_Conclusion--Modern Rosicrucianism._
In Notes and Queries for Nov. 15th, 1886, we find the following:--"In the
Student's Encyclopaedia, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1883, I find
the following twofold statement: 'Even to-day a Rosicrucian lodge is said
to exist in London, whose members claim by asceticism to live beyond the
allotted age of man, and to which the late Lord Lytton vainly sought
admission.' May I ask whether anything authentic can be learnt (1) as to
the existence of these modern Rosicrucians, and (2) as to Lord Lytton's
failure to gain admission among them?"
In the number of Dec. 13 of the same year, the above query was thus
answered: "The Soc. Rosic. in Anglia still holds several meetings a year
in London. The Fratres investigate the occult sciences; but I am not aware
that any of them now practice asceticism, or expect to prolong life on
earth indefinitely. It is not customary to divulge the names of candidates
who have been refused admission to the first grade, that of Zelator, so
must ask to be excused from answering the question as to Lord Lytton.
WYNN WESTCOTT, _M.B., Magister Templi_."
In September of the previous year a correspondent asked if any one could
inform him if there were still any members of the society of the Rosy
Cross (or Rosicrucians); and if there were, how could one communicate with
them? Also if there were still any alchemists searching for the
philosopher's stone and the transmutation of metals? This evoked the
following reply:--
"Some say the modern Rosicrucians are the same as the Freemasons; but as
in the main they lived isolated, they could have been but slightly
connected with the masons. The range of celebrated men included in the
society is large:--Avicenna, Roger Bacon, Cardan, down to Mr. Peter
Woulfe, F.R.S., who lived at No. 2, Barnard's Inn, and was, according to
Mr. Brand, the last true believer in alchemy. But no doubt some few still
dabble in these occult things." Notes and Queries, Series 6, vol 8, 317.
On the same page of the same volume we have:--"The Rosicrucians are now
(how I know not) incorporate with, and form one of the highest ranks, if
not the highest rank, of English Freemasons." Also:--"In reply to Charles
D. Sunderland, allow me to say there are yet living both Rosicrucians and
Alchemists."
De Quincey does not hesitate for a moment in deciding as to the identity
between Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. He says:--"I shall now undertake
to prove that Rosicrucianism was transplanted to England, where it
flourished under a new name, under which name it has been since
re-exported to us in common with other countries of Christendom. For I
affirm as the main thesis of my concluding labours, that Freemasonry is
neither more nor less than Rosicrucianism as modified by those who
transplanted it to England." He then proceeds with an argument to shew
this identity between the two, an argument to which our limited space
forbids us to do more than briefly allude. He says:--"In 1633 we have seen
that the old name was abolished; but as yet no new name was substituted;
in default of such a name they were styled _ad interim_ by the general
term, wise men. This, however, being too vague an appellation for men who
wished to form themselves into a separate and exclusive society, a new one
had to be devised bearing a more special allusion to their characteristic
objects. Now the immediate hint for the Masons was derived from the legend
contained in the _Fama Fraternitatis_, of the "House of the Holy Ghost."
This had been a subject of much speculation in Germany; and many had been
simple enough to understand the expression of a literal house, and had
inquired after it up and down the empire. But Andrea had made it
impossible to understand it in any other than an allegoric sense, by
describing it as a building that would remain invisible to the godless
world for ever." Theophilus Schweighart also had spoken of it thus: "It is
a building," says he, "a great building, _carens fenestris et foribus_, a
princely, nay an imperial palace, everywhere visible, and yet not seen by
the eyes of man." This building in fact, represented the purpose or object
of the Rosicrucians. And what was that? It was the secret wisdom, or, in
their language, _magic_--viz., 1. Philosophy of nature, or occult
knowledge of the works of God; 2. Theology, or the occult knowledge of God
himself; 3. Religion, or God's occult intercourse with the spirit of man,
which they imagined to have been transmitted from Adam through the
Cabbalists to themselves. But they distinguished between a carnal and a
spiritual knowledge of this magic. The spiritual knowledge is the business
of Christianity, and is symbolised by Christ himself as a rock, and a
building of human nature, in which men are the stones and Christ the
corner stone. But how shall stones move and arrange themselves into a
building? "They must become living stones." But what is a living stone? "A
living stone is a mason who builds himself up into the wall as a part of
the temple of human nature." In these passages we see the use of the
allegoric name masons upon the extinction of the former name. In other
places Fludd expresses this still more distinctly. The society was
therefore to be a masonic society, in order to represent typically that
temple of the Holy Spirit which it was their business to erect in the
spirit of man. This temple was the abstract of the doctrine of Christ, who
was the Grand-master: hence the light from the East, of which so much is
said in Rosicrucian and Masonic books. After pursuing the matter in a
similar strain somewhat further, De Quincey sums up the results of his
inquiry into the origin and nature of Freemasonry as follows:--
1. The original Freemasons were a society that arose out of the
Rosicrucian mania, certainly within the thirteen years from 1633 to 1646,
and probably between 1633 and 1640. Their object was magic in the
cabbalistic sense--_i.e._, the occult wisdom transmitted from the
beginning of the world, and matured by Christ; to communicate this when
they had it, to search for it when they had it not: and both under an oath
of secrecy.
2. The object of Freemasonry was represented under the form of Solomon's
Temple, as a type of the true Church, whose cornerstone is Christ. This
Temple is to be built of men, or living stones: and the true method and
art of building with men it is the province of magic to teach. Hence it is
that all the masonic symbols either refer to Solomon's Temple, or are
figurative modes of expressing the ideas and doctrines of magic in the
sense of the Rosicrucians, and their mystical predecessors in general.
3. The Freemasons having once adopted symbols, &c., from the art of
masonry, to which they were led by the language of Scripture, went on to
connect themselves in a certain degree with the order itself of handicraft
masons, and adopted their distribution of members into apprentices,
journeymen, and masters. Christ is the Grand-Master, and was put to death
whilst laying the foundation of the temple of human nature.
4. The Jews, Mahomedans and Roman Catholics were all excluded from the
early lodges of Freemasons. The Roman Catholics were excluded on account
of their intolerance: for it was a distinguishing feature of the
Rosicrucians that they first conceived the idea of a society which should
act on the principle of religious toleration, wishing that nothing should
interfere with the most extensive co-operation in their plans except such
differences about the essentials of religion as make all co-operation
impossible.
5. Freemasonry, as it honoured all forms of Christianity, deeming them
approximations more or less remote to the ideal truth, so it abstracted
from all forms of civil polity as alien from its own objects, which,
according to their briefest expressions, are (1) The Glory of God; (2) The
service of men.
6. There is nothing in the imagery, mythi, ritual, or purposes of the
elder Freemasonry, which may not be traced to the romances of Father
Rosycross, as given in the Fama Fraternitatis.
De Quincey is not the only writer who has expressed himself to the effect
that the systems of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism are virtually
identical; others have said so as well, and in stating their views have
not scrupled to write most severely respecting what they believed to be
the tricks and impositions of both. Mr. George Soane in his "New
Curiosities of Literature," says of the Freemasons, that he can shew their
society sprang out of decayed Rosicrucianism just as the beetle is
engendered from a muck-heap. And further he says, "not a few of the old
nursery tales still maintain their ground amongst us; and of these
Freemasonry is the most disseminated and the most ridiculous." "Of
course," he continues "such an opinion will shock many gentlemen, who wear
aprons, leather or silk as the case may be, and who amuse themselves with
talking of light from the east, and the building of Solomon's Temple, and
with many other childish pranks, which if played off in the broad daylight
would be ridiculous."
He goes on to say:--"In wading through a mass of alchemical trash for very
different purposes, I was struck by the great similarity both of the
doctrine and symbols existing between the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons.
With more haste than judgment I at first imagined that the brethren of the
Rosy Cross were only imitators of the Freemasons, but after a long and
patient enquiry, pursued through more volumes than I should like to
venture upon again for such an object, I was forced to abandon my
position. The Freemasons did indeed, like the Rosicrucians, lay claim to
great antiquity, but while some of them modestly dated the origin of their
order from Adam, I could by no means trace it back farther than the first
half of the seventeenth century. Their historical assertions, when fairly
tested and examined, crumbled into dust; the negative proofs were as
strong against them as they well could be; and at length the conclusion
was to my mind inevitable."
Soane then proceeds to say:--"I feel not the slightest hesitation in
saying that the Freemasons have no secret beyond a few trumpery legends
and the attaching of certain religious and moral meanings to a set of
emblems, principally borrowed from the mechanical art of the builder. I
affirm too that all such symbols, with their interpretations, are of
Rosicrucian origin, and that the Freemasons never belonged to the working
guilds, their objects being totally different."
Professor Buhle in his last chapter maintains that "Freemasonry is neither
more nor less than Rosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted it
into England." Dr. Mackey, however, takes a contrary view, and in the
Synoptical Index to his "Symbolism of Freemasonry, and Rosicrucians,"
says:--"A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth
century, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. It was a
secret society much resembling the masonic in its organization and in some
of the subjects of its investigation, but it was no other way connected
with Freemasonry."
Fifty years ago a writer in the Penny Cyclopaedia said:--"Some say that the
order of Rosicrucians is identical with that of Freemasons, one of whose
degrees or dignities is called in some countries the degree of the Red
Cross. The Rosicrucians have not been heard of as a separate order for
nearly a century past, but some have thought that they continued to exist
under the name of the Illuminati, who were much talked of in Germany and
France in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Barruel, after
describing the ceremonies with which candidates were admitted to the
degree of Red Cross in some Freemasons' Lodges, which however, he says,
vary in different countries, observes that these ceremonies which were
apparently allusive to the Passion of Jesus Christ, were differently
interpreted, according to the dispositions of the candidates; that some
saw in it a memento of the Passion, others an introduction to the arcana
of alchemy and magic, and others at last a blasphenous invective against
the founder of Christianity which the Rosicrucians had derived from the
Templars of old."
* * * * *
THE ROSIE CRUCIAN PRAYER TO GOD.
JESUS MIHI OMNIA.
[Triangle]
"Oh Thou everywhere and good of All, whatsoever I do, remember, I beseech
thee, that I am but Dust, but as a Vapour sprung from Earth, which even
thy smallest Breath can scatter; Thou hast given me a Soul, and Laws to
govern it; let that Eternal Rule, which thou didst first appoint to sway
Man, order me; make me careful to point at thy Glory in all my wayes; and
where I cannot rightly know Thee, that not only my understanding, but my
ignorance may honour thee. Thou art All that can be perfect; Thy
Revelation hath made me happy; be not angry, O Divine One, O God the most
high Creator, if it please thee, suffer these revealed Secrets, thy Gifts
alone, not for my praise, but to thy Glory, to manifest themselves. I
beseech thee most gracious God, they may not fall into the hand of
ignorant envious persons, that cloud these truths to thy disgrace, saying,
they are not lawful to be published, because what God reveals, is to be
kept secret. But Rosie Crucian Philosophers lay up this Secret into the
bosome of God, which I have presumed to manifest clearly and plainly. I
beseech the Trinity, it may be printed as I have written it, that the
truth may no more be darkened with ambiguous language. Good God, besides
thee nothing is. Oh stream thyself into my Soul, and flow it with thy
Grace, thy Illumination, and thy Revelation. Make me to depend on Thee;
Thou delightest that Man should account Thee as his King and not hide what
Honey of Knowledge he hath revealed. I cast myself as an honourer of Thee
at thy feet. O establish my confidence in Thee, for thou art the fountain
of all bounty, and canst not but be merciful, nor canst thou deceive the
humbled Soul that trusts Thee: And because I cannot be defended by Thee,
unless I live after thy Laws, keep me, O my Soul's Sovereign, in the
obedience of thy Will, and that I wound not my Conscience with vice, and
hiding thy Gifts and Graces bestowed upon me; for this I know will destroy
me within, and make thy Illuminating Spirit leave me: I am afraid I have
already infinitely swerved from the Revelations of that Divine Guide,
which thou hast commanded to direct me to the Truth; and for this I am a
sad Prostrate and Penitent at the foot of thy Throne; I appeal only to the
abundance of thy Remissions. O my God, my God, I know it is a mysterie
beyond the vast Soul's apprehension, and therefore deep enough for man to
rest in safety in. O Thou Being of all Beings, cause me to work myself to
Thee, and into the receiving armes of thy paternal Mercies throw myself.
For outward things I thank Thee, and such as I have I give unto others, in
the name of the Trinity, freely and faithfully, without hiding anything of
what was revealed to me, and experienced to be no Diabolical Delusion or
Dream, but the Adjectamenta of thy richer Graces; the Mines and
deprivation are both in thy hands. In what thou hast given me I am
content. Good God ray thyself into my Soul, give me but a heart to please
Thee, I beg no more than thou hast given, and that to continue me,
uncontemnedly and unpittiedly honest. Save me from the Devil, Lusts and
Men: and for those fond dotages of Mortality, which would weigh down my
Soul to Lowness and Debauchment, let it be my glory (planting myself in a
Noble height above them) to contemn them. Take me from myself, and fill me
but with thee. Sum up thy blessings in those two, that I may be rightly
good and wise; And these for thy eternal Truths' sake grant and make
grateful."[5]
THE END.
S. & J. BRAWN, Printers, 13, Gate Street, Holborn, London, W.C.
Footnotes:
[1] Mackay, Pop. Delusions.
[2] Hist. of Philosophy, ii. 462.
[3] Mackay.
[4] New Curiosities of Literature, vol. 2, p. 46.
[5] The Holy Guide, 1652.
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Transcriber's note:
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"the the" corrected to "the" (page 5)
"Sytsem" corrected to "System" (page 11)
"Morever" corrected to "Moreover" (page 33)
"his" corrected to "is" (page 47)
"yon" corrected to "you" (page 58)
"nevertherless" corrected to "nevertheless" (page 59)
"inhabttants" corrected to "inhabitants" (page 89)
"and and" corrected to "and" (page 93)
"kness" corrected to "knees" (page 103)
"understauding" corrected to "understanding" (page 105)
"mdae" corrected to "made" (page 128)
Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and
hyphenation have been retained from the original.