Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry

151.Says a student: " There can be no doubt that the Theosophical and Magical Union above mentioned did exist as an organized Secret Society. The correspondence of Cornelius Agrippa von Nettersheim shows that he was a member of such a Secret Society ('Militia Crucifera Evangelica '), and it is further asserted that when he was in London he established a ^[97] branch of it in that city. Fludd (the Rosicrucian), as showing that secret societies existed in the Universities, has the passage 'notwithstanding any allegiance which I may have vowed by a ceremonial Rite to Aristotle (the Gnostic principles were spread under the form of Aristotelean Philosophy at Paris and elsewhere) in my youth. These societies used the double Triangles, or Seal of Solomon, and in the ruins of one of the old Temple Preceptories in France was found a copper medallion with the Lamb surmounted by this Cabalistic symbol. " '

152.''Two points," writes Cooper-Oakley, "in this interesting note can be corroborated by further evidence. The Rosicrucian manuscript mentioned in paragraph 2 is also mentioned on page 56 of a most valuable German book by Friedrich Gottlieb Ephraim Weisse, or Magister Pianco; it is called Der Rosenkreutzer in seiner Blosse, (Amsterdam, 1781). Some extracts from it will not be without interest, for it refers to the other body of 'Wise-Men,' who were known as the 'Unknown Heads' of many of the small societies. The conditions of entrance are briefly given, as follows:

3." 'Whosoever wished to be admitted to the secrets, and afterwards to be initiated, must be a man of honour and of true spiritual power; and he must be already of considerable learning; for only those were accepted, of whom it could be hoped that they would be of great service to the Sacred Alliance.

10." 'The Initiates wore a triangle, symbolical of ^[98] the three qualities of the Dumiurgos — Power, Wisdom and Love.

" 'The Masters of the second degree or Second Secret, were Masters in the knowledge of all nature, and her forces and divisions.

11." 'They were called Philosophers or the World Wise (now Rosicrucians). Their science was called the World- Wisdom.

12." 'These World- Wise occupied themselves in secret. No one knew where they met, or what they did.

14." ' But they had also secret sciences known only to the highest among them — called Magos, Mage, or the Wise Master, who taught the people Divine things. " '

153."Those Brother Masons (of the highest degrees) knew that they owed their brotherhood to the Initiations of the old Wise-Men (Rosicrucians); that the great part of their (the Masons') knowledge came from Them, and that without Their help they could do nothing."

154."Long before the year 1118, there was a Society which in the mysteries of the ancients took the place of the last and youngest grade, and which had the same position with the Tempelherren, who had adopted it with the other teachings of the Wise Ones. They were the novices from all times. As in the time of the Inquisition against the Templars no one knew anything about the lower and last grades, and those who belonged to them had no public connection with them and thus lived without attracting any attention, they were overlooked in the cruelties of the time. One ^[99] did not think of them. As the members of the Templars who escaped were few in number and died one after the other, the remaining members drew together to form a bond of friendship, to which end they drew up certain rules. This new society appeared in different forms and under different names, Cross Society or Brothers of the Cross, Noaities, and in later days adopted the name of Freemasons.

155." Length of time and the involved issues consequent thereon made those initiated into the Mysteries at length perceive that they must introduce an entirely different organization into the community, in order to bring it into line with Christianity.

156."Those associates who still remained over from the collapse (the 'Magian Brothers,' who followed Manes, the Reformer,) of the community of Initiates, and who were scattered about the world, began to make fresh projects for a general union. They took the laws of their community and the laws of the Christians, which are known under the name of the Bible, into a real assimilation. They began to institute a parallel between the books of Moses and the memorials of the Magi, and from all this they evolved a kind of association, provided with certain laws, which could fit in with the Christians.