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200 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
need not detain ns.
" The Chymical Marriage of Christian
Rosencreutz " I shall also set aside for the present, because
it is an allegorical romance pace Professor Buhle, as De
Quincey hath it though otherwise of the first importance
and interest.
From the " Fama " and " Confessio " we gather the reli-
gious opinions of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, and classify
them as follows :
a. They acknowledge
Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
I. Man is born into life by the power of God, falls
asleep in Jesus, and will rise again through the
Holy Spirit.
c. They acknowledge a personal devil, the old enemy,
who " hinders every good purpose by his instru-
ments."
d. They " use two Sacraments, as they are instituted
with all Formes and Ceremonies of the first and
renewed Church."
e. It follows from this that they believe the Lutheran
Reformation restored the Christian Church to its
primitive purity.
/ They consider " that from the beginning of the world
there hath not been given to man a more excel-
lent, admirable, and wholesome book than the
Bible," which is " the whole sum " of their laws.
g. They call the pope Antichrist, a blasphemer against
Christ. They execrate him, and look forward to
the time " when he shall be torn in pieces with'
nails." They foretell his " final fall," with the
assurance of Brothers the prophet, and in the ter-
minology of Mr Grattan-Guiness.
The philosophical and scientific opinions and pretensions