[372] Weishaupt himself, overcoming his earlier antipathy to Freemasonry, had joined the Masons at Munich, in 1777, influenced particularly by his desire to find suggestions for the working out of the higher grades of his order. Out of this connection, and under the persuasion of Zwack, the plan of forming an alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry had occurred to Weishaupt’s mind before Knigge joined the order. One Masonic lodge, that of Theodore of Good Counsel, located at Munich, had, by the middle of 1779, come so completely under the influence of members of the Illuminati that it had come to be regarded as a part of the order. _Cf._ Forestier, p. 200. But here again the situation waited upon the energetic leadership of Knigge.
[373] _Ibid._, pp. 133 _et seq._ _Cf._ Engel, _op. cit._, pp. 114 _et seq._ Soon after Knigge was admitted to the order, Weishaupt found himself driven to make to the former a most humiliating confession. Knigge hesitated for some time before becoming a member, and to bring him to a decision Weishaupt painted the objects and character of the order before him in flaming colors. The Illuminati represented the greatest advancements in science, the most marvelous speculative philosophy, and a truly wonderful system to carry its purposes into effect. Having joined the order, Knigge’s suspicions were aroused on account of the feeble and trifling character of its organization; and Weishaupt, upon being repeatedly pressed for an explanation concerning the nature of the so-called higher grades, had finally to confess to Knigge that they did not exist. _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 218–226. Knigge’s resolution was staggered, but his courage was finally rallied because of the confidence which Weishaupt and the other leaders reposed in him. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 228 _et seq._
[374] _Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften_, vol. i, p. 108. _Cf._ Forestier, _op. cit._, p. 250; Engel, _op. cit._, p. 117.
[375] The ligament to bind the Illuminati and Freemasonry together was supplied by Knigge in the grades of the second class. _Cf._ Engel, _op. cit._, p. 115.
[376] Apparently these grades were never worked out. See Forestier, p. 250.
[377] Forestier devotes more than forty well-packed pages to a discussion of this phase of the subject. _Ibid._, pp. 251–294.