NA TURE 



193 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1887. 



THE ROSICRUCIANS. 



The Real History of the Rosicrucians. By Arthur Edward 

 Wake. (London: George Redway, 1887.) 



WE have since the receipt of this work for review 

 endeavoured to ascertain what notions existed in 

 ihe brains of our acquaintances on the subject of the 

 Rosicrucians, and have posed the question " Who and 

 what were they?" to many sorts and conditions of men. 

 The minds of many were absolute blanks on this subject : 

 some thought it was the name of a benefit society — some 

 that it was a kind of freemasonry. One gentleman knew 

 Rosicrucian as " the winner of the Alexandra Plate at 

 Ascot in 1871," and but few had any intelligible notion on 

 the matter. We do not estimate our neighbours at a 

 much lower rate than the average ; and it may therefore 

 be granted that there is a large section of the British public 

 to whom the Rosicrucians and their doings are unbroken 

 ground, and that there is ample justification for the appear- 

 ance of a book which is calculated to dispel the prevailing 

 ignorance. 



Mr. Waite has already made "the mysteries of magic" 

 his theme, and consequently comes before us as no uncer- 

 tain guide in the mazes of the occult. In his present work 

 he furnishes a sketch of the state of mystical philosophy 

 in Gennany at the close of the sixteenth century, when 

 the Reformation had removed their fetters from the 

 inquirers. Of these there were many, for men's minds 

 seethed with an infinity of speculations, as well philosophical 

 as religious. The Neo-Platonic philosophy, which had 

 lingered throughout the Middle Ages, once again came into 

 more extended repute, and was professed by various dis- 

 ciples, until German mysticism culminated with Paracelsus. 

 It was at such a period of complex opinions and of 

 mystical ways of thought that the existence of the Rosi- 

 crucian fraternity was first revealed to the world. The 

 manifestoes put forth by the brotherhood consisted of the 

 " Fama Fraternitatis ; or a Discovery of the Fraternity of 

 the most Laudable Order of the Rosy Cross," and of the 

 "Confessio Fraternitatis R.C. ad Eruditos Europae." In 

 the latter work are incorporated "thirty-seven reasons 

 of their purpose and intention" : these condemn the Pope 

 and Mahomet ; offer vast treasure to the head of the 

 Roman Empire; disparage the moribund philosophy of 

 the day, offering in its place the meditations of the brethren 

 who arrogate to themselves an acquaintance with what is 

 transacted in the farthest regions of the earth. Great 

 promises of a general reformation are made ; the know- 

 ledge of Nature is eulogized beyond the transmutation of 

 metals or the possession of the supreme elixir. The 

 Society professes to accept the Bible as its oracle, whilst 

 it sagely condemns the innumerable expounders who 

 " make a sport of Scripture as if it were a tablet of wax." 

 The brethren were apparently unsuccessful as linguists, for 

 they are careful to explain that having the use of a magic 

 writing and language they are not so eloquent in other 

 tongues, "least of all in this Latin, which we know to be 

 by no means in agreement with that of Adam and of 

 Enoch." 



Vol. XXXVII.— No. 948. 



In the " Fama Fraternitatis " we have an exposition of 

 their religious views, a condemnation of "ungodly and 

 accursed gold-making," an offer of communion to 

 such as shall seek them in sincerity, and an account 

 of their origin. They claim that their founder was 

 brother C. R. C. (subsequently identified with Christian 

 Rosencreutz), a noble German born in 1378. At five years 

 of age he was placed in a cloister, " where he learned 

 indifferently the Greek and Latin tongues," and started 

 with one of the monks for Jerusalem, The monk died, 

 and brother C. R. C. never reached his destination ; but his 

 skill in physic obtained for him the favour of the Turks, 

 and becoming acquainted with the wise men of " Dam- 

 car," in Arabia, he came thither at the age of sixteen. 

 The unfortunate fact that " Damcar " is unknown to 

 chorographers prevents our gratifying our readers by 

 identifying its locality. Here he was received by the 

 learned as one long expected, and was initiated into their 

 arcane wisdom. Thus primed, he came, three years later, 

 to Egypt, and thence to Fez, where he acquired cognizance 

 of the elementary inhabitants, who revealed unto him 

 many of their secrets. After two years he set sail for 

 Spain to confer with the learned, generously offering to 

 correct their errors in moral philosophy and in the arts, as 

 well as the abuses obtaining in matters ecclesiastical. His 

 proposals were, for some unaccountable reason, slighted 

 by the Spanish savants, and the misprized brother returned 

 to Germany, gathered round him a few disciples, founded 

 the fraternity of the Rosy Cross, and died at the ripe age 

 of one hundred and six. His tomb was after the lapse of 

 one hundred and twenty years discovered, together with 

 many mystical adjuncts, in a concealed vault. His fair and 

 worthy body was found whole and unconsumed, and rest- 

 ing in proximity to the Vocabularium, Itinerarium, and 

 Life of Paracelsus. From the " Fama " we learn that the 

 brotherhood acknowledged the divinity of Jesus, the 

 resurrection, a personal devil, two sacraments, the Bible 

 as " the whole sum " of their laws, and the Pope as Anti- 

 christ. Such were their religious beliefs. In philosophy 

 they sought a universal synthesis ; they aimed at the sub- 

 stance at the base of all the vulgar metals ; they held, 

 although they did not originate, the doctrine that self- 

 propagating elemental beings people earth, air, fire, and 

 water, and believed in the signatitra rerum, a " certain 

 organic vital activity," which is frequently expressed in the 

 exterior form of things, indicating their interior qualities. 

 They seem to have used some form of practical magic, and 

 accepted as fact the transmutation of metals and the exist- 

 ence of " the supreme medicine of the world." With such 

 a nostrum in their possession the least they could do was to 

 heal the sick, and they were accordingly charged to do so 

 gratuitously. The whole manifesto concludes with a de- 

 claration that, although making no mention either of their 

 names or meetings, everyone's opinion should come to 

 their hands, in what language soever it be, and that none 

 giving their names should fail to receive a personal visit 

 or a written communication. 



Unfortunately, the assertions contained in the publica- 

 tions of the brotherhood are, as Mr. Waite shows, confuted 

 by a critical examination. We are asked to accept the 

 fabulous oriental city, the youth of brother R. C, in spite of 

 his precocious skill in physic, and his erection of a House 

 of the Holy Spirit, where an "unspeakable concourse of 



