Freemasons, Illuminati & Templars - the Jesuit scam

The origin of the conspiracy theory that the Illuminati survived 1785 lies ultimately with a French Jesuit priest, Augustin Barruel.  Life had become increasingly difficult for Papists and their priests in France, but when the French Revolution occurred, Barruel fled France and found safety in England.  His aggression and research had for some time been regarding the rise of secular thought in Europe.  As his role as a Jesuit required, he wrote against Napoleon and the Revolution and sought to turn the British against the French, cleverly causing Rome’s enemies to fight each other.
From London, Barruel wrote Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism in 1797.  He postulated that the Illuminati had continued, despite evidence to the contrary, and were working through Freemasonry in a conspiracy to establish governments which were antimonarchical and anticlerical.  It was soon translated into English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian etc. and became a transnational sensation.  Even political figures began to take the claims seriously and public discussion became so unavoidable that Freemasons from across Europe began writing openly in their defence against the theory.[1]

The reality is that there was not any organised force behind the enlightenment or the genuine desire in men’s hearts to be free from oppression, whether it be religious or otherwise, in the establishment of secular societies.  This was the general consensus for many throughout Europe, as it is today.   

As men became more educated during the Enlightenment and the Renaissance, many broke free from Rome during the Protestant Reformation, as did whole nation states.  Likewise, the desire within the common, unbelieving European was increasingly to be free from nominal Christianity altogether and to replace it with something closer to Rationalism.  This was not brought about by any secret society; the secret societies which formed with these agendas were purely symptomatic of the fact that many hated Roman Catholicism’s oppressive stance of the time and wanted liberty.  People wanted religious freedom as well as social freedom.
The greatest evidence for this was the founding of the United States of America.

So, Barruel took advantage of the rise of secular thought by declaring that it was none other than the work of the Illuminati which (although it had actually been shutdown by the Bavarian government) somehow survived and was wreaking havoc.  Because Rome feared any movement which sought a separation of church and state, Barruel took advantage of the fact that the French Revolution was an expression of a desire to explore different methods of government and portrayed this as the distant smoke of a spreading fire which could destroy European monarchies and the very fabric of society.  This successfully helped in stirring up the British against the French.  Indeed, this deliberately hatched conspiracy theory has continued to dupe a vast number of Evangelical Christians today.  

Sadly, at exactly the same time, a Roman Catholic monk and secret agent, Alexander Horn, who wrote much about his hate of the French Revolution and the demise of his hope for a Holy Roman Empire.  He thus provided the material for Scots Professor John Robison to write Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of the Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies.  This was just as successful and influential in its own right.  

An American pastor sent a copy of this book to President George Washington to learn his thoughts on the matter, to which he responded: 

‘It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation). That Individuals of them may have done it, or that the founder, or instrument employed to found, the Democratic Societies in the United States, may have had these objects; and actually had a separation of the People from their Government in view, is too evident to be questioned.’[2]   

George Washington could see that the Secularist principles, particularly the separation of church and state, held to previously by the Bavarian Illuminati, were not unique to them or to the Freemasons but were principles held to by many individuals and organisations and even expressed by the principles of liberty in the United States Constitution.  But, even though he was a Freemason himself, he was very nearly convinced by this conspiracy theory too.  As we have seen, this was the natural desire of the masses in Europe also; it was not some secret plot being orchestrated.

Nevertheless, this theory has continued to be popularised in more recent times by Nesta Webster, William Guy Carr and, today, by any number of Christians warning us of a coming New World Order at the hands of the Illuminati.

Moreover, Jesuit Barruel was also responsible for popularising the oddball theory of famous French Pharmacist and medical aide to Napoleon, Cadet de Gassicourt, that Freemasonry was actually a resurgence of the Knights Templar.  As well as fancifully connecting various unrelated secret societies, he devised the idea that a Templar remnant hid for centuries, waiting to avenge the execution of their grand master on the Papacy which had abolished them and that they had ignited the French Revolution to do so.  The fact is that despite being a very influential man, not even his closest fellow-revolutionaries agreed with Cadet de Gassicourt.[3]

Just think how popular these ideas are today.  The moral of this story is that propaganda, like gossip, spreads fast and it should stop at us.

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[1] Campbell, P., Kaiser, T., Linton, M. (2007) Conspiracy in the French Revolution, Manchester University Press, p.152

[2] Washington, G. (24/10/1798) To Reverend G. W. Snyder

[3] Campbell, P., Kaiser, T., Linton, M. (2007) Conspiracy in the French Revolution, Manchester University Press, p.152