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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
pamphlets which are not in the Library
some obscure
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
pseudo-association, nor is it likely
of such a
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