Drawing, as he professed, upon Morse’s fast day discourse and upon President Dwight’s sermons on _infidel philosophy_,[654] Tappan essayed a sketch of the objects and operations of the Illuminati, from the time of the founding of the order by Weishaupt to its supposed connections with the French Revolution, and the successes which it had enabled the French armies to accomplish through its intrigues “in various and distant parts of the world.” The conspiracy, it is true, might not be as extensive in its scope as had been claimed; but even so, the _undoubted_ aspects of the situation were sufficient to afford ground for most grave apprehension. “If these and similar facts,” the clergyman continued, “do not evince so early and broad a system of wickedness as this writer[655] supposes (the truth of which in _all_ its extent the speaker is not prepared to support), yet they indicate a real and most alarming plan of hostility against the dearest interests of man.”[656] The question of the general credibility of the claims which Robison had made, as well as the implication of the Masons in the “conspiracy,” came in for special consideration by Tappan when his sermon was prepared for publication.[657] Concerning the former, the observation is made that the ridicule and incredulity which have opposed themselves to the report of a scheme so novel, extravagant, and diabolical, were to have been expected. At any rate, much of the opposition has come from men whose wishes and opinions have been offended, or from those who have shown themselves to be ardent friends of political and religious innovation. And with regard to the Masons, it is urged that the displeasure which certain worthy members of that fraternity have expressed against Robison ought not to be permitted to become so violent as to render impossible a candid and thorough examination of the proofs he has submitted. Robison’s _opinion_ respecting the universal frivolity or mischievous tendency of the assemblies of the European Masons may be incorrect and injurious, and at the same time the leading facts upon which he founds that opinion may be true. To manifest a willingness to investigate with candor the proofs that have been presented, while continuing to hold in esteem “the approved characters of the principal Masons in this country, especially in the Eastern States,” this, Tappan advises, represents the middle course that his readers should attempt to steer.[658]