Freemasonry Anti Christianity Shown Dillon

War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization: Lectures Delivered in Edinburgh in October 1884, by George F. Dillon. 2010

Freemasonry: Why and How An Enemy of Christian Civilization. Freemasonry and the Partitions of Poland

Nowadays, traditional Catholic (notably Polish Catholic) negativism towards Freemasonry is usually painted as fear of a bogeyman. As this eye-opening book shows, it clearly was and is not.

The author was a Roman Catholic priest. This book (review based on original 1885 edition) is valuable in several respects. It shows how Freemasonry developed, and it helps the reader understand, for example, why some Polish traditionalist Catholics still refer to Masons in a pejorative sense.

MILITANT ANTI-CHRISTIAN ROOTS OF FREEMASONRY

The militant atheist Voltaire joined the Masons (p. 8), and used Freemasonry to disseminate his views. (pp. 24-25). Adam Weishaupt of Germany, who became a militant anti-Christian like Voltaire, and founded the Illuminati, also used Freemasonry to advance his goals. (pp. 29-30).

“Freemasonry, we must remember always, appeared generally and spread generally, too, in the interests of all that Voltaire aimed at, when it best suited his purpose. The first lodge established in France under the English obedience was in 1727. Its founder and first master was the celebrated Jacobite, Lord Derwentwater. It had almost complete acceptance from the degenerate nobility of France…” (p. 16).

“A Portuguese Jew, named Martinez Pasqualis, was the first to introduce Illuminism into the Lodge of Lyons, and his system was afterwards perfected in wickedness by Saint Martin, from whom French Illuminism took its name. Illuminism means the extreme extent of immorality, Atheism, anarchy, leveling, and bloodshed, to which the principles of Masonry could be carried. It meant a universal conspiracy against the Church…” (p. 27).

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND AFTERMATH

The French Revolution went hand in hand with Freemasonry: “I have said that the revolutionary rulers in France were all Illuminati–that is Freemasons of the most pronounced type–whose ultimate aim was the destruction of every existing religion and form of secular government, in order to found an atheistic, social republic, which should extend throughout the world and embrace all mankind.” (p. 45).

The Carbonari of Italy were originally religious until infiltrated and co-opted by Freemasons. (p. 64). Later, the Masonic ALTA VENDITA described how the Italian Church was to be infiltrated and destroyed. (p. 65-on).

Finally, Dillon uses the term Freemasonry in a typological sense to encompass ALL movements whose goal is the destruction of Christianity. “In our day, if Masonry does not found Jacobite or other clubs, it originates and cherishes movements fully as satanic and as dangerous. Communism, just like Carbonarism, is but a form of the illuminated Masonry of Weishaupt. `Our end’ said the ALTA VENDITA, `is that of Voltaire and the French Revolution.’ Names and methods are varied, but that end is the same.” (p. 111).

NOT ALL BRANCHES OF FREEMASONRY ARE NECESSARILY BAD. BUT…

The author agrees with those who contend that the views of continental Freemasons, in general, did not spread to the British Isles. He comments:”…on the whole, the lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland remained loyal to Monarchy and to religion.” (p. 121).

However, Dillon believes that, even in its most innocuous form, Freemasonry is essentially anti-Christian. He asks, if Freemasonry is indeed about nothing other than brotherly love and mutual assistance, why the secrecy and the oaths? (p. 125). The secrets are not only kept from non-Masons, but also from those Masons of lower rank. (p. 57). Divulging of the secrets leads to the death penalty. Dillon adds: “Masonry, even in its most innocent form, is a criminal association. It is criminal in its oaths, which are at best rash; and it is criminal in promising obedience to unknown commands coming from hidden superiors.” (p. 89). Good points!

THE “GOD” OF FREEMASONRY IS HARDLY GOD AT ALL

For all its professions of being neutral towards religion, Freemasonry is not. It begins with a concept of “God” so diluted that a (pre-ecumenical) Christian and non-Christian would both be comfortable with it. Freemasonry eschews mention of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, etc. (p. 31). As the Freemason advances in rank, the oaths speak of a more and more abstract “God”. The end is a “God” indistinguishable from the pantheism of Freemason Adam Weishaupt. (pp. 132-133). If everything is God, then nothing is God.

FREEMASONRY AND THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND

During the late 18th century, the pernicious influence of Freemasonry had been facilitated by the moral state of many European rulers, as pointed out by Dillon: “The Courts of Europe were, in general, corrupt to the core; and the Court of the Most Christian King was perhaps the most abandoned, in a wide sense, of them all. The Court of Catherine of Russia was a scene of unblushing lewdness. The Court of Frederick of Prussia was so corrupt, that it cannot be described without doing violence to decency, and even to humanity.” (p. 7). He continues: “The Court of Vienna was more or less Masonic since the reign of the wretched Joseph II…Fessler, an apostate Austrian religious, the Councillor of Joseph II, after having abjured Christianity, remained, while professing a respect for religion, its most determined enemy. He founded what is known as the Tugenbund, a society by which German Freemasonry put on a certain Christian covering, in order more securely to outlive the reaction against Atheism, and to de-Christianize the world again at a better opportunity.” (p. 53).

Although Dillon does not mention it, all three of the rulers singled out by him in the previous paragraph were the ones directly responsible for the Partitions of Poland! What’s more, the severe oppression of Prussian-occupied Poland, by the likes of Bismarck, which included the kulturkampf against the Catholic Church, took place as follows: “Bismarck…hastened to pay to Freemasonry his promised persecution of the Church. The Freemasons in the German Parliament, and the Ministers of the sect, asked him to prepare measures against the Catholic religion as drastic as those in operation in Italy, even worse in many respects.” (p. 109).