with which he modelled the degrees and ceremonial of his order. After the pattern of the Society of Jesus, though distorting to the point of caricature its essential features, he built up the strictly hierarchical organization of his society. "To utilize for good purposes the very means which that order employed for evil ends", such was, according to Philo (Endl. Erkl., 60 sq.), "his pet design". For the realization of his plans, he regarded as essential the "despotism of superiors" and the "blind, unconditional obedience of subordinates" (ibid.), along with the utmost secrecy and mysteriousness. At the beginning of 1777 he entered a Masonic Lodge and endeavoured, with other members of the order, to render Freemasonry as subservient as possible to his aims. As Weishaupt, however, despite all his activity as an agitator and the theoretic shrewdness he displayed, was at bottom only an unpractical bookworm, without the necessary experience of the world, his order for a long time made no headway. The accession to it, in 1780, of the Masonic agent Freiherr von Knigge (Philo), a man of wide experience and well known everywhere in Masonic circles, gave matters a decisive turn. In company with Weishaupt, who, as a philosopher and jurist, evolved the ideas and main lines of the constitution, Knigge began to elaborate rapidly the necessary degrees and statutes (until 1780 the Minerval degree was the only one in use), and at the same time worked vigorously to extend the order, for which within two years he secured 500 members. When the great international convention of Freemasons was held at Wilhelmsbad (16 July to 29 August, 1782) the "Illuminated Freemasonry", which Knigge and Weishaupt now proclaimed to be the only "pure" Freemasonry, had already gained such a reputation that almost all the members of the convention clamoured for admission into the new institution. Particularly valuable for the order was the accession of Bode (Amelius), who commanded the highest respect in all Masonic circles. Assisted by Bode, Knigge laboured diligently to convert the whole Masonic body into "Illuminated Freemasons". A number of the most prominent representatives of Freemasonry and "enlightenment" became Illuminati, including, in 1783, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, the foremost leader of European Freemasonry and the princely representative of the illuminism of his age. Other famous members were Goethe, Herder, and Nicolai. The order was also propagated in Sweden, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and France. But in 1783 dissensions arose between Knigge and Weishaupt, which resulted in the final withdrawal of the former on 1 July, 1784. Knigge could no longer endure Weishaupt's pedantic domineering, which frequently assumed offensive forms. He accused Weishaupt of "Jesuitism", and suspected him of being "a Jesuit in disguise" (Nachtr., I, 129). "And was I", he adds, "to labour under his banner for mankind, to lead men under the yoke of so stiff-necked a fellow?--Never!"

Moreover, in 1783 the anarchistic tendencies of the order provoked public denunciations which led, in 1784, to interference on the part of the Bavarian Government. As the activity of the Illuminati still continued, four successive enactments were issued against them (22 June, 1784; 2 March, and 16 August, 1785; and 16 August, 1787), in the last of which recruiting for the order was forbidden under penalty of death. These measures put an end to the corporate existence of the order in Bavaria, and, as a result of the publication, in 1786, of its degrees and of other documents concerning it--for the most part of a rather compromising nature--its further extension outside Bavaria became impossible. The spread of the spirit of the Illuminati, which coincided substantially with the general teachings of the "enlightenment", especially that of France, was rather accelerated than retarded by the persecution in Bavaria. In two letters addressed to the Bishop of Freising (18 June and 12 November, 1785) Pius VI had also condemned the order. As early as 16 February, 1785, Weishaupt had fled from Ingolstadt, and in 1787 he settled at Gotha. His numerous apologetic writings failed to exonerate either the order or himself. Being now the head of a numerous family, his views on religious and political matters grew more sober. After 1787 he renounced all active connexion with secret societies, and again drew near to the Church, displaying remarkable zeal in the building of the Catholic church at Gotha. he died on 18 November, 1830, "reconciled with the Catholic Church, which, as a youthful professor, he had doomed to death and destruction"--as the chronicle of the Catholic parish in Gotha relates.

Objects and organization

As exhibiting the objects and methods of the order, those documents are authoritative which are given in the first and second sections of works in the bibliography. The subsequent modifications of the system, announced by Weishaupt in his writings after 1785, are irrelevant, since the order had spread far and wide before these modifications were published. The above-named documents reveal as the real object of the Illuminati the elaboration and propagation of a new popular religion and, in the domain of politics, the gradual establishment of a universal democratic republic. In this society of the future everything, according to Weishaupt, was to be regulated by reason. By "enlightenment" men were to be liberated from their silly prejudices, to become "mature" or "moral", and thus to outgrow the religious and political tutelage of Church and State, of "priest and prince". Morals was the science which makes man "mature", and renders him conscious of his dignity, his destiny, and his power. The principal means for effecting the "redemption" was found in unification, and this was to be brought about by "secret schools of wisdom". These "schools", he declares, "were always the archives of nature and of the rights of man; through their agency, man will recover from his fall; princes and nations, without violence to force them, will vanish from the earth; the human race will become one family, and the world the habitation of rational beings. Moral science alone will effect these reforms 'imperceptibly'; every father will become, like Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and absolute lord of his household, and reason will be man's only code of law" ("Nachtr.", p. 80 sq.; repeated verbatim in Knigge, "Die neuesten Arbeiten", p. 38). This redemption of mankind by the restoration of the original "freedom and equality" through "illumination" and universal charity, fraternity, and tolerance, is likewise the true esoteric doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. Those in whom the "illuminating" grace of Christ is operative (cf. Hebrews 6:4) are the "Illuminati". The object of pure (i.e. illuminated) Freemasonry is none other than the propagation of the "enlightenment" whereby the seed of a new world will be so widely scattered that no efforts at extirpation, however violent, will avail to prevent the harvest ("Nachtr.", pp. 44, 118; "Die neuesten Arb.", pp. 11, 70). Weishaupt later declared (Nachtrag zu meiner Rechtfertigung, 77 sqq., 112 sqq.) that Masonry was the school from which "these ideas" emanated.
These objects of the order were to be revealed to members only after their promotion to the "priestly" degree (Nachtr., I, 68). The preliminary degrees were to serve for the selection, preparation, and concealment of the true "Illuminati"; the others were to open the way for the free religion and social organization of the future, in which all distinction of nations, creeds, etc., would disappear. The government of the order was administered by the superiors of the Minerval "churches", "provincials", "nationals", and "areopagites" (who constituted the supreme council), under the direction of Weishaupt as general of the order. Members were acquainted only with their immediate superiors, and only a few trusted members knew that Weishaupt was the founder and supreme head of the order. All the members were obliged to give themselves a training in accordance with the aims of the society, and to make themselves useful, while the order, on its part, pledged itself to further their interests by the most effectual means. They were especially recommended to systematically observe persons and events, to acquire knowledge, and to pursue scientific research in so far as it might serve the purposes of the order. Concerning all persons with whom they had intercourse they were to gather information, and on all matters which could possibly affect either themselves or the order they were to hand in sealed reports; these were opened by superiors unknown to the writers, and were, in substance, referred to the general. The purpose of this and other regulations was to enable the order to attain its object by securing for it a controlling influence in all directions, and especially by pressing culture and enlightenment into its service. All illuministic and official organs, the press, schools, seminaries, cathedral chapters (hence, too, all appointments to sees, pulpits, and chairs) were to be brought as far as possible under the influence of the organization, and princes themselves were to be surrounded by a legion of enlightened men, in order not only to disarm their opposition, but also to compel their energetic co-operation. A complete transformation would thus be effected; public opinion would be controlled; "priests and princes" would find their hands tied; the marplots who ventured to interfere would repent their temerity; and the order would become an object of dread to all its enemies.

Concerning the influence actually exerted by the Illuminati, the statements of ex-Freemasons—L.A. Hossman, J.A. Starck, J. Robinson, the Abbé Barruel, etc.--must be accepted with reserve, when they ascribe to the order a leading rôle in the outbreak and progress of the French Revolution of 1789. Their presentation of facts is often erroneous, their inferences are untenable, and their theses not only lack proof, but, in view of our present knowledge of the French Revolution (cf., e.g., Aulard, "Hist. pol. de la Rév. Franç.", 3rd ed., 1905; Lavisse-Rambaud, "Hist. générale", VIII, 1896), they are extremely improbable. On the other hand, once it had discarded, after 1786, the peculiarities of Weishaupt, "Illuminationism" was simply the carrying out of the principles of "enlightenment"; in other words, it was Freemasonry and practical Liberalism adapted to the requirements of the age; as such it exerted an important influence on the intellectual and social development of the nineteenth century. (See MASONRY; SECRET SOCIETIES.)

Freemasonry

Question—From whence came you as an Entered Apprentice Mason? Answer—From the Holy Lodge of St. John at Jerusalem.

[Pg 16]Q. What recommendations do you bring? A. Recommendations from the Worshipful Master, Wardens, and brethren of that Right Worshipful Lodge, who greet you.

Q. What comest thou hither to do? A. To learn to subdue my passions, and improve myself in the secret arts and mysteries of Ancient Freemasonry.

Q. You are a Mason, then, I presume? A. I am.

Q. How do you know that you are a Mason? A. By being often tried, never denied, and willing to be tried again.

Q. How shall I know you to be a Mason? A. By certain signs, and a token.

Q. What are signs? A. All right angles, horizontals and perpendiculars.

Q. What is a token? A. A certain friendly and brotherly grip, whereby one Mason may know another in the dark as well as in the light.

Q. Where were you first prepared to be a Mason? A. In my heart.

Q. Where secondly? A. In a room adjacent to the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of such.

Q. How were you prepared? A. By being divested of all metals, neither naked nor clothed, barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, with a cable-tow about my neck, in which situation I was conducted to the door of the Lodge.

Q. You being hoodwinked, how did you know it to be a door? A. By first meeting with resistance, and afterwards gaining admission.

Q. How did you gain admission? A. By three distinct knocks from without, answered by the same from within.

Q. What was said to you from within? A. Who comes there? Who comes there? Who comes there?

Q. Your answer? A. A poor, blind candidate, who has long been desirous of having and receiving a part of the rights and benefits of this Worshipful Lodge, dedicated to God, and held forth to the Holy Order of St. John, as all true fellows and brothers have done, who have gone this way before me.

Q. What further was said to you from within? A. I was asked if it was of my own free will and accord I made this request; if I was duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified; all of which being answered in the affirmative, I was asked by what further rights I expected to obtain so great a favor or benefit.

Q. Your answer? A. By being a man, free-born, of lawful age, and well recommended.

Q. What was then said to you? A. I was bid to wait till the Worshipful Master in the East was made acquainted with my request and his answer returned.

Q. After his answer was returned, what followed? A. I was caused to enter the Lodge.

Q. How? A. On the point of some sharp instrument pressing my naked left breast, in the name of the Lord.

Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted to the centre of the Lodge, and there caused to kneel for the benefit of a prayer.

[Pg 17]Q. After prayer, what was said to you? A. I was asked in whom I put my trust.

Q. Your answer? A. God.

Q. What followed? A. The Worshipful Master took me by the right hand and said, Since in God you put your trust, arise, follow your leader, and fear no danger.

Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted three times regularly around the Lodge, and halted at the Junior Warden in the South, where the same questions were asked, and answers returned at the door.

Q. How did the Junior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be conducted to the Senior Warden in the West, where the same questions were asked, and answers returned as before.

Q. How did the Senior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be conducted to the Worshipful Master in the East, where the same questions were asked, and answers returned as before, who likewise demanded of me from whence I came, and whither I was traveling.

Q. Your answer? A. From the West, and traveling to the East.

Q. Why do you leave the West and travel to the East? A. In search of light.

Q. How did the Worshipful Master then dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be conducted back to the West, from whence I came, and put in care of the Senior Warden, who taught me how to approach the East, the place of light, by advancing upon one upright regular step to the first step, my feet forming the right angle of an oblong square, my body erect at the altar before the Worshipful Master.

Q. What did the Worshipful Master do with you? A. He made an Entered Apprentice Mason of me.

Q. How? A. In due form.

Q. What was that due form? A. My left knee bare and bent, my right forming a square, my left hand supporting the Holy Bible, Square and Compass; I took upon me the solemn oath or obligation of an Entered Apprentice Mason.

Q. After you had taken your obligation, what was said to you? A. I was asked what I most desired.

Q. Your answer? A. Light.

Q. Was you immediately brought to light? A. I was.

Q. How? A. By the direction of the Master, and assistance of the brethren.

Q. What did you first discover after being brought to light? A. Three great lights in Masonry, by the assistance of three lesser.

Q. What were those three great lights in Masonry? A. The Holy Bible, Square and Compass.

Q. How are they explained? A. The Holy Bible is given to us as a guide for our faith and practice; the Square, to square our actions; and the Compass to keep us in due bounds with all mankind, but more especially with the brethren.

Q. What were those three lesser lights? A. Three burning tapers, or candles on candlesticks.

[Pg 18]Q. What do they represent? A. The Sun, Moon, and Master of the Lodge.

Q. How are they explained? A. As the Sun rules the day, and the Moon governs the night, so ought the Worshipful Master to use his endeavors to rule and govern his Lodge with equal regularity, or cause the same to be done.

Q. What did you next discover? A. The Worshipful Master approaching me from the East, under the sign and due-guard of an Entered Apprentice Mason, who presented me with his right hand in token of brotherly love and esteem, and proceeded to give me the grip and word of an Entered Apprentice Mason, and bid me arise and salute the Junior and Senior Wardens, and convince them that I had been regularly initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason, and was in possession of the sign, grip, and word.

Q. What did you next discover? A. The Worshipful Master a second time approaching me from the East, who presented me with a lamb-skin, or white apron, which he said was an emblem of innocence, and the badge of a Mason; that it had been worn by kings, princes, and potentates of the earth, who had never been ashamed to wear it; that it was more honorable than the diamonds of kings, or pearls of princesses, when worthily worn; and more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle; more honorable than the Star or Garter, or any other order that could be conferred on me at that time, or any time thereafter, except it be in the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of Masons; and bid me carry it to the Senior Warden in the West, who taught me how to wear it as an Entered Apprentice Mason.

Q. What were you next presented with? A. The working tools of an Entered Apprentice Mason.

Q. What were they? A. The twenty-four-inch gauge and common gavel.

Q. How were they explained? A. The twenty-four-inch gauge is an instrument made use of by operative masons to measure and lay out their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time; the twenty-four inches on the gauge are emblematical of the twenty-four hours in the day, which we are taught so divide into three equal parts, whereby we find eight hours for the service of God and a worthy distressed brother; eight hours for our usual vocation, and eight hours for refreshment and sleep. The common gavel is an instrument made use of by operative masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting our minds as lively and living stone for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Q. What was you next presented with? A. A new name.

Q. What was it? A. Caution.

[Pg 19]Q. What does it teach? A. It teaches me, as I was barely instructed in the rudiments of Masonry, that I should be cautious over all my words and actions, especially when before its enemies.

Q. What were you next presented with? A. Three precious jewels.

Q. What were they? A. A listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful heart.

Q. What do they teach? A. A listening ear teaches me to listen to the instructions of the Worshipful Master, but more especially that I should listen to the calls and cries of a worthy distressed brother. A silent tongue teaches me to be silent in the Lodge, that the peace and harmony thereof may not be disturbed; but more especially that I should be silent when before the enemies of Masonry. A faithful heart, that I should be faithful to the instructions of the Worshipful Master at all times; but more especially that I should be faithful and keep and conceal the secrets of Masonry, and those of a brother, when delivered to me in charge as such, that they may remain as secure and inviolable in my breast as in his own, before communicated to me.

Q. What was you next presented with? A. Check-words two.

Q. What were they? A. Truth and Union.

Q. How explained? A. Truth is a divine attribute, and the foundation of every virtue. To be good and true are the first lessons we are taught in Masonry. On this theme we contemplate, and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct; hence, while influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown amongst us; sincerity and plain dealing distinguish us; and the heart and tongue join in promoting each other's welfare, and rejoicing in each other's prosperity.

Union is that kind of friendship that ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct of every Mason. It is so closely allied to the divine attribute, truth, that he who enjoys the one, is seldom destitute of the other. Should interest, honor, prejudice, or human depravity ever influence you to violate any part of the sacred trust we now repose in you, let these two important words, at the earliest insinuation, teach you to put on the check-line of truth, which will infallibly direct you to pursue that straight and narrow path which ends in the full enjoyment of the Grand Lodge above, where we shall all meet as Masons and members of one family; where all discord on account of religion, politics, or private opinion, shall be unknown and banished from within our walls.

Q. What followed? A. The Worshipful Master in the East made a demand of me of something of a metallic kind, which, he said, was not so much on account of its intrinsic value, as that it might be deposited in the archives of the Lodge as a memorial that I had herein been made a Mason.

Q. How did the Worshipful Master then dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be conducted out of the Lodge and invested of what I had been divested, and return for further instruction.

Q. After you returned, how was you disposed of? A. I was conducted to the northeast corner of the Lodge, and there caused to stand upright like a man, my feet forming a square, and received a solemn injunction, ever to walk and act uprightly before God and man, and in addition thereto received too following charge. [For this charge see pages 10-12.]

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[Pg 20]

SECOND SECTION.

Question—Why was you divested of all metals when you was made a Mason? Answer—Because Masonry regards no man on account of his worldly wealth or honors; it is therefore the internal, and not the external qualifications that recommend a man to Masons.

Q. A second reason? A. There was neither the sound of an axe, hammer, or any other metal tool heard at the building of King Solomon's Temple.

Q. How could so stupendous a fabric be erected without the sound of axe, hammer, or any other metal tool? A. All the stones were hewed, squared, and numbered in the quarries where they were raised, all the timbers felled and prepared in the forests of Lebanon, and carried down to Joppa on floats, and taken from thence up to Jerusalem and set up with wooden mauls, prepared for that purpose; which, when completed, every part thereof fitted with that exact nicety, that it had more the resemblance of the handy workmanship of the Supreme Architect of the Universe than of human hands.

Q. Why was you neither naked nor clothed? A. As I was an object of distress at that time, it was to remind me, if ever I saw a friend, more especially a brother, in a like distressed situation, that I should contribute as liberally to his relief as his situation required, and my abilities would admit, without material injury to myself or family.

Q. Why was you neither barefoot nor shod? A. It was an ancient Israelitish custom adopted among Masons; and we read in the Book of Ruth concerning their mode and manner of changing and redeeming, and to confirm all things, a brother plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and that was testimony in Israel. This, then, therefore, we do in confirmation of a token, and as a pledge of our fidelity; therefore signifying that we will renounce our own will in all things, and become obedient to the laws of our ancient institutions.

Q. Why was you hoodwinked? A. That my heart might conceive before my eyes beheld the beauties of Masonry.

Q. A second reason? A. As I was in darkness at that time, it was to remind me that I should keep the whole world so respecting Masonry.

Q. Why had you a cable-tow about your neck? A. In case I had not submitted to the manner and mode of my initiation, that I might have been led out of the Lodge without seeing the form and beauties thereof.

Q. Why did you give three distinct knocks at the door? A. To alarm the Lodge, and let the Worshipful Master, Wardens and brethren know that a poor blind candidate prayed admission.

Q. What do those three distinct knocks allude to? A. A certain passage in Scripture wherein it says, "Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

Q. How did you apply this to your then case in Masonry? A. I asked the recommendation of a friend to become a Mason; I sought admission through his recommendations and knocked, and the door of Masonry opened unto me.

Q. Why was you caused to enter on the point of some sharp instrument pressing your naked left breast in the name of the Lord? A. As [Pg 21]this was a torture to my flesh, so might the recollection of it ever be to my flesh and conscience, if ever I attempted to reveal the secrets of Masonry unlawfully.

Q. Why was you conducted to the centre of the Lodge, and there caused to kneel for the benefit of a prayer? A. Before entering on this, or any other great and important undertaking, it is highly necessary to implore a blessing from Deity.

Q. Why was you asked in whom you put your trust? A. Agreeably to the laws of our ancient institution, no Atheist could be made a Mason; it was, therefore, necessary that I should believe in Deity; otherwise, no oath or obligation could bind me.

Q. Why did the Worshipful Master take you by the right hand and bid you rise, follow your leader, and fear no danger? A. As I was in darkness at that time, and could neither forsee nor avoid danger, it was to remind me that I was in the hands of an affectionate friend, in whose fidelity I might with safety confide.

Q. Why was you conducted three times regularly round the Lodge? A. That the Worshipful Master, Wardens and brethren might see that I was duly and truly prepared.

Q. Why did you meet with those several obstructions on the way? A. This, and every other Lodge is, or ought to be, a true representation of King Solomon's Temple, which, when completed, had guards stationed at the East, West, and South gates.

Q. Why had they guards stationed at those several gates? A. To prevent any one from passing or repassing that was not duly qualified.

Q. Why did you kneel on your left knee and not on your right, or both? A. The left side has ever been considered the weakest part of the body; it was, therefore, to remind me that that part I was then taking upon me was the weakest part of Masonry, it being that only of an Entered Apprentice.

Q. Why was your right hand placed on the Holy Bible, Square and Compass, and not your left, or both? A. The right hand has ever been considered the seat of fidelity, and our ancient brethren worshipped Deity under the name of Fides, which has sometimes been represented by two right hands joined together; at others, by two human figures holding each other by the right hand; the right hand, therefore, we use in this great and important undertaking, to signify, in the strongest manner possible, the sincerity of our intentions in the business we are engaged.

Q. Why did the Worshipful Master present you with a lamb-skin, or a white apron? A. The lamb-skin has, in all ages, been deemed an emblem of innocence; he, therefore, who wears the lamb-skin, as a badge of a Mason, is thereby continually reminded of that purity of life and rectitude of conduct, which is so essentially necessary to our gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe presides.

Q. Why did the Master make a demand of you of something of a metallic nature? A. As I was in a poor and penniless situation at the time, it was to remind me if ever I saw a friend, but more especially a brother, [Pg 22]in a like poor and penniless situation, that I should contribute as liberally to his relief as my abilities would admit and his situation required, without injuring myself or family.

Q. Why was you conducted to the northeast corner of the Lodge, and there caused to stand upright, like a man, your feet forming a square, receiving, at the same time, a solemn charge to walk and act uprightly before God and man? A. The first stone in every Masonic edifice is, or ought to be, placed at the northeast corner; that being the place where an Entered Apprentice Mason receives his first instructions to build his future Masonic edifice upon.

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THIRD SECTION.

Question—We have been saying a good deal about a Lodge, I want to know what constitutes a Lodge? Answer—A certain number of Free and Accepted Masons, duly assembled in a room or place, with the Holy Bible, Square and Compass, and other Masonic Implements, with a charter from the Grand Lodge, empowering them to work.

Q. Where did our ancient brethren meet before Lodges were erected? A. On the highest hills, and in the lowest vales.

Q. Why on the highest hills and in the lowest vales? A. The better to guard against cowans and enemies either ascending or descending, that the brethren might have timely notice of their approach, to prevent being surprised.

Q. What is the form of your Lodge? A. An oblong square.

Q. How long? A. From East to West.

Q. How wide? A. Between North and South.

Q. How high? A. From the surface of the earth to the highest heavens.

Q. How deep? A. From the surface to the centre.

Q. What supports your Lodge? A. Three large columns or pillars.

Q. What are their names? A. Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.

Q. Why so? A. It is necessary there should be wisdom to contrive, strength to support, and beauty to adorn, all great and important undertakings; but more especially this of ours.

Q. Has your Lodge any covering? A. It has; a clouded canopy, or starry-decked heaven, where all good Masons hope to arrive.

Q. How do you hope to arrive there? A. By the assistance of Jacob's ladder.

Q. How many principal rounds has it got? A. Three.

Q. What are their names? A. Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Q. What do they teach? A. Faith in God, hope in immortality, and charity to all mankind.

Q. Has your Lodge any furniture? A. It has; the Holy Bible, Square, and Compass.

Q. To whom do they belong? A. The Bible to God; the Square to the Master; and the Compass to the Craft.

Q. How explained? A. The Bible to God, it being the inestimable gift of God to man for his instruction, to guide him through the rugged paths of life; the Square to the Master, it being the proper emblem of [Pg 23]his office: the Compass to the Craft; by a due attention to which we are taught to limit our desires, curb our ambition, subdue our irregular appetites, and keep our passions and prejudices in due bounds with all mankind, but more especially with the brethren.

Q. Has your Lodge any ornaments? A. It has; the Mosaic, or checkered pavement; the indented tressel; that beautiful tesselated border which surrounds it, with the blazing star in the centre.

Q. What do they represent? A. The Mosaic, or checkered pavement, represents this world; which, though checkered over with good and evil, yet brethren may walk together thereon and not stumble; the indented tressel, with the blazing star in the centre, the manifold blessings and comforts with which we are surrounded in this life, but more especially those which we hope to enjoy hereafter; the blazing star, that prudence which ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct of every Mason, but more especially commemorative of the star which appeared in the East to guide the wise men to Bethlehem, to proclaim the birth and the presence of the Son of God.

Q. Has your Lodge any lights? A. It has; three.

Q. How are they situated? A. East, West, and South.

Q. Has it none in the North? A. It has not.

Q. Why so? A. Because this and every other Lodge is, or ought to be, a true representation of King Solomon's Temple, which was situated North of the ecliptic; the Sun and Moon, therefore, darting their rays from the South, no light was to be expected from the North; we, therefore, Masonically, term the North a place of darkness.

Q. Has your Lodge any jewels? A. It has; six; three movable and three immovable.

Q. What are the three movable jewels? A. The Square, Level, and Plumb.

Q. What do they teach? A. The Square, morality; the Level, equality; and the Plumb, rectitude of life and conduct.

Q. What are the three immovable jewels? A. The rough Ashlar, the perfect Ashlar, and the Tressel-Board.

Q. What are they? A. The rough Ashlar is a stone in its rough and natural state; the perfect Ashlar is also a stone, made ready by the working tools of the Fellow Craft to be adjusted in the building; and the Tressle-Board is for the master workman to draw his plans and designs upon.

Q. What do they represent? A. The rough Ashlar represents man in his rude and imperfect state by nature; the perfect Ashlar also represents man in that state of perfection to which we all hope to arrive, by means of a virtuous life and education, our own endeavors, and the blessing of God. In erecting our temporal building, we pursue the plans and designs laid down by the master workman on his Tressle-Board: but in erecting our spiritual building, we pursue the plans and designs laid down by the Supreme Geometrician of the Universe, in the Book of Life, which we, Masonically, term our spiritual Tressle-Board.

Q. Who did you serve? A. My Master.

Q. How long? A. Six days.

[Pg 24]Q. What did you serve him with? A. Freedom, Fervency, and Zeal.

Q. What do they represent? A. Chalk, Charcoal, and Earth.

Q. Why so? A. There is nothing freer than chalk, the slightest touch of which leaves a trace behind; nothing more fervent than heated charcoal; it will melt the most obdurate metals; nothing more zealous than the earth to bring forth.

Q. How is your Lodge situated? A. Due East and West.

Q. Why so? A. Because the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.

Q. A second reason? A. The gospel was first preached in the East and is spreading to the West.

Q. A third reason? A. The liberal arts and sciences began in the East and are extending to the West.

Q. A fourth reason? A. Because all the churches and chapels are, or ought to be, so situated.

Q. Why are all churches and chapels so situated? A. Because King Solomon's Temple was so situated.

Q. Why was King Solomon's Temple so situated? A. Because Moses, after conducting the children of Israel through the Red Sea, by divine command, erected a tabernacle to God, and placed it due East and West, which was to commemorate, to the latest posterity, that miraculous East wind that wrought their mighty deliverance; and this was an exact model of Solomon's Temple; since which time, every well regulated and governed Lodge is, or ought to be, so situated.

Q. To whom did our ancient brethren dedicate their Lodges? A. To King Solomon.

Q. Why so? A. Because King Solomon was our most ancient Grand Master.

Q. To whom do modern Masons dedicate their Lodges? A. To St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

Q. Why so? A. Because they were the two most ancient Christian patrons of Masonry; and, since their time, in every well-regulated and governed Lodge there has been a certain point within a circle, which circle is bounded on the East and the West by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing the anniversary of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were two perfect parallels, as well in Masonry as Christianity, on the vertex of which rests the Book of the Holy Scriptures, supporting Jacob's Ladder, which is said to reach the watery clouds, and, in passing round this circle, we naturally touch on both these perpendicular parallel lines, as well as the Book of the Holy Scriptures; and while a Mason keeps himself thus circumscribed, he cannot materially err.

END OF THE LECTURE, AND OF THE FIRST DEGREE.

It is proper to add here that very few Masons ever learn the Lecture. Of course, it is necessary that the officers of the Lodge should understand their own particular part, and that is generally all they learn.

The History Of The Illuminati

Image by Price|Photography via Flickr

The way Asians view Western history is astounding beyond imagination. We learn that everything we have been taught is a lie. We learn that we are being manipulated and herded like sheep by a secret elite. We learn that we live in a matrix of lies designed to keep us in slavery.

 

The implications are so vast that it is hard to know where to begin. Ultimately, to really understand, we must go back to the beginnings of Western civilization.

 

At the very dawn of history humans began farming along the banks of Euphrates river. People soon started digging canals. The resulting cornucopia created a population boom. Fights between alpha males escalated into a never-ending frenzy. From these constant battles for supremacy arose a tyrant who created a system for manipulating and controlling large masses of people. It was a system of laws combined with a system of mind control. His name was Hamurabi. His system of mind control was to create a book combining folk wisdom with propaganda. Because he could not be everywhere at once, he created the idea of an omnicient, omnipresent being that could see all and know all. In the book where this idea was introduced, Hamurabi had himself referred to as Abraham. Later a symbol of that god was created: it was an all seeing eye on the top of a pyramid.

 

So, while the Mesopotamian people built on the idea of an almighty God, there also actually existed, behind the scenes, a bearded man on a throne with god-like powers over his people. To control and awe his people, great displays of miracles and wonders were engineered.

 

A special sect of slave drivers was created to control the people on behalf of the god-king. This was the origin of the Freemasons. It took place 5771 years ago.

 

Later the tribe of the god-king invaded Egypt and the Masons added Egyptian slave driving technology to their arsenal.

 

Thus started, over the millenia, a sort of parallel cultural evolution between a ruling elite and the unwashed masses. We saw the rise of a group of elite families that keep their rule over the ignorant through a combination of control over grain supplies (or money supplies), knowledge, information and finally, control over life and death. People who learned about this elite were either inducted into it, killed or neutralized by assorted other means such as bankruptcy or ridicule.

 

There were many rebellions against these rulers. One notable one was by a person called Jesus Christ. He talked about things like men being born free and equal, about basic human dignity about the duty to protect the weakest members in society. Although he was executed for treason, his radical ideas spread like wildfire among the poor and down-trodden.

 

When the Romans invaded Judea and scattered the Jews, the Masons began offering their services to other kings and despots.

 

One faction of them eventually convinced a Roman emperor by the name of Constantine to compile a book that would both encompass the folk beliefs of his people and provide a way to herd them like sheep (The lord is my Shepherd). This was the birth of the Roman Catholic church. Over the years it expanded, absorbing ideas from other religions and folk beliefs along the way. Ideas that were not considered palatable were persecuted relentlessly in an effort to preserve and maintain a universal mental mono-culture.

 

Religious Christianity and Judaism, by reflecting the folk-wisdom of the ages, really do represent the real God in a scientifically provable manner. They reflect the cumulative wisdom of 3.5 billion years of evolution. It is the wisdom of our ancestors, it must be treated with great respect. It is ancient life's understanding of the reality of the universe that God created. The ideas that people found they liked in the Bible were selected by a process of natural cultural selection. In other words, people responded to the parts of the Bible that reflected what was in their hearts and what their own experience of the real world told them. Thus the Celtic peoples were naturally and gradually assimilated into this culture (with a few holdouts like Halloween).

 

Folk awareness of the secret controllers, and their determination to prevent them from doing evil was known as fighting the devil.

 

The reformation of Martin Luther was a rebellion against the Catholic mono-culture and the system of thought control originating in Rome.

 

Later, people with persecuted ideas found freedom in the New World and, as a result, America flourished as no civilization before.

 

But, in parallel to this genuine religious feeling of the people, the secret manipulators also evolved increasingly sophisticated ways to control the masses.

 

One group of people used an offshoot of the original Hamurabi school of Masonic mind control technology to create a large kingdom in central Asia. They were known as the Khazars. They were defeated by the Rus and Mongol empires and their elite class fled, with their treasure and their knowledge, into Europe and China.

 

The ones who fled to China were forced to flee again to Japan after the Mongol Kublai Khan conquered China.

 

The ones who fled to Europe curried favor with kings and princes and offered them their secret Masonic people-herding technology. Eventually a very elite group of them intermarried successfully with the royalty and became the ruling family of Europe. They were known as the Rothschilds and their secret rule of Europe continues to this day. Although they try to stay hidden and their past is filled with great evil, they also deserve much credit for helping make Europe and European culture so dominant in the world.

 

One of their secrets was to drive the people into conflict and war, both to strengthen them through competition and to profit from the sale of arms. Creating war also made the Celts easier to control because, in times of turmoil, people turn to their kings for protection.

 

The Rothschilds used money looted from India to finance the American revolution. Their aim was to strengthen their hand against the King of England. That is why Freemasonry is so central to American history. There was true idealism in their American adventure at first.

 

However, American Democracy proved to be unruly and hard to control. To keep the Americans under stricter discipline, they waged a 137-year battle to gain control of their currency. Control a people's money and you control their rations. It is the modern equivalent of keeping control over the keys to the granaries.

 

When their agents got control of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board in 1913, they immediately began preparations for war. Armed with American wealth, they triggered World War I. They conned the peace-loving Americans into the war by sinking the Lusitania. They were also able to subdue their long-term nemesis, Imperial Russia, by creating the Soviet Union. When Germany was defeated they demanded, and got, punitive tribute payments.

 

World War II was staged for several reasons: to reduce the world's population, to gain profits and to scare the Jews out of Europe and into Palestine. The Baron Rothschild (Adolf Hitler) got a little bit too ambitious and got off the long-term script of ruling the world from Mesopotamia and tried for an instant global empire with headquarters in Germany. At the end of World War II, the Masonic cabal tried to cement their control of the world by creating the United Nations. At the time, they controlled all 5 permanent Security Council members. They have since lost China and Russia.

 

In America, the Rockefellers and their fellow robber barons began a long-term program to complete their enslavement of the American people. They quietly and systematically gained control of the media, the text-book publishing companies and, by spreading their wealth liberally and strategically, were able to distort education. 

 

Their biggest con-job was to promote the so-called science of economics. Their so-called economics is Babylonian slave driving technology. It is essentially a mechanism for looting the people of their money. For example, Americans have had a certain mantra drummed into their heads nearly constantly for decades: government is bad, business is good. Think about it: government represents the people, business represents the rich. Maximizing shareholder value means increasing payments of tribute to the slave-driving class. Middle-class incomes have been driven down and both parents in a family are being forced to work in order to maximize tribute payments from the masses. It also forces parents to send their children to communal brainwashing institutes at an earlier, more receptive age.

 

A big turning point in the enslavement of the Americans was the broadcast of the War of the Worlds in 1938. What they learned from that is that if people will believe in a space alien invasion based on a radio play, they can be made to believe in practically anything. The age of television became the age of mass-brainwashing. A few would-be liberators, like John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, were assassinated in order to prevent the Americans from regaining their freedom.

 

Today the empire of the Babylonian slave-drivers is under threat like never before. First of all, large masses of humanity freed themselves from a form of Masonic slavery known as Colonialism. These people then began to gain both economic and intellectual power. The biggest threat now is the rise of China and India.

 

The 10,000 illuminati are now outnumbered by the humans they want to enslave by a ratio of close to 700,000 to one. With non-controlled humanity gaining in economic, military and intellectual power, the illuminati feel extremely scared and vulnerable. Cultures not under direct illuminati control now account for 83% of the World's population and over 60% of its wealth.

 

To deal with this situation, David Rockefeller and the descendants of J.P. Morgan and Averil Harriman (including the Bush family) cooked up an incredibly horrendous scheme to slaughter billions of the world's free people and then take advantage of the trauma of slaughter to enslave the rest.

 

The plan calls for an artificial armagedon to be launched that would start with a never ending "war on terror," followed by plagues, famine and possibly even a fake, and very lethal, alien invasion fleet.

 

The plan was so evil that it provoked a split in the illuminati ranks. A rebel group, centered around Jay Rockefeller and most of the Rothschilds, tried to take power from David Rockefeller and his clique with a so-called war on Global Warming. The plan was to neutralize one of the David Rockefeller clique's main sources of power: their control over oil. The Rothschilds also refused to finance the war in Iraq. Since their headquarters are in Europe (the BIS) they decided instead to try to turn the EU into a Babylonian style world monarchy.

 

To finance David's insane campaign, the Japanese people have been forced to work harder for lower pay. To maximize tribute payments from the Japanese, David Rockefeller also forced the Japanese government to hand him control of their entire banking system. The Japanese government tried to refuse and were threatened into submission with a new array of high-tech weaponry, including, if you can believe this, a weapon that caused an earthquake in Niigata Japan.

 

However, despite Japanese money, the plan is coming apart at the seams and threatening to end the entire illuminati long-term campaign to enslave humanity. The war in Iraq turned into a disaster. People caught on that 911 was an inside job. Vladimir Putin kicked them out of Russia.

 

The David Rockefeller faction now only really control North America and England.

 

And now that the Chinese secret societies have found out about race-specific diseases being aimed at them, they will start assassinating the entire David Rockefeller faction unless this criminally insane plan is called off.

 

What the whole world really hopes for is that the American people will free themselves before this madness can proceed any further. All they would have to do is arrest about a dozen of the most senior members of the David Rockefeller faction, starting with the old man himself.

 

My sources for this account include a broad array of extremely senior Japanese, Chinese and Russian government officials.