CHAPTER X.

ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: MICHAEL MAIER.

THIS celebrated German alchemist was born at Ruidsburg,
in Holstein, about the year 1658. In his youth, says the
"Biographic Universelle," he applied himself to the study of
medicine, and establishing himself at Rostoch, he practised
that art with so much success that he became physician to
the Emperor Rudolph II., by whom he was ennobled for
his services. Some adepts, notwithstanding, succeeded in
wiling him from the practical path he had followed so
long ; il se passionna pour le grand ceuvre, and scoured all
Germany to hold conferences with those whom he thought to
be in possession of transcendent secrets. Another account
declares that he sacrificed his health, his fortune, and his time
to these " ruinous absurdities." According to Buhle, he
travelled extensively, particularly to England, where he
made the acquaintance of Robert Fludd. He finished by
accepting the post of physician at Magdebourg, where he
died in 1622.

Michael Maier is one of the most important and inter-
esting persons connected with the Rosicrucian controversy.
He was the first to transplant it into England, "and as he
firmly believed in the existence of such a sect, he sought
to introduce himself to its notice \ but finding this impos-
sible," says Buhle, "he set himself to establish such an
order by his own efforts ; and in his future writings he

ROSTCRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: MICHAEL MAIER. 269

spoke of it as already existing — going so far even as to pub-
lish its laws." He was a voluminous and ingenious writer,
and, according to Langlet du Fresnoy, all his treatises were
excessively rare, even in the eighteenth century. " They
contain much curious material," says this writer, " and I
am astonished that the German booksellers, who publish
innumerable worthless works, have not condescended to
perceive that a complete collection of the writings of
Michael Maier would be more useful and command a larger
sale than the trash with which they overwhelm scholars
and the public generally."

This task still remains to be accomplished, and considera-
tions of space will prevent me from even supplying a
bibliography of these singular works. The most curious
of all is " Atalanta Fugiens," which abounds with quaint
and mystical copperplate engravings, emblematically reveal-
ing the most unsearchable secrets of Nature. This pro-
duction, with the " Tripus Aureus," or three tracts of Basil
Valentin, Thomas Norton, and Cremer, the Abbot of
Westminster, all of which were unearthed by the diligence
of Maier, seem to have appeared before he had immersed
himself in the insoluble Eosicrucian mystery. The
" Silentium Post Clamores," however, published at Franc-
furt in 1 6 1 7, professes to account not only for the speech in
season uttered by the Fraternity in its priceless manifestoes,
but for the silence which followed when it declined even to
reply to the pamphlets and epistles of persons seeking
initiation. The author asserts that from very ancient
times philosophical colleges have existed among various
nations for the study of medicine and of natural secrets, and
that the discoveries which they made were perpetuated from
generation to generation by the initiation of new members,

270 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

whence the existence of a similar association at that present
time was no subject for astonishment. The philosophical
colleges referred to are those of old Egypt, whose priests in
reality were alchemists, " seeing that Isis and Osiris are
sulphur and argmtum vivum " ; of the Orphic and Eleusi-
nian mysteries, of the Samothracian Cabiri, the Magi of
Persia, the Brachmans of India, the Gymnosophists,
Pythagoreans, £c. He maintains that one and all of these
were instituted, not for the teaching of exoteric doctrines,
but the most arcane mysteries of Nature. Afterwards he
argues that if the German Fraternity had existed, as it de-
clares, for so many years, it was better that it should reveal
itself, than be concealed for ever under the veil of silence,
and that it could not manifest itself otherwise than in the
" Fama " and " Confessio Fraternitatis," which contain
nothing contrary to reason, nature, experience, or the
possibility of things. Moreover, the Order rightly observes
that silence which Pythagoras imposed on his disciples, and
which alone can preserve the mysteries of existence from the
prostitution of the vulgar. The contents of the two mani-
festoes are declared to be true, and we are further informed
that we owe a great debt to the Order for their experimental
investigations, and for their discovery of the universal
Catholicon. The popular objections preferred against it are
disposed of in different chapters, e.g., the charges of necro-
mancy and superstition. The explicit statement of the
Society, that all communications addressed to it should
not fail to reach their destination, although they were
unknown and anonymous, proving apparently false, was a
special cause of grievance ; those who sought health and
those who coveted treasures at their hand were equally dis-
appointed, and, according to Michael Maier, appear to have

ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: MICHAEL MAIER.vji

been equally enraged. He expostulates with them, saying
Non omnis ad omnia omnibus horispamtus est, but his arguments
as a whole can hardly be deemed satisfactory. Locorum
absentia, personarum distantia, &c., could scarcely prove ob-
stacles to men who were bound by no considerations of space
and time, and readers of the inmost heart would have dis-
covered some who were worthy among the host of applicants.
A much larger work, " Symbola Aurese Mensae,"
published in the same year as the " Silentium Post
Clamores " also contains some references to the " College
of German Philosophers of E. C." The story of the founder
is reprinted, and Apollo with the twin muses are repre-
sented as contributing various vexatious metrical enigmas
for the benefit of those enquirers who desired to be directed
to the local habitation of the Order. Neither of these
works represents their author as personally connected with
the Rosicrucians, nor do they convey any information
respecting them. The same must be said of " Themis
Aurea, hoc est, De Legibus Fraternitatis R. C. Tractatus,"
which Maier published at Francfurt in 1618. It main-
tains that the laws in question are good, dilates upon
the pre-eminent dignity of the healing art, declares that
all vices are intolerable in physicians, and that the Rosi-
crucians are free from all. The most curious and important
point in the whole " Apologia" is that Maier declares the
" Universal Reformation " to have no connection with the
manifestoes of the Society, but to be a tract translated from
the Italian, and simply bound up with the "Fama."
Moreover, he earnestly endeavours to free the Order from
the imputation that it desired to reform the world.
Reformatio omnium hercesum potius ad Deum, quam hominem
spectat, nee a Fratribus affectatur. But whether the Com-

272 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

munis et Generalis Reformatio had any connection with the
Rosicrucians, or not, it is evident from the documents
about which there is no doubt or question, and particularly
from the " Fama Fraternitatis," that they believed a
general revolution to be at hand, and that they would
be concerned therein.

A posthumous tract of Michael Maier was published in
1624 by one of his personal friends, who explicitly states
that he is ignorant whether the departed alchemist, who so
warmly and gratuitously defended the cause of the Rosi-
crucians, was ever received into their number, but

that it is certain he was a Brother of the Christian Re-
ft

ligion, or a Brother of the Kingdom of Christ. This state-
ment may simply mean that he was a Christian and a man
of God, or, on the other hand, it may signify that he was a
member of the Christian Fraternity of Andreas. However
this may be, two Latin tracts, being translations from the
German made by the same friend of Maier, follow the
posthumous pamphlet of the alchemist. The first is a
colloquy on the Society by personages respectively
called Quirinus, Polydorus, Tyrosophus, Promptutus, and
Politicus. The second is an " Echo Colloquii " by Benedict
Hilarion, who professes to write " Mandato superiorum/'
to represent the order, and to be himself a Rosicrucian.
There are two mottoes on the title page of this work — the
one is per angusta ad augusta, the other

Augustis, Augusta, viis petit ardua virtus,
Non datur, ad ccelum currere lata via.

The writer refers in a kindly manner to the propagandist
labours of Michael Maier, and assures the anonymous but
illustrious Tyrosophus that his Rosicrucian apologies were
not written in vain, and hints broadly that he was at

ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: MICHAEL MAIER. 273

length admitted into their Order, which still holds out the
promise of initiation to others when the proper time shall
have arrived. This publication is singularly free from the
sectarian bitterness of the first manifestoes. It recognises
that all have erred, including Luther himself, and seems
animated by a reasonable and conciliatory spirit. At the
end there are published some " Declaratory Canons" of
the Order, which define God to be the Eternal Father, in-
corruptible fire, and everlasting light, discuss the genera-
tion of the invisible and incomprehensible Word of God,
and the tetradic manifestation of the elements.

In none of these works does the statement of Professor
Buhle, concerning the foundation of a Rosicrucian society,
and the publication of its laws, receive a particle of corro-
boration. The other works of Michael Maier are of a
purely alchemical nature, save and except some obscure
pamphlets which are not in the Library of the British
Museum, which I have therefore been unable to consult,
and which may contain the information in question; but
from my knowledge of Professor Buhle and his romantic
methods, I suspect his imagination has been unconsciously
at work on some doubtful passages in the writings which
have already been noticed, more especially as the personal
but anonymous friend who edited Maier's posthumous tract
entitled " Ulysses," knew nothing apparently of such a
pseudo-association, nor is it likely that the author of the
"Echo Colloquii" would hint at his initiation into the
genuine order if Maier had instituted a rival society, shin-
ing by the borrowed lustre of its name and its symbols.

However this may be, with the death of Michael Maier
the Eosicrucians disappear from the literary horizon of
Germany till the year 1710, when a writer, calling himself

s

274 HISTORY OF THE ROS2CRUCTANS.

S. R, that is, Sincerus Eenatus, otherwise Sigmund
Eichter, published at Breslau his " Perfect and True Pre-
paration of the Philosophical Stone, according to the Secret
of the Brotherhoods of the Golden and Eosy Cross," to
which is annexed the " rules of the above-mentioned Order
for the initiation of new members " and their enrolment
among the Sons of the Doctrine. This extraordinary pub-
lication was followed, in 1785-88, by the " Secret Symbols
of the Eosicrucians of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Cen-
turies," which, though published at Altona, seem to have
emanated from the same source. The latter work is also
of an alchemical nature, and no information of a historical
kind is to be found in either. I shall conclude this account
of the results of the Eosicrucian manifestoes in Germany
with the

Laws of the Brotherhood, as published by Sincerus Rmatus.

It is certain, says Semler, that the long series of regula-
tions enumerated by this writer were not adopted before
1622, for Montanus (Ludov. Conr. von Berger), who was
supposed to have been expelled from the Order in that
year, was not acquainted with them.