Rosicrucians trace the history of our spiritual tradition as far back in history as the Pharaoh Akhnaton and beyond.  The name Rosicrucian, however, did not become known publicly until late in Reformation 16th Century when the Rosicrucian Manifesto leaflets were distributed.  There are certain periods of time when so little was recorded about Rosicrucian activities, that the history becomes obscured to the public mind.  In particular, how much is really known about the early Rosicrucians in America? In "Bacon's 'Secret Society':  The Ephrata Connection," this question and a number of others is addressed. 

Today in 2002, I have prepared this internet version of a slide program about the Ephrata Cloister and European roots; it is for public edification now as a revision of the original program that was researched a number of years ago by Linda S. Schrigner, et al1.  I have also added many more salient points than originally presented especially in Section III, and have written, completely new, "Conclusion 2002". I am very pleased at this time to present on the internet in behalf of Rosicrucians everywhere:

Continue Below To: Text Introduction
or Choose Original Slide-Show Tour of Esoteric History ^1Linda S. Schrigner is my previous name, now known as Linda S. Santucci

For some time now, we have been gathering information in our particular areas of interest.  Our personal interest as Rosicrucians has been in the life of the Ephrata Cloister and the dedicated personalities who contributed to its unique historical significance in Colonial and Revolutionary America.

As a result of a visit I made there in 1983, I was faced with many new questions, which made it impossible to understand the significance Ephrata without also researching its connections with the Rosicrucian movement during the Reformation and Renaissance periods in Europe.  Now in 2002, I want to prepare you not to expect a flowery, nostalgic study, in a search for the truth of Rosicrucian connections.  The Seventh Day Baptist congregation of Conrad Beissel, for example, had many beliefs and practices that I found inconsistent with the Rosicrucians, and at first, it confused and disappointed me.  In order to clarify this, it was necessary to be able to identify certain aspects of it under Beissel at the Cloister, and to discuss more about the relatively few, coexisting Rosicrucian perfecti of the Zionitic Brotherhood than focused by previous historians, and bring out more of it's significance as a leading force at the Cloister.  First, the name "Zionitic" does not imply a Jewish connection, and is a possible allusion to the Essenes, to be discussed later.  These perfecti were still under the leadership of the successor of Kelpius, Conrad Mathaii, and later under Peter Miller.  It is essential to understand Ephrata in that broader context in the course of the Rosicrucian influence in Early America. 

We want to guide you through a discussion and demonstration of the lives and influences of the people of Ephrata and the part they played in the manifestation of the “dream” foretold by Sir Francis Bacon in his allegory, The New Atlantis.  The manifestation of this dream continues even into the present.

To fully appreciate America's Rosicrucian spiritual ancestors, we must try to put ourselves into the times in which they lived.  This we will try to create for you.  We hope that you will be able to sense their import on America as an emerging nation in the 17th and 18th Centuries and what it means to Rosicrucians today. 

In 2002, there is much more information to present in Sections II and III.  Because much is presented in a progressive manner throughout the slide program, in applicable order of topics, it is necessary to read the entire presentation in order to understand specifically most of what is outlined in summation in Conclusion 2002.   Please withhold any final conclusions about the information until after it is all presented.  A Table of Contents is available that will help later to review previously presented topics.

03
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24b

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58b

60a

60b

61a

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Conclusion 2002

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the church and state together governed England and other countries in Europe.  The state enforced the laws of the church.  To break the laws of the church was considered heresy and was punishable by torture and/or death. Therefore, for anyone to be a member of a movement like the Rosicrucians in those days was dangerous. [Image] 

A classic example is Sir Walter Raleigh [1552?-1618]:  Manly P. Hall stated in Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, 

“. . . he was a member of a secret society or body of men who were already moving irresistibly forward under the banner of democracy, and for that affiliation he died a felon’s death. The actual reason for Raleigh’s death sentence was his refusal to reveal the identity either of that great political organization of which he was a member or his confreres who were fighting the dogma of faith and  the divine right of kings.

“Raleigh was not executed because of his depredations against the King of Spain, but because he was a member of Bacon’s secret society.  Every effort was made to torture him into naming the mysterious power that was rising in England, but he died without speaking.”

Francis Bacon [1561-1626] was Lord Chancellor of England’s colonies in America.  Manly Hall found that Bacon’s “secret society” as he put it, 

“. . .  was set up in America before the middle of the 17th century.  Bacon himself had given up all hope of bringing his dream to fruition in his own country, and he concentrated his attention upon rooting it in the new world.  He made sure that the American colonists were thoroughly indoctrinated with the principles of religious tolerance, political democracy, and social equality. Through carefully appointed representatives the machinery of democracy was set up at least a hundred years before the period of the Revolutionary War.”

Note:  The 17th Century Rosicrucians were referred to as being a Brotherhood, and thus, Dr. Lewis makes no reference concerning this image, to an "Order" as a formal organization.

Extreme secrecy on threat of torture and death by political forces was required of every Rosicrucian in the Reformation period of the high Middle Ages, and even as the Renaissance was on the rise.  The least fear was of defamation of character and reputation, that would prevent an individual from continuing the work, in behalf of individual freedoms of thought and inquiry, that was done within the established networks of politically positioned persons. 

Rosicrucians in those times worked secretly in behalf of freedom of thought, inquiry and investigation of scientific truths, and for the freedom of thought and worship for all people. 

The ideas and objectives of scientific research and study were scrutinized by authorities of the Holy Roman Church.   As scientific discoveries were found, they were subject to being labeled as heretical, because they contradicted the dogma or rule established by religious authority. 

René Descartes [1596-1650], John Milton [1608-1674], Benedict Spinoza [1632-1677],  and countless others wrote volumes of literature in disguised language, concerning the demonstrable, immutable and universally applicable spiritual laws that continuously operate within given conditions, even with the rule of erroneous Church doctrine.

Such thinking as the Copernicus concept of the Sun instead of the Earth being the center of the Universe; or of God as being pantheistic or in all of Nature and the universe, rather than the idea of being an anthropomorphic white-haired man on a cloud, contradicted the doctrinal rule of the Church, and was a political threat to the ongoing stability and power of religious authorities.  As was Galileo [1564-1642], who was condemned for heresy in designing the telescope and demonstrating the reality of the theory of Nicolaus Copernicus [1473-1543]—thousands were condemned by the Church Inquisition, that was first established in the 13th Century and in force through the 16th Century Reformation. 

Even though monarchs held the reins of power in their kingdoms in what today is known as Europe, for centuries even kings and queens had not defied the rule of "Rome" in establishing certain laws for individuals in their kingdoms, from fear of their own loss of salvation in heaven.  [Images]

Therefore, because Rosicrucians functioned in silence and secrecy, it is very difficult to trace concrete evidence of past Rosicrucians and their specific contributions. 

From our research, we know that Benjamin Franklin was associated with Ephrata through his connections with Michael Woolworth, one of the Rosicrucian founders, when Franklin printed the first material for the Cloister. We also know that historian and esotericist Manly P. Hall identified Franklin's signature on the ledger of one of the great Rosicrucian lodges of the world in Paris.   [Images of Franklin, Jefferson and Bacon]

Our information from Imperator Gary L. Stewart1, is that Francis Bacon’s connection is the easiest of all to trace . . . 

Additionally, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis is credited for identifying something found in Thomas Jefferson's papers, as being a very old Rosicrucian code, used in times when being identified as a Rosicrucian would place one's life in jeopardy, and possibly any others with whom he or she might be associated. 

The natural question for any Rosicrucian today is, how did the Ephrata Cloister tie in with the early Rosicrucians in America; and what was the connection with men such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Francis Bacon—where is the connection between them and the Rosicrucian movement in Europe during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries?

To begin to answer this, we now turn to a review of the history of the Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania. 
_______________
^1Former Grand Master Stewart was selected by his predecessor Imperator Ralph M. Lewis to fulfill the responsibilities and burdens of the next lifetime office of Imperator for the Rosicrucian movement.  He continues the work and traditions passed down by dr.. Spencer Lewis and Ralph M. Lewis. 

Before we begin with the early history of the Ephrata Cloister, wed like to introduce an important source on the early American Rosicrucians and Ephrata Cloister:  Dr. Julius Sachse, who was regarded as the historian of the Rosicrucian movement for the early American period of activity. [Image]

We wonder how many people have read Dr. H. Spencer Lewis’ dedication to Julius Sachse in the front of his book, Rosicrucian Questions and Answers with Complete History of the Rosicrucian Order.  Sachse is known as the last descendent of the Kelpius group. [Image]

As we lead you through our discussion of Ephrata, we would also like to have you remember a few points that will help to guide your understanding of the Ephrata connection.  The first Rosicrucian cycle in America involved two very distinct groups.

The first group we will discuss—which we will refer to as ‘the Kelpius group’—was sponsored by the Philadelphia Lodge in London to establish an official Rosicrucian chapter in America.  It had two successive leaders—Johannes Kelpius [1673-1708] and Conrad Mathaii [1678-1748]. [Images]

Some members of this group, and others who came later to the colonies to join Kelpius, remained in Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania throughout the cycle of early American Rosicrucian activity. 

Note:  William Penn [1644-1718], founder of Pennsylvania, was perhaps the most well known champion of religious freedom in America.  Penn was very much involved in the interests of the Early American Rosicrucians as I shall discuss later.  [Image]

A second group arose out of the charismatic religious fervor of Conrad Beissel [1690-1768] and became known as the Ephrata Cloister.  Beissel was a Rosicrucian who had come to the colonies looking for Kelpius.

In order to explain exactly what Ephrata represented, it will be necessary to discuss many things about Beissel himself, because although many of the local Rosicrucians followed to Ephrata and became members there, the group was primarily a large number of non-Rosicrucians—who looked to Beissel for the foundations of their belief system.  The Rosicrucians at Ephrata established the Zionitic Brotherhood under which they continued their work under the leadership of Conrad Mathaii, who personally remained at the Wissahickon site where the Brotherhood built a monastery. [Image]
 

We will also discuss Peter Miller [1710-1796],a Rosicrucian from Germany, who followed his friend Conrad Weiser to Ephrata. Miller  later led the Ephrata Cloister after Beissel’s transition or death, and during the American Revolution especially, the Cloister made several important contributions under his leadership.  Peter Miller became a very good friend of General George Washington, and made significant personal contributions during the revolutionary period, for which he continues to be recognized by the state government of Pennsylvania.  [Image]

With this, we will now begin to explain the Early American Rosicrucian ancestry.

Note:  For this internet revision 2002, I wish to give a special acknowledgment of Brother Dr. John Palo, for additional biographical information from his 1994 book New World Mystics.  Please see Bibliography for further information on the availability of this book for further reference concerning Early American Rosicrucians.

Whether Francis Bacon was, in fact, virtual Imperator R+C, Imperator Gary L. Stewart, on  the subject of the 21st Century's spiritual mission states this for members: ". . .the 'secret' to understanding the importance of our [Rosicrucian] history and tradition:  'To participate in a movement.'"  His leadership via esoteric Orders today focuses upon the need for humanity's further understanding about  spiritual enlightenment.  I personally define  this apart from religious dogma, which may or may not be based upon universal and demonstrable laws and principles in our concept of the God of our hearts by any name. http://www.crcsite.org/Mission.htm

In 1690, because of religious persecution and in response to a growing secret movement, John Jacob Zimmerman [1644-1693],a Rosicrucian clergyman for the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Germany, began planning an expedition to the new world, with the assistance of the Philadelphia Lodge in London.  The movement was inspired by Bacon’s utopian treatise The New Atlantis that recalled similar ideas of Plato's Republic.  The movement was also inspired by the Egyptian prophesies concerning the Great Pyramid and the tradition of the Essenes, a mystical branch amidst existing side by side with the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The Zimmerman plan was to leave Rotterdam, Holland, and sail to England to pick up other Rosicrucians and continue on to the American colonies. 

Johann Zimmerman [1644-1693], whose background was in theology, also earned a Masters degree in philosophy, and was later honored by the Royal Society for astrological science.  As Diaconus of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Bietigheim, Germany, he came into contact with Rosicrucianism through Dr. Brunnquell.  He also introduced Zimmerman to the writings of Christian mystic Jacob Boehme, and to the initiatic mysteries.  [Image]

Protestant churches were subject to internal political forces, as the Roman Church had been for independent thinkers.  Because Zimmerman had openly expressed his integrated theological and mystical views in speeches and published books and other writings, he was deposed  by the church ministry for unorthodoxy.  Later he was also fired for the same reason at the University of Heidelberg where he was a professor of philosophy and mathematics.  But this was not before Zimmerman began planning an important Rosicrucian journey to the New World for the year 1694.

At Heidelberg, in the audience of his speeches Zimmerman came across the young Johannes Kelpius, who was then a student in the University at Altdorf.  Kelpius had been, since orphaned at the age of 12, under the direct care and influence of the Count Valentine Francke, a Rosicrucian who was also a cousin to Auguste Herman Francke, a very well known Rosicrucian master mystic.

It was only in 1689 at age 16, when Kelpius [1673-1708] had graduated from the University at Altdorf, with a degree in science and religion.  Kelpius was to be included in the group headed for America, but before then he had also earned a doctorate of liberal arts and philosophy, and the title of Professor.  His doctorate thesis,“TheologiaeNaturalis, sen Metrophysicae…,” was of a religious or theosophical view of life based upon nature and metaphysics.  It became one of the important Rosicrucian classics.

In 1693, on the night of their departure, Zimmerman passed through transition. Johannes Kelpius, a frail young mystic of only 21 years of age was then appointed to lead this prestigious group of 40 men to the New World. Wives and children also accompanied the men who were married.  [Image]

The journey to America has been described as one of the most romantic journeys in history, however beset with problems.  When the Sarah Maria finally landed in Philadelphia in June of 1694, the group got down on their knees on the beach and immediately thanked God for their safe arrival.  [Image]

The members of the Kelpius group were also members of the Pietist religion, who were accustomed to dressing in white robes, which must have seemed strange to the colonists, but each of these men were well educated, and they were professionals and master craftsmen.  In addition, they were considered perfecti—adepts or advanced mystics of the Rosicrucians, having been admitted to the advanced studies, and their personal commitment to the need for assisting others who were interested in furthering their education and/or developing a deeper spiritual understanding of life. [Image]

For example, in the group were a pharmacist, astronomer, a theologian, bookbinder, clock maker, divinator.  They were teachers, preachers, healers, translators, and even business managers.

Conrad Weiser [1696-1760], who came later to America from Germany, first lived with his parents in New York.  In the 1730's he moved to Philadelphia, where he came into contact with the remaining followers of Kelpius.  He had been known as Indian Missionary and lexicographer, and in later years was a judge and a politician.  He also was a friend of the second leader of Ephrata, Peter Miller, and later became a prominent member of the Ephrata Cloister.  [Image]

Those who, like Kelpius, were true mystics were a minority, even if everyone who followed him to the New World had attained to a certain understanding and direct experience of Rosicrucian principles and Universal1spiritual laws.  As Rosicrucians, they continued to participate in personal religious practice and public pursuits that was a natural part of life in America.  Therefore, there is no record of just exactly what activities by the Kelpius group were designated as Rosicrucian in the modern sense of the word. 
________________
^1Refers to immutable laws that operate universally throughout all of life on Earth, without regard to personal prejudices or erroneous opinion. 

This is Sachse's photograph, with Boehme image overlaid, of some of the Rosicrucian relics handed down to him by the Kelpius group.  Kelpius had also brought with him a 10-volume set of the works of Jacob Boehme [1575-1624], upon which Kelpius based the Christian mysticism that he taught in the New World.  [Image]

The Kelpius group lived for a time within the Germantown section of Philadelphia, where they actively participated in the community. Schooling for children was also provided under the leadership of Kelpius. 

At one point, Kelpius was asked to run for political office, but he declined because he felt that his mission was not in public life.

Eventually the Pietists decided to move to the ‘Ridge’—on the banks of the Wissahickon River in what today is known as Fairmount Park. [Image]

The Kelpius settlement became known for its observatory, which was the first in America, and for its herbarium with herbs imported from Europe used for healing.

On the Ridge, the group established their tabernacle.  Because of their separate lifestyle, they became known as “the Hermits on the Ridge.” The people of Germantown in Philadelphia where they were first known, also called them the “Rosenkreutzers,” which is German for Rosicrucians. [Image]

The monastery building shown in the drawing below was built in 1737 by the Zionitic Brotherhood for the continuing Rosicrucian work of Conrad Mathaii who succeeded Kelpius. The Brotherhood was established at the Ephrata Cloister.  [Image]

In Europe, the code name for the Kelpius group was “the Woman in the Wilderness.”  This is an image that expressed the concept of the Early American Rosicrucians, far, far away from their homeland, in the wilderness of a new and untamed world.  It was sometimes also referred to as "Sophia," alluding to universal wisdom ever present in Nature. [Image]

Kelpius, though physically frail, was a strong, religious leader, who, as part of his participation in the Germantown community, attempted to unite all the churches in the area. 

Interestingly enough, back in Europe in 1690, the same year when planning of the Rosicrucian expedition was formally initiated, Johannes Conrad Beissel was born [1690-1768], who would become the leader of the second group we are discussing, the Ephrata Cloister, that was a German Baptist sect.  At the cloister, however, American Colonial Rosicrucians would also establish a separate Rosicrucian temple. [Image]

As a young man Beissel apprenticed himself to a baker, and in 1715 at age 25, he experienced a most remarkable enlightenment wherein, Sachse states, “He attained to such a superhuman faithfulness to God that he may well be regarded as one of the great miracles of our time.” 

Soon after that, Beissel was introduced to the Rosicrucians in Germany, meeting in secrecy in the woods under the name of a Pietist conventicle, but was forced to “quit” the town, when another jealous baker turned him in to the authorities for meeting in secrecy.  It was then that he decided to seek out the Kelpius group in the New World.  [Image]

In 1720 at the age of 30, Beissel set sail for Philadelphia.  When he arrived he found to his shock that Kelpius had already gone through transition in 1708 at age 35; and the group had all but disbanded, some marrying and some moving west.

Beissel was totally disillusioned, not only with the group, but with the spiritual apathy that he found in this new country of independence. He remained for about a year with the group, then moved upstream to Lancaster County, to the banks of the Cocalico River to begin preaching and teaching.  [Image]

Beissel’s most outstanding characteristic was probably his undeniable charisma, which won the confidence of many.  His charismatic appeal attracted people desiring to dedicate their lives to God under his leadership. A year later, in 1732, he started the Ephrata Cloister, building the first cabin there’.  Sachse states that the members of the Ephrata group were the “virtual successors to the Woman in the Wilderness." [Image]

It’s easy to understand Beissel’s charisma when we read Sachse’s description. From an Ephrata document, he quoted, 

“Our old Chronicon states that he conducted all meetings with astonishing strength of spirit….  He began his discourse with closed eyes before a large crowd of hearers, and when he opened his eyes again most of them were gone, not being able to endure the spirit’s keenness….  He was a born orator.”

Conrad Mathaii [1678-1748] was the last "Hermit on the Ridge" and was successor to Kelpius.   The most well-known Rosicrucian in the colonies other than Kelpius, he continued a branch of the Rosicrucian teachings in Germantown.  [Image]

Mathaii was a highly educated individual who had left a very well-to-do life in Europe to come with Kelpius to the colonies.  Documented incidents of his psychic development can be found in 20th Century issues of the Rosicrucian Digest. 

During Beissel’s first year in the colonies, he was in close association with Mathaii.  It is recorded, though that—as time went on—not all was well between Beissel and other Rosicrucian leaders in Pennsylvania.

Beissel had a strong, individualistic personality, which was predominant at Ephrata.  Probably the most outstanding disagreement that occurred was with the Rosicrucian successor to Kelpius.  Due to the mishandling of a Rosicrucian couple at Ephrata, the Eckerlings, Conrad Mathaii broke relations with Beissel.  Some time later, they had an additional meeting—and much was made of it, because they exchanged  the Kiss of Peace— symbolic of a charitable attitude.

Note:  This image is from the 19th Century rendering of the old Ephrata ritual of the "Kiss of Peace", which was a kiss that was given by each individual, upon each cheek of the other. 

During my tour at Ephrata, I heard some amusing stories about the early stages of development.  One story involves Beissel’s doctrine of celibacy, and how it happened that this building, the brother house, or Bethania, came to be built.  The first dormitory to accommodate the celibate men and women had been called the Berghaus or Big House.  As an experiment, they were allowed to live there—separated, including those who had been married before coming to Ephrata.  The men lived in one part of the building, and the women in another.  [Image]

Well, Beissel realized after giving repeated warnings— that the arrangement just wasn’t going to work!  The members had been traveling back and forth at night!  The women, it seems—particularly missed the comfort and security of being with their husbands.  As a result, this building was built for the men.  It was torn down early in the 20th Century.

This picture was found in an old manual wrapped in cloth.  It was drawn by one of the celibate women of the Ephrata Cloister, known as sisters, and depicts the robes worn by them under the direction of Beissel. [Image]

The sisterhood and brotherhood adopted a linen robe for the warm seasons and wool for the winter, designed to express simplicity and modesty, and for comfort in their daily work.

When the Beissel group had first donned the robe, the neighboring farmers became frightened and thinking them to be Jesuits, desired to get rid of this influence in their valley; so they devised a plan to burn down their buildings.  [Image]

But their plans were foiled when the wind changed and the fire began moving in a path toward one perpetrator of the fire and burned down his barn!

The wearing of the white robes was also partly the result of wanting to live in other great past traditions, one of which was the Essenes during the lifetime of Jesus. 

We have an interesting comparison respecting the wearing of white robes. Just as the Essenes had lived—the Ephrata Cloister included both celibates, the sisterhood and brotherhood, and married couples and families. The celibates lived separately; and the married members lived in a surrounding area  and were known as Householders.

At one point, there were about 300 members participating in some way at the Ephrata community, including the surrounding area of the Cloister, when Beissel was the leader.  The Cloister has recorded that of the "Solitary Ones,” or the brotherhood and sisterhood, which would not include the Householders, there were 36 men and 35 women.  [Image]

Of these, of course, some were Rosicrucians but not all of them.  It was the practice not to accept new members into the Rosicrucians in the colonies   but, rather, to send to Europe for replacements, especially if in need of those trained in the tradition of perfecti, or members of the Zionitic Brotherhood.  So in addition to the changes brought on following Kelpius’ transition, you can easily see that there would have been relatively few Rosicrucians at Ephrata.

Note:   Naming a hill at Ephrata, "Mt. Zion" and building a dome on the temple of the Zionitic Brotherhood, as in this drawing, is very much reminiscent of the Mt. Zion 
in, and Temple of,  Jerusalem.   The Zionitic Brotherhood was not  a Jewish sect, however; its members were of the western 
esoteric tradition, of  which Rosicrucianism is one Order.  It may be that the name "Zionitic" alludes to certain Kabbalistic aspects of one selective  area of  Rosicrucian study, and was perhaps a means of not identifying the members here as Rosicrucian, for the same reasons that a code name "Woman in the Wilderness" was used in continued contacts with European Rosicrucians.  The reference to "Zion" may also allude to the desire to bring humanity back to the universally divine, symbolized by the "mountain top" in sacred allegories.  The "Zionitic" reference may also be a "landmark" to identify many contemporary aspects of the Rosicrucian perfecti working in Early America.

Below:   This is the Qabbalah Rose Croix [Kabbala Rose Cross],  an old Rosicrucian  symbol, here in French.  In Hebrew, Kabbala is "Qabbalah".  The Kabbala is an ancient 
system that is said to pre-date Jewish traditions, but was carried on both by rabbis and by esoteric spiritual traditions. The Essenes were once considered to be a mystical "Jewish" sect of solitary aesthetics who dressed in white, lived in a self-contained community, and were known for healing and a special knowledge of the hidden mysteries. Rosicrucian historians have traced a particular sect of "non-Jewish" Essenes, and have also traced mystery school students of Hermes, to European lands. The Hermeticists  became the source of much of what is known as Hermeticism. 

Whether in fact there are ties with the Zionitic Brotherhood of Early America, there are possible Rosicrucian allusions drawn that symbolically, at least, functioned as traditional esoteric landmarks.

There were 13 Rosicrucian men who formed what is known as the "Zionitic Brotherhood".  It is not to be confused as an official Rosicrucian body; it was a group of the local Wissahickon members who went on to Ephrata, some time after Beissel began his work there in 1732.  Their purpose in organizing was to carry on as in the tradition of Kelpius after his death or transition.  The perfecti of the original group or others who came later, would carry on certain additional work and study that continued to be specific to them under the vehicle of the Zionitic Brotherhood, as explained by Sachse.  This brotherhood also built a monastery at the old Wissahickon site in 1737, where Conrad Mathaii continued his work as successor to Kelpius.   According to Sachse, the private meetings of the Brotherhood at Ephrata were for mutual studies and physical and spiritual regeneration.

The Zionitic Brotherhood was separate from the other memberships at the Cloister.  The members had their own temple—a domed structure on what was named Mt. Zion  at the Cloister.  It is depicted here in this image of a drawing done of Beissel at Ephrata, before the buildings on the hill later burned.

Women were a part of the Rosicrucian tradition specifically that spanned centuries under different names.  Female Rosicrucians and other male Rosicrucians who were not perfecti, or not of the Zionitic Brotherhood, would participate with the perfecti, however, only in the specific Rosicrucian ritual work and study.  Think of it as an analogy where Rosicrucians today may meet privately at a Masonic Temple, but only participate in Rosicrucian activity unless they also are Masons. 

One controversial section of the last chapter of Julius Sachse's book of 1895 concerns a conclusion drawn by Corliss Fitz Randolph who wrote the chapter, that contradicts previous and subsequent history written by Julius Sachse himself, and later historians, as well.  Because of its inconsistency in understanding the history of the Ephrata connection with the Rosicrucian movement, it is necessary to clarify the issue at this point. 

Only a few statements in the last chapter of Sachse's German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania (1895) written by Corliss Fitz Randolph instead of Julius Sachse, is the primary focus here, concerning the Zionitic Brotherhood at the Ephrata Cloister. Other possible discrepancies with esoteric history in the chapter will not be reviewed.

Dr. Palo wrote in his book, New World Mystics, of Randolph's last chapter in German Pietists... :

"Dr. Julius F. Sachse, Litt. D. was originally slated to write this chapter.  Due to illness, he could not do it. Randolph states, 'In this emergency Mr. Sachse has been more than kind. He has generously placed all the material which he has gathered, and now available to him, at the disposal of his successor [Randolph]. . . .' What is of interest are the numerous points not included in Sachse's previous works on this Rosicrucian period."

In going through the material and artifacts provided by Sachse, Randolph came to a conclusion that the "Brotherhood of Zion" as he called it, was a Masonic brotherhood at Ephrata, and that Beissel's following were "the Rosicrucians".   Sachse didn't present the "Zionitic Brotherhood" as being a Masonic brotherhood, but as being the Rosicrucian group at Ephrata.  Sachse was a respected historian who, it seems obvious to me, would have had very good reasons, as evidenced in his own writing, for not making conclusions about Masonry that Randolph did in that chapter. This is without mention the work, also, of other historians. 

For one thing, members of the Ephrata Cloister may have been Masons in addition to being Rosicrucian, or in addition to being Seventh Day Baptist.  The Seventh Day Baptists were a separate, different group at Ephrata, although Rosicrucians traditionally contribute in their own way as possible individually, to the spiritual efforts of all religions.

The passages in question here from Randolph's chapter are:

"The Brotherhood of Zion was, in short, an organization which practiced the mystic rites of Freemasonry of the eighteenth century, which were very different from the rites of Rosicrucian philosophy which was so dear to the hearts of Beissel and Miller.  The leading spirits of the Brotherhood of Zion were the four Echerlin brothers. "  and "Sachse has assured the present writer [Randolph] that there is no vital relation existing between true Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, the latter being but a crude imitation of the former."

A.  That Sachse was both a Rosicrucian and a Mason himself.  He would not have characterized the Masonic Order in the way Randolph did.   Also, that this statement alone, was not edited prior to the book's publication indicates that "in this emergency" for whatever reason, Sachse did not see Randolph's chapter until too late to edit any of the conclusions drawn by Randolph.

B.   That "the mystic rites" that "were very different from the rites of Rosicrucian philosophy":  It is clear that Randolph personally was not familiar with other different rites connected with the Rosicrucian movement, specifically of the Pietist conventicles from which was derived Kelpius, and his perfecti delegation from Europe in 1694, continued under the leadership of Conrad Mathaii. 

C.   That the monastery built in 1737 at the old Kelpius site on the Ridge above the Wissahickon River, was previously documented in an old drawing as being built by the Zionitic Brotherhood, where Mathaii continued his work in the Philadelphia area.  Mathaii never lived at Ephrata.  This would have been built there in keeping with the Kelpius Rosicrucian tradition, and that it was built there makes inconsistent with history, Randolph's idea that the Temple on Mt. Zion at Ephrata was "Masonic".  I would be interested in knowing whether the Zionitic Brotherhood may have been established on the Ridge in Philadelphia before it "eventually " as Jan Stryz put it, it was established at Ephrata, or was it established at Ephrata prior to constructing the monastery on the Ridge. [Ref.:  Additional Readings below Bibliography.]

D.   That Conrad Mathaii himself, for years, had nothing more to do with Beissel after his expulsion of the Echerlin brothers and Mrs. Echerlin from Ephrata, as "leading spirits of the Brotherhood of Zion".   Mathaii was also well known for his objections to Beissel's actions, to the point of having little contact for many years with Beissel even before the Echerlin incident.  Only much later after the Echerlins returned to Ephrata, was the remarkable event of Mathaii's and Beissel's exchange of the "Kiss of Peace."

Frater Dr. Edgar Wirt, in the Rosicrucian Digest gave some insight into the relationship between Beissel and other Rosicrucians by pointing out that in Europe, Beissel had been initiated into the first of the three degrees administered by the Order then.  Frater Wirt says, 

"… in America [Beissel]  had consulted and kept in touch with those near Philadelphia and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. After the other Rosicrucians had settled in Ephrata, and with Beissel’s insistence, they recognized him as a ‘Brother’, the old term for those in the second degree.  He was never one of the perfecti and was excluded from the Rosicrucian councils." [Image] 

This is Ephrata.  In the beginning, wild animals would literally come up to the doors, and smoke signals could be seen not far away. There were woods on either side, called the Brother Woods and Sister Woods, which were the chief support of their lifestyle and industry.  [Image]

The lifestyle was primarily monastic, but the members soon became known for the excellence of their printing, their flour and cloth mills, and business relations.  They also were known for their music, and the creative decoration of manuscripts.

Ephrata was close to Philadelphia, which was the gateway to the West. The Cloister was host to many travelers, including people like Benjamin Franklin, General George Washington, and General Lee.  [Image of Map]

This image shows the Saron, or sisterhouse, and Saal, or chapel, as they appeared in the 1980s.  This is the first of several photos I snapped during my tour there.  It is interesting that the sweetest, most innocent feelings I experienced at Ephrata were inside the sisterhouse! [Image]

This image is of the seal of the Sisterhood at Ephrata, the Order of Spiritual Virgins or Roses of Saron.  [Image]

The symbol of the pelican, used in the sister seal, is also a very old mystical symbol used by Rosicrucians, according to past Imperator Ralph M. Lewis in his book, Behold the Sign!  It represents self sacrifice, and that as we give, so shall we receive.

A sample paragraph depicting the Sisterhood's dedication and discipline reads:

“Now follows our daily school practice and labors before God that we can bring our bodies under earnest subjection so that the spirit may not be pained or hindered in its daily routine; therefore we regulate all our work so as to mortify the body under the Spirit and bring it under bit and bundle so that we can control it and guide it to the proper uses of the spirit.”

The doorways of the Saron are very narrow and only about five feet high. Consequently, people had to bow their heads as they stepped just inside the sisterhouse.  The hallways, also, are very narrow and the ceilings very low.  This was designed to remind all who entered to bow their heads in humility, and to remember "the narrow way" to salvation.

Note:  By the dress of the woman in this image, it may be understood that this image was drawn in the 19th Century, in a time when the Ephrata Cloister had taken on more of the beliefs and practices of fundamental religions.

This is from a slide photo I took of the kitchen on the ground floor of the sisterhouse.  Each floor had its own kitchen to make meals. The one luxury allowed the sisters and brothers was to have sinks in every kitchen—on every floor of the buildings.  You can see here that they were carved out of stone.  Water must be carried inside—but it ran out again through a hole in the sink and the outside wall.  [Image]

Here, to the right of the previous scene, we see a tour guide in the robe of the sisterhood.  You can see here how low the beam of the ceiling comes!  This person is only about 5’ 4” tall.  To the left is a narrow winding stairway to the second floor.  [Image] 

This is an adjoining work room, to the left of the first kitchen photo. Note the ink wells, books, and paper on the table.  The two doorways lead to guest rooms for female travelers, who were provided shelter but were not denied the luxuries of the day which the sisters and brothers denied themselves.  For example, the guests slept on real featherbeds and pillows .  .  . [Image]

.  .  .  on the other hand, the sisters and brothers living at the Cloister slept on hard, narrow, wooden benches with their heads on blocks of wood—as you see here in a sleeping room of the sisterhouse.  Perhaps with this we can also understand that in having to sleep this way anyone might have sought out the warm comfort of a spouse!—when Beissel decided to build the Bethania or brotherhouse to separate husbands and wives who took the vow of celibacy.  [Image]

Here is an example of how the Householder families lived.  They had the basic luxuries of the time—including the feather beds and pillows.  [Image]

Note stone-carved sink on the right.  To the left is the fireplace and cooking area of the same room which can be seen in the next slide.

This is an example of the Householder fireplaces with the type of cooking implements used by everyone at Ephrata.  In the corner is a Dutch oven; coals were placed inside the compartment under the pot, and food cooked much the same as in our ovens today.  [Image]

This image is of the Almonry where alms of food, mostly vegetarian, and clothing were stored.  There is also a bake house on the ground floor.  To the left, you can see the rear of the chapel and the sisterhouse.  [Image]

The interior of the Saal, or chapel, shows us that the members were seated similarly as depicted in the image of the Pietist Collegium, held during a convention of members, known as a  Conventicle.  At Ephrata, the men all sat on the right side and the women sat on the left.  [Image]

The religious services of Ephrata consisted of reading from the Book of John, Chapter 13 with comment by members; the beautiful hymns sung by the members; the washing of feet in a symbolic way—the Love Feast—a meal eaten together at a table, in communion such as the Last Supper related in the Christian Bible.  [Image]

The members of the Ephrata colony came from different religious backgrounds and nationalities.  The religion of Ephrata was primarily German Seventh Day Baptist, but Sachse lists various other influences brought to Ephrata—alsoincluded as part of the public orientation for the tour at the Ephrata Cloister:  Lutheran, Quaker, Mennonite—the Dunkers—and yes, the Rosicrucians.

This is an image of the 19th Century etching, "Going to Meeting". It depicts style changes in clothing worn, and the use of umbrellas. In Beissel's time these would have been Householders who were not members of the celibate brotherhood or sisterhood.  In the 1800s, however, they were probably local townspeople.  [Image]

As a Rosicrucian, probably the most striking discovery from my tour at Ephrata was—that the group there was predominantly of a religious orientation toward ‘salvation.’  From this I was led into an intense search for information that would explain the relationship between the religious orientation and the Rosicrucian influence at Ephrata.

Sachse’s findings help to explain it.  He goes so far as to state that ‘the theosophy of Jacob Boehme, by its transplantation to the Cocalico, lost much of its original depth and meaning.’  Boehme was one of the most prominent Rosicrucian leaders of the past, whose influence was directed through the Lutheran church in Europe. 

Beissel, a Separatist, had split from the Lutheran church before coming to the colonies, and took on more of the fundamentalist religious premises. Zimmerman, on the other hand, had also split from the Reformation Lutheran Church, however, he had the benefit of personal study in the higher Rosicrucian training, under some of the most knowledgeable Rosicrucian adepts of the time.

Kelpius came from the same kind of traditional Rosicrucian background. His earlier system of teachings on the Wissahickon had been based upon his own extensive Rosicrucian training, and the Christian mysticism of Boehme.  [Image]

Note:  A universal law functioning within an equal set of conditions in different places, will function with the same resulting effect in all such places.   This paraphrases in common language, the kind of universal law referred to as "God's immutable laws", upon which true mystical principles arise.   And so it was, amongst the Reformation and Renaissance Rosicrucians whose movement it was to bring further spiritual enlightenment to humanity.

Johannes Kelpius [1673-1708] synthesized a personal approach of Christian mysticism specifically for non-Rosicrucians in Philadelphia, in introducing some of the greater mysteries of life, that went beyond literal interpretations of words in the Christian Bible.  "The kingdom of God is within," and the admonishment that perhaps is most quoted in the Christian Bible, of Jesus:  to "look within," to "seek ye the kingdom of God within," is based upon one of the most important principles of mysticism, given to the World by the greatest Mystic Teacher of Christianity; a mystical premise, it was a statement that is based upon the universal law of universal Oneness, and, therefore, the connectedness of all Nature, wherein, the Voice of Conscience speaks truth to one's heart, without requiring the services of an intermediary human, priest, or minister of God. 

In the writings of Jacob Boehme [1575-1624], as in writings of Cartesian philosophers and scientists (and many other mystics of the Renaissance and Middle Ages), Boehme expressed in "Church" language, the tenets of the immutable mystical laws and principles, that would help the literate individual who could read his words.  Kelpius continued to introduce others in America to the spiritually enlightening ideas of Christian mysticism and Rosicrucianism.

Note:  "In the wilderness of Pennsylvania, during the mid eighteenth century, Beissel invented his own idiosyncratic version of alchemy from those pieces of Bohemian theosophy he absorbed as a young man in Germany. . . .  Eventually, certain of the brothers formed a more exclusive mystical society, Zion [Zionitic Brotherhood, Slide 24], and constructed a building within which they could live, study esoteric knowledge, and practice arcane rites. The independently functioning Brotherhood and Sisterhood now became estranged for various reasons as the leaders of the Brotherhood directed the community's labors towards economic growth," according to Jan Stryz of Michigan State University. [Ref.: Additional Reading below Bibliography]

Conrad Beissel [1690-1768] did not have the benefit of the training that would bring him to a personal synthesis of broad Rosicrucian and Christian mystical principles concerning the underlying universal laws of spirituality. 

Sachse also explains, referring to a chapter written by Corliss Fitz Randolph on Seventh Day Baptists:

".  .  .  the theosophy of Conrad Beissel really hung upon a slender thread." 

We know that Beissel’s strong, charismatic leadership determined the policies and practices at Ephrata, and so it becomes clear that with so few initiated Rosicrucians there, the Rosicrucian influences while evident, were really only coexistent with the religious activities.

Of the many industrious activities that were a part of life at the Ephrata Cloister under Beissel, one of the best known was the original music sung at the services.

The sisters copied and decorated sheets of music.  Beissel was famous in the colonies for his original music.  Upon learning the basic rudiments, he immediately appointed himself choir director. The hymns that the choir sang under his direction were so outstanding that their enchanting tones became known far.  During his lifetime, he wrote 1,000 hymns, 44 of which were published.  [Image]

A description of Beissel’s music, which was published in the 1853 Hazards Register of Pennsylvania by Mr. Fahnestock reads:

“The tones from the choir imitate soft instrumental music conveying a softness and devotion almost superhuman to the auditor. The whole is sung in the falsetto voice, the singers scarcely opening their mouths, or moving their lips, which throws the voice up to the ceiling, which is set high, and the tones, which seem to be more than human, at least so far from common church singing, appear to be entering from above, and hovering over the heads of the assembly.” 

Printing was the major commercial business in the colonies.  With this type printing press, printing was a long and tedious job.  [Images]

Ephrata had the third printing press in the colonies and was the first to print in two languages.  Little did they know that the issues of their press would be exhibited in glass cases in the leading libraries of the world.

Also, Ephrata was entrusted with the printing of some 25 million dollars in continental notes, the first American currency.  [Image] The group was also the first to print the quarto Bible.

The cloister had the first known Sunday school, or Sabbath school. The main purpose of the school was to give the young people on farms a rudimentary education, and also teach music copying, calligraphy, and illuminating manuscripts.  [Image]

Conrad Beissel passed on in 1768 at the age of 77.   He was regarded as the master spirit, and had served the Cloister for 45 years.  Sachse credits him with reviving theosophy in Pennsylvania. He was also distinguished in the Who’s Who in the American Colonies by Daniel Webster as a great religious leader in Pennsylvania.  His grave is here in God’s Acre, the cemetery of the Ephrata Cloister. [Image]

While he has been largely dismissed by historians concerned with the broad scope of Rosicrucian ontology and mysticism, Beissel made a significant contribution in the course of religious freedom in 18th Century Pennsylvania. From a certain form of music based upon combinations of notes, he believed, one could transcend words, and touch the higher spirit of the knowledge of God.  In this way one could find inner understanding that supersedes any erroneous logical process from the literal reading of the words of the Judeo-Christian Bible.  An ability to achieve a direct communion with the Divine Intelligence within is the first step toward self mastery, and it is one of the keys to Christian mysticism.

With Beissel's death,  Peter Miller [1710-1796], at age 59, became the second Rosicrucian leader at Ephrata.  Miller was the son of a Reformed Lutheran clergyman in Germany.  The young Miller was a graduate of Heidelberg University, an honor student in theology. He left Germany for America in 1730 to answer the call for clergy. But at age 25 he resigned as minister of the Union Congregation of the Lutheran Reformed Church.  [Image]

Due to his retreat to solace in a secluded spot on Mill Run for about six months, he became known in the region as “Peter the Hermit”. In November 1735, he decided to join the Ephrata Cloister.

A typhus epidemic broke out and 200 soldiers died and were buried on Mt. Zion at the Cloister.  Unfortunately, many of the brothers and sisters also died, and some buildings had to be burned to the ground, including the domed temple of the Zionitic Brotherhood.  As shown in the image of this photo, a monument was later built on Mt. Zion in the form of an obelisk, in memory of those who died from the Battle of Brandywine. [Image]

Undaunted, though, those Ephrata members who were left after the Typhus epidemic and the fire, sent wagon loads of food to Valley Forge for General Washington’s starving soldiers.  They also tore up their rare arcane books and sent them on to the front—in scraps so that our soldiers could use them for wadding for cartridges and go on fighting for America's independence!  [Image]

A popular story passed down about Peter Miller recounts that when he left the Reformed Church, he incurred the wrath of a certain Michael Widman, a board member.  One day while walking down the street, Widman approached him and spat in his face, for which Miller gracefully forgave him and moved on.

A few years later, this same Michael Widman was arrested and sentenced to death for treason during the war.  Miller, upon hearing of his plight, and believing him to be basically good, set out to plead with General George Washington [1732-1799] in his behalf.

Washington informed Miller that he must make an example of his friend. “Friend?”  Miller replied, “He is my persecuting enemy, my incessant reviler, but my religion teaches me to pray for those who despitefully use me.”  Washington was so touched that he relented on the condition that Miller would deliver the pardon himself.  That night he walked 20 miles to arrive just in time to save Widman’s life.

[Image]
George Washington in Masonic regalia.

Peter Miller was the last influential Rosicrucian leader at Ephrata during that cycle of Rosicrucian activity.  During this time he was also virtually Secretary of State.  Benjamin Franklin sought out his services for the Continental Congress, in order to distribute the Declaration of Independence to the foreign powers, because Miller could translate the document into seven languages.  He printed it on the Ephrata press, a project taking two years to complete, and gave it to Franklin to give to the world.

Note:  The painting shown in this image is one of the lunettes by Van Ingen, painted  on the wall in the South Corridor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.   Similar to an old Ephrata Cloister vignette, it is a tribute personally to Peter Miller translating the Declaration of Independence into several languages. 

The Rosicrucian aspect of the Ephrata Cloister had begun to decline as early as 1742, when one of the prominent Rosicrucian members Michael Wolfarth died, and also when  some of the other Rosicrucian members, including Conrad Weiser, expressed dissatisfaction with Beissel’s policies and practices, and left.  Weiser, who had joined the Kelpius-Mathaii group sometime in the 1730s after coming to Philadelphia from New York, had a wife and family, and had later followed his friend, Peter Miller to Ephrata.  [Image]

After the Revolution, and the fire and the deaths of so many from the epidemic, the Cloister never totally recovered. 

The Rosicrucians and Zionitic Brothers had no place in which to conduct their work and study, now that their building was gone. 

Concerning Beissel's doctrine of celibacy for the brother and sister orders, the Solitary Ones, there were fewer and fewer descendants to carryon.   In addition, it became increasingly evident to those members who were left, that this cloistered way of life was not compatible with the new republic’s lifestyle.

Under Peter Miller’s leadership, the Ephrata Cloister continued with the Rosicrucian influence until his transition in 1796.  His body was buried in God's Acre.  [Image]

In 1801 the official Rosicrucian era came to an end, 108 years after the first Rosicrucian group set sail for America. 

The Ephrata Cloister then became a strictly religious center of fundamentalist religious activities right up to the last years of the 19th century. 

Well, again—the natural question is:  “How do the Kelpius group and the Ephrata Cloister tie in with other Early American Rosicrucians? [Collage:  Franklin, Jefferson, Bacon and Kelpius, Mathaii, Beissel, and Miller]

First, it is important to understand that, the esoteric history is largely a matter of opinion, and the historians do not all agree, partly due to the fact that in the past, Rosicrucians did not commit all their esoteric knowledge and history in ways that are easily documented.  Membership or association alone was highly secret, and doctrinal writings were obscured in ways to protect the authors and all brethren under the cloak of respective "religious" ties.

On a subject such as this, filled with obscurities and intrigue, our own intelligence and intuition is very important.  Even of the work done by prominent non-Rosicrucian and Rosicrucian historians, not enough documented information is available to give a complete picture of the esoteric history.

Because there is much that we must sort out for ourselves, keen discrimination is necessary as we read the history of the Rosicrucians.  The key to authenticity is in finding enough objective or empirical information to substantiate the threads of truth that become apparent as we continue to read and study.  It can take several manuscripts, articles, books and several historians just to qualify one piece of information! From my research I have been able to qualify a few points.  They do not come from any one source.

For this presentation, it is important to know that Manly Hall was not a member of the early 20th Century Rosicrucians, who were organized under a trademarked name, "Rosicrucian Order, AMORC".  He did become a Mason; however, not without placing traditional Rosicrucians and Masons of centuries past, into an independent perspective aside from consideration of any organization today with which he might have been associated personally under the western esoteric tradition.   We know this, because of what he wrote and lectured prior to 1929, published that year under his own name in Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, including "Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins".   (Bibliography). 

It was fairly common knowledge amongst 20th Century esotericists, that Manly P. Hall, who beginning in his 20s researched original documents and other esoteric history in Europe, referred in his writings to the secret 16th-17th Century Rosicrucian history.   Many past Rosicrucians were giants in science, philosophy, theology and literature, who were described as deists within the context of Reformation and Renaissance Europe.  Hall's early historical writings in particular, reveal a foundational understanding of the nature and purpose of the secret orders that for centuries have promoted a more universal, spiritual awakening amongst humanity.  In the 1920s and -30s,  Hall wrote lectures and articles on his thesis concerning what he referred to as "Bacon's secret society."  In 1944, he published The Secret Destiny of America further detailing this thesis about it and the subsequent Early American Rosicrucian colonization. 

Hall's writings took into consideration the challenge that the secret nature of the Rosicrucian past made detection of their work in remaining documents, a most difficult trail to follow, and he carefully studied original documentation in order to see the connections among networked individuals and organizations of "the Order."   In  past centuries, the "Rosicrucians" rose again and again under different group or fraternal names due to  political conditions requiring it, in order to carry on their ongoing spiritual, and in those times political, humanitarian work. 

Based upon the relative objectivity of Manly P. Hall on this topic, therefore, in Sections 1 and III, I have gone outside the box and followed some of the trail that Hall, as well as others on the same theme, have pointed out in their writings.  This has provided some of the more objective factors essential in answers to our own quest into the past:  Bacon's "Secret Society": The Ephrata Connection.

                             Linda S. Santucci, F.R.C.

For example, in his classic Rosicrucian Codex, prominent historian and esotericist Manly P. Hall gave a strong argument that the Kelpius group was not connected with the "Rosicrucian Order".

However, he ends his argument by conceding that Kelpius probably did carry the oldest original document of the Rosicrucians from Europe to America.  In the 16th and 17th Centuries, "the Order" was known primarily as being "unknown" and "invisible," and members took great care to protect the identity of themselves and their brethren. "The Rosicrucians" was a secret spiritual movement of fraternal individuals throughout continental Europe and Great Britain.

In another book publishing collected writings, Hall agrees with Sachse that the Kelpius group were known as a Chapter of Perfection, and were “representatives of Bacon’s secret society.”  He also states that Bacon’s secret society was the Rosicrucian Order, referring to the 17th Century Rosicrucian movement.

We all have wondered how it is known that Benjamin Franklin [1706-1790] was a Rosicrucian.  Well, it is partly by reading what he wrote—through his writing, we can recognize his Rosicrucianism.  However, Manly P. Hall wrote that Franklin's signature appears on the ledger—above that of Marquis de Lafayette, he pointed out—at the Lodge of Perfection in France.   That Lodge is considered to have been "the greatest of all French lodges" as Hall wrote it.  In The Secret Destiny of America, he said of Franklin in America:

"Franklin spoke for the Order of the Quest, and most of the men who worked with him in the early days of the American Revolution were also members.  The plan was working out, the New Atlantis was coming into being, in accordance with the program laid down by Francis Bacon a hundred and fifty years earlier.

"The rise of American democracy was necessary to a world program.  At the appointed hour, the freedom of man was publicly declared."

Note:  Rosicrucians have worked under many names, religious and otherwise especially in the past, for mutual spiritual, humanitarian objectives.  For example, it is interesting to note that there was another earlier esoteric tradition different and yet similar to the Pietists.  The 12th and 13th Century Albigensians, aka Cathars of the South of France, also used the title of "perfect" or "perfecti" to indicate those who became adept in the spiritual mysteries to a point where they could help "to further perfect" the spiritual evolutionary process of universal human understanding.

As stated earlier, we draw from Hall's and Sachse's work, that the theologically based Kelpius group was also known in Europe as a Rosicrucian Chapter of Perfection.  Through translation, it has come down to us from Sasche as being a Chapter of Perfecti.  In Europe at that time, members known as perfecti, the adepts of the Rosicrucian movement, had referred generally to their various affiliated groups as “Chapters of Perfecti”.  For the same reason, the chapter in Heidelberg, a Pietist collegium from which Zimmerman and Kelpius came, was known as a Chapter of Perfecti. 

It was the Lodge of Perfection in London, associated as The Philadelphia Society, that sponsored the Kelpius journey of Rosicrucian emissaries to America.  By Sasche's translation, it was a "Lodge of Perfecti." The great lodge in France, too, by translation was a "Lodge of Perfecti". 

This is fairly objective information linking Benjamin Franklin and the Rosicrucian movement—his signature on the ledger of the great French “Lodge of Perfection” or Lodge of Perfecti.  While both Martinists and Rosicrucians were known to meet at the same Lodge in France, it can be understood that various initiatic orders were represented together in a conventicle representing one Order.  "Out of one many" is a phrase coined as an American motto, but it is also a fact of Rosicrucianism. The Order of the Quest, attributed to Franklin by Hall, was an even more initiatic order that was even more exclusive based upon various secret factors about the brethren.

The Rosicrucians centuries ago functioned as a network of initiatic individuals with a mutual spiritual objective of individual freedom in matters of religion.  Those individuals who came into contact at any level with individuals sharing that objective, joined in doing that which each was capable of accomplishing in their respective individual lives. 

In any case, Franklin was clearly in fraternal contact with other Rosicrucians who were members of the Rosicrucian movement, in order to be in attendance at a conventicle of the French Lodge of Perfection. 

The Lodges and Chapters of Perfection by various names, were part of a secret network of fraternal individuals of esoteric adepts working privately toward perfecting the process of spiritual enlightenment and understanding of humanity. 

In the 17th Century, one of the vehicles of the Rosicrucian movement was the secret network of Lodges and Chapters of Perfection, were the individuals of  the Johannes Kelpius.  In America these perfecti or adepts were known as "the Woman in the Wilderness," and, also, they were known as "The Order of the Mustard Seed".  Kelpius taught universal doctrines under Rosicrucian Jacob Boehme's writings that explained principles of Christianity.   Another later was the Rosicrucian "Zionitic Brotherhood" functioning separately from the German Baptist teachings of Beissel at the Ephrata Cloister. 

Aside from "the Woman in the Wilderness" Chapter of Perfection, what of the Rosicrucian Americans involved in the politics leading to and carrying out the American Revolution?  What of those who helped to set out the framework of the Democratic Republic of America?

In Europe there was still more in connection with the perfecti that further explains another famous Early American's role in the colonies. William Penn [1644-1718] was known publicly as a Quaker. However he had his own Rosicrucian purposes, also.  [Image]

In New World Mystics, Dr. John Palo has a footnote indicating that William Penn visited Pietist conventicles in Europe.  They were initiatic collegiums for Rosicrucians:

". . . he visited Pietist conventicles which were held in an air of great secrecy and danger of exposure.  He invited the Rosae Crucis to settle on his land [in America]. . . . These Pietists or Rosicrucians were thought unorthodox and hence undesirable in the eye of the politico-religious powers of Europe.  They were accused of mixing Christian tenets with the practices of Ancient Egypt and some of the doctrines of Zoroaster."

As a youth at Oxford University, William Penn had become a Quaker, who believed that no man was above another in the eyes of God, that every person has a direct, divine communication with the voice of conscience. According to Early Days in the New World, a primary basis of the Quaker beliefs, as founded by George Fox, was:

"... that the ways of the world were sinful, and that all men should live together in perfect friendship.... The Friends believed that all men were equal.... that every man has a conscience, or 'inner voice' as they called it, should be his guide, and not the teachings of the ministers.  Because the Bible says, 'Swear not at all,' they would take no oath, not even the oath of loyalty to the king. . . .

Subsequently at Oxford, the young Penn became a bit of a rebel rouser, for those times.  Among other social improprieties based upon his beliefs, he refused to take off his hat in the presence of King Charles II.  He was arrested several times for preaching Quaker beliefs in public, and was usually released immediately because of his father's prominence as the Navy Admiral William Penn (senior).  However, Penn spent four arrests in the Tower of London.  [Image]

Penn spent some time in France getting to know the people and the life of the French court, then served in the English Army during the Dutch war, and later helped manage an estate of his father's in Ireland. 

At some time, he came into contact with German Rosicrucian Jacob Boehme's teachings and the Rosicrucians who introduced him into the deeper mystical and metaphysical studies.  Again as Dr. Palo writes:

"Penn had a more than passing interest in mysticism and the Rosae Crucis.  He referred to Jacob Boehme as his master in the art and law of divine wisdom."

Penn had the capability of providing a place for people of all religions and esoteric beliefs and practices, where he and Rosicrucians would be able to foster and protect them from prejudice and discrimination. It was when Penn's father the Admiral died, that King Charles II paid his personal money debt still owed to the elder William Penn, in the form of his son's inheritance, by giving Penn the wooded lands of what came to be Penn's colony in America.  The King named it "Pennsylvania," and made William Penn the Governor or ruler of the land.  [Image of Map of Colonial Pennsylvania]

This made it possible for William Penn to establish a colony where all faiths teaching of a divine power greater than themselves, could live in peace.  When Rosicrucian Van Bebber purchased 1000 acres, the scene was set for the Pietist perfecti to establish a Chapter of Perfection in America by 1694.

William Penn's Rosicrucian ties in Europe played a very important role in preparing for the early Rosicrucians to journey to the American colonies. There can be little doubt of Penn's own secret fraternal ties with the network of European perfecti that sponsored the early Rosicrucian spiritual mission in America.

Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826], [Image] an American founding father and third U.S. President, has been identified by Dr. H. Spencer Lewis as having been a Rosicrucian.  However, there have been some controversial issues about him that have clouded an understanding of this.  As Dr. Robert Hieronimus wrote in 1989 in his America's Secret Destiny:

"Jefferson's part in writing the Declaration of Independence, his insistence on the elimination of slavery in America, and his statute on religious freedom in Virginia were essential to America's existence as a new path-breaking nation.  Without Jefferson's influence, Alexander Hamilton's views on monarchy might have succeeded, and America would have resembled Europe politically."

"Almost the first utterances against Negro slavery came from German settlers in Pennsylvania [Rosicrucian perfecti involved?]
. . . .  the conscience of thoughtful men in the colonies was never quite easy upon this score, and it was one of the accusations of Thomas Jefferson against the crown and and lords of Great Britain that every attempt to ameliorate or restrain the slave trade on the part of the colonists had been checked by the great proprietary interests in the mother-country.  In 1776 Lord Dartmouth wrote that the colonists could not be allowed 'to check or discourage a traffic so beneficent to the nation [Great Britain].'"

In this 17th Century treatise Spinoza expressed Rosicrucian doctrines of universal laws and principles, involving metaphysics and mysticism, in a way that would have called down the Church authorities for heresy and/or unorthodoxy, even in the new Age of Enlightenment in which he lived. However, the book by its full name, Ethica ordinegeometrica demonstrata, was not published until a year after his death in 1677.   Spinoza also wrote other landmark papers, including Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, whichalso would have been a powerful influence upon 17th and 18th Century thinking behind plans for Bacon's New Atlantis.   It was an explanation against the continuing civil and religious interference in individual free thought, inquiry and written or spoken expression. (Please see Spinoza article in the Bibliography)

In so many words, Spinoza's ...Ethics explained why natural laws, being immutable, inevitably supersede the arbitrary morality of societal laws, because all things must be free to pursue the expression of their true nature. 

Through theological and esoteric studies, many scientists and spiritual leaders in colonial and revolutionary America had grasped an understanding of the immutability of all natural/physical laws that are universal, function unerring regardless of erroneous human opinion and belief.  However, those who would likely be available to teach such deeper ethics at the University of Virginia without truly understanding the underlying universal principles involved, could not be relied upon in that which would have been taught under a general catalogue heading of "Metaphysics". So it is possibly for this reason that Jefferson approved the course of ethics and eliminated the suggestion of metaphysics from the university catalogue.

We know that, as were other founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson was a Mason, but was he also a Rosicrucian?

Note:  In Rosicrucian terms, the uninitiated, untrained would be unsuitable to teach metaphysical principles that, to be true to natural laws concerning ethics and morality or the "nature of living," must also be tied to an understanding of mysticism; metaphysics was beyond both the generally understood physical science and general spirituality of the 18th Century, even though educated people were embracing privately the writings of those great minds who wrote extensively about these things especially in previous centuries.  Some were inspired to become Rosicrucians or members of leading secret societies and were great world leaders themselves; many educated people joined in the freedom movements rather because of the kind of inner conviction the writings inspired. 

Spinoza was one of the giants who, because of his consistency with Rosicrucian teachings, the very manner and content of his writings, and certain events in his life, is considered by Rosicrucian leaders today to have been a Rosicrucian. 

According to Dr. Robert Hieronimus, in America's Secret Destiny, published 1989, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis produced the strongest evidence that Thomas Jefferson was a Rosicrucian.  It was this code that was found in Jefferson's papers, that Dr. Lewis identified as being an old Rosicrucian code.  Hieronimus wrote that Dr. Lewis introduced . . . .

". . . . a piece of substantial evidence. Lewis found among Jefferson's papers some 'strange looking characters' [quoting Lewis] that previous researchers had assumed were a code Jefferson had invented.  'I recognize it as one of the old Rosicrucian codes used for many years before Thomas Jefferson became a Rosicrucian, and still to be found in many of the ancient Rosicrucian secret manuscripts' (Heindon, 1961, 126).  I have [Dr. Hieronimus has] submitted this code to several cryptographers and none have yet been successful in identifying it. Mr. Rex Daniels of Concord, Massachusetts, commented (March 14, 1974),'I have taken several tries at the code with no success for the standard ones. . . . you have hit upon something nobody else seems to know about.'"

Concerning the controversy about Jefferson's spirituality or ethics, it is necessary to know at what point before the American Revolution, he became a Rosicrucian?  As a hint, one may look at the dates that he spent in Europe and work from that point forward before making judgments about the practice of his Rosicrucianism.

Note:  The primary underlying principles found in the Declaration of Independence can be understood from metaphysics and mysticism, or the study of being and reality, and the utilization of the oneness of the laws of the universe.  One can ponder and understand the important universal law of cause and effect in  human lives by considering the classic example of the Law of Gravity. While we may think of this as concerning physical science, we may think of it also in terms of being an unseen force that operates equally the same within equal conditions, immutably.  We cannot change the Law of Gravity, but we can learn about it, and learn to work with it for a beneficial effect.  It is the same for universal laws operating in our lives, governing in an intangible way, based upon given conditions that are both causative and effective accordingly with each respective, given set of conditions.  The Declaration of Independence was written with consideration of such unchanging laws, as "certain inalienable rights" of individuals under God.

Metaphysics and mysticism include spiritual matters always tied with physically manifested events, in deist, "secular" terms that people may know as pantheistic, in that the deity is understood to be in all things, everywhere, and all-knowing.  God is in all of Nature. Thus, analogous to understanding that education does not conflict with one's own belief system, one's individual understanding of universal laws also is in no conflict with religious tenets.   In fact, an understanding of universal laws and principles rather than negating, further enhances an understanding and practice of any religion. 

Individuals who believed in freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, understood why people should have freedom of thought and expression in matters of conscience.

17th and 18th Century Rosicrucians were deists.  Men like Franklin and Jefferson came to be well known for their deist philosophy that was held independently of and amidst the practices of their personal religions. That is, they had a deep belief in God, but with a philosophical and spiritual, "natural philosophy", rather than a primarily religious and dogmatic basis of belief.  Many American founding fathers are recognized today for this deist characteristic. 

Some founding fathers are known also as the first American Masons. Benjamin Franklin was the first American Masonic Grand Master.  George Washington was a Masonic Lodge Master.   Thomas Jefferson, too, was a Mason, judging from a note he wrote in his own calendar of a Masonic event where he was to be present.  Hieronimus wrote that there was a strong network of Masons involved in actually fighting the war of the American Revolution, many who surrounded General George Washington and contributed a great strength when times were extremely difficult, making it possible to fight, unswerving, to the end victory of independence.

Well known historians aside from Rosicrucians themselves, have written that the early Masons in America were actually led or inspired by those who were also the same Rosicrucians involved in European political and religious movements.

American Rosicrucian adepts in particular were few in number by comparison with the more public, culturally networked Masonic Order.  As indicated earlier in the discussion of Kelpius and the subsequent Zionitic brethren, Rosicrucian replacements were requested from Europe; neophytes were not inducted in America at that time.  Rosicrucians even in the 18th Century were much more secret than Masons about their fraternal work, as in Europe.  They were often referred to as "unknown" philosophers, many doing what they did very subtlely or behind the scenes while intending that others instead be credited with their authorships or be written down in history for that which they themselves had initiated or generated. 

Whether Rosicrucian or Mason or both, as many Early American leaders were, in addition to participating in their own respective religious affiliations, the influence of the "deist philosophy" in great Early American thinkers is clear in history. 

The founding fathers included men of science as well as men of theology, and most assuredly, they were well educated men who joined in leading others in making a most significant turn in world history.

It was John Heydon between 1658 and 1664 who publicly broadcast that he was a Rosicrucian, according to Frances Yates, (The Rosicrucian Enlightenment: "From Invisible College to the Royal Society") and, further, Heydon pointed out:

". . . as clearly as possible the parallels between Bacon's New Atlantis, and the Fama Fraternitatis, through which the wise men of Bacon's House of Solomon become the wise men 'of the Society of the Rosie Crucians'. . . ."

There is one other important Rosicrucian connection with Bacon and Early American colonial and revolutionary leaders.  The Royal Society, that Colonial Americans are known to have joined on their trips to Europe, is traced by well known historians, to Rosicrucianism. . . .  I first learned about the Royal Society of deists in elementary school 8th Grade!  It was included in our textbook, on the topic of American Founding Father members of the Royal Society and Benjamin Franklin's subsequent founding of the American Philosophic Society in 1743, that was first known as the "Leather Apron Club" that was founded in 1727.  Both Franklin and Jefferson, and other Americans, were members of the Royal Society and, also, the American Philosophic Society established by Franklin.  Peter Miller, too, even long before he led the Ephrata Cloister, and avery good friend of General George Washington, was a noted member of the American Philosophic Society. 

Frances A. Yates, who has written much profound, Rosicrucian history, wrote in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972), that the Invisible College and its "public-spirited plans", or the concept of it was as an "old ludibrium", an old parable or "old joke about invisibility always associated with the R.C. Brothers and their college."  She suggests that it was possibly a reference, understood to be serious, that also was used by Robert Boyle in two letters (1646 and 1647) specifically about the Royal Society, in order to identify a "chain of tradition leading from the Rosicrucian movement to the antecedents of the Royal Society."

Yates makes a very detailed, evidentiary explanation in ...Enlightenment, that provides a deeper understanding of the public appearance that Bacon was the primary Rosicrucian impetus via the Royal Society.  However, the Rosicrucian objective of colonializing America involved many more individuals than Bacon alone.  I think it would be accurate that it was the Royal Society may be understood as being what Manly P. Hall called "Bacon's 'Secret Society', ad derived from the House of Solomon (please see side-bar, also). Yates wrote:

"As the natural philosophers moved towards the consummation of the Royal Society [in meetings of 1648-1659], they had to be very careful.   Religious passions were still high, and a dreaded witch-scare might start at any moment to stop their efforts. So they drop [Dr. John] Dee, and make their Baconianism as innocuous as possible."

". . . . A permanent Society for the advancement of natural science had arrived, a real and visible, not an imaginary and invisible, institution, but it was very restricted in its aims compared with earlier movements."

[Italics added for emphasis by Linda Santucci]

Frances Yates had traced the Royal Society of London back to its earlier existence in the Palatinate (western Germany today), where pioneering mathematician and Rosicrucian from England, Dr. John Dee [1527-1608], also court astrologer and confident of Queen Elizabeth I,  was the driving force in preparation for the Age of Enlightenment.  He was the equivalent of an Imperator R+C in the Reformation period, and there is also no doubt of his association with the young Francis Bacon according to notations in his personal diary.  [Image]

However, political enemies of Dee's humanitarian efforts found a way to slander him, in order to ruin his good name and block further public accomplishments.   Dee's name and involvement in England had to be suppressed by his own brethren as part of the establishment of the London Royal Society, even long after Dee's death.  The Society gave no public evidence of any earlier or existing Rosicrucian connections, although it was established in London for the same Rosicrucian objectives of the earlier Bohemian Brethren. 

Therefore, in the interests of fulfilling a greater humanitarian need for educating as many individuals as possible in an understanding of "natural philosophy," Francis Bacon took on the responsibility of public notoriety as Lord Chancellor over the American colonies in the Age of Enlightenment, while carrying out a plan for a colony of philosopher leaders, as he allegorized in New Atlantis and as Plato had written of in Republic. 

John Dee's name was suppressed in Rosicrucian history for over 300 years. Eventually, Bacon, too, would be scandalized by enemies of freedom, but not before much was already accomplished in Europe and America.  The New Atlantis was not published until the year after Bacon died, in 1627. In its original version were found the significant parallels with the 16th Century Rosicrucian manifestos, as pointed out much later by John Heydon.

The Rosicrucian plan concerned a universal spirit of brotherhood and wisdom, where knowledge was nurtured and available to all individuals, who would be free to pursue peace and happiness.  Comenius (Johann Amos Komensky [1592-1670] ), one of John Dee's Bohemian Brethren, put it this way, according to Yates' presentation in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment:

". . .  we may hope that 'an Art of Arts, a Science of Sciences, a Wisdom of Wisdom, a Light of Light' shall at length be possessed. The inventions of previous ages, navigation and printing, have opened a way for the spread of light.  We may expect that west and on the threshold of yet greater advances.  The 'universal books" (the simplified educational primers planned by Comenius) will make it possible for all to learn and to join in the advance.  The book of Pansophia* will be completed.  The schools of universal wisdom advocated by Bacon will be founded.  And the prophets of universal wisdom in all countries must be accessible to one another.  'For though it is true that the world has not entirely lacked intercourse, yet such methods of intercourse as it has enjoyed have lacked universality.'  Therefore it is desirable that the 'agents of general happiness and welfare' should be many. They must be guided by some order, 'so that each of them may know what he has to do, and for whom and when and with what assistance, and may set about his business in a manner which will make for the public benefit.' There should be a College, or a sacred society, devoted to the common welfare of mankind, and held together by some laws and rules.  A great need for the spread of light is that there should be a universal language which all can understand.  The learned men of the new order will devote themselves to this problem.  So will the light of the Gospel, as well as the light of learning, be spread throughout the world."             —From The Way of Light (Written 1641, Published in Amsterdam in 1668)
__________________
*Pansophia is a system of "universal knowledge of a macro-microcosmic philosophy," as Yates wrote it.  Using the Pansophia system  brings harmony between the inner world of humans and the outer world of Nature.

After a time at the Calvinist university of Herborn in Nassau [in western Germany] Comenius continued his formal education at the University of Heidelberg in 1613.  Yates wrote, "There were other Bohemians with Comenius at Herborn and Heidelberg," and that Johann Valentin Andreae was also in Heidelberg during this period.  We recall and consider that in later times Heidelberg was also a common center not only for the Pietists, but for individuals Zimmerman, Kelpius, Beissel and Miller, for William Penn and, no doubt, for many other Rosicrucians studying Rosicrucianism and planning for life in the New World.

Also, we cannot ignore the similar reference to Pansophia, the "Sophia" of the later work of the Kelpius perfecti as "the Woman in the Wilderness" in the New World.  The root meaning of Sophia, is from the Greek, "wisdom."  Pansophia is from the Greek, "all + wisdom," that is, a system or work embracing all knowledge and wisdom.  This is a mark of Rosicrucianism.  It is embedded in the Rosicrucian attitude toward life and learning.  Knowledge is that which is demonstrable to an individual by one's own direct experience; wisdom is in understanding the application or use of knowledge appropriately in given conditions.

Note:  Frances Yates wrote in . . . Enlightenment," Comenius was one of the Bohemian Brethren, the mystical branch of the oldest reformation tradition in Europe, that stemming from John Huss [also founder of the first of the reformed churches in Europe].  Comenius and Johann Valentin Andreae had much in common.  Both were devout, reformed clerics; both were interested in new intellectual movements which they grafted on to their native piety, the German Lutheran tradition [Andreae] in the one case, in the other, the Hussite tradition [Comenius]. Both lived through the same terrible period, and had to work on as best they could through wars and persecutions."

Footnote: John Huss founded the earlier Society from which Rosicrucian lineage  the London Royal Society was much later derived.

It should be noted, too, that Rosicrucians of the past and present find "the light of the Gospel," as stated by Comenius in The Way of Light, to be a universal light of truth found in all religions. He would have had to be careful, though, to reference his belief in the Word of God, however, even being a Protestant clergyman of the reformed church.  His appended phrase, though, tying in "the light of learning, "supersedes in coming to an understanding of parables in "the Gospel," from a greater universal knowledge available to all from within, without an intermediary priest or reverend.  As Jesus is quoted again and again, to "seek the kingdom of God within."  Humans are imbued with inner divinity, as "God is everywhere, in all things, and knows all things."

God was defined by Dr. H. Spencer Lewis as "the God of our hearts," embracing with respect that different religions have other names for the same divinity that is ever and always present throughout the universe, and supersedes the power of any humans of the Earth.

It may surprise a lot of people that the Rosicrucian movement of the past was quite political, unlike its objectives today, due to the greater freedoms in the world.  It traditionally was a subtle, almost unknowable organization.  In fact, the members were known as “the invisibles," partly because their very existence depended upon not being recognized Rosicrucians.  Any meetings were kept entirely “out of sight” and unknown—but out of necessity they moved in high places, causing essential political and social changes to occur in the interests of freedom in thought and action for individuals.

There was an inner group, called the Militia Crucifera Evangelica, which existed even during the Essene days, although it was not an exoteric organization until 1586, according to Brother Grand Master Gary L. Stewart [1984], later Imperator Stewart.  It was a group of “soldiers” in a sense . .  .  soldiers who were pledged to defend the cross against misuse or abuses.  During American colonial days, the members of the Order of the Militia were also the highest developed and most intimately secret Rosicrucian members.  The organization continues to exist even today [as written in 1984] in the same proactive, esoteric tradition of past centuries.

By any outer names of exoteric orders, religions and organizations, it would have been the network of the esoteric, spiritual Militia that would also have been behind the movement to bring the Rosicrucians and democracy to America in that political time of need.  As Shakespeare put it, or the literary debate goes on:  was it Francis Bacon and his Rosicrucian brethren, who said in effect,  that a rose is a rose by any name, and smells as sweet?

Democracy in America was the result of centuries of Karmic causes helped silently along by the various groups sponsored by the Great White Brotherhood, which is the inner, esoteric organization behind the Rosicrucians and other true universal spiritual Orders.  "White" refers to white hats and white clothing worn by very early eastern initiatic, master teachers, who from the ancients  centuries before the time of Christ, passed on their knowledge to those who, in the universal tradition, passed certain tests of wisdom.  Through centuries they continued to influence the western esoteric tradition that was nurtured in a form suitable for fulfilling different needs in the western culture.  There was the Order of Unknown Philosophers, The Royal Society, The Brotherhood of the Quest, The University of the Six Days Work, The College of the Holy Ghost, The Order of the Mustard Seed, The Woman in the Wilderness, The House of the Rosy Cross, the Martinists—many, by additional uncounted symbolic names, and many others which were actually—esoterically—one and the same Order.  "Out of Many, One"—E Pluribus Unum. It is a universal principle that is written on American currency, a principle based in the reality of human diversity that America came to represent in the spirit of Bacon's foretelling Rosicrucian objectives of the New Atlantis.

There is a profound significance in the symbolism of the cross embodied in the purpose of the order of the Militia Crucifera Evangelica, as it was known in the Reformation.   The cross, which predates Christianity and is thought of as a universal symbol of spiritual proportions, represents the experiences that humans must go through under Nature on earth. The defense of the cross was, in a great sense, the defense of the “inalienable rights of man” —protection for individuals where Karmic laws could manifest in an individual’s life freely and naturally through Nature’s path of least resistance.  Nature is also understood to be the laws of the physical Earth or manifested reality with which individuals must interact.

The defenders of the cross, or the order of the Militia Crucifera Evangelica, in one of many humanitarian efforts in previous centuries, sponsored a group that went to lead a people to declare the inalienable rights of man
.  .  .  where the symbolic cross of each individual could stand free of social, economic and political or religious dominance by other individuals .  .  .  where fear and superstition would eventually be put to rest under the banner of a world that would foster individual freedom of choice in the unity of God. 

We can easily realize that the lives and activities of the deists were quite different from the Kelpius and Ephrata groups.  Just as today the Rosicrucians come from different occupations and backgrounds, and have individual interests and beliefs, and various talents and capbilities—so,too—in the American colonies would they have had separate lives and pursuits. [Old Image of Independence Hall]

When we consider the information we have gathered for this presentation about Rosicrucian history alone, a pattern of human events becomes clear—that the destiny of America and the essential spiritual evolution of the world coming to us this very day from out of the past, carries significance of proportions beyond what might otherwise be expected.  It is a spiritual evolution in an understanding of universal laws and principles that supersede erroneous opinion and belief. 

There are documented accounts, that suggest that Masters of universal wisdom were in the midst of the American Revolution, functioning to influence certain events accordingly—to some great plan. . . .

One story was found amongst Thomas Jefferson's personal papers along with the code identified as being an old Rosicrucian secret code. Both in the Library of Congress now, the story is Jefferson's own documented account of the mysterious appearance and disappearance of an unknown man, in the session at Constitutional Hall for signing the Declaration of Independence (left wing of Independence Hall). The doors were securely locked and guarded after all the delegation members were present (see image inside the hall).  From Jefferson's account, no one knew how the man entered nor how he left, and he was gone suddenly without notice just as he had appeared.  When the delegates present feared for their lives and families', at the thought of what would become of them should the American Revolution fail. . . 

According to Thomas Jefferson's personal account as Manly P. Hall* first introduced it himself in public lectures:   [Image of Signing of Declaration of Independence]

It was late in the afternoon before the delegates gathered their courage to the sticking point.  The talk was about axes, scaffolds, and the gibbet, when suddenly a strong, bold voice sounded. . .

“Gibbet!  They may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land; they may turn every rock into the scaffold; every tree into a gallow; every home into a grave; and yet the words on that parchment can never die!  They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds, and yet from every drop that dyes the axe a new champion of freedom will spring into birth!  The British King may blot out the stars of God from the sky, but he cannot blot out His words written on that parchment there. The works of God may perish:  His words never!

“The words of this declaration will live in the world long after our bones are dust.  To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope:  to the slave in the mines freedom:  but to the coward kings, these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot choose but hear. . . .

“Sign that parchment!  Sign, if the next moment the gibbet’s rope is about your neck!  Sign, if the next minute this hall rings with the clash of falling axes!  Sign, by all your hopes in life or death, as men, as husbands, as fathers, brothers, sign your names to the parchment, or be accursed forever!  Sign, and not only for yourselves, but for all ages, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the bible of the rights of man forever.

“Nay, do not start and whisper with surprise!  It is truth, your own hearts witness it:  God proclaims it.  Look at this strange band of exiles and outcasts, suddenly transformed into a people; a handful of men, weak in arms, but mighty in God-like faith; nay, look at your recent achievements, your Bunker Hill, your Lexington, and then tell me, if you can, that God has not given America to be free!

“It is not given to our poor human intellect to climb to the skies, and to pierce the Council of the Almighty One.  But methinks I stand among the awful clouds which veil the brightness of Jehovah’s throne.

“Methinks I see the recording Angel come trembling up to that throne and speak his dread message. 

‘Father, the old world is baptized in blood. Father, look with one glance of Thine eternal eye, and behold ever more that terrible sight, man trodden beneath the oppressor’s feet, nations lost in blood, murder, and superstition, walking hand in hand over the graves of the victims, and not a single voice of hope to man!’

‘Let there be light again!  Tell my people, the poor and oppressed, to go out from the old world, from oppression and blood, and build My altar in the new.’

“Yes, as I sank into the gloomy shadows of the grave, with my last faint whisper I would beg you to sign that parchment for the sake of those millions whose very breath is now hushed in intense expectation as they look up to you for the awful words:  ‘You are free.’”

The memories left of Colonial and Revolutionary Ephrata come from a time when the free practice of individual ideas and beliefs were the paramount concern to people who journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to begin a new life. 

What does one do who is individualistic in independent thought and desire for the freedom to be who one is, when the very laws of the land dictate what may be publicly expressed and what even may be freely practiced privately in accordance with one's own personal views?  What does such a one do, when joining together with others of like mind and heart, in a great interchange of ancient wisdom of the greatest minds of the past? When William Penn in his 20s in college, decided that, yes, no one man is above another in accordance with God's universal scheme of things, where all human beings are created equally, he refused to take off his hat in the presence of the King himself.  However, he soon learned as others did, that while all people were created as equally as another, the opportunities available to improve the quality of one's life were restricted to a relative few in society's scheme of things. Opportunities for a certain freedom that comes of respectable equality under the laws of the land would continue be unavailable for most people outside the mainstream, unless the conditions in which one lived were changed, or unless one sought to make a new world for oneself somewhere else.  That is what Penn did in a big way in the land of the Pennsylvania colony, and it is what thousands of others did in the 17th and 18th Centuries in going to America.

To all those risk taking people who left the Old World to face a wilderness frontier of an unknown future, all things of life were secondary to being able to live, think and act freely.  Long decades and centuries of political factions ruling over the will of the people historically had been spent by countless independent thinkers, managing lives filled with danger from the laws of heresy.  Such individuals were forced by conditions to seek quiet, private activities of the mind, sometimes in secret with others mutually, that would internally fulfill their heart's desire to be able to think for themselves and to choose freely what to study, believe, and practice in accordance with their own conscience.  [Image]

People who came to America for the purposes of religious freedom idealized life, that is, they had the vision, of a better purpose for life, and had the will to accomplish needful, difficult changes in a unique way in order to satisfy their high ideals.  That distinguished them from many of the ruling social aristocrats they left behind.  They were decidedly different, too, from most aristocrats who also came to America specifically to serve loyally their country's colonial objectives. 

When we consider that the greater majority of colonialists were of an individualistic mind and willful emotional make-up, so as to brave the unknown in a quest for all that could possibly be made to be manifest in their lives, perhaps we can imagine for a moment that when they might all join together with the force of their collective hearts' desire, even rising out of a variegated fabric of religious beliefs and personal opinions, there could be but one outcome.  They could not fail to succeed in the need for a universal rule of law that—in orderto satisfy in some natural way the expression of their diversity—must be made on the basis of principle, by high-minded, thinking individuals. Such a universal rule must be independent of any religious consideration, under an institutionalized separation of "church and state."  The very composite nature of a world that could even possibly transcend all religious dogmas and personal opinions must involve a mutually accepted premise that philosophically, all may adhere to in a representative government, and that all could continue to uphold in good conscience. High-minded thinkers arephilosophers, who recognize and honor the inclusivity of the balance of all Nature, that is universal to all life—life that functions under a greater, more pervasive, Law of the universe, than may be established alone by any men and women on Earth. Philosophers in government can make anything happen by the force of commitment to universal law, and by being able to rise above obstacles that would obstruct a necessary achievement.

The Rosicrucian influence at the Ephrata Cloister is all but lost and forgotten on a public tour, except for an original document that was preserved under glass at the museum, photographed and presented here from my visit in 1983.  Scholars research the Cloister archives for history about the Rosicrucian influence, but most focus upon Conrad Beissel's German Seventh Day Baptist congregation.  It must be understood that Rosicrucianism is something very different in scope and nature than the religious opinions and dogma of any church.  However, many points of universal wisdom runs through all religions, no matter how different their points of dogma may be.  Rosicrucians are interested in direct knowledge about how the universal laws function in earthly matters, and why it is important in the course of daily life to make the most of our personal time on Earth for further experience, education, understanding, and the ongoing general development of consciousness, our attitudes toward life, and all that life encompasses.  [Image]

The Ephrata document under glass was written by Jacob Martin, Cloister Alchemist in 1740, which would indicate that he was a member of the Zionitic Brotherhood during Beissel's cloister leadership.  It was written in German and is unreadable in this digitized photographic image, however, the museum display indicates that it discusses Rosicrucian philosophic concepts. 

The leadership behind the scenes at the Cloister, the Zionitic Brotherhood of Rosicrucian perfecti, must not be overlooked in writing a history of the influence of Rosicrucians in the American Colonies.  In order to understand it, we must consider many things:  We must remember where the Zionitic and also the Kelpius brethren came from before going to America, and we must remember their extensive education, their scientific, and initiatic background in metaphysics and mysticism, concerning an understanding of the mysteries of life and the wisdom of the ages.  We must also contemplate the possible intended significance of naming a non-Jewish group of Rosicrucians by a name that alludes to an Essene Order based in Jerusalem at a time when a new Master Teacher by the name of Jesus was born to a Jewish couple who were also Essenes.  If we understand the differences in doctrine that the Jewish-born Jesus discussed with the rabbis in the temple and taught to the multitudes, then we must wonder more about the Essene Order and it's doctrines.  We must also ask why representatives of only a certain sect of the Essenes left Israel to live in the lands that became Europe.  We must wonder why many of the mystery students in Egypt of the Greek teacher there, called Hermes, migrated to those lands, too, and carried on in a Rosicrucian tradition known as Hermeticism. Finally, why were Mary and Joseph instructed in a dream, to take the newborn Jesus and go to Egyptian particular, for safety?  These few points, of many centuries of written history, are fundamental to finding and understanding better, the nature of the work of 18th Century Rosicrucians in America.

Peter Miller [1710-1796], who succeeded Conrad Beissel in 1768 and led the Cloister through the embattlement of revolutionary times, was a graduate of Heidelberg University.  Johannes Kelpius and many others we have discussed of the American transplanted Rosicrucian perfecti amongst the brethren who left the Old World to help establish a New World, were also educated there, at near-by universities, and had some personal esoteric activity in that part of Germany.  As referenced earlier in Section II, Heidelberg was a center of Rosicrucian focus for many centuries. Rosicrucians of the 16th Century Reformation following the Middle Ages [476 C. E. with the fall of the Roman Empire to 1450 C.E., aka Dark Ages] and in the following 17th Century Renaissance or Age of Enlightenment, were among the literate class, in times when only the privileged were able to have a formal education.  Less fortunate individuals as a rule could not read or write, and in fact, many were not permitted by law to be taught. This limited the scope of knowledge for the mass population of the world.  Not only were people restricted to what was preached verbally in church, they were restricted from knowing what ancient philosophers had taught.  They could read, and especially, they could not read Greek and Latin, the language of scholarly manuscripts, whether original or translated from other lands such as Egypt and Israel.

As early as with the establishment of the Lutheran Church during the Reformation, clerics (or ministers of God) wrote and spoke out protesting what in their perceptions were inappropriate, incorrect church dogma that was inconsistent with universal principles demonstrated by Nature. But even the protestants of the 17th Century, who knew of the universal rights of human beings born on Earth under God, were still politically encumbered even within their own churches, from the free expression of what they came to know.  Rosicrucian clerics in particular, like Zimmerman and Kelpius, understood the great vision of a land of philosophic freedom amongst other men and women who were born equally on Earth. One of the first steps to a free society involved the education of all people who wanted to learn more about life and the world, which the early Rosicrucian American clerics set about to accomplish in the colonies.

In America the Rev. Peter Miller also had already been a member of Benjamin Franklin's American Philosophical Society (1743), formerly the Leather Apron Club (1727), long before he became a member at the Ephrata Cloister during its infancy in 1735.  Before then, too, he spent time at the Hermit's ridge on the banks of the Wissahickon River, and joined in the work of other remaining perfecti under the leadership of Johannes Kelpius' [1673-1708] successor, Conrad Mathaii [1678-1748].  Miller was also considered to be a good personal friend of General George Washington.  Finally, Benjamin Franklin called upon the aid of Peter Miller for a number of talents that he had, including the ability to translate the Declaration of Independence into several languages.  Today Miller continues to be remembered for this in tribute on a wall of the hallways at the Pennsylvania State Legislature in Philadelphia. 

As discussed in Section III, The American Philosophical Society (18th Century) was a colonial version of London's Royal Society (17th Century), and was in succession with historian Yates' well researched Bohemian Brethren (16th Century, ref. the earlier Royal Society in the Palatinate of western Germany).  By the mid-17th Century, historians had also recognized corresponding elements of Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis in the Rosicrucian Manifestos that were in manuscript form as early as or sooner than the 15th Century, and were only publicized at a time during the religious Reformation, when conditions were ripe for a public expression of the greater universal humanitarian need for education in the written and spoken word, as well as in the spirit of one's own individually perceived, in-dwelling consciousness or conscience (i.e., con-science). [Image]

In order to carry on the need for further education in con-science, or education in accordance with Nature and its laws as demonstrated by processes and effects, The Royal Society, was established in London by many Rosicrucians sometime after their many discussion meetings of 1648-1659. They were people who were also formally members of the Bohemian Brethren. In its new form, its basis was referred to as "Baconianism," that became a hallmark of the Age of Enlightenment, having much to do with writings that came from a scientific approach to knowledge by past Rosicrucian giants, such as Bacon's own Advancement of Learning, Descartes' Discourse on Method, Spinoza's Ethics...., Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante'sInferno, and, of course, many, many others including the findings in mathematics by fellow Rosicrucian Englishman, Dr. John Dee. The Rosicrucians amongst themselves secretly, had already been applying the "Baconian modern scientific process," expressed in The New Atlantis, as a temple of science, and adopted by the London Royal Society. As H. G. Wells put it:

"It's formation [the London Royal Society] marks a definite step from isolated inquiry towards co-operative work, from the secret and solitary investigations of the alchemist to the frank report and open discussion which is the life of the modern scientific process. For the true scientific method is this:  to make no unnecessary hypothesis, to trust no statements without verification, to test all things as rigorously as possible, to keep no secrets, to attempt no monopolies, to give out one's best modestly and plainly, serving no other end but knowledge."

However, The Royal Society of London was also a form of organization that re-established an earlier Royal Society that largely was led and influenced by Dr. John Dee [1527-1608].  With a different focus on society's individuals who were interested in the higher scientific and theological queries into the functioning of Nature, the Royal Society of London could address the goal oriented needs of the current political environment in a different framework of time, and still continue working toward the same earlier Rosicrucian purposes:  a greater education for all people, a greater understanding of the divinity within humans, and the freedom rights of individual citizens under a civil government. [Image]

Likewise, after his induction into The Royal Society, Benjamin Franklin [1706-1790] founded the American Philosophic Society to address the specific needs of the time in the American colonies. He also carried on in the same Rosicrucian tradition under his personal leadership that would include by contact extension, countless other perfecti of different Rosicrucian groups, as earlier discussed in Sections II and III, whose work was to help perfect the process of human evolution on Earth.  Again, the perfecti understood much of the same knowledge of the ages—scientific, theological, and metaphysical, under a Divine Intelligence of the universe that they defined as "deist" or deistic, and who, even within their individual, various religious practices, considered themselves to be deists.  Deists believe in God by any name, universally always present, all-knowing, in all things—pervading all the universe,  and in all matters upon Earth.  This principle of universal divinity became a foundation of American Constitutional law protecting religious freedom in America, as well as other human rights that came to be established under the laws of the land.

A government protecting individual freedom, to be founded at all, must be founded in America by high-minded people recognizing and honoring the natural, integrated divinity of all life. It necessitated having a land free of tyrannical rule, where the fertile foundations of the human landscape of life would continue to be nurtured continuously and repeatedly with each new or newly defined issue needing redress. This would provide for the ongoing, even more widespread free, natural development of human evolution upon Earth.  The same understanding of life that had been attained by individuals over many previous centuries, who secretly studied, experimented and practiced what they had learned from the wisdom of the ages, would be able to become available to all people for the simple desire to understand.  Literacy would become the expectation and not the exception of any citizen.  People would naturally open their minds and hearts to seek real answers to questions never before contemplated by the majority.

Thus it was, that the year 1694 was the time when the spirit of the Rosicrucians was carried to the New World, in preparation for the oncoming needful changes for an open philosophical landscape in the form of a government of the people.  William Penn, another Rosicrucian perfecti initiate, made the law of his land of Pennsylvania, respecting all believers in God, and amidst many differing religions the Rosicrucians lived and worked.  Whether they were hermits in a cave, philosophers on the street, preachers in church, choir masters, or whether they were judges, regional rulers, soldiers, nurses, writers, teachers, politicians, bankers or investors—whatever occupation in which they were involved and best at doing, all contributed in their own way to the growing, so-called "spirit of America," and brought about the conditions necessary to establish a form of government.  The meetings and activities were centered in the "City of Brotherhood" as Philadelphia came to be known. The government would be one that would provide for both compromise with and protection of the integration of a great American diversity of individual interests.

Philosopher statesmen, scientists and theologians, who were high-minded men joined men like-minded men like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, many men and women behind the scenes who were unnamed, unknown to the world and uncounted, many who members of other organizations and Orders in addition to those who were the members of The American Philosophical Society.  Such leaders were able to set their hearts selflessly on an equal scale to balance others at all levels of society who understood with them—the necessity of a government for all people universally, and not merely a government of the few able to have the most personal influence and power.  But they knew, too, that personal influence and power is also a natural ingredient of any human endeavor, and the laws of the land must protect individual rights for those of influence and personal power, equally as well as the rights of less fortunate citizens of the land. 

The key for this was in the underlying principle of an institutionalized great humanitarian compromise that, filled with the inevitable imperfections of manmade law, would at least equally balance the human imperfections that would be brought to bear in any possible given circumstances that a lawful governmental process could ever be required to resolve.  In the final analysis, that is what a Democratic Republic was established to accomplish, as a "living, breathing process" in the lives of the people.  The chosen form of government was designed as a process of redress of issues as needed, and not as an absolute end in and of itself.  To "redress" a law or a condition, is to make a necessary adjustment, to make corrections of faults, or to resolve a problem,  In other words, it has to do with compensation, a balancing that results in a certain satisfaction of accomplishment for all concerned.  Absolutism must be avoided, as a lesson that all knew of tyrannical nations where leadership could change hands by overthrowing an unfounded, non-universal basis of those who were in power, where there was no possible course of redress.  In America, Constitutional Law would reign supreme over any man or woman, and because of the ongoing process of compromise that redress usually requires amidst diversity and varied opinions, the democratic process would be able continually to seek balance and general acceptance.  Under a separation of the Federal executive, legislative, and judicial powers, Constitutional Law would continue to hold sway over the potential ultimate effects from numerous factions, including the separated powers of the States of the Union, under applicable Federal laws, as well.  [Image]

Of all the different possible religious or personal beliefs about God and life, the Republic mechanism requiring compromise amongst different possible power and influence factions would allow for the Democratic process of achievement:   That it could even be possible to manifest or provide for potential equal opportunities and protection for all.  Various new opportunities may be possible to manifest in the present, or at any future time.  The vehicle for the process to function would be in place at all times.  Where issues of equal opportunity would be possible after the applicable coordinate factions in effect have converged naturally upon any given issue, and are then held to the will of all people concerned, the very same Constitutional law would continue to apply, as was established to allow the ongoing expression of and response to perceived need.  One person, one vote in a Democratic Republic makes a living, breathing entity of the U.S. Constitutional Law of the People, because of a separation of representative powers that are brought to bear in a process of arriving at essential compromised solutions.  As a nation of people evolves and matures naturally for a multitude of humans joined together, so, too, does the representational law of compromise evolve and respond accordingly in the process for further necessary adjustments, or redress, along the way.  As needs become apparent, and the actions of others that are contrary to universal principles affecting all concerned become self-evident in a Democratic Republic, those needs are thus brought into focus and the process of redress set into motion. Nature continuously seeks out balance, and continually makes necessary adjustments as new conditions develop that tend to make imbalance. So it is, that such understanding was integrated into the American form of Democratic Republic, from the wisdom of the ages understood by the Founding Fathers.

For an imperfect humanity, the Democratic Republic is an equally imperfect government, but for an imperfect collective of humans anywhere, it is the closest possible perfect form of government yet found on Earth.  America in its early days in world history was the land on Earth at that point in time, that would be able to allow for those conditions necessary then, where such a universal law as written down by world class philosophers the 18th Century, could continue to sustain itself—regardless of those who would later attempt to thwart it or otherwise attempt to distort or destroy it for their own individual,  selfish, human interests. 

Bacon's New Atlantis and Plato's Republic both, while being referred to as being "utopian" in nature, did indeed come to pass in the land that would become the United States of America. The Great Law of the Republic of the Democratic Will of the People, continues to prevail because it allows for necessary breathing and exhaling in its own natural process of compromise that is based upon a continually developing evolution of the consciousness of people, amidst an ever present diversity of changing understanding and changing opinions, for the ongoing greater unified interest of all concerned.  It is thus that America is continually in the process of "making a more perfect Union."

Bacon's "Secret Society" was not really Bacon's society, in his own lifetime or even later when the London Royal Society was established. It was a society that was the result of a convergence of humanity's needs growing out of the human oppression of different centuries.  "Life" is intended to express itself in accordance with the Natural laws of cause and effect.  Through the study and work of different unknown individuals, men and women of various backgrounds, talents, and occupations, a common interest emerged that needed expression concerning the necessary freedom for the continuing process of evolution, or a broader understanding within humanity's realization of life.  While it included statesmen, scientists and theologians, it included people generally of independent thought who had studied the history of human events occurring specifically under the laws of Nature. 

The Rosicrucian movement as it was known in the 16th and 17th Century, was a general movement in behalf of humankind, a humanitarian movement of philosophers from all points of the compass in the final analysis. It was a movement not of one "Rosicrucian Order," but a Rosicrucian movement of many committed individuals and many different organizations and Orders who joined together as One.  For personal protection they were secretly networked amongst the high and low, the formally educated and self-educated, the religious and deist; they were in the hills and valleys of life; they were in political asylums and at the front of warring battles with religious and political factions who held sway over the lives of others.  They were the people's people, who set out to educate others less capable, who had protected the rights of individuals wherever possible under the rule of demigods, who planned for a new destiny that would be inevitable in the course of the ongoing evolutionary development of human consciousness, who made happen the establishment of a free land, to live freely under one's own conscience to choose.  [Image]

It was a "secret society" that came to be known as "Rosicrucian" in nature, that included men and women of all philosophical and spiritual persuasions, who in effect joined the four corners of a cross on Earth and were one with them under God, the universal divinity in all people—however differently God may be defined—in order to establish as perfecta union as possible out of imperfect human beings.  Each individual and group involved in the American colonies formed a necessary part of the whole, in a process that would move toward an inevitable manifestation of a universal law of the land in America, that would respect and protect the rights of individuals and amidst a sea of varied beliefs and opinions. 

The "Ephrata connection" was that the Rosicrucian perfecti and other members of the Cloister who were Seventh Day Baptists, each made up but one of many groups that joined as one in America to make a free New World.  The role of the Rosicrucians was a role working toward objectives of the western esoteric tradition in perfecting the conditions necessary for a more direct, natural process of the evolution of the human consciousness on Earth.  The integration of universal principles underlying the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the very process of the Democratic Republic form of government, established a relatively free exchange of ideas that has continually accelerated the development of the human understanding attitude toward other people, indeed the development of a more expanded consciousness of the universality of the purposes of all life to be what is in its nature to be.

People are imperfect, many errors of commission and omission have occurred since the time when American founding fathers put the words on the official parchment that became the Declaration of Independence; the U.S. Constitution separating church and state, and separating the three primary powers of government; the Bill of Rights, with further Amendments adding at various times in the process of redress.  Over time many of the universal principles have been, by some American leaders and citizens, overlooked, ignored or lost to an ongoing realization in new generations.  Many imperfections of the American people as a collective consciousness, have continued to be reflected in the absence at times, of the continued application of universal values and judgments in decision making.  There are still some laws on the books in federal, state and local governments, that are not in accordance with universal matters, and continually others that are not are being brought in piece by piece, eroding the original universal intent of the U.S. Constitution.  This is the meaning of the admonition:  The price of liberty is eternal vigilance! However, as we live and breathe each day, the ongoing evolution of the American, and indeed, the world consciousness continues, whether it is realized that the greater truths of the divinity of all life that deserves respect, deserves recognition, and deserves positive, effective response and application in the work of the government.  All the nations of the world are realizing more and more about this, and are responding to new insight in working within their own nations and with other nations.

To continue the process of succeeding in the betterment of human conditions, we humans everywhere must first get passed the point where the influential few will not allow the principle of selfishness or the single-minded pressure of lobbying groups, to drive an entire Nation solely according to such ends.  Why?  Because then, the principles outlined in the foundations of the American Democratic Republic will not become more and more alive in the continuing process "to make a more perfect Union," and the threat becomes possible, that the Union could indeed conceivably "perish from the Earth" at the hands of a few—again—due to following the lead of an imperfect understanding of the wisdom and experience of humanity throughout the ages.  A government representative of the people must be able to see blindly passed the expectations of any constituency, and include the greater universal applications of the divine intelligence within us all in the process of all decision making. Decisions should be made with the intention of the greater possible good of all concerned, with a vision that excludes no one unnecessarily.

Many Orders today of the western esoteric tradition, by many different names, continue to work as individuals toward the common betterment of the evolution of the human consciousness individually, at all levels. The true and invisible Order is known only by those whom it's pristine tradition has found, and it functions through all Orders established that work in keeping with universal principles, for the betterment of humanity. Each individual, however, comes to his or her own personal understanding through personal experience, and not by the simple words of another person or even, any organization.

In 1915, Dr. H. Spencer Lewis founded "The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC" as a fraternal organization of men and women in America, and eventually internationally, with a very different focus than Rosicrucians in 18th Century America.  The time had arrived where because of the establishment of civil freedom rights of individuals in matters of independent thought and action, it was no longer necessary for "Rosicrucianism" as a movement to be embroiled in the political and warring issues about religion and science, or about being able to think and act freely in an open society. 

The "Rosicrucian Order" as established by Lewis is derived from the same initiatic lineage of earlier Rosicrucians of the western esoteric tradition concerning metaphysics, mysticism and related topics of inquiry into Nature and the universe.  The focus in the cycle of Rosicrucian activity of the Lewis lineage in America, therefore, was in making available to a greater number of modern individuals, certain aspects of metaphysics and pragmatic mysticism, that help people to understand many of the universal principles functioning in their own lives. (Meta = that study that came after, and physics = study of universal laws affecting physical reality).  From their own direct, independent study, they are able to build happier and healthier lives for themselves and their families. 

The monograph work of Dr. Lewis and the objectives carried on by his son Ralph M. Lewis and succeeding Imperator Gary L. Stewart, has continued to be available under the Order of the Confraternity of the Rose Cross.  Imperator Stewart also carries in the work today, his own additional lineage of the western esoteric tradition.  The western esoteric tradition includes many different Orders in addition to the Rosicrucians.

2) Bacon, Francis; The New Atlantis, classic.

3) Emory University, online text of The Declaration of Independence.

4) Hall, Manly P.; Codex Rosae Crucis:  The Philosophical Research Society, Inc.:  Los Angeles, 1971, Second Edition.

5) Hall, Manly P.; Collected Writings of Manly P. Hall, Vol. 3, Essays and Poems, Chapter III, “Riddle of the Rosicrucians”, 1941; The Philosophical Research Society, Inc.: Los Angeles, 1962.

6) Hall, Manly P.; Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, “Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins”, p. 397:  The Hall Publishing Company: Los Angeles, 1929, First Edition.

7) Hall, Manly P.; The Secret Destiny of America; Philosophical Research Society, Inc.:  Los Angeles, 1944, First from 1942 Lecture at Carnegie Hall; 1958, First Edition of book; 1972 Second Edition.

8) Hartranft, Ralph M.; Milton H. Heinicke’s History of Ephrata, Booklets One and Two:  Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley.

9) Hieronimus, Robert, Ph.D.; America's Secret Destiny - Spiritual Vision & the Founding of a Nation; Destiny Books: Rochester, Vermont, 1989, First Edition.

10) Iroquois Publishing Co., Inc.; Early Days in the New World: Syracuse, New York, 1950, First Edition, School Textbook.

11) Lewis, H. Spencer, The Mystical Life of Jesus:  Rosicrucian Press:  San Jose, 1953, Tenth Edition.  First Edition, 1929.

12) Lewis, H. Spencer; Rosicrucian Questions and Answers with Complete History of the Rosicrucian Order:  Rosicrucian Press:  San Jose, 1932, Second Edition.

13) Lewis, H. Spencer; Rosicrucian Manual; Lovett Printing Company:  Charleston, West Virginia, 1927, Second Edition.

14) Palo, Dr. John; New World Mystics - Rosicrucians Come To America; Dr. John Palo:  New York, NY, 1994, First Edition. 
[To Order this Excellent Book from the Publisher, Contact Linda Santucci for Further Information]

15) Pike, Albert; Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jourisdiction, “18th Degree:  Night of the Rose Cross”;  H.  Jenkins, Inc.:  Richmond, Va., 1947 (First Edition, 1871).

16) Sachse, Julius Friedrich; The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania, 1694 - 1708;  P.C. Stockhausen:  Philadelphia, 1895.

17) Sachse, Julius Friedrich; The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 1708 - 1742; P.C. Stockhausen: Philadelphia, 1899.

18) Schrigner, Linda S.; "The R+C Legacy:  Dr. John Dee", 2000 C.E. at The Four+Corners: Internet, 1996-2002.

19) Schrigner, Linda S.; "Benedict Spinoza - Ontology for the New Millennium", 2000 C.E. at The Four+Corners:  Internet, 1996-2002.

20) Stewart, Gary L.; Awakened Attitude, "The Mission of the Confraternity of the Rose Cross", Order of the Militia Crucifera Evangelica (OMCE), 1996 Second Edition.  Article is Online and Book is Available:  http://www.crcsite.org/Mission.htm

21)  Stryz, Jan; "The Alchemy of the Voice at Ephrata Cloister", Michigan State University
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Alchemy.html (RE Quote:  Beissel's "Idiosyncratic Alchemy"), as of 2002.

22) Vivian, Herbert; Secret Societies Old and New; Thornton Butterworth, Ltd.:  London, 1927.

23) Public tour verbal presentations, and printed information from Boston, Philadelphia, Plymouth, and the Ephrata Cloister.

24) H. G. Wells; The Outline of History, Vol. II; Doubleday & Company, Inc.:  Garden City, New York, 1971 Seventh Edition. First Edition: H.G. Wells: 1920.

25) Yates, Frances A.; The Rosicrucian Enlightenment; Paladin: Frogmore, St. Albans, Herts, 1975.  (First published in Great Britain by Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd.:  London, 1972.)

There's a Spirit in the Kitchen, Amy Kitchener Speaks to America, 
Recipes and Reflections of a 19th-Century Ghost
by Jackie Dashiell & Wanda Sue Parrott, Published in March 2001; Galde Press, Inc.: Lakeville, Minnesota, USA. 
pp 236-237:  ".. . . You must decide your own fate.  We are here to lead, not to push, to teach and not preach.
     "Your future, and that of America, is already written on the plane of celestial nowness.  For some of you, there will be a future America.  For some of you, there will be no future America.
     "Your futures are fertilized cosmic cells.  There are as many futures and pasts as there are readers of these words.  You have the ability to choose which of the fertilized cosmic cells you desire to cause to ripen to fruition.  All already is.  You need only draw that isness unto your plane.
     "Collectively, the physical state of America is, at this time, following cosmic, or God's, immutable law.
     "The collective consciousness, the communal cell structure, which constitutes the United States of America, is recycling.
     "At the time of this dictation (1974), America is in a cycle of conversion.
     "If the nation can convert peaceably, without cells splitting fragmentarily, America will enter a new cycle of conservation after the year 1976.
     "If the national cell structures split, creating breakdown of unification and solidarity on spiritual, mental, and physical levels, conversion will continue. There will be no period of conservation for America because there will no longer be one America.  A new America will manifest in 2001. [This book finally published March, 2001]
     "Cosmically, those who hold understanding of the principle upon which the nation was founded, and who strive to attain the higher color of their spirit side, will always be Americans.  In being true Americans, they will become true citizens of the world, cosmic as well as finite.
     "Those who have not realized the basic freedom for which America stands will lose their freedoms.  This is neither good nor bad.  This is natural, the impersonal working of God's law. . . ."
Publisher's Web Site: http://www.galdepress.com
There's a Spirit in the Kitchen is Also Available at http://www.amazon.com

President Ronald Reagan Quoting from Jefferson's Account of 
The Unknown Who Swayed the Signers of The Declaration of Independence: 
Two Internet Sources:
1.  Reagan Speech January 25, 1974, 
First Conservative Political Action Conference 
"We Will Be a City on a Hill"
http://www.reagan2000.com/1974CityUponAHill.asp
http://www.townhall.com/hall_of_fame/reagan/speech/cpac1.html
and included also in
2,  Reign's Message on Observance of Independence Day, 1981
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/speeches/1981/70381a.htm

Julius Sachse's Address of 1911 on the History of Freemasonry
Includes:  ". . . .The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania 'Ancients,' being the oldest in America [as opposed to the former aristocratic "Moderns", chiefly Tories,  prior to the Revolution], was from the beginning looked upon by the Brethren in adjoining Provinces and abroad as the Masonic fountain-head, as it were, in the Western World." [Under General Washington's leadership in the American Revolution, other colonies applied for warrants to function under the Masonic Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.]
http://www.mastermason.com/lodge850/Reading/beginnings.htm

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Ephrata Cloister (State Museum):  Pennsylvania Trail of History
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bhsm/toh/ephrata/ephratacloister.asp?secid=14
". . . . Following the death of the last celibate member in 1813, the married congregation formed the German
Seventh Day Baptist Church.   Members continued to live and worship at the Cloister until 1934.  In 1941, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the historic site and began a program of restoration and interpretation. ". . .
http://philanet.com/Philadelphia/index.html

The Alchemy of the Voice at Ephrata Cloister, by Jan Stryz; Michigan State University
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/Alchemy.html
". . . . In the wilderness of Pennsylvania, during the mid eighteenth century, Beissel invented his own idiosyncratic version of alchemy from those pieces of Bohemian theosophy he absorbed as a young man in Germany. . . .  Rooted in Platonism, the  'Rosicrucian linguistics' that pervaded mid-seventeenth-century England resembled the 'book mysticism' of post-Paracelsian Germany, and was influenced by Boehme.  Boehme and the various hermetic groups subscribing to this view of language held that man had suffered a second, linguistic fall resulting in a 'Babylonical Confusion,' as the Rosicrucian tract Confessio phrases it.  What prevents man from seeing the divine presence in nature is the inability to read Nature's Book properly.  But true reading entails direct sensual experience, such as occurred when Boehme's vision was opened by the flash of sunlight off a pewter dish.  As his contemporary biographer put it, Boehme then 'went forth into the open fields, and there perceived the wonderful or wonder works of the Creator in the signatures, shapes, figures, and qualities of all created things, very clearly and plainly laid open.'". . .

Ormsby-Lennon, Hugh, "Rosicrucian Linguistics: Twilight of a Renaissance Tradition," Hermeticism and the Renaissance (Washington: The Folger Shakespeare Library, 1988), 312, 314, 316-319.

Descartes: Discourse on Method
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/descartes_method.htm

Bacon's Watermarks for Rosicrucian Manuscripts
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/bacon_watermarks.htm

Awakened Attitude, "The Mission of the Confraternity of the Rose Cross",  by Gary L. Stewart,  Article is Online and Book is Available (see review): http://www.crcsite.org/Mission.htm

"Life's Greatest Tutor", by Linda S. Schrigner (Santucci) 1990
http://www.omcesite.org/articles.htm

"The Master Within", by H. Spencer Lewis (1930s or Earlier)
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/master_within.htm

"Why We Have A Secret Order", by H. Spencer Lewis (1917)
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/why_secret.htm

Other Classic Texts at 2000 C.E. at The Four+Corners
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/

Dr. Palo wrote in his book, New World Mystics, of Randolph's last chapter in German Pietists... :

"Dr. Julius F. Sachse, Litt. D. was originally slated to write this chapter.  Due to illness, he could not do it. Randolph states, 'In this emergency Mr. Sachse has been more than kind. He has generously placed all the material which he has gathered, and now available to him, at the disposal of his successor [Randolph]. . . .' What is of interest are the numerous points not included in Sachse's previous works on this Rosicrucian period."

In going through the material and artifacts provided by Sachse, Randolph came to a conclusion that the "Brotherhood of Zion" as he called it, was a Masonic brotherhood at Ephrata, and that Beissel's following were "the Rosicrucians".   Sachse didn't present the "Zionitic Brotherhood" as being a Masonic brotherhood, but as being the Rosicrucian group at Ephrata.  Sachse was a respected historian who, it seems obvious to me, would have had very good reasons, as evidenced in his own writing, for not making the conclusions about Masonry that Randolph did in that chapter.  This is without mention, also, of the work of other historians. 

For one thing, members of the Ephrata Cloister may have been Masons in addition to being Rosicrucian, or in addition to being Seventh Day Baptist.  The Seventh Day Baptists were a separate, different group at Ephrata, although Rosicrucians traditionally contribute in their own way as possible individually, to the spiritual efforts of all religions.

The passages in question here from Randolph's chapter are:

"The Brotherhood of Zion was, in short, an organization which practiced the mystic rites of Freemasonry of the eighteenth century, which were very different from the rites of Rosicrucian philosophy which was so dear to the hearts of Beissel and Miller.  The leading spirits of the Brotherhood of Zion were the four Echerlin brothers. "  and "Sachse has assured the present writer [Randolph] that there is no vital relation existing between true Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, the latter being but a crude imitation of the former."

1.  Sachse was both a Rosicrucian and a Mason himself.  Knowing this and the character of his own writing alone, entirely aside from Randolph, I doubt very seriously that Sachse would characterize Masonry in the way that Randolph did, whether Sachse was a Rosicrucian or a Mason.   Also, that this statement alone, was not edited prior to the book's publication indicates that Sachse did not see Randolph's chapter until too late to edit any of the conclusions drawn by Randolph.

2.  That Randolph even needed Sachse to have assured him about the nature of either Rosicrucianism or Masonry, indicates that he had very little foundation about these Orders upon which to discern the nature of their significance at Ephrata, even if Randolph was an expert on the Seventh Day Baptists of Early America.

3.  I believe it was Sachse himself who referred to the Brotherhood at Ephrata as the "Zionitic Brotherhood" and not as Randolph put it, the "Brotherhood of Zion".  There is a difference in form that is important on Sachse's part, for referencing it as Zion-itic. The adjective ending, "itic", indicates an allusion to Zion, i.e., "of the nature of" and not something that is pointing to being at or of "Zion" itself. 

4.  As to "the mystic rites" that "were very different from the rites of Rosicrucian philosophy":  It is clear that Randolph was not familiar with other different mystical rites, particularly of the Pietist conventicles from which was derived Kelpius, and his perfecti delegation from Europe in 1694, continued under the leadership of Conrad Mathaii.  This information has been made clearer subsequently by Manly P. Hall's work in the early 20th Century on the Lodge and Chapter system of "Perfection" or "Perfecti".   Later historians have added other pertinent information, as well, that provides historical consistencies with which Randolph's theses do not coincide.

5.  The monastery built in 1737 at the old Kelpius site on the Ridge above the Wissahickon River, was previously documented in an old drawing as being built by the Zionitic Brotherhood, where Mathaii continued his work in the Philadelphia area.  Mathaii never lived at Ephrata.  This would have been built there in keeping with the Kelpius Rosicrucian tradition, and that it was built there makes inconsistent with history, Randolph's idea that the Temple on Mt. Zion at Ephrata was "Masonic".   I would be interested in knowing whether the Zionitic Brotherhood may have been established on the Ridge in Philadelphia before it "eventually " as Jan Stryz put it, it was established at Ephrata, or was it established at Ephrata prior to constructing the monastery on the Ridge. [Ref.:  Additional Readings below Bibliography.]

6.  Conrad Mathaii himself, for years, had nothing more to do with Beissel after his expulsion of the Echerlin brothers and Mrs. Echerlin from Ephrata.   Randolph's thesis that the Echerlin were expelled from Ephrata as "the leading spirits of the Brotherhood of Zion" must remain consistent with the history indicating it functioned with 13 Rosicrucians.   Beissel, in point, was well known as a tyrant and dictator at Ephrata, jealous about his authority and position, and resented not being consulted on all matters at the Cloister: a more likely reason for friction between the groups.   Mathaii was also well known for his objections to Beissel's actions, to the point of having little contact for many years with Beissel even before the Echerlin incident.  Only much later after the Echerlins returned to Ephrata, was the remarkable event of Mathaii's and Beissel's exchange of the "Kiss of Peace."

7.  In reviewing even a few of the practices of the German Seventh Day Baptists as established under the leadership of Beissel, one easily sees a dogma that is more inconsistent than consistent with Rosicrucian ontology, even while Beissel had a gift of charismatic speech and inspiration.  Randolph was taking literary license in characterizing Beissel's rituals as "rites of Rosicrucian philosophy."

8.  Julius Sachse wrote a history, too, of the Masonic Order in Early America.  It is referenced as another possible resource concerning his views about possible Masonry at Ephrata, specifically concerning the Zionitic Brotherhood.  Sachse had access to the documentation of Masonic Temples.  In a 1911 address to Masonic brothers, he discusses the Masonic "Ancients" (patriots of the Revolution, and the "Moderns" (Tories loyal to England).  (See Further Reading below Bibliography.) 

Sachse would have understood as a Rosicrucian, the common objectives in the work of both, regardless of the differences in approach.  "Out of Many One" applies in the Rosicrucian attitude, and I believe it also is a Masonic attitude of life.  "Different" does not mean "unequal" in the focus of attention in achieving the same, common purposes and objectives. In fact, traditionally in history, even today, many Masons are also Rosicrucians.  The order of "Co-Masons" today has included women, and there, too, are many female Rosicrucians who are members.  For further insight into Julius Sachse's recognition and respect among Masons, in spite of Randolph's characterization of the two Orders, please see the list of additional references at the end of the Bibliography page.