Some early ideas on Rosicrucianism

...could not prevent the growth of a Lutheran mysticism in which the Rosicrucian propaganda—for so it may be called—flourished. It was a period of restructuring, and the arts and professions were divided by various opinions. There was talk, too, of the millennium, of the second coming of Christ, and of the downfall of the fourth monarchy mentioned in the Book of Revelation; alongside all of this, there was a development of personal pietism a movement within Lutheranism emphasizing individual devotion and holy living, such as the kind recorded in the novel John Inglesant A historical novel by J.H. Shorthouse, published in 1881, which explores 17th-century religious mysticism..

The fact that Rosicrucianism originated in Germany was no obstacle to its spread in this country. The Germans had been described as an essentially mystical people—that is, the Germans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The publication in 1614 of the pamphlet setting forth a scheme for the Universal Reformation of the World, and the simultaneous issue of the Fama Fraternitatis Latin: "The Fame of the Brotherhood", were followed the next year by the publication of the Confessio Latin: "The Confession of the Brotherhood". Even now, we cannot say exactly how they came to light, but they seem to have spread over Europe like wildfire and to have produced a remarkable amount of literature, both in support and in opposition. It is noteworthy that "The Invisibles" a common name for the Rosicrucian Brotherhood were taken seriously even by the police, and certain people in Paris who claimed to be members were imprisoned because of the boldness of their claim.

Why was the second decade of the seventeenth century the appropriate period for making public the beliefs which "The Invisibles" had kept so carefully for 120 years? They claimed that when their founder died in 1484, having reached the age of 126 years, he had left instructions that his tomb was to remain untouched for 120 years. That period having passed, the Brothers Fratres took up their duty of the universal reform of the world by means of the knowledge of which they were the sole possessors. They also declared that they possessed a divine intuition by which they recognized those who were capable of joining their company. They had discovered a new language in which to explain the nature of all created objects. They had power over spirits, both good and evil. Above all, their philosophy, being opposed to Rome, was in harmony with the religious developments that had followed Martin Luther.

They possessed the power of defeating even their physical enemies without the use of arms. It was, they explained, as a result of exercising this very power that they felt compelled to make known their existence and the grounds of their faith. Certain Spaniards, having taken the name of the Illuminati referring to the Alumbrados, a mystical sect in Spain, had been condemned by the Inquisition; the Brothers consequently felt forced to publish the two manifestos in which they explained what they claimed and refuted the false charges made against them.

It is an illustration of the mindset of the time that one of the reasons for the suspicion toward the Rosicrucians was that the members of the fraternity practiced medicine and used their secret knowledge for healing purposes without expecting any payment or—

—reward. One of the extremes to which Lutheranism had gone was the development of a harsh materialism, which regarded the act of giving away such extremely valuable advice and knowledge for free as a sound reason for suspicion. This point of view is still to be found among us today.

In early criticisms of Rosicrucian literature, frequent reference is made to the knowledge of the Kabbalah a system of Jewish mysticism and esoteric interpretation which they claimed to possess. It is worth emphasizing, I think, that what was meant by "Kabbalah" in that context was not specifically the Hebrew Kabbalah, but all kinds of secret knowledge, magic, and similar subjects.

In commenting upon the early days of Rosicrucian development, we cannot omit a reference to the role played by Johann Valentin Andreae, who in 1616 published The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. This is considered by some to be little more than a satire or a parody of the Fama and the Confessio which had preceded it; others, however, regard him as having done truly valuable work by making the books that The Chemical Wedding appeared to criticize and mock more widely known. Three years later, in another book, The Tower of Babel, Andreae seemed to have set himself even further toward exposing the visionaries; and yet in his autobiography, he expressed regret for having laughed at the Rosicrucians. It is remarkable to find that Andreae is regarded by some critics as the author of the early Rosicrucian manifestos.

The matter is apparently still in doubt, but the same doubt hangs over the origins of all the books and the entire theory. Our Brother Frater Waite Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1942), a prominent occultist and historian of the Rosicrucians has referred to the earlier Rosicrucians as "Lutheran disciples of Paracelsus" Paracelsus (1493–1541) was a Swiss physician, alchemist, and mystic. We may never know the origins of our Society, but we know at least this: the age of miracles is not past. There is still an enormous amount of knowledge to be gained about the world and ourselves. Quite apart from anything that science may learn while investigating the claims of the alchemists, there is a lesson for each and every one of us to learn and, even more, to apply.

We regard it as our duty in the Craft Freemasonry to endeavor to change the rough ashlar into the perfect ashlar Masonic symbols for the moral and spiritual refinement of the individual. The mystical application of that effort is surely the lesson of personal regeneration. It is the continual effort—if not to understand (which seems beyond human intelligence), then at least to love the Divine from which we have come and to which we expect to return. We must cultivate and practice the highest and the best in the ordinary affairs of our lives; we must transmute not the base metals of the earth into gold, but the baser elements of our own being into something that will justify the belief that we are the "temples of the Holy Spirit."