Product Description

Strike, but hide the hand...
The end sanctifies the means...
Endeavor to gain or ruin ever rising character...

The society of the Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in the 1770s, operating covertly within the unknowing veil of honest Masonry. The Illuminati's goals were the overthrow of all government and religion, by any means at their disposal. Their methods included theft, embezzlement, murder, and assassination. Deceit, secrecy, and subterfuge were their common tools.

Linked with the Jacobians in Paris, and appearing in numerous countries under the cover of other secret societies, the Illuminati formented the terrors of the French revolution and other overthrow of the Swiss Republic, causing destruction and death across Europe.

The sect was uncovered and outlawed in 1790, which only drove it to greater secrecy. The poison of the Illuminati was announced and decried by the French Jesuit Abbe Barruel and the eminent English scientist Doctor Robison. These two men, so different in character, politics, and religion, had reached the same conclusion about the evils and effects of Illuminism. For their efforts, both were defamed and ridiclued, their characters questioned.

Seth Payson's Proof of the Illuminati draws from Barruel, Robison, and an array of other sources to show that rather than being stamped out, the Illuminati's pernicious influence was actively spreading its noxious decay. Originally written in 1802, this book still has a stark warning message that rings of truth to this day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115630 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Chapter VI, The Code of the Illuminees:

Nor is the candidate yet qualified to correspond with his new brethren, until he has acquired the cipher of the order. A simple one is prepared for the lower grades, but the superiors make use of hieroglyphics.

He now begins the study of the statutes of the society, and a morality extracted from heathen writers; but is told that the knowledge of mankind is above all other things important, and to acquire this, tracing characters, and noticing occurrences, are strenuously recommended; his observations are to be submitted to the review of his superiors.

In this stage of his novitiate, he is required to present the order with a written account of his name, place of birth and residence, age, rank, profession, favorite studies, books, secret writings, revenues, friends, enemies, parents, etc. A similar table is prepared by his instructor, of whatever he has been able to discover; and from a comparison of these, and his answers to a number of interesting questions, the superiors judge of the expediency of admitting him to the last proofs.

His admission being agreed upon, in the dead of night he is led to a gloomy apartment, and being repeatedly questioned respecting his readiness to devote himself to the order, he confirms his consent with a solemn oath, of which the following is a part, "I vow an eternal silence, an inviolable obedience and fidelity to all my superiors, and to the statutes of the order. With respect to what may be the object of the order, I fully and absolutely renounce my own penetration and my own judgment. I promise to look upon the interests of the order as my own; and as long as I shall be a member of it, I promise to serve it with my life, my honor, and my states." Having signed this oath, and with a sword pointed at his breast, being threatened with unavoidable vengeance, from which no potentate on earth can defend him, should he betray the order, he commences Minerval, and becomes a member of a lodge. Here Illuminism commences its connection with Masonry; and here those, who do not discover a disposition fully compliant with the views of their guides, are left to divert themselves with the three degrees of apprentice, fellowcraft, and master, and never attain any further acquaintance with Illuminism. But this, it was found, would not satisfy all candidates, and in particular, those who had previously been members of lodges; some intermediate degrees were therefore added, as the minor and major Illuminee, and Scotch Knight.

The Minervals hold frequent meetings under the direction of some more illuminated superior. These meetings are professedly devoted to literary pursuits, but particular care is taken to give the discussions a direction which shall coincide with the designs of Illuminism. That suicide is lawful under pressing dangers and calamities; that the end sanctifies the means, or that theft and murder become commendable when committed to advance a good cause, are sentiments frequently brought into view in the meetings of the Minervals. From these discussions the superiors judge of the propriety of advancing the candidate to the next degree, which is that of Illuminatus Minor. The members of this class have meetings similar to those of the former degree, but their instructors are taken only from among those who have attained the rank of priest, and who are directed to labor to remove what, in the language of Illuminism, is termed political and religious prejudices. The candidates are now to be formed for useful laborers. They are put upon studying the secret arts of controlling the mind, of seizing the favorable moment, of discovering and addressing the ruling passion, or acquiring a pliancy and versatility of address, and of concealing their views and feelings from others. As they are found qualified, they have more or less of the minerval degree committed to their inspection.

Previous to his advancement to the next degree, the candidate is subjected to another scrutinizing examination respecting his views, and devotedness to the interests of Illuminism. He is likewise required to give the order a new proof of his confidence, by exhibiting an exact record of his whole life written without reservation. The design of the Institutor in requiring this, appears from his own remarks on this part of his code; "Now I hold him; if he should wish to betray us, we have also his secrets."

The history which the candidate gives of himself, is compared with the one already formed, in the records of the order, from the returns made by his Instructor, and the discoveries of invisible spies, in which, everything relating to his character, abilities, weaknesses, passions, prospects, attachments, aversions, education, and even language, gait, and physiognomy, are noticed in perhaps fifteen hundred particulars. To impress the mind of the adept with the strongest sense of the activity of the order, and the folly of expecting to escape its vigilance, this portrait of himself is put into his hands, and he is again questioned respecting his disposition to unite with such a society.

The disposition of the candidate being sounded by a new series of questions, and having been repeated the former oaths of secrecy, and devotedness to the order, he passes through the initiating forms, by which means he becomes Illuminatus Major, or Scotch Novice. It is impossible, I find, in this brief sketch, to give a full view of the slow, artful, and insidious process by which the mind is powerfully, though insensibly, drawn from the possession of its former principles, and fired with a fanciful idea of soon attaining the regions of sublime wisdom.

Customer Reviews

Far-reaching, but interesting
This book starts by starting some known facts about the Illuminati. This was an actual group in Bavaria that infiltrated some of the Masonic lodges and actively subverted them to their own ends. They definitely did not have the good of society in their interests, unless one considers personal aggrandizement of a few individuals a good thing.

The book then attempts to connect the Illuminati to all manner of other organizations; this is sometimes plausible, but often a bit sketchy. Some of this works -- there is a criticism of Diderot's famous Encyclopedia. The Encyclopedia produced a maelstrom of such accusations when it came out, and, despite its vaunted technical prowess, it had copied heavily from existing works. It's (the Encylopedia) flaws are many, and subversive cross-referencing is believable.

The book details all manner of horrible events, especially some connected with the Terrors of the French Revolution. That this is the work of the Illuminati as a society is obviously false; but, the book maintains that the premises of the Illuminati are at work here, even though they are going on under a different name. It is plausible, if a far-fetched. If one reads it as the *ideas* of the Illuminati are now at work in the world, then it is plausible, but claiming that there is a vast conspiracy doesn't hold up so well.

Lastly, the book has a political rant that could practically be inserted into a modern newspaper with but a few names and places changed. The author, Payson, is for the Alien and Sedition Acts (shades of the Patriot Act). He is against partisan politics, and feels that special interest groups, such as the illuminati, have far to great a power in the U.S. government.

Fascinating, but of historical value only
Payson's is an interesting book, but its major value lies in its existence as a re-issue of a historical American piece of polemical writing then any independent literary or factual merit.

Composed toward the conclusion of the 'illuminati scare' in New England (1798-1802) under the title 'Proofs of the Real Existence and Dangerous Tendency of Illuminism, etc.' (Charleston 1802), Payson's text demonstrates all the hallmarks of being a severely biased and polemical work. Internal evidence betrays its origins in a distinct anti-masonic intellectual milieu, and Payson takes significant care to refute a number of contemporaneous pamphleteers who supported masonry in the face of the Illuminist Hysteria, such as the aptly named Thaddeus Mason Harris.

In terms of its treatment of Weishaupt's Illuminati, Payson naturally borrows heavily from the influential books of Barruel and Robison, the arrival of which in New England sparked the hysteria in the first place. The summation presented is adequate and concise, and Payson adds a few flourishes of his own, which, in a work which is more fiction than fact anyway, fit right in.

A major stumbling point for the author comes in his attempt to provide the 'proofs' mentioned in the title. It is established fact to Payson that the Illuminati were in New England. To this end a citation of the sermons of Morse, Harris and Timothy Dwight's masterpiece of alarmist oratory, are invoked. But is this really the case? While Stauffer's careful and fascinating deconstruction of the panic puts paid to the objective reality of such an assertion, Payson himself draws on other polemical pamphlets of the furore as if they were objective gold. The result is quite comical, and the fact that so many people could be convinced by such slight 'proofs' provides a fascinating insight into the paranoid culture of early New England society. Incidentally, Richard Hofstadter has dealt in depth with this aspect of the incident in his 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics.'

This is a significantly interesting work to read in light of Vernon Stauffer's _New England and the Bavarian Illuminati_ (1918), but is of a low merit otherwise. I do, however, applaud ICP's decision to reprint it, even if it is marketed in a significantly more sinister vein than the content of the work itself warrants.

Keeping an open mind
The proof is out there and not hard to see. People who continue to ignore these facts are naive and very blind. Majority of people are programmed to disreguard any material like this, claiming that the author is not credible. Well guess what, they arent all crazy!!!The people who deny the illuminati's extience are crazy.

It is good that through all the pressure and opposition to realease facts about the biggest lie in human existance that companies contiue to take risks and realease books like this.

I do not belive the realease of this book will change the minds of many, but it should be known that there has to be some creedance to the fact that the illuminati have popped up many times throughout human history, the risks of not knowing are too great.
PLEASE GET INFORMED I BEG OF YOU ALL, READ THE BOOK!!!