test secrets....[539]

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.[540]

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,"[541] and in which, Weishaupt adds later, He lived with His
disciples.[542] 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 doctri