nistes, whose doctrines, though derided by Weishaupt,
were useful to his plan in attracting by their mystical character those
who would have been repelled by the cynicism of the Illuminati.
According to Barruel, it was the Martinistes who--following in the
footsteps of the Rosicrucians--had suggested to Weishaupt the device of
presenting Christ as an "Illuminatus" which had led to such triumphant
results amongst the Protestant clergy.

But if Weishaupt made use of the various masonic associations, they on
their account found in him a valuable ally. The fact is that by this
time both French and German Freemasons were very much at sea with regard
to the whole subject of Masonry and needed someone to give a point to
their deliberations. Thus at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened on
July 16, 1782, and attended by representatives of masonic bodies from
all over the world, the first question propounded by the Grand Master of
the Templars (i.e. the Stricte Observance) was: "_What is the real
object of the Order and its true origin_?" So, says Mirabeau in relating
this incident, "this same Grand Master and all his assistants had worked
for more than twenty years with incredible ardour at a thing of which
they knew neither the real object nor the origin."[604]

Two years later the Freemasons of France do not appear to have been any
less in the dark on this matter, for we find them writing to General
Rainsford, one of the English Masons who had been present at the
Congress of Wilhelmsbad, as follows:

Since you say that Masonry has never experienced any variation in
its aim, do you then know with certainty what this unique object
is? Is it useful for the happiness of mankind?... Tell us if it is
of an historical, political, hermetical, or scientific nature?...
Moral, social, or religious?... Are the traditions oral or
written?[605]

But Weishaupt had a very definite object in view, which was to gain
control of all Freemasonry, and though he himself was not present at the
Congress, his coadjutor Knigge, who had been travelling about Germany
proclaiming himself the reformer of Freemasonry, presented himself at
Wilhelmsbad, armed with full authority from Weishaupt, and succeeded in
enrolling a number of magistrates, savants, ecclesiastics, and ministers
of state as Illuminati and in allying himself with the deputies of
Saint-Martin and Willermoz. Vanquished by this powerful rival, the
Stricte Obse