{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35350/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35350","id":"gutenberg_35350","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35350","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - European","Category: History - Religious","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Rosicrucians"],"text":"</pre>\n\nE-text prepared by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team\n(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by\nInternet Archive/American Libraries\n(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)\n\n\n\nNote: Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See\n      http://www.archive.org/details/mysteriesofrosie00londrich\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n      Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).\n\n      Text in bold face is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=).\n\n      A list of corrections is at the end of the e-book.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYSTERIES OF THE ROSIE CROSS,\n\nOr\n\nThe History of that Curious Sect\nof the Middle Ages,\nKnown as the Rosicrucians;\n\nWith\nExamples of their Pretensions and Claims\nas Set Forth in the Writings of Their Leaders\nand Disciples.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA. Reader, Orange Street, Red Lion Square, London.\n1891.\n\n\n\n\n_PREFACE._\n\n\nIn the following pages an attempt has been made to convey something like\nan intelligible idea of the peculiar mystic sect known to the readers of\nhistory, as the Rosicrucians. The subject is confessedly difficult, owing\nto the grossly absurd character of the writings left by the disciples of\nthis body, and the secrecy with which they sought to surround their\nmovements and clothe their words. Anything like a consecutive narration is\nan impossibility, the materials at hand being so fragmentary and\ndisjointed. We have, however, done the best that we could with such facts\nas were within reach, and if we are not able to present so scientific and\nperfect a treatise as we might have hoped to do, we at least trust that\nthe following contribution to the scanty literature treating of this\nmatter will be found interesting, and will throw some light upon what is\nshrouded in such profound mystery.\n\n\n\n\n_CONTENTS._\n\n\n  CHAPTER THE FIRST.\n      WHO AND WHAT WERE THE ROSICRUCIANS                           1\n\n  CHAPTER THE SECOND.\n      HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE ROSICRUCIANS                      15\n\n  CHAPTER THE THIRD.\n      EARLY LEADERS--LITERATURE--ROMANTIC STORIES                 22\n\n  CHAPTER THE FOURTH.\n      THE FAME AND CONFESSION OF THE FRATERNITY OF R. C.          34\n\n  CHAPTER THE FIFTH.\n      JOHN HEYDON AND THE ROSICRUCIANS                            60\n\n  CHAPTER THE SIXTH.\n      GABALIS: OR THE EXTRAVAGANT MYSTERIES OF THE CABALISTS      81\n\n  CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.\n      THE HERMETICK ROMANCE; OR CHYMICAL WEDDING                 102\n\n  CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.\n      MODERN ROSICRUCIANS                                        126\n\n\n\n\n_AUTHORITIES._\n\n\nEl Havareuna; or the English Physitian's Tutor, in the Astrobolismes of\nMettals Rosie Crucian, Miraculous Saphiric Medicines of the Sun and Moon,\nthe Astrolosmes of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.... All harmoniously united\nand opperated by Astromancy and Geomancy.... Whereunto is added\nPsonthonphanchia.... the Books being also an appeal to the natural\nfaculties of the mind of man whether there be not a God. By John Heydon,\nM.D. 1664.\n\nThe Holy Guide: leading the way to the Wonder of the World (a compleat\nPhysician) teaching the knowledge of all things, past, present, and to\ncome, viz., of pleasure, long life, health, youth, Blessedness, Wisdome,\nVirtue; and to cure, change, and remedy all diseases in young or old. With\nRosie Crucian Medicines, etc. (The Rosie Cross uncovered, and the Places,\nTemples, Holy Houses.... and invisible Mountains of the Brethren\ndiscovered), etc. John Heydon. 1662.\n\nA New Method of Rosie Crucian Physick, wherein is shewed the cause, and\ntherewith their experienced medicines for the cure of all diseases. John\nHeydon. 1658.\n\nA Quintuple Rosie Crucian Scourge, for the correction of that\npseudo-chymist, Geo. Thomson, being in part a vindication of the Society\nof Physicians. John Heydon. 1665.\n\nTheomagia, or the Temple of Wisdome. In three parts, spiritual, celestial\nand elemental; containing the occult powers of the Angels of\nAstromancy.... The Mysterious virtues of the character of the Stars....\nThe knowledge of the Rosie Crucian Physick. J. Heydon. 1662.\n\nThe Rosie Crucian Infallible Axiomata, or Generall Rules to know all\nthings past, present, and to come. Usefull, pleasant, and profitable to\nall, and fitted to the understanding of mean capacities. John Heydon.\n1660.\n\nRise and Attributes of the Rosi Crucians. By J. Von D----.\n\nMosheim's Ecclesiastical History.\n\nBrucker's History of Philosophy.\n\nThe Hermetick Romance, or Chemical Wedding. By C. Rosencreutz.\n\nNew Curiosities of Literature. G. Soane.\n\nTale of a Tub. Swift.\n\nNotes and Queries. Series 1-8. 6 vols., 7, 8, 10.\n\nWarburton's Commentary on the Rape of the Lock.\n\nSpectator. Nos. 379, 574.\n\nNational Magazine. Vol. 1.\n\nLondon Magazine. Vols. 9, 20.\n\nWestern Monthly. Vol. 3.\n\nBook Lore. Vol. 3.\n\nPlot's History of Staffordshire.\n\nThe Count of Gabalis, or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists.\n\nButler's Hudibras.\n\nMackay's Popular Delusions.\n\nHiggins's Anacalypsis.\n\nFame and Confession of the Rosie Cross. E. Philateles.\n\nMackay's Symbolism of Freemasonry.\n\nDe Quincey on Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.\n\nApologia Compendiaria Fraternitatis de Rosea Cruce.\n\nFama Fraternitatis. 1617, etc.\n\n\n\n\nMYSTERIES OF THE ROSIE CROSS.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n_Who and what were the Rosicrucians?_\n\n\nThe questions which present themselves on the threshold of this enquiry\nare:--Who and what were the Rosicrucians? When and where did they\nflourish, and what influence did any peculiar tenets they may have held,\nor practices they may have indulged in, exercise upon the world? We shall\nendeavour to answer these queries as distinctly as so mysterious and\nextravagant a subject will allow of, and illustrate the whole by copious\nextracts from the writings of recognized leaders and disciples.\n\nComparatively very little is known about these people; and, if we open any\nof our works of general reference, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias,\nwe find little more than a bare reminder that they were a mystic sect to\nbe found in a few European countries about the middle of the fifteenth\ncentury. That such a sect did exist is beyond question, and the opinion\nthat what is left of it exists at the present time in connection with\nmodern Freemasonry, seems not altogether destitute of foundation.\n\nThey appear to have a close connection with the Alchemists; springing into\nexistence as a distinct body when those enthusiastic seekers after the\npower of transmuting the baser into the nobler metals were creating\nunusual sensation. Somewhere about the end of the fifteenth century, a\nDutch pilot named Haussen, had the misfortune to be shipwrecked off the\ncoast of Scotland. The vessel was lost, but Haussen was saved by a Scotch\ngentleman, one Alexander Seton, who put off in a boat and brought the\ndrowning mariner to land. A warm friendship sprang up between the two,\nand, about eighteen months after, Seton went to Holland, and paid a visit\nto the man whom he had rescued. During this visit he informed the Dutchman\nthat he was in possession of the secret of the philosopher's stone, and\nreport says that in his presence he actually transmuted large quantities\nof base metal into the finest gold, which he left with him as a present.\nSeton in due course took leave of his friend, and prosecuted his travels\nthrough various parts of the continent. He made no attempt to conceal the\npossession of his boasted secret, but openly talked of it wherever he went\nand performed certain experiments, which he persuaded the people were\nactual transmutations of base metal into gold. Unfortunately for him, the\nDuke of Saxony heard the report of these wonders, and immediately had him\narrested and put to the torture of the rack to extract from him the\nprecious secret, or to compel him at least to use it in his especial\nservice. All was in vain, however, the secret, if such he really\npossessed, remained locked up in his own breast, and he lay for months in\nprison subjected to treatment which reduced him to mere skin and bone, and\nwell nigh killed him. A Pole, named Sendivogius, also an alchemist, an\nenthusiast like the rest of the fraternity, who had spent time and fortune\nin the wild and profitless search, then came upon the scene. The\nsufferings of Seton aroused his sympathy, and he resolved to bring about,\nif possible, his escape from the tyrant. After experiencing a deal of\ndifficulty he obtained permission to visit the prisoner, whom he found in\na dark and filthy dungeon, in a condition well nigh verging upon absolute\nstarvation. He immediately acquainted the unhappy man with his proposals,\nwhich were listened to with the greatest eagerness, and Seton declared\nthat, if he succeeded in securing his liberation, he would make him one of\nthe wealthiest of living men. Sendivogius then set about his really\ndifficult task; and, with a view to its accomplishment, commenced a\ncurious and artful series of movements. His first move was to procure some\nready money, which he did by the sale of some property near Cracow. With\nthis he began to lead a gay and somewhat dissipated life at Dresden;\ngiving splendid banquets, to which he invited the officers of the guard,\nparticularly selecting those who were on duty at the prison. In the course\nof time his hospitality had its expected effect; he entirely won the\nconfidence of the officials, and pretending that he was endeavouring to\novercome the obstinacy of the captive, and worm out his secret, was\nallowed free access to him. It was at last resolved upon a certain day to\nmake the attempt at escape; and, having sent the guard to sleep by means\nof some drugged wine, he assisted Seton over a wall, and led him to a\npost-chaise, which he had conveniently waiting, to convey him into Poland.\nIn the vehicle Seton found his wife awaiting him, having with her a packet\nof black powder, which was said to be the philosopher's stone by which\niron and copper could be transmuted into gold. They all reached Cracow in\nsafety, but Seton's sufferings had been so severe, and had so reduced his\nphysical strength, that he did not survive many months. He died about 1603\nor 1604, leaving behind him a number of works marked Cosmopolite. Soon\nafter his death Sendivogius married the widow; and, according to the\naccounts which have come down to us, was soon initiated into the methods\nof turning the commoner metals into the finer. With the black powder, we\nare told, he converted great quantities of quicksilver into the purest\ngold, and that he did this in the presence of the Emperor Rudolph II. at\nPrague, who, in commemoration of the fact, caused a marble tablet with an\ninscription to be fixed in the wall of the room where the experiment was\nperformed. Whether the experiment was a cheat or not, the tablet was\nreally fixed in the said wall, and was seen and described by Desnoyens,\nsecretary to the Princess Mary of Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, in 1651.\n\nRudolph, the Emperor, seems to have been perfectly satisfied with the\nsuccess of the alchymist, and would have heaped the loftiest honours upon\nhim had he been disposed to accept of them; this, however, did not accord\nwith his inclination; he, it is said, preferred his liberty, and went to\nreside on his estate at Gravarna, where he kept open house for all who\nresponded to his invitations. His biographer, Brodowski, who was also his\nsteward, insists, contrary to other writers, that the magic powder was red\nand not black; that he kept it in a box of gold, and that with one grain\nof it he could make a hundred ducats, or a thousand rix dollars, generally\nusing quicksilver as the basis of his operations. When travelling this box\nwas carried by the steward, who hung it round his neck by a golden chain;\nthe principal part of the powder, however, was hidden in a secret place\ncut in the step of his chariot; this being deemed a secure place in the\nevent of being attacked by robbers. He appears to have lived in constant\nfear of being robbed, and resorted to all manner of precautions to secure\nhis treasure when on a journey; for it is said that he was well known as\nthe possessor of this philosopher's stone, and that many adventurers were\non the watch for any opportunity to rob him.\n\nBrodowski relates that a German prince once served him a scurvy trick,\nwhich ever afterwards put him on his guard. The prince was so anxious to\nsee the wonderful experiments, of which he had heard so much, that he\nactually fell upon his knees before the alchymist, when entreating him to\nperform in his presence. Sendivogius, after much pressing, allowed his\nobjections to be overcome; and, upon the promise of secrecy by the prince,\nshowed him what he was so anxious to witness. No sooner, however, had the\nalchymist left, than the prince entered into a conspiracy with another\nalchymist, named Muhlenfels, for robbing Sendivogius of the powder he used\nin his operations. Accompanied by twelve armed attendants, Muhlenfels\nhastened after Sendivogius, and overtaking him at a lonely inn, where he\nhad stopped to dine, forcibly took from him his golden box containing a\nlittle of the powder; a manuscript book on the philosopher's stone; a\ngolden medal, with its chain, presented to him by the Emperor Rudolph; and\na rich cap, ornamented with diamonds, of the value of one hundred thousand\nrix-dollars.\n\nSendivogius was not at all disposed to put up with such treatment without\nan effort to obtain redress, so he went at once to Prague, and laid his\ncomplaint before the Emperor. The Emperor at once sent an express to the\nprince, ordering him to deliver up Muhlenfels and his plunder. Alarmed at\nthe aspect that things were now assuming, the prince, treacherous to one\nman as he had been to the other, erected gallows in his courtyard and\nhanged Muhlenfels with a thief on either side of him. He sent back the\njewelled hat, the medal and chain, and the book in manuscript; the powder,\nhe said, he knew nothing of.\n\nSendivogius now adopted a different mode of living altogether to that\nwhich he had formerly been addicted to; he pretended to be excessively\npoor, and would sometimes keep his bed for weeks together, to make the\npeople conclude it was impossible for him to be the owner of the\nphilosopher's stone. He died in the year 1636, upwards of eighty, and was\nburied at Gravarna.\n\nNow, it is commonly held by most people, who have studied the subject,\nthat there is a close and intimate connection between the Alchymists and\nthe Rosicrucians; probably this is true, and a perusal of the works of\nJohn Heydon, and others of a similar character, will deepen the\nimpression. It was, indeed, during the life of Sendivogius that the\nRosicrucians first began to make a mark in Europe, and cause anything\napproaching to a sensation. A modern writer says:--\"The influence which\nthey exercised upon opinion during their brief career, and the permanent\nimpression which they have left upon European literature, claim for them\nespecial notice. Before their time alchemy was but a grovelling delusion;\nand theirs is the merit of having spiritualised and refined it. They also\nenlarged its sphere, and supposed the possession of the philosopher's\nstone to be, not only the means of wealth, but of health and happiness,\nand the instrument by which man could command the services of superior\nbeings, control the elements to his will, defy the obstructions of time\nand space, and acquire the most intimate knowledge of all the secrets of\nthe universe.\"[1]\n\nIt is a fact well known to all well-informed readers, that at this time\nthe European continent was saturated with the most degrading\nsuperstitions. Devils were supposed to walk the earth, and to mingle in\nthe affairs of men; evil spirits, in the opinion even of the wise and\nlearned, were thought to be at the call of any one who would summon them\nwith the proper formalities; and witches were daily burned in all the\ncapitals of Europe. The new sect taught a doctrine less repulsive. They\nsprang up in Germany, extended with some success to France and England,\nand excited many angry controversies. Though as far astray in their\nnotions as the Demonologists and witch believers, the creed was more\ngraceful. They taught that the elements swarmed not with hideous, foul and\nrevengeful spirits, but with beautiful creatures, more ready to do man\nservice than to inflict injury. They taught that the earth was inhabited\nby Gnomes, the air by Sylphs, the fire by Salamanders, and the water by\nNymphs or Undines; and that man, by his communication with them, might\nlearn the secrets of nature, and discover all those things which had\npuzzled philosophers for ages--Perpetual Motion, the Elixir of Life, the\nPhilosopher's Stone, and the Essence of Invisibility.\n\nRespecting the origin and signification of the term Rosicrucian different\nopinions have been held and expressed. Some have thought it was made up of\n_rosa_ and _crux_ (a _rose_ and a _cross_) but it is maintained by others\nupon apparently good authority, that it is a compound of ros (dew) and\ncrux (cross). Mosheim contends that it is abundantly attested that the\ntitle of Rosicrucians was given to the chemists who united the study of\nreligion with the search after chemical secrets, the term itself being\nchemical, and not to be understood without a knowledge of the style used\nby the chemists. We shall give some extracts from very old Rosicrucian\nworks presently which will enlighten our readers in such matters.\n\nA cross in the language of the fire philosophers is the same as Lux\n(light), because the figure of a + exhibits all the three letters of the\nword _Lux_ at one view. Moreover, this sect applied the term _Lux_ to the\n_seed or menstruum of the Red Dragon_, or to that crude and corporeal\nlight which, being properly concocted and digested, produces gold. A\nRosicrucian, therefore, is a philosopher who, by means of _dew_ seeks for\n_light_--that is, for the substance of the philosopher's stone.\n\nMosheim declares the other interpretations of this name to be false and\ndeceptive, being the inventions of the chemists themselves, who were\nexceedingly fond of concealment, for the sake of imposing on others who\nwere hostile to their religious views. The true import of this title, he\nsays, was perceived by the sagacity of Peter Gassendi, Examen Philosophiae\nFluddanae, sec. 15, in his Opp. iii, 261; though it was more lucidly\nexplained by the celebrated French physician Eusebius Renaudot,\n_Conferences Publiques_, iv. 87.\n\nIn 1619 Dr. Jo. Valentine Andreae, a celebrated Lutheran divine, published\nhis Tower of Babel, or Chaos of Opinions respecting the Fraternity of the\nRosy-Cross, in which he represents the whole history as a farce, and gave\nintimations that _he_ was _himself_ concerned in getting it up.\n\nBrucker says to the class of Theosophists has been commonly referred the\nentire society of Rosicrucians, which, at the beginning of the seventeenth\ncentury, made so much noise in the ecclesiastical and literary world. The\nhistory of this society, which is attended with some obscurity, seems to\nbe as follows:--\"Its origin is referred to a certain German, whose name\nwas Rosencreuz who, in the fourteenth century, visited the Holy Sepulchre;\nand, in travelling through Asia and Africa, made himself acquainted with\nmany Oriental secrets; and who, after his return, instituted a small\nfraternity, to whom he communicated the mysteries he had learned, under an\noath of inviolable secrecy. This society remained concealed till the\nbeginning of the seventeenth century, when two books were published, the\none entitled, _Fama Fraternitatis laudabilis Ordinis Rosaecrusis_: \"The\nreport of the laudable Fraternity of Rosicrucians;\" the other, _Confessio\nFraternitatis_, \"The Confession of the Fraternity.\" In these books the\nworld was informed that this fraternity was enabled, by Divine revelation,\nto explain the most important secrets, both of nature and grace; that they\nwere appointed to correct the errors of the learned world, particularly in\nphilosophy and medicine; that they were possessed of the philosopher's\nstone, and understood both the art of transmuting metals and of prolonging\nhuman life; and, in fine, by their means the golden age would return. As\nsoon as these grand secrets were divulged, the whole tribe of the\nParacelsists, Theosophists and Chemists flocked to the Rosicrucian\nstandard, and every new and unheard-of mystery was referred to this\nfraternity. It is impossible to relate how much noise this wonderful\ndiscovery made, or what different opinions were formed concerning it.\nAfter all, though the laws and statutes of the society had appeared, no\none could tell where the society itself was to be found, or who really\nbelonged to it. It was imagined by some sagacious observers, that a\ncertain important meaning was concealed under the story of the\nRosicrucian fraternity, though they were wholly unable to say what it was.\nOne conjectured that some chemical mystery lay hid behind the allegorical\ntale; another supposed that it foretold some great ecclesiastical\nrevolution. At last Michael Breler, in the year 1620, had the courage\npublicly to declare that he certainly knew the whole story to have been\nthe contrivance of some ingenious persons who chose to amuse themselves by\nimposing upon the public credulity. This declaration raised a general\nsuspicion against the whole story; and, as no one undertook to contradict\nit, this wonderful society daily vanished, and the rumours, which had been\nspread concerning it, ceased. The whole was probably a contrivance to\nridicule the pretenders to secret wisdom and wonderful power, particularly\nthe chemists, who boasted that they were possessed of the philosopher's\nstone. It has been conjectured--and the satirical turn of his writings,\nand several particular passages in his works, favour the conjecture--that\nthis farce was invented and performed, in part at least, by John Valentine\nAndrea of Wartenburg.\"[2]\n\nPope, in the dedication of his Rape of the Lock to Mrs. Arabella Fermor,\nwrote:--\"I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a\nlady; but it is so much the concern of a poet to have his works\nunderstood--and particularly by your sex--that you must give me leave to\nexplain two or three difficult terms.\n\n\"The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The best\naccount I know of them is in a French book called Le Comte de Gabalis,\nwhich, both in its title and size, is so like a novel, that many of the\nfair sex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen,\nthe four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call sylphs,\ngnomes, nymphs and salamanders. The gnomes, or demons of earth, delight\nin mischief; but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, are the best\nconditioned creatures imaginable; for they say any mortals may enjoy the\nmost intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition\nvery easy to all true adepts, an inviolate preservation of chastity.\"\n\nOn the lines (verse 20, canto 1):--\n\n  \"Belinda still her downy pillow prest,\n  Her guardian sylph prolonged the balmy rest.\"\n\nin Pope's Rape of the Lock, Warburton thus comments:--\n\n\"When Mr. Pope had projected to give the Rape of the Lock its present form\nof a mock-heroic poem, he was obliged to find it with its machinery. For,\nas the subject of the Epic consists of two parts, the metaphysical and the\ncivil; so this mock epic, which is of the satiric kind, and receives its\ngrace from a ludicrous mimicry of other's pomp and solemnity, was to have\nthe like compounded nature. And as the civil part is intentionally debased\nby the choice of a trifling action; so should the metaphysical by the\napplication of some very extravagant system. A rule which, though neither\nBoileau nor Garth had been careful enough to attend to, our author's good\nsense would not suffer him to overlook. And that sort of machinery which\nhis judgment informed him was only fit for use, his admirable invention\nsoon supplied. There was but one systematic extravagance in all nature\nwhich was to his purpose, the Rosicrucian Philosophy; and this by the\neffort of a well-directed imagination, he presently seized. The fanatic\nAlchemists, in the search after the great secret, had invented a means\naltogether to their end: it was a kind of Theological Philosophy, made up\nin a mixture of almost equal parts of Pagan Platonism, Christian Quietism\nand the Jewish Cabbala; a mixture monstrous enough to frighten reason from\nhuman commerce. This system, he tells us, he took as he found it in a\nlittle French tract called, _La Comte de Gabalis_. This book is written\nin dialogue, and is a delicate and very ingenious piece of raillery on\nthat invisible sect by the Abbe Villiers; the strange stories that went\nabout of the feats and adventures of their adepts making, at that time, a\ngreat deal of noise at Paris. But, as in this satirical dialogue, Mr. P.\nfound several whimsies of a very high mysterious nature, told of their\nelementary beings, which were unfit to come into the machinery of such a\nsort of poem, he has, in their stead, with great judgment, substituted the\nlegendary stories of Guardian Angels, and the nursery tales of the\nFairies, and dexterously accommodated them to the rest of the Rosicrucian\nSystem. And to this artful address (unless we will be so uncharitable to\nthink he intended to give a needless scandal) we must suppose he referred\nin these two lines,\n\n  \"If e'er one Vision touch'd thy infant thought,\n  Of all the _nurse_ and all the _priest_ have taught.\"\n\nThus, by the most beautiful invention imaginable, he has contrived that\n(as in the serious Epic, the popular belief supports the machinery) in his\nmock Epic the machinery (taken from a circumstance the most humbling to\nreason in all philosophical fanaticism) should serve to dismount learned\npride and arrogance.\"\n\nOn verse 45, canto 1, he remarks:--\"The Poet here forsakes his Rosicrucian\nsystem; which, in this part, is too extravagant even for ludicrous\npoetry.\"\n\nOn verse 68, canto 1, he continues:--\"Here, again, the author resumes the\nRosicrucian system. But this tenet, peculiar to that wild philosophy, was\nfounded on a principle very unfit to be employed in such a sort of poem,\nand, therefore suppressed, though a less judicious writer would have been\ntempted to expatiate upon it.\"\n\nSwift, in the \"Tale of a Tub,\" says:--\"Night being the universal mother\nof things, wise philosophers hold all writings to be fruitful, in the\nproportion they are dark; and therefore the true illuminated (that is to\nsay, the darkest of all) have met with such numberless commentators, whose\nscholastic midwifery has delivered them of meanings, that the authors\nthemselves perhaps never conceived, and yet may very justly be allowed the\nlawful parents of them; the words of such writers being like seed, which,\nhowever scattered, at random, when they light upon a fruitful ground, will\nmultiply far beyond either the hopes or imagination of the sower. And,\ntherefore, in order to promote so useful a work, I will here take leave to\nglance a few inuendos, that may be of great assistance to those sublime\nspirits, who shall be appointed to labour in a universal comment upon this\nwonderful discourse. And, first, I have couched a very profound mystery in\nthe number of O's multiplied by seven and divided by nine. Also, if a\ndevout brother of the rosy cross will pray fervently for sixty-three\nmornings, with a lively faith, and then transpose certain letters and\nsyllables, according to prescription, in the second and fifth section,\nthey will certainly reveal into a full receipt of the _opus magnum_.\nLastly, whoever will be at the pains to calculate the whole number of each\nletter in this treatise, and sum up the difference exactly between the\nseveral numbers, assigning the true natural cause for every such\ndifference, the discoveries in the product will plentifully reward his\nlabour.\"\n\n  \"For Mystic Learning, wondrous able\n  In magic Talisman and Cabal,\n  Whose primitive tradition reaches\n  As far as Adam's first green breeches;\n  Deep sighted in Intelligences,\n  Ideas, Atoms, Influences;\n  And much of Terra-Incognita,\n  Th' intelligible world, could say;\n  A deep Occult Philosopher,\n  As learned as the wild Irish are,\n  Or Sir Agrippa, for profound\n  And solid lying much renowned.\n  He Anthroposophus and Fludd,\n  And Jacob Behmen understood;\n  Knew many an amulet and charm,\n  That would do neither good nor harm;\n  In Rosy-Crusian lore as learned\n  As he that _vere adeptus_ earned.\"\n\n  --HUDIBRAS, Part I, Canto I.\n\nThe Globe Encyclopaedia, under article Rosicrucians, says:--\"A mystic\nbrotherhood revealed to the outer world in the _Fama Fraternitatis R. C._\n(1614), the _Confessio Fraternitatis R. C._ (1615), and the Chymische\nHochzeit Christiani Rosenkreuz (1616), which last was acknowledged by, as\nthe two former works were commonly ascribed to, Johann Valentin Andreae.\nFrom them we learn that a German noble of the 14th century, one Christian\nRosenkreuz, after long travel in the East, founded on his return a\nbrotherhood of seven adepts, the R., and dying at the age of 106 was\nburied in their temple--the 'House of the Holy Spirit,' with the\ninscription on his grave--'Post CXX. annos patebo.' The laws of the order,\nthus made known in the fulness of time, were that its members should heal\nthe sick gratis, should meet once every year in a certain secret place,\nshould adopt as their symbol R. C. (_i.e. Rosea Crux_), or a rose\nspringing from a cross (the device, be it observed, of Luther's seal), and\nshould assume the habit and manners of whatsoever country they might\njourney to. It is now supposed that Andreae simply intended a hoax upon the\ncredulity of the age, and that Christian Rosenkreuz and all the attendant\nmysteries were wholly the coinage of his fertile brain. However, the hoax,\nif hoax there were, was taken seriously, and as early as 1622, societies\nof alchemists at the Hague and elsewhere assumed the title R., while\nRosicrucian tenets powerfully influenced Cabalists, Freemasons, and\nIlluminati, and were professed by Cagliostro and similar impostors. Even\nto-day a Rosicrucian lodge is said to exist in London, whose members\nclaim by asceticism to live beyond the allotted age of man, and to which\nthe late Lord Lytton sought entrance vainly.\"\n\n\"I was once engaged in discourse with a Rosicrucian about the 'great\nsecret.' As this kind of men, I mean those of them who are not professed\ncheats, are over-run with enthusiasm and philosophy, it was very amusing\nto hear this religious adept descanting on his pretended discovery. He\ntalked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within an emerald, and\nconverted everything that was near it to the highest perfection it is\ncapable of. 'It gives a lustre,' says he, 'to the sun, and water to the\ndiamond. It irradiates every metal, and enriches lead with all the\nproperties of gold. It heightens smoke into flame, flame into light, and\nlight into glory.' He further added, that a single ray of it dissipates\npain, and care, and melancholy, from the person on whom it falls. In\nshort, says he, 'its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of\nheaven.'\n\n\"After he had gone on for some time in this unintelligible cant, I found\nthat he jumbled natural and moral ideas together in the same discourse,\nand that his great secret was nothing else but content.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n_Historical Notices of the Rosicrucians._\n\n\nSo mysterious a sect were the Rosicrucians, and so involved in doubt and\nobscurity are most of their movements, practices and opinions, that nearly\neverything connected with them has been denied or doubted at one time or\nanother by those who have written about them. Dr. Mackay says: \"Many have\ndenied the existence of such a personage as Rosencreutz, and have fixed\nthe origin of this sect at a much later epoch. The first dawning of it,\nthey say, is to be found in the theories of Paracelsus and the dreams of\nDr. Dee, who, without intending it, became the actual, though never the\nrecognised founders of the Rosicrucian philosophy. It is now difficult,\nand indeed impossible to determine whether Dee and Paracelsus obtained\ntheir ideas from the then obscure and unknown Rosicrucians, or whether the\nRosicrucians did but follow and improve upon them. Certain it is, that\ntheir existence was never suspected till the year 1605, when they began to\nexcite attention in Germany. No sooner were their doctrines promulgated,\nthan all the visionaries, Paracelsists, and alchymists, flocked around\ntheir standard, and vaunted Rosencreutz as the new regenerator of the\nhuman race.\" According to Mayer, a celebrated physician of the times, who\npublished a report of the tenets and ordinances of the new fraternity at\nCologne in the year 1615, they asserted in the first place that the\nmeditations of their founders surpassed everything that had ever been\nimagined since the creation of the world, without even excepting the\nrevelations of the Deity; that they were destined to accomplish the\ngeneral peace and regeneration of man before the end of the world\narrived; that they possessed all wisdom and piety in a supreme degree;\nthat they possessed all the graces of nature, and could distribute them\namong the rest of mankind according to their pleasure; that they were\nsubject to neither hunger, nor thirst, nor disease, nor old age, nor to\nany other inconvenience of nature; that they knew by inspiration, and at\nthe first glance, every one who was worthy to be admitted into their\nsociety; that they had the same knowledge then which they would have\npossessed if they had lived from the beginning of the world, and had been\nalways acquiring it; that they had a volume in which they could read all\nthat ever was or ever would be written in other books till the end of\ntime; that they could force to, and retain in their service the most\npowerful spirits and demons; that by the virtue of their songs, they could\nattract pearls and precious stones from the depths of the sea or the\nbowels of the earth; that God had covered them with a thick cloud, by\nmeans of which they could shelter themselves from the malignity of their\nenemies, and that they could thus render themselves invisible from all\neyes; that the first eight brethren of the Rosie-Cross had power to cure\nall maladies; that by means of the fraternity, the triple diadem of the\nPope would be reduced into dust; that they only admitted two sacraments,\nwith the ceremonies of the Primitive Church, renewed by them: that they\nrecognised the Fourth Monarchy and the Emperor of the Romans as their\nChief, and the Chief of all Christians; that they would provide him with\nmore gold, their treasures being inexhaustible, than the King of Spain had\never drawn from the golden regions of Eastern and Western India.\n\nThings went on pretty quietly for some time, converts being made with ease\nin Germany, but only with difficulty in other parts. In 1623, however, the\nbrethren suddenly made their appearance in Paris, and the inhabitants of\nthe city were surprised on the 3rd of March to find placarded on the walls\na manifesto to this effect:--\"We, the deputies of the principal college\nof the brethren of the Rosie Cross, have taken up our abode, visible and\ninvisible, in this city, by the grace of the Most High, towards whom are\nturned the hearts of the just. We show and teach without any books or\nsymbols whatever, and we speak all sorts of languages in the countries\nwherein we deign to dwell, to draw mankind, our fellows, from error and to\nsave them from death.\"\n\nWhether this was a mere joke on the part of some of the wits of the day,\nit is certain that it created a very wide-spread sensation, and no little\nwonder and alarm, particularly amongst the clergy. Very soon pamphlets in\nopposition, and intended to warn the faithful, began to make their\nappearance. The earliest was called \"A History of the Frightful Compacts\nentered into between the Devil and the Pretended Invisibles, with their\nDamnable Instructions, the Deplorable Ruin of their Disciples, and their\nMiserable End.\" This was followed by another of a far more ambitious\ncharacter, pretending to ability to explain all the peculiarities and\nmysteries of the strange intruders. It was called \"An examination of the\nNew Cabala of the Brethren of the Rosie-Cross, who have lately come to\nreside in the city of Paris, with the History of their Manners, the\nWonders worked by them, and many other particulars.\"\n\nAs the books sold and circulated the sensation and alarm in the breasts of\nthe people largely increased, approaching almost to a kind of panic.\nRidicule and laugh as some would, it was impossible to disguise the fact\nthat a vast number of the population went in bodily fear of this\nmysterious sect, whose members they had never seen. It was believed that\nthe Rosicrucians could transport themselves from place to place with the\nrapidity almost of thought, and that they took delight in cheating and\ntormenting unhappy citizens, especially such as had sinned against the\nlaws of morality. Then very naturally came the wildest and most unlikely\nstories, which, as is usual with such things, in spite of all their folly,\nwere soon propagated far and wide, and increased the general alarm.\n\nAn innkeeper declared that a mysterious stranger entered his inn, regaled\nhimself on the best of everything, and suddenly vanished in a cloud when\nthe reckoning was presented. Another was patronised by a similar stranger,\nwho lived upon the choicest fare and drank the best wines of the house for\na week, and paid him with a handful of new gold coins, which turned into\nslates the following morning. It was also reported that several persons on\nawakening in the middle of the night found individuals in their\nbedchambers, who suddenly became invisible, though still palpable when the\nalarm was raised. Such was the consternation in Paris, that every man who\ncould not give a satisfactory account of himself was in danger of being\npelted to death; and quiet citizens slept with loaded guns at their\nbedside, to take vengeance upon any Rosicrucian who might violate the\nsanctity of their chambers. No man or woman was considered safe; the\nfemale sex especially were supposed to be in danger, for it was implicitly\nbelieved that no bolts, locks or bars could keep out would be intruders,\nand it was frequently being reported that young women in the middle of the\nnight found strange men of surpassing beauty in their bedrooms, who\nvanished the instant any attempt was made to arouse the inmates of the\nhouse. In other quarters it was reported that people most unexpectedly\nfound heaps of gold in their houses, not having the slightest idea from\nwhence they came; the feelings and emotions thus excited were consequently\nmost conflicting, no man knowing whether his ghostly visitant might be the\nharbinger of good or evil.\n\nWhile the general alarm was at its height, another mysterious placard\nappeared, which said:--\"_If any one desires to see the brethren of the\nRose-Cross from curiosity only, he will never communicate with us. But if\nhis will really induces him to inscribe his name in the register of our\nbrotherhood, we, who can judge of the thoughts of all men, will convince\nhim of the truth of our promises. For this reason we do not publish to the\nworld the place of our abode. Thought alone, in unison with the sincere\nwill of those who desire to know us, is sufficient to make us known to\nthem, and them to us._\"\n\nThe imposition thus perpetrated upon the credulity of the people had but a\ncomparatively short life in Paris, a deal of controversy was engendered\nbetween those who regarded the whole affair as a stupid hoax, and those\nwhose superstitious fears made them think there was truth in it, and the\nefforts made by its disciples to defend their theories overshot the mark,\nand exposed the fallacies of that which they were intended to support. The\npolice were called upon the scene to try and trace out and arrest the\nauthors of the troublesome placards, and the Church took up the moral and\ntheological aspect of the sensation, and issued pamphlets which professed\nto explain the whole as the production of some disciples of Luther, who\nwere sent out to promulgate enmity and opposition to the Pope. The Abbe\nGaultier, a Jesuit, distinguished himself in this direction, and informed\nthe public that the very name of the disciples of the sect proved they\nwere heretics; a cross surmounted by a rose being the heraldic device of\nthe arch-heretic Luther. Another writer named Garasse, declared they were\nnothing but a set of drunken impostors; and that their name was derived\nfrom the garland of roses, in the form of a cross, hung over the tables of\ntaverns in Germany as the emblem of secrecy, and from whence was derived\nthe common saying, when one man communicated a secret to another, that it\nwas said, \"under the rose.\" Other explanations were also freely offered,\nwhich we have not space to describe, but which may be reached by the aid\nof the learned works given in our list of authorities.\n\nThe charges of evil connections brought against the Rosicrucians were\nrepudiated by those people with energy and determination; they affirmed in\nthe most positive manner that they had nothing to do with magic, and that\nthey held no intercourse whatever with the devil. They declared, on the\ncontrary, that they were faithful followers of the true God, that they had\nalready lived more than a hundred years, and expected to live many hundred\nmore, and that God conferred upon them perfect happiness, and as a reward\nfor their piety and service gave them the wonderful knowledge they were\npossessed of. They declared that they did not get their name from a cross\nof roses, but from Christian Rosencreutz, their founder. When charged with\ndrunkenness, they said that they did not know what thirst was, and that\nthey were altogether proof against the temptations of the most attractive\nfood. They professed the greatest indignation perhaps at the charge of\ninterfering with the honour of virtuous women, and maintained most\npositively that the very first vow they took was one of chastity, and that\nany of them violating that oath, would be deprived at once of all the\nadvantages he possessed, and be subject to hunger, thirst, sorrow, disease\nand death like other men. Witchcraft and sorcery they also most warmly\nrepudiated; the existence of incubi and succubi they said was a pure\ninvention of their enemies, that man \"was not surrounded by enemies like\nthese, but by myriads of beautiful and beneficent beings, all anxious to\ndo him service. The sylphs of the air, the undines of the water, the\ngnomes of the earth, and the salamanders of the fire were man's friends,\nand desired nothing so much as that men should purge themselves of all\nuncleanness, and thus be enabled to see and converse with them. They\npossessed great power, and were unrestrained by the barriers of space, or\nthe obstructions of matter. But man was in one respect their superior. He\nhad an immortal soul, and they had not. They might, however, become\nsharers in man's immortality if they could inspire one of that race with\nthe passion of love towards them. Hence it was the constant endeavour of\nthe female spirits to captivate the admiration of men, and of the male\ngnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines to be beloved by a woman. The\nobject of this passion, in returning their love, imparted a portion of\nthat celestial fire, the soul; and from that time forth the beloved became\nequal to the lover, and both, when their allotted course was run, entered\ntogether into the mansions of felicity. These spirits, they said, watched\nconstantly over mankind by night and day. Dreams, omens, and presentiments\nwere all their work, and the means by which they gave warning of the\napproach of danger. But though so well inclined to befriend man for their\nown sake, the want of a soul rendered them at times capricious and\nrevengeful; they took offence at slight causes, and heaped injuries\ninstead of benefits on the heads of those who extinguished the light of\nreason that was in them by gluttony, debauchery, and other appetites of\nthe body.\"[3] Great as was the excitement produced in the French capital\nby these placards, pamphlets and reports, it lasted after all but a very\nfew months. The accumulating absurdities became too much, even for the\nmost superstitious, and their fears were overcome by that sense of the\nridiculous which speedily manifested itself. Instead of trembling as\nbefore, men laughed and derided, and the detection, arrest and summary\npunishment of a number of swindlers who tried to pass off lumps of gilded\nbrass as pure gold made by the processes of alchemy, aided by a smartly\nwritten exposure of the follies of the sect by Gabriel Naude, soon drove\nthe whole thing clean off the French territory.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n_Early Leaders--Literature--Romantic Stories._\n\n\nWe now proceed to speak of some of the more prominent of the Rosicrucian\nleaders and teachers, and to call attention to the literature from which\nwe obtain our only reliable information.\n\nIn the sixteenth century lived that extraordinary man Theophrastus\nParacelsus, whose writings exercised a greater influence, perhaps, over\nthe minds of his fellow creatures than any other author of his time. No\nman it is certain had contributed so much as he, to the diffusion of the\nCabbalism, Theosophy and Alchemy which had flooded Germany and flowed over\na greater part of Western Europe. Now it was generally believed that in\nthe seventeenth century a great and general reformation amongst the human\nrace would take place, as a necessary fore-runner to the day of judgment.\nIn connection with this, Paracelsus made several prophecies which took a\nvery firm hold of the public mind. He declared that the comet which made\nits appearance in 1572 was the sign and harbinger of the coming\nrevolution, and he prophesied that soon after the death of the Emperor\nRudolph, there would be found three treasures that had never been revealed\nbefore that time. In the year 1610 there were published at the same time\nthree books which led to the foundation of the Rosicrucian order as a\ndistrict society. One was called \"_Universal Reformation of the Whole Wide\nWorld_.\" De Quincey summarises its contents thus: \"The Seven Wise Men of\nGreece, together with M. Cato and Seneca, and a secretary named Mazzonius,\nare summoned to Delphi by Apollo, at the desire of the Emperor Justinian,\nand there deliberate, on the best mode of redressing human misery. All\nsorts of strange schemes are proposed. Thales advised to cut a hole in\nevery man's breast, and place a little window in it, by which means it\nwould become possible to look into the heart, to detect hypocrisy and\nvice, and thus to extinguish it. Solon proposes an equal partition of all\npossessions and wealth. Chilo's opinion is that the readiest way to the\nend in view would be to banish out of the world the two infamous and\nrascally metals gold and silver. Kleolinlus steps forward as the apologist\nof gold and silver, but thinks that iron ought to be prohibited, because\nin that case no more wars could be carried on amongst men. Pittacus\ninsists upon more rigorous laws, which should make virtue and merit the\nsole passports to honour; to which, however, Periander objects that there\nhad never been any scarcity of such laws, nor of princes to execute them,\nbut scarcity enough of subjects conformable to good laws. The conceit of\nBias, is that nations should be kept apart from each other, and each\nconfined to its own home; and for this purpose, that all bridges should be\ndemolished, mountains rendered insurmountable, and navigation totally\nforbidden. Cato, who seems to be the wisest of the party, wishes that God\nin his mercy would be pleased to wash away all women from the face of the\nearth by a new deluge, and at the same time to introduce some new\narrangement for the continuation of the excellent male sex without female\nhelp. Upon this pleasing and sensible proposal the whole company manifest\nthe greatest displeasure, and deem it so abominable that they unanimously\nprostrate themselves on the ground, and devoutly pray to God \"that He\nwould graciously vouchsafe to preserve the lovely race of women\" (what\nabsurdity) \"and to save the world from a second deluge!\" At length after a\nlong debate, the counsel of Seneca prevails; which counsel is this--that\nout of all ranks a society should be composed having for its object the\ngeneral welfare of mankind, and pursuing it in secret. This counsel is\nadopted: though without much hope on the part of the deputation, on\naccount of the desperate condition of 'the Age,' who appears before them\nin person, and describes his own wretched state of health.\"\n\nThe second work was the celebrated _Fama Fraternitatis_ of the meritorious\norder of the Rosy Cross, addressed to the learned in general, and the\nGovernors of Europe. Here we may cite De Quincey again: \"Christian\nRosycross, of noble descent, having upon his travels into the East and\ninto Africa learned great mysteries from Arabians, Chaldeans, etc., upon\nhis return to Germany established, in some place not mentioned, a secret\nsociety composed at first of four--afterwards of eight--members, who dwelt\ntogether in a building called the House of the Holy Ghost, erected by him:\nto these persons, under a vow of fidelity and secrecy, he communicated his\nmysteries. After they had been instructed, the society dispersed agreeably\nto their destination, with the exception of two members, who remained\nalternately with the founder. The rules of the order were these:--The\nmembers were to cure the sick without fee or reward. No member to wear a\npeculiar habit, but to dress after the fashion of the country. On a\ncertain day in every year all the members to assemble in the House of the\nHoly Ghost, or to account for their absence. Every member to appoint some\nperson with the proper qualifications to succeed him at his own decease.\nThe word Rosy-Cross to be their seal, watchword, and characteristic mark.\nThe association to be kept unrevealed for a hundred years. Christian\nRosycross died at the age of a hundred years. His death was known to the\nSociety, but not his grave; for it was a maxim of the first Rosicrucians\nto conceal their burial places even from each other. New masters were\ncontinually elected into the House of the Holy Ghost, and the Society had\nnow lasted 120 years. At the end of this period, a door was discovered in\nthe house, and upon the opening of this door a sepulchral vault. Upon the\ndoor was this inscription: One hundred and twenty years hence I shall open\n(_Post CXX. annos patebo_). The vault was a heptagon. Every side was five\nfeet broad and eight feet high. It was illuminated by an artificial sun.\nIn the centre was placed, instead of a grave-stone, a circular altar with\na little plate of brass, whereon these words were inscribed: This grave,\nan abstract of the whole world, I made for myself while yet living (A. C.\nR. C. Hoc Universi compendium vivus mihi sepulchrum feci). About the\nmargin was--To me Jesus is all in all (Jesus mihi omnia). In the centre\nwere four figures enclosed in a circle by the revolving legend: Nequaquam\nvacuum legis jugum. Libertas Evangelii. Dei gloria intacta. (The empty\nyoke of the law is made void. The liberty of the gospel. The unsullied\nglory of God). Each of the seven sides of the vault had a door opening\ninto a chest; which chest, besides the secret books of the order and the\n_Vocabularium_ of Paracelsus, contained also mirrors--little\nbells--burning lamps--marvellous mechanisms of music, etc., all so\ncontrived that, after the lapse of many centuries, if the whole order\nshould have perished, it might be re-established by means of this vault.\nUnder the altar, upon raising the brazen tablet, the brothers found the\nbody of Rosycross, without taint or corruption. The right hand held a book\nwritten upon vellum with golden letters: this book which is called T., has\nsince become the most precious jewel of the society next after the Bible;\nand at the end stand subscribed the names of the eight brethren, arranged\nin two separate circles, who were present at the death and burial of\nFather Rosycross. Immediately after the above narrative follows a\ndeclaration of their mysteries, addressed by the society to the whole\nworld. They profess themselves to be of the Protestant faith; that they\nhonour the Emperor and the laws of the Empire; and that the art of gold\nmaking is but a slight object with them.\" The whole ends with these\nwords: \"Our House of the Holy Ghost though a hundred thousand men should\nhave looked upon it, is yet destined to remain untouched, imperturbable,\nout of sight, and unrevealed to the whole godless world for ever.\"\n\nBefore we proceed to notice at any length the third of the books we have\nmentioned, we will turn to some further accounts of the burial place of\nthe founder of this party, which, though in some respects similar and in\nthe main stating the same facts, yet, supply other matter both curious and\ninteresting.\n\nThe following story has been quoted by a writer on the Rosicrucians, as\nrelated by Dr. Plot in his History of Staffordshire; a careful examination\nof the four copies of that work in the library of the British Museum,\nhowever, has failed to unearth the tale; it is to the following effect. At\nthe close of a summer's day a countryman was digging a trench in a field\nin a valley which was surrounded by dense masses of woodland scenery. It\nwas shortly after sunset, and the workman wearied with his task was about\nto cease his labour; before his pick, however, had given its last blow, it\nstruck against some hard material a little below the surface of the ground\nwith sufficient force to cause a bright spark to flash out into the\nevening gloom. This, exciting his curiosity, he forgot his fatigue and\nagain went on with his digging, anxious to ascertain what it was he had\ndiscovered. The stone he had come upon was large and flat, and lay nearly\nin the middle of a field at a considerable distance from any of the farms\nof the neighbouring country. It was covered with grass and weeds, the\ngrowth of many years and had a large iron ring fixed at one end in a\nsocket. For some time it proved too much for the countryman's strength,\nhalf an hour's struggling with it failed to remove it from its position,\nand it was not till he had rigged up some tackle by the aid of some rope\nand a tree that he managed to raise it. He then found it covered a deep\nhollow in the ground, wherein after some examination he discovered a stone\nstaircase of apparently extraordinary depth. His inquisitiveness to know\nwhither the steps led, and the thought perhaps that he might be the\ndiscoverer of some hidden treasure, gave him more courage than he\nnaturally possessed, and he descended a few of the stairs, then, after\nvainly trying to penetrate into the darkness beneath, paused and looked up\nto the sky above. Encouraged by the remains of the sunlight and the\nshining planet Venus above him, he resumed his descent. He went, he\nsupposed a hundred feet underground, when he came upon a square\nlanding-place with a niche in the wall, then he came to another long\nstaircase, still descending into darkness. Once more he paused, and looked\nup at the now very little bit of sky visible over head. Seeing nothing to\ncause any fear, and hopeful of soon being able to unravel the mystery, he\nstretched out his hands, and by cautiously feeling the walls, and with\nequal caution placing his feet slowly and firmly upon each step, he boldly\nwent forward and counted in his descent two hundred and twenty steps. He\nfound himself able to breathe pretty freely, but noticed an aromatic smell\nlike that of burning incense, which he thought Egyptian. This he noticed\nrolling up now and then from beneath, as if from another world, and it\noccurred to him that it was from the world of mining gnomes, and that he\nwas breaking in upon their secrets. Still he went on, in spite of all his\nfears, until he was momentarily stopped by a wall in front; turning\nsharply to the right, however, he found the way open to him, and\ndiscovered a still deeper staircase, at the foot of which was a steady\nthough pale light. His alarm at discovering light so far down in the\nearth's interior was naturally great, but not great enough to overcome his\ncuriosity and cause him to retrace his steps, and he once more commenced\ndescending the mouldering old steps which looked as if they had not been\ntrodden for ages. Then he thought he heard mysterious rumblings over\nhead, like the sound of heavy waggons and horses, then all was still\nagain. Many times he paused and thought he would return, thinking he might\nhave accidently stumbled upon either the haunt of robbers or the abode of\nevil spirits; he stood still for awhile, fairly paralysed with fear. Then\nhe began to recall where he had been working, he thought of the field\nabove, the surrounding woods and his native hamlet only a few miles\ndistant. This somewhat cheered him, but still with a good deal of fear\nremaining in his heart, he went down the rest of the stairs, the light\ngrowing brighter at every step. At last, he came upon a square chamber,\nbuilt up of large hewn ancient stones. Filled with awe and wonderment, he\nfound a flagged pavement and a lofty roof rising to a centre, in the\ngroins of which was a rose beautifully carved in some dark stone or in\nmarble. The alarm he had hitherto felt was nothing as compared with the\nfear which overwhelmed him when, after passing a Gothic stone portal,\nlight suddenly streamed out over him with a brightness equal to that of\nthe setting sun, and revealed to him the figure of a man whose face was\nhidden as he sat in a studious attitude in a stone chair, reading in a\ngreat book, with his elbows resting on a table like a rectangular altar,\nin the light of a large, ancient iron lamp, suspended by a thick chain to\nthe middle of the roof. The adventurous countryman was unable to repress\nthe cry that rose to his lips as he gazed upon this strange and unexpected\nscene. As the sound of his foot touching the floor resounded through the\nchamber, the figure started bolt upright from his seated position, as if\nin awful astonishment. He erected his hooded head, and seemed about\nangrily to question the intruder. The latter seemed perfectly fascinated\nby what he saw, and instead of withdrawing advanced yet another step into\nthe chamber. Instantly the figure thrust out its arm, as though warning\nthe intruder off; the hand contained an iron _baton_ and it was raised in\nthe most threatening attitude, but the unhappy explorer, seemingly unable\nto control himself, took a third step forward, and then the image or man\nraised his arm high above his head, and with his truncheon striking the\nlamp a tremendous blow left the place in utter darkness. Nothing more\nfollowed but a long, low roll of thunder, which gradually died away and\nall was still.\n\nThe place was afterwards known as the burial place of one of the\nbrotherhood, whom the people called Rosicrucius, and it is said the\narrangement of the lamp had been made by some Rosicrucian, to shew that he\nhad discovered the secret of the ever burning lamps of the ancients, but\nwas resolved that no one should reap the benefit of it.\n\n_The Spectator, No. 379_, gives the following:--\"A certain person having\noccasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground, where this philosopher\n(Rosicrucius) lay interred, met with a small door, having a wall on each\nside of it. His curiosity, and the hopes of finding some hidden treasure,\nsoon prompted him to force open the door. He was immediately surprised by\na sudden blaze of light, and discovered a very fair vault. At the upper\nend of it was a statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning\non his left arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp\nburning before him. The man had no sooner set one foot within the vault,\nthan the statue erecting itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt\nupright; and upon the fellow's advancing another step, lifted up his\ntruncheon in its right hand. The man still ventured a third step, when the\nstatue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and\nleft his guest in a sudden darkness. Upon the report of this adventure,\nthe country people came with lights to the sepulchre, and discovered that\nthe statue, which was made of brass, was nothing more than a piece of\nclockwork; that the floor of the vault was all loose, and underlaid with\nseveral springs, which, upon any man's entering, naturally produced that\nwhich had happened. Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this\nmethod to show the world that he had re-invented the ever burning lamps of\nthe ancients, though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from\nthe discovery.\"\n\nRespecting the above story given as we have said in the Spectator, No.\n379, a writer in Notes and Queries (6th S. 7th vol) says: \"This is a very\nold tale, and has been printed again and again. The following is an early\nversion, which was printed by Caxton in 1482; but I give from the edition\nprinted by Peter de Treveris in 1527. The Polycronicon was originally\nwritten in Latin early in the fourteenth century, and translated into\nEnglish in 1357. As the book is chiefly a compilation from old monkish\nchronicles, the tale was probably very old even when Higden included it in\nthe Polycronicon. At any rate it was current long before the date given as\nthe year of death of the somewhat mythical Christian Rosencrutz. I have\nmet with several versions of it, varying more or less. In one a man with a\nbow and arrow extinguishes the lamp. There are many accounts of these\nmiraculous lamps discovered burning in tombs hundreds of years after\ninterment, but having omitted to make notes of them, I am unable to give\nreferences just now.... In Albesterio a place that hyghte Mutatorium\nCesaris were made whyte stoles for Emperours. Also there was a\ncandlestyke, made of a stone that hyght Albestone whan it was ones steynd\nand sette a fire and I sette without thee coude no manne quenche it with\nno crafte that men coude devyse, DR. In this maner it myght be that the\nGeant Pallas about the yere of oure Lorde a thousand and xi. That yere was\nfounde in Rome a Geantes body buryed hole and sounde, the space of his\nwounde was foure foote longe and a halfe, the length of his body passed\nthe heyght of the walles, at his hede was founde a lantern brennyng alwaye\nthat no man coulde quenche with blaste ne with water ne with other crafte,\nunto the tyme that there was made a lytell hole under the lyght benethe\nthat the ayer might enter. Men sayen that Turnus slowgh this Gean Pallas\nwhen Eneas fought for Lanina that was Eneas wyfe. This Geantes Epytaphium\nis this. The wrytyug of mynde of hym that lay there was this. Pallas\nEnandres sone lyeth here, hym Turnus the knyght with his spere slowghe in\nhis maner.\"\n\nOne other notice will close this part of the subject.\n\nAlthough we find in the works of some of the Apologists for the\nRosicrucians extraordinary statements as to the length of life it was\nwithin their power to attain unto (John Higden professes to shew how a man\nmay live two hundred years) and although some of the fraternity actually\ndid live a great number of years, we find them at last dying one by one\nnotwithstanding their professed power to guard against or to relieve\nsickness. The founder himself seems to have reached the tolerably advanced\nage of a hundred and six (some say a hundred). He then died, and according\nto the _Fama_ the place of his burial remained a secret to all except the\ntwo brothers who were with him, and they, according to the agreement to\nwhich they had bound themselves, carried the mystery with them to the\ngrave. The society still continued to exist, unknown to the world, and\nalways consisting of eight members, till another one hundred and twenty\nyears had elapsed, when, according to a tradition among them the grave of\nRosenkrutz was to be discovered, and the brotherhood to be no longer a\nmystery to the world. It was about this time that the brothers began to\nmake some alterations in their building, and thought of removing to\nanother and more fitting situation the memorial tablet, on which were\ninscribed the names of the associates. The plate which was of brass, was\nfixed to the wall by means of a nail in its centre, and so firmly did it\nhold, that in tearing it away a portion of the plaster came off too and\ndiscovered to them a concealed door. Upon this door being yet farther\ncleansed from the incrustation, there appeared above in large letters\n\n  Post CXX Annos Patebo.\n\nGreat was their delight at so unlooked-for a discovery; but still they so\nfar restrained their curiosity as not to open the door till the next\nmorning, when they found themselves in a seven sided vault, each side five\nfeet wide, and eight feet high. It was lighted by an artificial sun in the\ncentre of the arched roof, while in the middle of the floor, instead of a\ntomb, stood a round altar covered with a small brass plate on which was\nthis inscription:\n\n  A. C. R. C. Hoc, universi compendium, vivus mihi\n  sepulchrum feci.\n\nAbout the outer edge was, Jesus mihi omnia.\n\nIn the centre were four figures; each enclosed in a circle, with these\ncircumscriptions:\n\n  1. Nequaquam Vacuus.\n  2. Legis Jugum.\n  3. Libertas Evangelii.\n  4. Dei gloria intacta.\n\nThereupon they all knelt down and returned thanks to heaven for having\nmade them so much wiser than the rest of the world, a native trait that\nadds not a little to the verisimilitude of the story. Then they divided\nthe vault into three parts--the roof, or heaven--the wall, or the\nsides--and the ground, or pavement. The first and last were according to\nthe seven sides divided into triangles, while every side was divided into\nten squares with figures and sentences, to be explained to the newly\ninitiated. Each of these again, had a door opening upon a closet, wherein\nwere stored up sundry rare articles, such as secret books of the order,\nthe vocabulary of Paracelsus, and other things of the same nature, which\nit was allowable to impart even to the profane. In one, they discovered\nthe life and itinerary of their founder; in another they lighted upon\nmirrors possessed of different qualities, a little bell, burning lamps,\nand a variety of curious matters, intended to help in rebuilding the\norder, which after the lapse of many centuries was to fall into decay.\nCuriosity to see their founder induced them to push aside the altar, when\nthey came upon a strong brass plate, and this too being removed,\n\n  \"Before their eyes the wizard lay\n  As if he had not been dead a day.\"\n\nMoreover, like the celebrated character described in these lines, he had a\nvolume under his arm, which proved to be of vellum with letters of gold,\nand at the end of it, in two separate circles, were the names of eight\nbrethren who had assisted at their founder's interment. Next to the Bible,\nthe Rosicrucians valued this book beyond any portion of their inheritance,\nyet it is not said whether they took away any of these rarities, or left\nthe dead man in quiet possession of his treasures.[4]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n_The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity._\n\n\nWe shall now call the attention of our readers to the third of the books\nwe spoke of as published simultaneously about the year 1610, \"the\nsubstance of which,\" says De Quincey, \"it is important to examine, because\nthey in a very strange way, led to the foundation of the Rosicrucian order\nas a distinct body.\" The third book is the _Confessio Fraternitatis_,\nwhich we present almost in its entirety.\n\n_The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R:C:Community, of the Rosie\nCross._\n\nTHE EPISTLE TO THE READER:--To the Wise and Understanding Reader.\n\nWisdom (saith Solomon) is to a man an infinite Treasure for she is the\nBreath of the Power of God, and a pure Influence that floweth from the\nGlory of the Almighty; she is the Brightness of Eternal Light, and an\nundefiled Mirror of the Majesty of God, and an Image of his Goodness; she\nteacheth us Soberness and Prudence, Righteousness and Strength; she\nunderstands the Subtilty of words, and Solution of dark sentences; she\nforeknoweth Signs and Wonders, and what shall happen in time to come; with\nthis Treasure was our first Father Adam fully endued: Hence it doth\nappear, that after God had brought before him all the Creatures of the\nField, and the Fowls under Heaven, he gave to every one of them their\nproper names, according to their nature.\n\nAlthough now through the sorrowful fall into sin this excellent Jewel\nWisdom hath been lost, and meer Darkness and Ignorance is come into the\nWorld, yet, notwithstanding, hath the Lord God sometimes hitherto\nbestowed, and made manifest the same, to some of his Friends: for the wise\nKing Solomon doth testifie of himself, that he upon earnest prayer and\ndesire did get and obtain such Wisdom of God, that thereby he knew how the\nworld was created, thereby he understood the Nature of the Elements, also\nthe time, beginning, middle, and end, the increase and decrease, the\nchange of times through the whole year, and Ordinance of the Stars; he\nunderstood also the properties of tame and wilde Beasts, the cause of the\nraiging of the Winds, and minds and intents of men, all sorts and natures\nof Plants, vertues of Roots and others, was not unknown to him. Now I do\nnot think that there can be found any one who would not wish and desire\nwith all his heart to be Partaker of this noble Treasure; but seeing the\nsame felicity can happen to none, except God himself give Wisdom and send\nhis Holy Spirit from above, we have therefore set forth in print this\nlittle Treatise, to wit, Famam and Confessionem, of the Laudable\nFraternity of the Rosie Cross, to be read by every one, because in them is\nclearly shewn and discovered, what concerning it the World hath to expect.\n\nAlthough these things may seem somewhat strange, and many may esteem is to\nbe but a Philosophical shew, and no true History, which is published and\nspoken of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross; it shall here sufficiently\nappear by our Confession that there is more _in necessu_ than may be\nimagined; and it shall be easily understood, and observed by every one (if\nhe be not altogether voyd of understanding) what now-adays, and at these\ntimes is meant thereby.\n\nThose who are true Disciples of Wisdom, and true Followers of the\nSpherical Art, will consider better of these things, and have them in\ngreater estimation, as also judge far otherwise of them, as hath been done\nby some principal Persons but especially of Adam Haselmeyer, Notarius\nPublicus to the Arch Duke Maximilian, who likewise hath made an Extract\nex scriptis Theologicis Theophrasti, and written a Treatise under the\nTitle of Jesuiter, wherein he willeth, that every Christian should be a\ntrue Jesuit, that is, to walk, live, be, and remain in Jesus. He was but\nill rewarded of the Jesuits, because in his Answer written upon the\n_Famam_, he did name those of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, the\nhighly illuminated men, and undeceiving Jesuits; for they not able to\nbrook this, layd hands on him, and put him into the Calleis, for which\nthey likewise have to expect their reward.\n\nBlessed Aurora will now henceforth begin to appear, who (after the passing\naway of the dark Night of Saturn) with her Brightness altogether\nextinguisheth the shining of the Moon, or the small Sparks of Heavenly\nWisdom, which yet remaineth with men, and is a Forerunner of pleasant\nPhebus, who with his clear and fiery glistering Beams brings forth that\nBlessed Day long wished for, of many true hearted; by which Daylight then\nshall truly be known, and shall be seen all heavenly Treasures of godly\nWisdom, as also the Secrets of all hidden and invisible things in the\nWorld according to the Doctrine of our Forefathers and ancient Wisemen.\n\nThis will be the right kingly Ruby, and most excellent shining Carbuncle,\nof the which it is said, That he doth shine and give light in darkness,\nand to be a perfect Medicine of all imperfect Bodies, and to change them\ninto the best Gold, and to cure all Diseases of Men, easing them of all\npains and miseries.\n\nBe, therefore, gentle Reader, admonished, that with me you do earnestly\npray to God, that it please him to open the hearts and ears of all ill\nhearing people, and to grant unto them his blessing, that they may be able\nto know him in his Omnipotency, with admiring contemplation of Nature, to\nhis honour and praise, and to the love, help, comfort and strengthening of\nour Neighbours, and to the restoring of the diseased.\n\n  Fama Fraternitatis,\n  Or, A Discovery of the Fraternity of the most laudable\n  Order of the Rosy Cross.\n\nSeeing the only Wise and Merciful God in these latter days hath poured out\nso richly his mercy and goodness to Mankind, whereby we do attain more and\nmore to the perfect knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and Nature, that\njustly we may boast of the happy time, wherein there is not only\ndiscovered unto us the half part of the World, which was heretofore\nunknown and hidden, but he hath also made manifest unto us many wonderful\nand never-heretofore seen Works and Creatures of Nature, and moreover hath\nraised men imbued with great Wisdom, which might partly renew and reduce\nall Arts (in this our Age spotted and imperfect) to perfection; so that\nfinally Man might thereby understand his own nobleness and worth, and why\nhe is called Microcosmus, and how far his knowledge extendeth in Nature.\n\nAlthough the rude World herewith will be but little pleased, but rather\nsmile and scoff thereat; also the Pride and Covetousness of the Learned is\nso great it will not suffer them to agree together; but were they united,\nthey might out of all those things which in this our Age God doth so\nrichly bestow upon us, collect _Librum Naturae_, or a perfect method of all\nArts; but such is their opposition, that they still keep and are loth to\nleave the old course, esteeming Porphiry, Aristotle, and Galen, yea and\nthat which hath a meer show of learning, more than the clear and\nmanifested Light and Truth, who if they were now living, with much joy\nwould leave their erroneous Doctrines. But here is too great weakness for\nsuch a great Work, and although in Theologie, Physic, and the Mathematic,\nthe Truth doth oppose itself, nevertheless the old enemy by his subtilty\nand craft doth shew himself in hindering every good purpose by his\nInstruments and contentious wavering people. To such an intent of a\ngeneral Reformation, the most godly and highly illuminated Father, our\nBrother, C. R., a German, the chief and original of our Fraternity, hath\nmuch and long time laboured, who by reason of his poverty (although\ndescended of Noble Parents) in the fifth year of his age, was placed in a\nCloyster, where he had learned indifferently the Greek and Latin Tongues,\nwho (upon his earnest desire and request), being yet in his growing years,\nwas associated to a Brother P. A. L., who had determined to go to the Holy\nLand.\n\nAlthough this Brother dyed in Cyprus, and so never came to Jerusalem, yet\nour Brother C. R. did not return, but shipped himself over, and went to\nDamasco, minding from thence to go to Jerusalem; but by reason of the\nfeebleness of his body, he remained still there, and by his skill in\nPhysick he obtained much favour with the Turks. In the mean time he became\nby chance acquainted with the Wise Men of Damasco in Arabia, and beheld\nwhat great wonders they wrought, and how Nature was discovered unto them;\nhereby was that high and noble Spirit of Brother C. R. so stirred up that\nJerusalem was not so much now in his mind as Damasco; also he could not\nbridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the Arabians that\nthey should carry him for a certain sum of money to Damasco.\n\nAs we have on another page stated all these particulars on the authority\nof the epistle dedicatory to the Axiomata we need simply allude to them as\nrecorded in the work from which we are now quoting. The account proceeds\npretty much as stated in the Axiomata by John Heydon, then after stating\nthat the Fraternity began with an association of four persons only, the\nFama says that finding their labour too heavy they concluded to draw and\nreceive yet others more into their Fraternity. To this end was chosen\nbrother R. C. his deceased father's brother's son, brother B. a skilful\nPainter, G. and P. D. their Secretary, all Germans except J. A., so in all\nthey were eight in number, all bachelors and of sound virginity; by those\nwas collected a book or volumn of all that which man can desire, wish, or\nhope for.\n\nAlthough we do now freely confess that the World is much amended within an\nhundred years, yet we are assured that our Axiomata shall unmovably remain\nunto the World's End, and also the world in her highest and last Age shall\nnot attain to see anything else; for our Rota takes her beginning from\nthat day when God spake Fiat, and shall end when he shall speak Pereat;\nyet God's Clock striketh every minute, where ours scarce striketh perfect\nhours. We also stedfastly beleeve, that if our Brethren and Fathers had\nlived in this our present and clear light, they would more roughly have\nhandled the Pope, Mahomet, Scribes, Artists, and Sophisters, and had\nshewed themselves more helpful, not simply with sighs, and wishing of\ntheir end and consummation.\n\nWhen now these eight brethen had disposed and ordered all things in such\nmanner, as there was not now need of any great labour, and also that every\none was sufficiently instructed, and able perfectly to discourse of secret\nand manifest Philosophy, they would not remain any longer together, but as\nin the beginning they had agreed, they separated themselves into several\ncountries, because that not only their Axiomata might in secret be more\nprofoundly examined by the learned, but that they themselves, if in some\ncountry or other they observed any thing or perceived some error, they\nmight inform one another of it.\n\nTheir Agreement was this:--1, That none of them should profess any other\nthing than to cure the sick, and that gratis. 2, None of the Posterity\nshould be constrained to wear one certain kind of habit, but therein to\nfollow the custom of the Country. 3, That every year upon the day C. they\nshould meet together at the house S. Spiritus, or write the cause of his\nabsence. 4, Every Brother should look about for a worthy person, who after\nhis decease might succeed him. 5, The word C. R. should be their seal,\nmark, and character. 6, The Fraternity should remain secret one hundred\nyears. These six articles they bound themselves one another to keep; and\nfive of the Brethren departed, only the Brethren B. and D. remained with\nthe Father Fra. R. C. a whole year; when these likewise departed, then\nremained by him his Cousin and Brother J. O., so that he hath all the days\nof his life with him two of his Brethren. And although that as yet the\nChurch was not cleansed, nevertheless we know that they did think of her,\nand what with longing desire they looked for. Every year they assembled\ntogether with joy, and made a full resolution of that which they had done;\nthere must certainly have been great pleasure to hear truly and without\ninvention related and rehearsed all the Wonders which God hath poured out\nhere and there through the World. Every one may hold it out for certain,\nthat such persons as were sent, and joyned together by God and the\nHeavens, and chosen out of the wisest of men as have lived in many Ages,\ndid live together above all others in highest Unity, greatest Secrecy, and\nmost kindness one towards another.\n\nAfter such a most laudable sort they did spend their lives; and although\nthey were free from all disease and pain, yet notwithstanding they could\nnot live and pass their time appointed of God. The first of this\nFraternity which dyed, and that in England, was J. O., as Brother C. long\nbefore had foretold him; he was very expert, and well learned in Cabala,\nas his book called H. witnesseth. In England he is much spoken of, and\nchiefly because he cured a young Earl of Norfolk of the Leprosie. They had\nconcluded, that as much as possibly could be their burial place should be\nkept secret, as at this day it is not known unto us what is become of some\nof them, yet every one's place was supplyed with a fit successor; but this\nwe will confess publickly by these presents to the honour of God, that\nwhat secret soever we have learned out of the book M. (although before our\neyes we behold the image and pattern of all the world) yet are there not\nshewn unto us our misfortunes, nor hour of death, the which only is known\nto God himself, who thereby would have us keep in a continual readiness;\nbut hereof more in our Confession, where we do set down 37 Reasons whereby\nwe now do make known our Fraternity, and proffer such high Mysteries\nfreely, and without constraint and reward: also we do promise more gold\nthan both the Indies bring to the King of Spain; for Europe is with child,\nand will bring forth a strong child, who shall stand in need of a great\ngodfather's gift.\n\nAfter the death of I. O. Brother R. C. rested not, but as soon as he\ncould, called the rest together (and as we suppose) then his grave was\nmade although hitherto we (who were the latest) did not know when our\nloving father R. C. died, and had no more but the bare names of the\nbeginners, and all their successors to us; yet there came into our memory\na secret which through dark and hidden words, and speeches of the 100\nyears, brother A. the successor of D. (who was one of the last and second\nrow and succession, and had lived amongst many of us) did impart unto us\nof the third row and succession; otherwise we must confess, that after the\ndeath of the said A. none of us had in any manner known anything of\nBrother R. C., and of his first fellow brethren, than that which was\nextant of them in our Philosophical Bibliotheca, amongst which our\nAxiomata was held for the chiefest Rota Mundi, for the most artificial,\nand Protheus the most profitable. Likewise we do not certainly know if\nthese of the second row have been of the like wisdom as the first, and if\nthey were admitted to all things. It shall be declared hereafter to the\ngentle Reader not only what we have heard of the burial of the R. C., but\nalso made manifest publickly by the foresight, sufferance and commandment\nof God, whom we most faithfully obey, that if we shall be answered\ndiscreetly and Christian like, we will not be afraid to set forth\npublickly in Print, our names and surnames, our meetings, or anything else\nthat may be required at our hands.\n\nNow the true and fundamental relation of the finding out of the high\nilluminated man of God, Fra: C. R. is this; after that A. in Gallia\nNarbonensi was deceased, then succeeded in his place our loving Brother N.\nN. This man after he had repaired unto us to take the solemn oath of\nfidelity and secrecy, he informed us _bona fide_, that A. had comforted\nhim in telling him, that this Fraternity should ere long not remain so\nhidden, but should be to all the whole German Nation, helpful, needful,\nand commendable; of the which he was not in any wise in his estate ashamed\nof. The year following after he had performed his school right, and was\nminded now to travel, being for that purpose sufficiently provided with\nFortunatus purse, he thought (he being a good Architect) to alter\nsomething of his building, and to make it more fit; in such renewing he\nlighted upon the memorial Table which was cast of brasse, and containeth\nall the names of the brethren, with some few other things. This he would\ntransfer in another more fitting vault, for where or when Fra: R. C. died,\nor in what country he was buried, was by our predecessors concealed and\nunknown to us. In this table stuck a great naile, somewhat strong, so that\nwhen he was with force drawn out, he took with him an indifferent big\nstone out of the thin wall, or plastering of the hidden door, and so\nunlooked for uncovered the door; wherefore we did with joy and longing\nthrow down the rest of the wall, and cleared the door upon which that was\nwritten in great letters, Post 120 annos patebo, with the year of the Lord\nunder it: therefore we gave God thanks and let it rest that same night,\nbecause first we would overlook our Rotam; but we refer ourselves again to\nthe confession, for what we here publish is done for the help of those\nthat are worthy, but to the unworthy (God willing) it will be of small\nprofit, for like as our door was after so many years wonderfully\ndiscovered, also there shall be opened a door to Europe (when the wall is\nremoved) which already doth begin to appear, and with great desire is\nexpected of many.\n\nIn the morning following we opened the door, and there appeared to our\nsight a Vault of seven sides and corners, every side five foot broad, and\nthe height of eight foot. Although the Sun never shined in this Vault,\nnevertheless it was enlightened with another Sun, which had learned this\nfrom the Sun, and was situated in the upper part in the centre of the\nceiling; in the midst, instead of a Tombstone, was a round Altar covered\nover with a plate of brass.\n\nRound about the first Circle or Brim stood Jesus mihi omnia. We kneeled\nall together down, and gave thanks to the sole wise, sole mighty, and sole\neternal God, who hath taught us more than all men's wit could have found\nout, praised be his holy name. This Vault we parted in three parts, the\nupper part a ceiling, the wall a side, the ground a floor.\n\nOf the upper part you shall understand no more of it at this time, but\nthat it was divided according to the seven sides in the triangle, which\nwas in the bright centre; but what therein is contained, you shall, God\nwilling (that are desirous of our society) behold the same with your own\neyes; but every side or wall is parted into ten squares, every one with\ntheir several figures and sentences, as they are truly shewed, and set\nforth Concentratum here in our book.\n\nThe bottom again is parted in the triangle but because therein is\ndescribed the power and rule of the inferior Governors, we leave to\nmanifest the same, for fear of the abuse by the evil and ungodly world.\nBut those that are provided and stored with the heavenly Antidote, they do\nwithout fear or hurt, tread on, and bruise the head of the old and evil\nserpent, which this our age is well fitted for. Every side or wall had a\ndoor for a chest, wherein there lay divers things, especially all our\nbooks, which otherwise we had, besides the Vocabular of Theoph. Par. Ho.,\nand these which daily unfalsifieth we do participate. Herein also we found\nhis Itinerarium, and Vitam, whence this relation for the most part is\ntaken. In another chest were looking-glasses of divers virtues, as also in\nother places were little bells, burning lamps, and chiefly wonderful\nartificial Songs; generally all done to that end, that if it should happen\nafter many hundred years, the Order or Fraternity should come to nothing,\nthey might by this vault be restored again.\n\nNow as yet we had not seen the dead body of our careful and wise father,\nwe therefore removed the Altar aside, there we lifted up a strong plate of\nbrass, and found a fair and worthy body, whole and unconsumed.\n\nConcerning Minutum Mundum, we found it kept in another little Altar, truly\nmore finer than can be imagined by any understanding man; but we will\nleave him undescribed until we shall truly be answered upon this our true\nhearted Famam; and so we have covered it again with the plates, and set\nthe Altar thereon, shut the door, and made it sure, with all our seals;\nbesides by instruction and command of our Rota, there are come to sight\nsome books, among which is contained M. (which were made instead of\nhousehold care by the praiseworthy M. P.). Finally we departed the one\nfrom the other, and left the natural heirs in possession of our Jewels.\nAnd so we do expect the answer and judgment of the learned, or unlearned.\n\nHowbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both\nof divine and human things, according to our desire, and the expectation\nof others; for it's fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there\nshould appear and break forth Aurora, or some clearness, or divine light\nin the sky; and so in the meantime some few, which shall give their names,\nmay join together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our\nFraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our\nPhilosophical Canons, prescribed to us by our brother R. C., and be\npartakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in\nall humility, and love to be eased of this world's labour, and not walk so\nblindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of God.\n\nBut that also every Christian may know of what religion and belief we are,\nwe confess to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ (as the same now in these\nlast days, and chiefly in Germany, most clear and pure is professed, and\nis nowadays cleansed and voyd of all swerving people, Hereticks and false\nProphets), in certain and noted Countries maintained, defended and\npropagated; also we use two Sacraments, as they are instituted with all\nFormes and Ceremonies of the first renewed Church. In Politia we\nacknowledge the Roman Empire and Quartam Monarchiam for our Christian\nhead; albeit we know what alterations be at hand, and would fain impart\nthe same with all our hearts, to other Godly learned men; notwithstanding\nour handwriting which is in our hands, no man (except God alone) can make\nit common, nor any unworthy person is able to bereave us of it. But we\nshall help with secret aid this so good a cause as God shall permit or\nhinder us, for our God is not blind as the Heathen's Fortuna, but is the\nChurch's ornament and the honour of the Temple. Our Philosophy also is not\na new Invention, but as Adam after his fall hath received it, and as Moses\nand Solomon used it; also she ought not much to be doubted of, or\ncontradicted by other opinions, or meanings; but seeing the truth is\npeaceable, brief, and always like herself in all things, and especially\naccorded by with _Jesus in omni parte_ and all members. And as he is the\ntrue Image of the Father, so is she his Image; it shall not be said, this\nis true according to Philosophy, but true according to Theologie: and\nwherein Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and others did hit the mark, and\nwherein Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Solomon did excel; but especially wherewith\nthat wonderful book the Bible agreeeth. All that same concurreth\ntogether, and make a Space or Globe whose total parts are equidistant from\nthe centre, and hereof more at large and more plain shall be spoken of in\nChristianly Conference.\n\nBut now concerning (and chiefly in this our age) the ungodly and accursed\nGold-making, which hath gotten so much the upper hand, whereby under\ncolour of it, many runagates and roguish people do use great villanies,\nand cozen and abuse the credit which is given them; yea nowadays men of\ndiscretion do hold the transmutation of Mettals to be the highest point,\nand _fastigium_ in Philosophy, this is all their intent and desire, and\nthat God would be most esteemed by them, and honoured, which could make\ngreat store of Gold, and in abundance, the which with unpremeditated\nprayers, they hope to attain of the all knowing God, and searcher of all\nhearts; we therefore do by these presents publickly testify, that the true\nPhilosophers are far of another minde, esteeming little the making of\nGold, which is but a parergon; for besides that they have a thousand\nbetter things.\n\nAnd we say with our loving father _R. C. C. Phy: aurum nisi quantum\naurum_, for unto them the whole nature is detected; he doth not rejoyce,\nthat he can make Gold, and that, as Christ saith, the devils are obedient\nunto him; but is glad that he seeth the Heavens open, and the Angels of\nGod ascending and descending, and his name written in the book of life.\nAlso we do testifie that under the name of 'Chymia' many books and\npictures are set forth in Contumeliam gloriae Dei, as we will name them in\ntheir due season, and will give to the pure-hearted a Catalogue or\nRegister of them; and we pray all learned men to take heed of these kinde\nof Books, for the enemy never resteth, but soweth his weeds, till a\nstrange one doth root it out. So according to the will and meaning of Fra.\nC. R. C., we his brethren request again all the learned in Europe who\nshall read (sent forth in five languages) this our _Famam and\nConfessionem_, that it would please them with good deliberation to ponder\nthis our offer, and to examine most nearly and most sharply their Arts,\nand behold the present time with all diligence, and to declare their\nminde, either _Communicato consilio_, or _singulatum_ by print.\n\nAnd although at this time we make no mention either of our names or\nmeetings, yet nevertheless every one's opinion shall assuredly come to our\nhands, in what language soever it be; nor anybody shall fail who so gives\nhis name to speak with some of us either by word of mouth, or else if\nthere be some lett in writing. And this we say for a truth, that whosoever\nshall earnestly, and from his heart, bear affection with us, it shall be\nbeneficial unto him in goods, body and soul; but he that is false-hearted,\nor only greedy of riches, the same first of all shall not be able in any\nmanner of wise to hurt us, but bring himself to utter ruine and\ndestruction. Also our building (although one hundred thousand people had\nseen and beheld the same) shall for ever remain untouched, undestroyed,\nand hidden to the wicked world, sub umbra alarum tuarum Jehova.\n\n\nA Preface of the Confession to the Reader who is desirous of Wisdom.\n\nHere, Gentle Reader, you shall finde incorporated in our Confession thirty\nseven Reasons of our purpose, and intention, the which according to thy\npleasure thou mayst seek out and compare them together: thou mayst also\nconsider with thyself, if they be weighty and sufficient enough to bring\nand persuade thee for to take our parts.\n\nVerily it requires no small pains to confirm that which men have not yet\nseen, but when it shall once come to light we doubt not, but they will\nthen justly be ashamed of such doubts and conjectures. And as we do now\naltogether, securely, freely, and without any hurt call the Pope of Rome\nAntichrist, the which heretofore was held for a deadly sin, and such in\nall countries were put to death for it. So we know certainly, that the\ntime shall likewise come, that that which we yet keep in secret, we shall\nopenly, freely, and with a loud voice publish and confess it before all\nthe world; the which Gentle Reader wish with us with all thy heart, that\nit may happen with speed.\n\n\nConfessio Fraternitatis,\n\nOr, The Confession of the laudable Fraternity of the most honourable Order\nof the Rosie Cross, written to the learned of Europe.\n\nWhatsoever there is published, and made known to every one, concerning our\nFraternity by the foresaid Fama, let no man esteem lightly of it, nor hold\nit as an idle or invented thing, and much less receive the same, as though\nit were only a meer conceit of ours. It is the Lord Jehovah (who seeing\nthe Lord's sabbath is almost at hand, and hastened again, his period or\ncourse being finished to his first beginning) doth turn about the course\nof Nature; and what heretofore hath been sought with great pains and dayly\nlabour, is now manifested unto those who make small account, or scarcely\nonce think upon it; but those which desire it, it is in a manner forced\nand thrust upon them, that thereby the life of the godly may be eased of\nall their toyl and labour, and be no more subject to the storms of\nunconstant Fortune; but the wickedness of the ungodly thereby, with their\ndue and deserved punishment, be augmented and multiplied.\n\nAlthough we cannot be by any suspected of the least Heresie, or of any\nwicked beginning, or purpose against the worldly government; we do condemn\nthe East and West (meaning the Pope and Mahomet) blasphemers against our\nLord Jesus Christ, and offer and present with a good will to the chief\nhead of the Romish Empire, our prayers, secrets, and great treasures of\nGold.\n\nYet we have thought good and fit for the learned sakes, to add somewhat\nmore to this, and make a better explanation, if there be any thing too\ndeep, hidden, and set down over dark in the Fama, or for certain reasons\nwere altogether omitted, and left out; hoping herewith the Learned will be\nmore addicted unto us, and be made far more fitter and willing for our\npurpose.\n\nConcerning the alteration and amendment of Philosophy, we have (as much as\nat present is needful) sufficiently declared, to wit, that the same is\naltogether weak and faulty; yet we doubt not, although the most part\nfalsely do alledge that she (I know not how) is sound and strong, yet\nnotwithstanding she fetches her last breath and is departing.\n\nBut as commonly, even in the same place or Country where there breaketh\nforth a new unaccustomed disease, Nature also there discovereth a medicine\nagainst the same; so there doth appear for so manifold infirmities of\nPhilosophy, the right means, and unto our Patria sufficiently offered,\nwhereby she may become sound again, which is now to be renewed and\naltogether new.\n\nNo other Philosophy we have, than that which is the head and sum, the\nfoundation and contents of all faculties, sciences and arts, the which (if\nwe will behold our age) containeth much of Theology and medicine, but\nlittle of the wisdom of Lawyers, and doth diligently search both heaven\nand earth: or to speak briefly thereof, which doth manifest and declare\nsufficiently Man; whereof than all learned who will make themselves known\nunto us, and come into our brotherhood, shall finde more wonderful secrets\nby us, than heretofore they did attain unto, and did know, or are able to\nbelieve or utter.\n\nWherefore to declare briefly our meaning hereof, we ought to labour\ncarefully that there be not only a wondering at our meeting and\nadhortation, but that likewise every one may know, that although we do\nhighly esteem and regard such mysteries and secrets, we nevertheless hold\nit fit, that the knowledge thereof be manifested and revealed to many.\n\nFor it is to be taught and believed, that this our unhoped willing offer\nwill raise many and divers thoughts in men unto whom (as yet) be unknown\nMiranda sextae aetatis, or those which by reason of course of the world,\nesteem the things to come like unto the present, and are hindered through\nall manner of importunities of this their time, so that they live no\notherwise in the world, than blinde fools, who can, in the clear Sun-shine\ndays, discern and know nothing than only by feeling.\n\nNow concerning the first part, we hold this, that the Meditations,\nknowledge and inventions of our loving Christian Father (of all that,\nwhich from the beginning of the world, Man's Wisdom, either through God's\nrevelation, or through the service of the Angels and spirits, or through\nthe sharpness and deepness of understanding, or through long observation,\nuse and experience, hath found out, invented, brought forth, corrected,\nand till now hath been propagated and transplanted) are so excellent,\nworthy and great, that if all books should perish, and by God Almighty's\nsufrance, all writings, and all learning should be lost, yet the posterity\nwill be able only thereby to lay a new foundation, and bring truth to\nlight again; the which perhaps would not be so hard to do as if one should\nbegin to pull down and destroy the old ruinous building, and begin to\nenlarge the fore Court, afterwards bring the lights in the Lodgings, and\nthen change the doors, staples and other things according to our\nintention.\n\nBut to whom would this not be acceptable, for to be manifested to every\none rather than to have it kept and spared, as an especial ornament for\nthe appointed time to come.\n\nWherefore should we not with all our hearts rest and remain in the only\ntruth (which men through so many erroneous and crooked ways do seek) if it\nhad only pleased God to lighten unto us the sixth Candelabrum, were it\nnot good that we needed not to care, not to fear hunger, poverty, sickness\nand age.\n\nWere it not a precious thing that you could always live so, as if you had\nlived from the beginning of the world, and moreover as you should still\nlive to the end therof. Were it not excellent, you dwell in one place,\nthat neither the people which dwell beyond the River Ganges in the Indies\ncould hide anything, nor those which live in Peru might be able to keep\nsecret their counsels from thee.\n\nWere it not a precious thing that you could so read in one only book, and\nwithal by reading understand and remember all that, which in all other\nbooks (which heretofore have been, and are now and hereafter shall come\nout) hath been, is, and shall be learned, and found out of them.\n\nHow pleasant were it that you could so sing, that instead of stony rocks\nyou could draw to thee pearls and precious stones, instead of wilde\nbeasts, spirits, and instead of hellish Pluto, move the mighty Princes of\nthe world.\n\nO ye people, God's counsel is far otherwise, who hath concluded now to\nincrease and enlarge the number of our Fraternity, the which we with such\njoy have undertaken as we have heretofore obtained this great treasure\nwithout our merits, yea without any our hopes and thoughts, and purpose\nwith the like fidelity to put the same in practice, that neither the\ncompassion nor pity of our own children (which some of us in the\nFraternity have) shall draw us from it, because we know that these unhoped\nfor goods cannot be inherited, nor by chance be obtained.\n\nIf there be somebody now which on the other side will complain of our\ndiscretion, that we offer our Treasures so freely, and without any\ndifference to all men, and do not rather regard and respect more the\ngodly, learned, wise, or princely persons than the common people; those we\ndo not contradict, seeing it is not a slight and easie matter; but without\nwe signify so much, that our Arcana or Secrets will no ways be common,\nand generally made known. Although the Fama be set forth in five\nlanguages, and is manifested to every one, yet we do partly very well know\nthat, the unlearned and gross wits will not receive nor regard the same;\nas also the worthiness of those who shall be accepted into our Fraternity\nare not esteemed and known of us by Man's carefulness, but by the Rule of\nour Revelation and Manifestation. Wherefore if the unworthy cry and call a\nthousand times, or if they offer and present themselves to us a thousand\ntimes, yet God hath commanded our ears, that they should hear none of\nthem: yea, God hath so compassed us about with his Clouds, that unto us\nhis servants, no violence or force can be done or committed; wherefore we\nneither can be seen or known by any body, except he had the eyes of an\nEagle. It hath been necessary the Fama should be set forth in every ones\nMother Tongue, because those should not be defrauded of the knowledge\nthereof, whom (although they be unlearned) God hath not excluded from the\nhappiness of this Fraternity, the which shall be divided and parted with\ncertain degrees; as those which dwell in the city Damcar in Arabia, who\nhave a far different politick order from the other Arabians. For there\nthey do govern only wise men, who by the King's permission make particular\nLaws; according unto which example, also the Government shall be\ninstituted in Europe (whereof we have a description set down by our\nChristianly Father) when first is done and come to pass that which is to\nprecede. And thenceforth our Trumpet shall publiquely sound with a loud\nsound, and great noise, when namely the same (which at this present is\nshowed by few, and is secretly, as a thing to come, declared in Figures\nand Pictures) shall be free and publiquely proclaimed, and the whole world\nbe filled withall. Even in such manner as heretofore, many godly people\nhave secretly and altogether desperately pusht at the Pope's Tyranny,\nwhich afterwards, with great earnest, and especial zeal in Germany, was\nthrown from his seat and trodden under foot, whose final fall is delayed,\nand kept for our times, when he also shall be scratched in pieces with\nnails, and an end be made of his Asses cry, by a new voyce: the which we\nknow is already reasurably manifest and known to many learned men in\nGermany, as their writings and secret congratulations do sufficiently\nwitness the same.\n\nWe could here relate and declare what all the time from the year of our\nLord, 1378 (in which year our Christian Father was born) till now, hath\nhappened, where we might rehearse what alterations he hath seen in the\nworld these one hundred and six years of his life, which he hath left to\nour Brethren and us after his decease to peruse. But brevity, which we do\nobserve, will not permit at this present to make rehearsal of it, till a\nmore fit time; at this time it is enough for those which do not despise\nour declaration, having therefore briefly touched it, thereby to prepare\nthe way for their acquaintance and friendship with us.\n\nYea, to whom it is permitted, that he may, and for his instruction use\nthose great Letters and Characters which the Lord God hath written and\nimprinted in Heaven and Earth's Edifice, through the alteration of\nGovernment, which hath been from time to time altered and renewed; the\nsame is already (although as yet unknown to himself) ours: and as we know\nhe will not despise our inviting and calling, so, none shall fear any\ndeceit, for we promise and openly say, that no man's uprightness and hopes\nshall deceive him, whosoever shall make himself known unto us under the\nSeal of Secrecy, and desire our Fraternity.\n\nBut to the false Hypocrites, and to those that seek other things than\nWisdom, we say and witness by these presents publickly, we cannot be made\nknown and be betrayed unto them, and much less they shall be able to hurt\nus any manner of way without the Will of God; but they shall certainly be\npartakers of all the punishment spoken of in our Fama; so their wicked\ncounsels shall light upon themselves, and our Treasures shall remain\nuntouched, until the Lion doth come, who will ask them for his use, and\nemploy them for the Confirmation and Establishment of his kingdom. We\nought therefore here to observe well, and make it known unto every one,\nthat God hath certainly and most assuredly concluded to send and grant to\nthe world before her end, which presently thereupon shall ensue, such a\nTruth, Light, Life, and Glory, as the first Adam had, which he lost in\nParadise, after the which his successors were put, and driven with him to\nmisery, wherefore there shall cease all servitude, falsehood, lyes, and\ndarkness, which by little and little with the great World's Revolution,\nwas crept into all Arts, Works and Governments of Men, and have darkened\nthe most part of them. For from thence are proceeded an innumerable sort\nof all manner of false opinions and heresies, that scarce the wisest of\nall was able to know whose Doctrine and Opinion he should follow and\nembrace, and could not well and easily be discerned, seeing on the one\npart they were detained, hindered, and brought into Errors through the\nrespect of the Philosophers and learned men, and on the other part through\ntrue experience. All the which when it shall once be abolished and\nremoved, and instead thereof a right and true Rule instituted, then there\nwill remain thanks unto them which have taken pains therein, but the Work\nitself shall be attributed to the Blessedness of our Age.\n\nAs we now willingly confess, that many principal men by their Writings\nwill be a great furtherance unto this Reformation which is to come; so we\ndesire not to have this honour ascribed to us, as if such work were only\ncommanded and imposed upon us; but we confess, and witness openly with the\nLord Jesus Christ, that it shall first happen that the stones shall arise,\nand offer their service before there shall be any want of Executors and\nAccomplishers of God's Counsel: yea, the Lord God hath already sent before\ncertain Messengers, which should testifie his Will, to wit, some new\nStars, which do appear and are seen in the Firmament in Serpentario and\nCygno, which signifie and give themselves known to every one that they are\npowerful Signacula of great mighty matters. So then, the secret hid\nWritings and Characters are most necessary for all such things which are\nfound out by men, although that great Book of Nature stand open to all\nmen, yet there are but few that can read and understand the same. For as\nthere is given to man two instruments to hear, likewise two to see, and\ntwo to smell, but only one to speak, and it were but vain to expect speech\nfrom the ears, or hearing from the eyes: so there hath been Ages or Times\nwhich have seen, there have also been Ages that have heard, smelt and\ntasted: now there remains that which in short time, honour shall be\nlikewise given to the Tongue, and by the same, what before times hath been\nseen, heard, and smelt, now finally shall be spoken, and uttered forth,\nviz., when the World shall awake out of her heavy and drowsie sleep, and\nwith an open heart, bare-head and bare-foot, shall merrily and joyfully\nmeet the now arising Sun.\n\nThese Characters and Letters, as God hath here and there incorporated them\nin the holy Scripture and the Bible, so hath he imprinted them most\napparently into the wonderful Creation of Heaven and Earth, yea, in all\nBeasts. So that like as the Mathematician or Astronomer can long before\nsee and know the Eclipses which are to come, so we may verily foreknow and\nforesee the darkness of Obscurations of the Church, and how long they\nshall last, from the which characters or letters we have borrowed our\nMagick writing, and have found out, and made a new language for ourselves,\nin the which withall is expressed and declared the nature of all things,\nso that is no wonder that we are not so eloquent in other languages, the\nwhich we know that they are altogether disagreeing to the languages of our\nforefathers, Adam and Enoch, and were through the Babylonical Confusion\nwholly hidden.\n\nBut we must also let you understand, that there are yet some Eagle's\nFeathers in our way, the which do hinder our purpose. Wherefore we do\nadmonish every one for to read diligently and continually the holy Bible;\nfor he that taketh all his pleasures therein, he shall know that he\nprepared for himself an excellent way to come into our Fraternity; for as\nthis is the whole sum and content of our Rule, that every letter or\ncharacter which is in the world ought to be learned and regarded well; so\nthose are like unto us, and are very near allied unto us, who do make the\nholy Bible a Rule of their life, and an aim and end of all their studies;\nyea, to let it be a compendium and content of the whole world, and not\nonly to have it continually in the mouth, but to know how to apply and\ndirect the true understanding of it to all times and ages of the world.\nAlso it is not our custom to prostitute and make so common the holy\nScriptures, for there are innumerable expounders of the same, some\nalledging and wresting it to serve for their opinion, some to scandal it,\nand most wickedly do liken it to a Nose of Wax which alike should serve\nthe Divines, Philosophers, Physicians and Mathematicians, against all the\nwhich we do openly witness and acknowledge, that from the beginning of the\nWorld there hath not been given unto men a more worthy, a more excellent,\nand a more admirable and wholesome Book than the holy Bible. Blessed is he\nthat hath the same, yea, more blessed is he who reads it diligently, but\nmost blessed of all is he that truly understandeth the same, for he is\nmost like to God, and doth come most near to Him. But whatsoever hath been\nsaid in the Fama concerning the Deceivers against the transmutation of\nMetals, and the highest Medicine in the world, the same is thus to be\nunderstood, that this so great gift of God we do in no manner set at\nnaught or despise it. But because she bringeth not with her always the\nknowledge of Nature, but this bringeth forth not only Medicine, but also\nmaketh manifest and open unto us innumerable secrets and wonders;\ntherefore it is requisite that we be earnest to attain to the\nunderstanding and knowledge of Philosophy. And moreover, excellent Wits\nought not to be drawn to the Tincture of Metals, before they be exercised\nwell in the knowledge of Nature. He must needs be an unsatiable Creature,\nwho is come so far that neither poverty nor sickness can hurt him; yea,\nwho is exalted above other men, and hath Rule over that, the which doth\nanguish, trouble and pain others, yet will give himself again to idle\nthings, as to build houses, make wars, and use all manner of pride,\nbecause he hath of Gold and Silver infinite store.\n\nGod is far otherwise pleased, for he exalteth the lowly, and putteth down\nthe proud with disdain; to those which are of few words he sendeth his\nholy Angel to speak with them, but the unclean Babblers he driveth in the\nwilderness and solitary places; the which is the right Reward of the\nRomish Seducers, who have vomitted forth their blasphemies against Christ,\nand as yet do not abstain from their lies in this clear Shining Light: in\nGermany all their abominations and detestable Tricks have been disclosed,\nthat thereby he may fully fulfil the measure of sin, and draw near to the\nend of his punishment. Therefore one day it will come to pass that the\nmouth of those Vipers will be stopped, and the three double horns will be\nbrought to nought, as thereof at our Meeting shall more plain and at large\nbe discoursed.\n\nIn Conclusion of our Confession, we must earnestly admonish you, that you\nput away, if not all, yet the most books, written by false Alchemists, who\ndo think it but a jest or a pastime, when they either misuse the holy\nTrinity, when they do apply it to vain things, or deceive the people with\nmost strange figures and dark sentences and speeches, and cozen the\nsimpliest of their money; as there are now-a-days too many such books set\nforth, which the enemy of Man's Welfare doth daily, and will to the end,\nmingle among the good seed, thereby to make the Truth more difficult to be\nbelieved, which in herself is simple, easie and naked; but certainly\nfalsehood is proud, haughty, and coloured with a kind of lustre of seeming\ngodly and of humane wisdom. Ye that are wise, eschew such books, and turn\nunto us, who seek not your moneys but offer unto you most willingly our\ngreat Treasures. We hunt not after your Goods with invented lying\nTinctures, but desire to make you Partakers of our Goods: we speak unto\nyou by Parables, but would willingly bring you to the right, simple,\neasie, and ingenuous Exposition, Understanding, Declaration and Knowledge,\nof all Secrets. We desire not to be received of you, but invite you unto\nour more than Kingly Houses and Palaces, and that verily not by our own\nproper motion, but (that you likewise may know it) as forced unto it, by\nthe Instigation of the Spirit of God, by his Admonition, and by the\nOccasion of this present time.\n\nWhat think you, loving people, and how seem you affected, seeing that you\nnow understand and know, that we acknowledge ourselves truly and sincerely\nto profess Christ, condemn the Pope, addict ourselves to the true\nPhilosophy, lead a Christian life, and dayly call, intreat, and invite\nmany more unto our Fraternity, unto whom the same Light of God likewise\nappeareth. Consider you not at length how you might begin with us, not\nonly by pondering the Gifts which are in you, and by experience which you\nhave in the Word of God beside the careful Consideration of the\nImperfection of all Arts, and many other unfitting things, to seek for an\namendment therein; to appease God, and to accommodate you for the time\nwherein you live. Certainly if you will perform the same, this profit will\nfollow, that all the Goods which Nature hath in all parts of the World\nwonderfully dispersed, shall at one time altogether be given unto you, and\nshall easily disburden you of all that which obscureth the understanding\nof Man, and hindereth the working thereof, like unto the vain Epicides,\nand Excentrick Astronomical Circles.\n\nBut those Pragmatical and busieheaded men, who either are blinded with\nthe glistering of Gold, or (to say more truly) who are now honest, but by\nthinking such great Riches should never fail, might easily be corrupted,\nand brought to Idleness, and to riotous proud living; those we do desire\nthat they would not trouble us with their idle and vain crying. But let\nthem think, that although there be a Medicine to be had which might fully\ncure all Diseases, nevertheless those whom God hath destinated to plague\nwith diseases, and to keep them under the Rod of Correction, such shall\nnever obtain any such Medicine.\n\nEven in such manner, although we might enrich the whole World, and endue\nthem with Learning, and might release it from innumerable miseries, yet\nshall we never be manifested and made known unto any man, without the\nespecial pleasure of God; yea, it shall be so far from him whosoever\nthinks to get the benefit, and be Partaker of our Riches and Knowledge,\nwithout and against the Will of God, that he shall sooner lose his life in\nseeking and searching for us, than to find us, and attain to come to the\nwished Happiness of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n_John Heydon and the Rosicrucians._\n\n\nAs we have frequently to mention works of that \"extraordinary Royalist,\nmystic and geomancer,\" John Heydon, who wrote so much respecting the Rosie\nCrucian Mysteries, and so loudly extolled the praises of the disciples, it\nwill be advisable to present a sketch of his life as made by one Frederick\nTalbot, in the years 1662 and 1663, and attached to \"Elhavareuna,\" or the\n\"English Physitian's Tutor.\" He says John Heydon is not basely, but nobly\ndescended. The Antiquaries derive them (his parents) from Julius Heydon\nthe King of Hungary and Westphalia, that were descended from that Noble\nfamily of Caesar Heydon in Rome; and since in this Royal Race the line run\ndown to the Honourable Sir Christopher Heydon, and Sir William Heydon, his\nbrother of Heydon, neer Norwich; who married into Devonshire. Here the\nfamily flourished divers waies, to Sir John Heydon, late Lord Lieutenant\nof the King's Tower of London. And this Sir William Heydon had one sonne\nchristened also William, and had two sons William and Francis, both born\nin Devon, at Poltimore House; Francis married one of the Noble Chandlers\nin Worcestershire of the Mother's side, which line spread by Marriage into\nDevonshire, among the Collins, Ducks, Drues and Bears, he had one Sister\nnamed Anne Heydon, who died two years since, his Father and Mother being\nyet living. He was born at his Father's house in Green-Arbour, London (his\nfather having bestowed L1,500 upon those houses) and was baptised at St.\nSepulchre's, and so was his Sister, and both in the fifth and seventh year\nof the Reign of King Charles the First; he was educated in Warwickshire\namong his mother's friends, and so careful were they to keep him and his\nsister from danger, and to their books, that he had one continually to\nwait upon him, both to school and at home, and so had his sister.\n\nHe was commended by Mr. John Dennis, his Tutor in Tardebick, to Mr. George\nLinacre, Priest of Coughton, where he learned the Latin and Greek Tongues;\nthe war at this time began to molest the Universities of this Nation, he\nwas articled to Mr. Mic. Petley, an Attorney of Clifford Inne, with eighty\npounds, that at five years' end he should be sworn an Attorney; now being\nvery young he applied his mind to learning, and by his happy wit attained\ngreat knowledge in all arts and sciences, afterwards also he followed the\nArmies of the King, and for his valour commanded in the troops, when he\nwas by these means famous for learning and arms, he travelled into Spain,\nItaly, Arabia, Egypt, and Persia, etc., and gave his mind to writing, and\ncomposed about seventeen years since, the Temple of Wisdom in three Books,\nThe Holy Guide in six Books, Elhavareuna in one Book, Ocia Imperialia in\none Book, the Idea of the Law, the Idea of Government, the Idea of Tyranny\nin three parts, the Fundamental Elements of Moral Philosophy, Policy,\nGovernment and War, etc.\n\nThese Books were written near seventeen years since, and preserved by the\ngood hand of God in the custody of Mr. Thomas Heydon, Sir John Hanner, Sir\nRalph Freman, and Sir Richard Temple; during the tyrant's time first one\nhad the Books, then another, etc. And at last at the desire of these\nNoble, Learned and valiant Knights, and in honour of his Highness the Duke\nof Buckingham, they were printed.\n\nHe wrote many excellent things, and performed many rare experiments in the\nArts of Astromancy and Geomancy, etc., but especially eighty one, the\nfirst upon the King's death, predicted in Arabia by him to his friends,\nthe second upon the losses of the King at Worcester, predicted at Thauris\nin Persia. Thirdly he predicted the death of Oliver Cromwell in Lambeth\nHouse to many persons of honour mentioned in his books. Fourthly he wrote\nof the overthrow of Lambert, and of the Duke of Albymarle, his bringing\nagain of the King to his happy countries, and gave it to Major Christopher\nBerkenhead, a Goldsmith at the Anchor by Fetter Lane end in Holborn; the\nfifth precaution or prediction he gave to his highness the Duke of\nBuckingham, two months before the evil was practised, and his enemy\nAbraham Goodman lies now in the Tower for attempting the death of the\nnoble Prince. The sixth for Count Gramont when he was banished into\nEngland by the King of France, and he predicted by the Arts of Astromancy\nand Geomancy, the King's receiving again into favour, and of his marriage\nto the Lady Hamilton. The seventh for Duke Minulaus, a peer of Germany,\nthat the Emperor sent to him, when the Turk, had an army against him, and\nof the death of the Pope; the rest are in his books, and therefore by\nthese monuments the name of Heydon for his variety of learning was famous\nnot only in England, but also in many other nations into which his books\nare translated.\n\nThis John Heydon, fears none, contemneth none, is ignorant of none,\nrejoyceth in none, grieves at none, laughs at none, is angry with none,\nbut being himself a Philosopher, he hath taught the way to happiness, the\nway to long life, the way to health, the way to wane young being old, and\nthe way to resolve all manner of Questions, Present and to Come, by the\nRules of Astromancy and Geomancy, and how to raise the Dead.\n\nThere be many John Heydons, one John Heydon the divine and priest of Jesus\nChrist, this is a Philosopher and Lawyer, stiled a Servant of God and\nSecretary of Nature, and to this the Princes and Peers not only of\nEngland, but of Spain, Italy, France and Germany send dayly to him, and\nupon every occasion he sheweth strong parts and a vigorous brain; his\nwishes and aimes, and what he pointeth at, speaketh him owner of a noble\nand generous heart; this gentleman's excellent books are admired by the\nworld of lettered men, as the prodigy of these latter times (indeed his\nworks before mentioned, if I am able to judge anything) are full of the\nprofoundest learning I ever met withall: and I believe, who hath well-read\nand digested them will perswade himself, there is no truth too abstruse,\nnor hitherto conceived out of our reach, and if any should question my\njudgement, they may read the commendations of both the Universities,\nOxford and Cambridge, besides the learned Thomas White and Thomas Revell,\nEsq., both famous in Rome and other parts beyond sea, that have highly\nhonoured this gentleman in their books; yet he hath suffered many\nmisfortunes, his fathered was sequestered, imprisoned, and lost two\nthousand pounds by Cromwell. This Oliver imprisoned this son also two year\nand half, or thereabout, in Lambeth House, for he and his father's family\nwere always for the King, and endeavoured to the utmost his restoration;\nand indeed the tyrant was cruel to him, but John Thurloe, his Secretary,\nwas kind to him and pittied his curious youth. And the messenger kept him\n(at his request) at his own house, and gave him leave to go abroad, but\nyet being zealous and active for the King, he was again taken and clapt up\nin Lambeth House; in these misfortunes it cost him a L1,000 and upwards;\nafter this some envious villains forged actions of debt against him, and\nput him in prison. It seems at the beginning of these misfortunes, a\ncertain harlot would have him to marry her, but denying her suit, for he\nhad never spoken to her in his life good or evil until then; she devised\nnow with her confederates abundance of mischief against him. And many\ncourted him to marry, but he denyed. Now there was left (amongt a few old\nAlmanacks and scraps of other men's wit) collected and bequeathed unto the\nworld by Nic. Culpe (as his own admired experience) old Alice Culpeper,\nhis widow. She hearing this gentleman (that he was heir to a great estate\nafter the death of his father, and after the death of his uncle, L1,000 a\nyear, but whether this uncle be of the father's or the mother's side I\nknow not, but the estate is sure his at their death), courts him by\nletters of love, to no purpose; the next saint in order was she that calls\nherself the German Princess. But he flies high and scorns such fowl great\nbeasts, the first of these two blessed birds in her life time caused one\nHeath to arrest him, and another laid actions against him that he never\nknew nor heard of. In this perplexity was he imprisoned two years, for\nthey did desire nothing but to get money, or destroy him, for fear if ever\nhe got his liberty he might then punish them. He being of a noble nature\nforgave them all their malice and devices against him, and scorns to\nrevenge himself such upon pittiful things. God indeed hath done him the\njustice, for this Heath consumes to worse than nothing, and indeed, if I\ncan judge or predict anything his baudy-houses will be pawned, and he will\ndye a miserable diseased beggar. His mistress, when he was very young and\na clerke, desired him to lay with her, but he like Joseph refusing, she\nhated him all her life. God preserved him from their malice, although one\nof these three lewd women swore this gentleman practised the art of Magic;\nshe told Oliver Cromwell she saw familiar spirits come and go to him in\nthe shape of Conies, and her maid swore she had often seen them in his\nchambers when he was abroad, and sometimes walking upon the housetop in\nmoonshine nights, and sometimes to vanish away into a wall or Aire, but\nwhen asked she could not tell what manner of man he was. So these stories\nwere not credited, and for all these and many more afflictions and false\naccusations, I never saw him angry, nor did he even arrest or imprison any\nman or woman in all his life.\n\nHe was falsely accused but lately of writing a seditious book and\nimprisoned in a messenger's custody, but his noble friend the Duke of\nBuckingham finding him innocent and alwaies for the king, he was then\ndischarged, and indeed this glorious Duke is a very good and just judge\nand noble, for he forgave Abraham Godman that came to kill him with his\nsword drawn, the Duke with his plate and napkin (for he was at supper)\ntakes away his sword, saying, I can kill thee, but I scorn it, and a\nlittle after he pardoned him. And so mercifull he is that after he had\ntaken the Quakers prisoners in Yorkshire, he used so many wise convincing\narguments that they submitted to the King; of which the Duke was glad, and\nsaved all their lives; he studies the way to preserve his king and country\nin peace, plenty, and prosperity. It is a pity the King hath not many more\nsuch brave men as he, a thousand such wise Dukes as this (like marshell'd\nthunder, back'd with flames of fire) would make all the enemies of the\nKing and Christendome quake, and the Turk fly before such great generals,\nin all submission; we humbly pray for this great Prince, and leave him to\nhis pleasure and return to our subject.\n\nJohn Heydon is not of that vain and presumptuous nature as the Taylors\nthat despised all Artists, even Appolonius, More, Vaughan, and Smith, etc.\nAnd yet they cannot read these, and many other learned authors, they so\nimpudently abuse, rob of their learning, and convert other men's parts to\ntheir own profit. He lent one ten pounds gold, he in requital or return\nspeaks ill of him, and pretends to know many admirable rules of Geomancy,\nand impertinently addes them to Nativities, and applyes them to all manner\nof questions in Astromancy, but his books being written so long since,\nviz., seventeen years by himself, their greediness of great matters is\ndiscovered, and we now know them to be neither scholars nor gentlemen,\nthese hang up clouts with--here are Nativities calculated, questions\nresolved, and all the parts of Astrology taught by us.... In threepence,\nfourpence, sixpence, or higher if you please--thus are young apprentices,\nold women, and wenches abused, and that they may be found for money, tell\nus the twelve houses of heaven in the sign of a coat of arms are to be\nlet, when they might indeed set bills upon their brazen foreheads,\nengraven thus: Here are Rooms to be let unfurnished, but our Author\nregards not these men; all their scandals, forgeries, and villainous\ndevises they contrive against him, he slights and scorns, and hath\npurposely forsaken Spittle Fields and his lodging there, to live a private\nlife, free from the concourse of multitudes of people that daily followed\nafter him, but if any desire to be advised, let them by way of letter\nleave their business at his booksellers, and they shall have answer and\ncounsel without reward, for he is neither envious, nor enemie to any man;\nwhat I write is upon my own knowledge.\n\nHe now writes from Hermenpolis, a place I was never at; it seems by the\nword to be the city of Mercury, and truly he hath been in many strange\nplaces, among the Rosie Crucians, and at their Castles, Holy Houses,\nTemples, Sepulchres, Sacrifices. This gentleman hath suffered much by his\nown discreet silence and solitude. Every Nativity Hawker condemns the\nRosie Crucians because they appear not to the world, and concludes there\nis no such society because he is not a member of it, and Mr. Heydon will\nnot come upon the stage (let his enemies write or speak what they will)\nwhen any fool cries enter, neither doth he regard every dog that barks at\nhim. All the world knows this gentleman studys honourable and honest\nthings, and faithfully communicates them to others, yet if any traduce him\nhereafter, they must not expect his vindication, he hath referred his\nquarrel to the God of Nature, it is involved in the concernments of his\nTruths and he is satisfied with the peace of a good conscience; he hath\nbeen misinterpreted in his writing, with studied calumnies, they disparage\na person whom they never saw, nor perhaps will see, he is resolved for the\nfuture to suffer, for he says God condemns no man for his patience, the\nworld indeed may think the truth overthrown, because she is attended with\nhis peace for in the judgment of most men, there is no victory, this he\nlooks upon as no disadvantage, the estimate of such censures will but\nlighten the scales, and I don't suppose them very weak brains who conceive\nthe truth sinks because it outweighs them; as for tempestuous outcrys when\nthey want their motives they discover an irreligious spirit, one that hath\nmore of the Hurrey-cano than of Christ Jesus, God was not in the wind that\nrent the rocks in pieces, nor in the earthquake and fire at Horeb. He was\nin Aura tenui, in the still small voice. His enemies are forced to praise\nhis vertues and his friends are sorry he hath not 10,000 pounds a year, he\ndoth not resent the common spleen, who writs the truth of God hath the\nsame Patron with the truth itself, and when the world shall submit to the\ngeneral Tribunal, he will find his Advocate where they shall find their\nJudge, there is mutual testimony between God and his servants, or nature\nand her Secretary; if the Baptist did bear witness of Christ, Christ did\nalso much for the Baptist; he was a burning and shining light; when I writ\nthis gentleman's life God can bear me witness it was unknown to him, and\nfor no private ends, but I was forced to it by a strong admiration of the\nMistery and Majesty of Nature, written by this servant of God and\nSecretary of Nature; I began his life some years since, and do set it down\nas I do finde it, if any man oppose this, I shall answer, if you are for\npeace, peace be with you, if you are for War, I have been so too (Mr.\nHeydon doth resolve never to draw sword again in England, except the King\ncommand him). Now let not him that puts on the Armour boast like him that\nputs it off. 'Gaudet patientia duris' is his Motto, and thus I present\nmyself a friend to all artists, and enemy to no man.\n\n  FREDERICK TALBOT, ESQ.\n\n  _March 3, 1662._\n\nWhat was thought of John Heydon and what he appeared to think of himself\nmay be learned from the somewhat gushing testimonials he appended to\nseveral of his books.\n\nAt the commencement of the Axiomata we have the following:--\n\n\"To his most ingeniously accomplish'd friend, Mr. John Heydon, on his\nRosie Crucian Infallible Axomata, the excellent and secret use of\nNumbers.\"\n\n  \"Now let the Pope no more pretend to bee,\n  The Father of Infallibility;\n  Unless he can great Heyden's Numbers teach,\n  And nimbly to his Axiomata reach.\n      One learned Heydon, with his Art-like Pen,\n  Hath exercised so the Brains of Men;\n  That how to answer him this very Age\n  Knows not [I'm sure] with all its Wit and Rage.\n  Our Author here, as Heir unto his skill,\n  Hath kept his name up (with a pregnant Quill)\n  So happily! that Ages yet to come,\n  Shall sing his fame in this Eulogium;\n      While Numbers sing the World's glad Harmony,\n      This worthy work shall teach Philosophy.\"\n\n  J. GADBURY.\n\nAgain in the same work.\n\n\"To his much honoured friend the Author Mr. John Heydon upon the Rosie\nCrucian Infallible Axiomata.\"\n\n  \"Pythag'ras redivivus, go thy ways\n  Into the world: and number out thy praise;\n  Laconian Lads esteem yourself no more,\n  Who Numbers rich is, who esteems is poor,\n  For they esteem themselves, because no more.\n  Moses in Miracles did exceed 'tis true\n  By Numbers done; only found out by you\n  Therefore the greatest Miracle's your due.\n  Tria sunt omnia shall no more surpass,\n  Who's but for simple Numbers is an Asse,\n  Thy compound Numbers shew as clear as Glass.\n  That the wide world this piece shall so extoll\n  As swears no soul, if not Harmonic all\n  For never was piece i' the world so exactly done,\n  In the time past, or present, what's to come,\n  Then teeming Soul give thy Pen intermission,\n  And breathe a while before the next Edition.\"\n\n  JOHN FYGE,\n  _Minister of the Gospell._\n\nAgain:--\n\n  \"O Comprehensive Magus, praise attends\n  Thy worthy work, to that each number tends,\n  Sith to the Holy Cross thou art the Crown;\n  And that, which Nature did at first set down\n  In Hieroglyphicks, that she might conceal\n  From Sons of earth, her Darling doth reveal\n  Unto the Sons of Art and doth unfold\n  Those Tomes of Crypicks that before were rold;\n  Axioms infallible, thou dost us shew,\n  Would Pyrrho make his doubting Trade forego;\n  Philosophy may by thy Method be\n  Courted, and won by men of low degree,\n  When fancy tells me this cannot be done,\n  My Reason prompts me to believe a Son,\n  Inspired by the Rosie Crucian Spirit,\n  Is Heir to more, to whom I do refer it.\n\n  THOMAS FYGE.\"\n\n\n  \"Hayl you (admired Heydon) whose great parts\n  Shine above envy; and the common Arts,\n  You kin to Angels, and Superiour Lights,\n  (A spark of the first fire) whose Eagle flights\n  Trade not with Earth, and grossness, but do pass\n  To the pure Heavens, and make your God your Glass,\n  In whom you see all forms, and so do give\n  These rare discov'ries, how things move and live,\n  Proceed to make your great designs compleat,\n  And let not this rude world our hopes defeat.\n  Oh let me but by this the dawning light\n  Which streams upon me through your three pil'd night,\n  Pass to the East of truth, 'till I may see\n  Man's first fair state; when sage Simplicity\n  The Dove and Serpent, Innocent and Wise\n  Dwell in his brest, and he in Paradise.\n  These from the Tree of knowledge his best boughs\n  I'le pluck a Garland from this Author's brows,\n  Which to succeeding times Fame shall bequeath,\n  With this most just Applause, Great Heyden's wreath.\n\n  FRED. TALBOT, _Esquire_.\"\n\nIn the opening pages of the \"Holy Guide,\" we find the following:--\n\n  \"Renowned Eugenius! Famous above all!\n  A Prince in Physiques! Most Seraphicall!\n  The Art's Great Archer! Never shooting wide;\n  Yet Hitt'st the White best, in thy Holy Guide.\n  Good God! What Pains have learn'd Physitians\n  For cleansing Physiques [strange perturbed] Brook?\n  But as their crooked labours did destroy\n  Our hopes, Thy Guide directs the Ready Way.\n  Hippocrates, Great Galen, and Senertus,\n  Rhenvoleus, Paracelsus, and Albertus,\n  Grave Gerrard, and Ingenious Parkinson,\n  Dead Culpeper, and living Thomlinson,\n  Have all done well. But ah! they miss the Road,\n  Thou Chalked out, Thou Dear Servant of God;\n  And therefore 'tis no wonder, if they vary\n  From thee; Great Nature (High born) Secretary!\n  'Tis thou alone, hast taught the way to bliss:\n  'Tis thou alone, that knowest what it is:\n  'Tis thou hast raked fruitful Egypt o'er\n  For Medicines; and Italy for more;\n  And in Arabia thy collecting Braines,\n  To doe us good, hath taken wondrous Paines\n  This having done, if Critiques will not bow\n  To thy Great Learning Petra scandalou,\n  It shall unto them surely prove: And this\n  Essay of thy Sublimer Misteryes,\n  Shall make them sure unto the Wise Minerva\n  Yet still be ignorant of thy Pantarva.\n    But hold! Where am I? Sure th' hast set a spell\n  On me, cause I can't praise thy doings well:\n  Release me, Good Eugenius! and the Crowne\n  Shall stand on no browes but thy learned Owne.\n  Poets, no more lay Claime unto the Bayes!\n  'Tis Heydon shines alone with splendid Rayes!\n  Follow his Guide, he teaches you most sure;\n  Let any make the Wound; 'Tis he must cure.\n  For he directs the Welgrowne; Old, and Young,\n  To live Rich, Happy, Healthy, Noble, Strong.\n\n  JOHN GADBURY.\"\n\n\"To the Reader on the behalf of my much honoured Friend the Author Mr.\nJohn Heydon.\"\n\n  \"A Labyrinth doth need a clew to find\n  The passage out, and a Daedalian mind\n  May doe strange works, beyond the Vulgar's reach,\n  And in their understandings make a breach.\n  It's often seene, when men of pregnant parts\n  Study, Invent, and promulgate rare Arts,\n  Or unknown secrets, now they puzzle those\n  That understand them not; their Yea's, their No's,\n  Are put to Non-plus; Tutors then they lack\n  To drive them forward, or to bring them back.\n  How many learned men (in former ages)\n  In all the sciences were counted Sages?\n  And yet are scarcely understood by men,\n  Who daily read them o're and o're again!\n  Some can recount things past, and present some,\n  And some would know of things that are to come.\n  Some study pleasure, some would faine live long;\n  Some that are old, would faine again be young.\n  This Man doth toyle, and moile, to purchase wealth,\n  That man gets sickness studying for his health;\n  This man would happy bee, that Wisdom have;\n  All are at loss, and every man doth crave;\n  None is content, But each man wants a Guide\n  Them to direct when they do step aside.\n  Since this is thus, Our Author hath took paine\n  To lead us in, and bring us out again;\n  Now who is pleas'd in him for to confide\n  In these Discoveries, Here's his Holy Guide.\n  Pray what can more improve the Commonwealth,\n  Than the discovery of the way to Health?\n  The Paradox is made a certain truth,\n  An Ancient man may dye it 'h prime of 's youth.\n  What wonder is it if he goe aside\n  The Path, which will not take the Holy Guide!\n\n  JOHN BOOKER.\"\n\n\"To his Ingenuous Friend Mr. John Heydon, on his Book Intituled The Holy\nGuide.\"\n\n  \"The Antient Magi, Druids, Cabbalists,\n  The Brachmans, Sybils, and Gymnosophists\n  With all that Occult Arts haberdash\n  And make so many mancies, doe but trash\n  By retaile vend, and may for Pedlars goe:\n  Your richer merchandise doth make them soe.\n  The Stagarite must with his Murnival\n  Of Elements, Galen of Humours call\n  In all their suit, or your new Art,\n  Without them, makes their good old cause to smart.\n  Vulgar Physitians cannot look for more\n  Patients, then such which doe need hellibore:\n  When Rosie Crucian Power can revive\n  The dead, and keep old men in youth alive.\n  Had you not call'd your work the Holy Guide,\n  It would have puzzled all the world beside\n  To have Baptized it with a name so fit\n  And Adaequate to what's contain'd in it;\n  Should it be styled the Encyclopaedy\n  Of Curious Arts, or term'd a Mystery\n  In folio, or be named the Vatican\n  Reduc'd unto an Enchiridion,\n  Or all the Hermae in a Senary,\n  The Urim and Thummim of Philosophy,\n  The Art of Hieroglyphicks so revealed\n  And like the Apocalyps they are conceal'd\n  Or th' Orthodoxall Parodox, or all\n  Discover'd, which men still a wonder call;\n  Or th' Magna Charta of all Sciences,\n  And he that names it cannot call it less,\n  The Book and Title might have well agreed;\n  Yet men have questioned if into their Creed\n  They should have put your Article, but Now\n  The name of holy none dare disallow\n  When so much learning doth in one exist\n  Heydon, not Hermes, shall be Trismegist.\n  And if the Right Reverend of Levi's Tribe\n  Do Hallow it, I cannot but subscribe.\n\n  Myself your Friend and Servant,\n  THOS. FYGE.\"\n\n\"Now there are,\" says John Heydon, \"a kind of men as they themselves\nreport, named Rosie Crucians; a divine Fraternity that inhabite the\nsuburbs of Heaven, and these are the Officers of the Generalissimo of the\nworld, that are as the eyes and eares of the great King, seeing and\nhearing all things; they say these R. C. are seraphically illuminated, as\nMoses was, according to this Order of the Elements; Earth refyn'd to\nWater, Water to Air, Air to Fire. So if a man be one of the Heroes, of a\nHeros, a Damon, or good Genius, if a Genius, a partaker of divine things,\nand a Companion of the holy Company of unbodied Souls and immortall\nAngells, and according to their vehicles, a versatile life, turning\nthemselves Proteus-like into any shape.\n\n\"But the richest happiness they esteem, is the gift of healing and\nmedicine. It was a long time great labour and travell before they could\narrive to this Blisse above set, they were at first poor gentlemen, that\nstudied God and nature, as they themselves confesse: (saying) Seeing the\nonly wise and mercifull God in these latter dayes hath poured out so\nrichly his mercy and goodness to mankind, whereby wee do attain more and\nmore to the perfect knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ and Nature: that\njustly we may boast of the happy time wherein there is not only discovered\nunto us the half part of the world which was heretofore unknown and\nhidden; but he hath also made manifest unto us many wonderfull and never\nheretofore seen works and Creatures of nature, and moreover hath raised\nmen, indued with great wisdome, which might partly renew and reduce all\nArts (in this our age, spotted and imperfect) to perfection.\n\n\"Although in Theologie, Physick, and the Mathematick, the truth doth\noppose itself, nevertheless the old enemy by his subtilty and craft doth\nshew himself in hindering every good purpose by his instruments and\ncontentious (wavering people) to such an intent of a generall Reformation,\nthe most Godly and Seraphically illuminated Father, our Brother C. R., a\nGerman, the chief and originall of our Fraternity, hath much and long time\nlaboured, who by reason of his poverty (although a gentleman born, and\ndescended of noble parents) in the 5th year of his age was placed in a\nCloister, where he had learned indifferently the Greek and Latin tongues\n(who upon his earnest desire and request being yet in his growing years,\nwas associated to a Brother P. A. L., who had determined to go to Apamia).\n\n\"Although his brother dyed in Cyprus and so never came to Apamia, yet our\nbrother C. R. did not return but shipped himself over, and went to\nDamasco, minding from thence to go to Apamia, but by reason of the\nfeebleness of his body he remained still there, and by his skil in\nPhysick, he obtained much favour with the Ishmalits. In the mean time he\nbecame by chance acquainted with the wise men of Damcar in Arabia, and\nbeheld what great wonders they wrought and how Nature was discovered unto\nthem; hereby was that high and noble spirit of brother C. R. so stirred up\nthat Apamia was not so much now in his mind as Damcar; also he could not\nbridle his desires any longer, but made a bargain with the Arabians that\nthey should carry him for a certain summe of money to Damcar, this was in\nthe 16th year of his age when the Wise received him (as he himself\nwitnesseth) not as a Stranger, but as one whom they had long expected,\nthey called him by his name, and showed him other secrets out of his\nCloyster, whereat hee could not but mightily wonder.\n\n\"He learned there better the Arabian tongue: so that the year following he\ntranslated the book M. into good Latine, and I have put it into English\nwearing the title of The Wiseman's Crown; whereunto is added A new Method\nof Rosie Crucian Physick. This is the place where he did learn his Physick\nand Philosophie, how to raise the dead; for example, as a Snake cut in\npieces and rotted in dung will every piece prove a whole Snake again, &c.,\nand then they began to practise further matters and to kill birds and to\nburn them before they are cold in a Glass, and so rotted, and then\ninclosed in a shell, to hatch it under a hen, and restore the same; and\nother strange proofs they made of Dogs, Hogs, or Horses, and by the like\ncorruption to raise them up and again and renew them. And at last they\ncould restore by the same course every brother that died to life again,\nand so continue many ages.\n\n\"Brother C. R. after many travels, returned again into Germany, and there\nbuilded a neat and fitting habitation, upon a little hill or mount, and on\nthe hill there rested always a cloud; and he did there render himself\nvisible or invisible, at his own will and discretion.\n\n\"After five years came into his minde the wished return of the children of\nIsrael out of Egypt, how God would bring them out of bondage with the\nInstrument Moses. Then he went to his Cloyster, to which he bare\naffection, and desired three of his brethren to go with him to Moses, the\nchosen servant of God. Brother G. V., Brother J. A., and Brother J. O.,\nwho besides that they had more knowledge in the Arts than at that time\nmany others had, he did binde those three unto himselfe, to be faithful,\ndiligent, and secret; as also to commit carefully to writing what Moses\ndid; and also all that which he should direct and instruct them in, to the\nend that those which were to come, and through especial Revelation should\nbe received into this Fraternity, might not be deceived of the least\nsyllable and word.\n\n\"After this manner began the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, first by four\npersons, who died and rose again until Christ, and then they came to\nworship as the Star guided them to Bethlem of Judea, where lay our Saviour\nin his mother's arms; and then they opened their treasure and presented\nunto Him Gifts, Gold, Frankinsense, and Myrrhe, and by the commandment of\nGod went home to their habitation.\n\n\"These four waxing young again successively many hundreds of years, made a\nMagical Language and Writing, with a large Dictionary, which are yet in\ndaily use to God's praise and glory, and do finde great wisdome therein;\nthey made also the first part of the Book M. which I will shortly publish\nby the title of The Wiseman's Crown.\"\n\nIn his Apologue to the sixth book of \"The Holy Guide,\" after stating that\nMoses was the father of the Rosie Crucians, that they were the Officers of\nthe Generalissimo of the World, of the order of Elias or Disciples of\nEzekiel, &c., John Heydon proceeds:--\"But there is yet arguments to\nprocure Mr. Walfoord and T. Williams, Rosie Crucians by elections, and\nthat is the miracles that were done by them, in my sight, for it should\nseem Rosie Crucians were not only initiated into the Mosaical Theory, but\nhave arrived also to the power of working Miracles, as Moses, Elias,\nEzekiel, and the succeeding Prophets did, as being transported where they\nplease, as Habakkuk was from Jewry to Babylon, or as Philip, after he had\nbaptized the Eunuch, to Azotus, and one of these went from me to a friend\nof mine in Devonshire, and came and brought me an answer to London the\nsame day, which is four dayes journey; they taught me excellent\npredictions of Astrology, and Earthquakes; they slack the Plague in\nCities; they silence the violent Winds and Tempests; they calm the rage of\nthe Sea and Rivers; they walk in the Air; they frustrate the malicious\naspects of Witches; they cure all Diseases; I desired one of these to tell\nme whether my Complexion were capable of the society of my good Genius?\nWhen I see you again, said he, I will tell you, which is when he pleases\nto come to me, for I know not where to go to him. When I saw him then he\nsaid, Ye should pray to God; for a good and holy man can offer no greater\nnor more acceptable sacrifice to God than the oblation of himself, his\nsoul.\n\n\"He said also, that the good Genii are as the benigne eyes of God, running\nto and fro in the world, with love and pitty beholding the innocent\nendeavours of harmless and single hearted men, ever ready to do them good,\nand to help them; and at his going away he bid me beware of my seeming\nfriends who would do me all the hurt they could, and cause the Governours\nof the nations to be angry with me, and set bounds to my liberty; which\ntruly happened to me, as they did indeed; many things more he told me\nbefore we parted, but I shall not name them here.\n\n\"In this Rosie Crucian Physick or Medicines, I happily and unexpectedly\nlight upon in Arabia, which will prove a restauration of health to all\nthat are afflicted with that sickness which we ordinarily call natural,\nand all other Diseases, as the Gout, Dropsie, Leprosie, and falling\nsickness; and these men may be said to have no small insight in the body,\nand that Walfoord, Williams, and others of the Fraternity now living, may\nbear up in the same likely Equipage, with those noble Divine spirits their\nPredecessors; though the unskilfulness in men commonly acknowledges more\nof supernatural assistance in hot, unsettled fancies, and perplexed\nmelancholy, than in the calm and distinct use of reason; yet for mine own\npart, but not without submission to better judgments, I look upon these\nRosie Crucians above all men truly inspired, and more than any that\nprofessed or pretended themselves so this sixteen hundred years, and I am\nravished with admiration of their miracles and transcendent mechanical\ninventions, for the solving the Phenomena in the world: I may without\noffence therefore compare them with Bezaliel and Aholiab, those skilful\nand cunning workers of the Tabernacle, who, as Moses testifies, were\nfilled with the Spirit of God, and therefore were of an excellent\nunderstanding to find out all manner of curious work.\n\n\"Nor is it any argument that these Rosie Crucians are not inspired,\nbecause they do not say they are; which to me is no argument at all; but\nthe suppression of what so happened, would argue much more sobriety and\nmodesty; when as the profession of it with sober men, would be suspected\nof some piece of melancholy and distraction, especially in those things,\nwhere the grand pleasure is the evidence and exercise of Reason, not a\nbare belief, or an ineffable sense of life, in respect whereof there is no\ntrue Christian but he is inspired; but if any more zealous pretender to\nprudence and righteousness, wanting either leisure or ability to examine\nthese Rosie Crucian Medicines to the bottome, shall notwithstanding either\ncondemn them or admire them, he hath unbecomingly and indiscreetly\nventured out of his own sphere, and I cannot acquit him of injustice or\nfolly. Nor am I a Rosie Crucian, nor do I speak of spite, or hope of gain,\nor for any such matter, there is no cause, God knows; I envie no man, be\nhe what he will be, I am no Phisitian, never was, nor never mean to be;\nwhat I am it makes no matter as to my profession.\n\n\"Lastly, these holy and good men would have me know that the greatest\nsweet and perfection of a vertuous soul, is the kindly accomplishment of\nher own nature, in true wisdome and divine love; and these miraculous\nthings that are done by them, are, that that worth and knowledge that is\nin them may be taken notice of, and that God thereby may be glorified,\nwhose witnesses they are; but no other happiness accrues to them from\nthis, but hereby they may be in a better capacity of making others happy.\n\n  _Spittle-fields, this 10th of May, 1662._\n\n  JOHN HEYDON.\"\n\nAs, of course, it is impossible to give any lengthy extracts from the\nworks of this celebrated John Heydon, a few quotations from the Index to\nhis Holy Guide will show the nature of the work and must suffice for our\npresent purpose. \"How by numbers the Rosie Crucians fore-know all future\nthings, command all nature and do miracles, etc. The resolution of all\nmanner of questions, and how by numbers you may be happy, etc. How to make\na man live to two hundred years. How to avoid all disease. The Rosie\nCrucian way to get health. How to live twenty years without food, as many\ncreatures do. How to raise a dead bird to life. Of generating many\nserpents of one,\" etc., etc.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n_Gabalis: or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists._\n\n\nOn a former page we referred to a book which at one time achieved\nconsiderable notoriety under the title of \"Count Gabalis; or the\nExtravagant mysteries of the Cabalists,\" the following extract will show\nthe nature of the work and no doubt prove interesting.\n\nCount Gabalis: or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Gabalists, or,\nRosy-crucians Exposed in Five Pleasant Discourses on the Secret Sciences.\n\n\nDiscourse the First.\n\nGod rest the soul of Monsieur the Count of Gabalis! who as they write me\nnews, is lately dead of an Apoplexy. Now the Cabalists will not fail to\nsay, that this kind of Death is ordinary to those who imprudently manage\nthe Secrets of the Sages; and that since the Blessed Ramundus Lullius has\npronounced the sentence in his last Will and Testament, a destroying Angel\nhas ever been ready to strangle in a moment, all those who have\nindiscreetly revealed the Philosophick Mysteries.\n\nBut let them not so rashly condemn this Wise Man, without having better\ninformation of his conduct. 'Tis true he has discovered all to me; but not\nwithout all the Cabalistick Circumspectious requisite. I must do him the\nright, in giving this testimony to his memory, that he was a great Zealot\nfor the religion of his fathers, the Philosophers; and that he would have\nsuffered the flames, rather than have profaned the Sanctity of it, by\ndisclosing it to any unworthy Prince, to any ambitious person, or to one\nthat was incontinent; three sorts of people, excommunicated in all ages by\nthe wise. By good fortune I am no Prince; I have little Ambition; and by\nthe Sequel of this discourse, it may be seen that I have a little more\nChastity than a Sage needs have. I am endued with a Docible Wit; curious\nof knowledge, and Bold enough: I want but a little Melancholy to make all\nthose who would blame the Count of Gabalis, confess that he needed not\nhave concealed any thing from me, in regard I was a Subject proper enough\nfor the Secret Sciences. It is true that without Melancholy, no great\nprogress can be made therein: but this little stock of it that I have, was\nenough to make me not to be rejected by them. You (has he said a hundred\ntimes to one) have Saturn in an Angle, in his House, and Retrograde; you\ncannot fail, one of these days, of being as Melancholy as a Sage ought to\nbe: for the wisest of all men (as we know in the Cabal) had, as you have,\nJupiter in the Ascendant. And yet, it was never observed, that he ever so\nmuch as once laughed, in all his life time, so powerful was his Saturn in\nhim, though it was certainly weaker than yours.\n\n'Tis then my Saturn, and not Monsieur the Count of Gabalis that the\n_Virtuoso_ must quarrel with, if I affect more the Divulging of there\nSecrets, than the practising of them. If the Stars do not their duty, the\nCount is not in the fault, and if I have not a soul great enough to\nattempt to become Master of Nature, to turn the Elements upside down, to\nentertain the Supreme Intelligences, to command the Demons, to beget\nGiants, to create New Worlds, to speak to God in his High Throne, and to\noblige the Cherubin, which defends the entrance of Paradise, to let me\ncome in, and take two or three turns in his Walks; 'tis me that they must\nblame more or less: they must not for this insult over the memory of this\nRare Man; and say that he is dead, for having blabbed all things to me. Is\nit impossible that amongst the wandering spirits he may not have been\nworsted in a conflict with some undocible Hobgoblin? Perchance he is not\ndead, but in appearance; following the custom of the Philosophers, who\nseem to Dye in one place, and transport themselves to another. Be it how\nit will, I can never believe, that the Manner wherewith he entrusted his\nTreasures to me, merited any punishment. You shall see how all things\npassed.\n\nCommon sense having always made me suspect that there was a great deal of\nEmptiness in all that which they call Secret Science, I was never tempted\nto lose so much time, as to turn over the leaves of those books which\ntreat of them: but yet not finding it reasonable to condemn without\nknowing why, all those addicting themselves thereto, who otherwise are\nwise persons, very learned for the most part, and eminent both for the\nGown and Sword. I took up a resolution (that I might avoid being unjust,\nand wearying myself with tedious reading) of feigning myself a great\ndevotee to those sciences, amongst all those, whom I could learn were of\nthat Gang. I had quickly better success than I could possibly hope for.\nSince all these gentlemen, how mysterious and how reserved soever they may\nseem to be, desire nothing more, than to vent their imaginations, and the\nnew discoveries which they pretend to have made in Nature. In a few dayes\nI was the Confident of the most considerable amongst them, and had every\nday one or other of them in my study, which I had on purpose garnished\nwith their most phantastick authors. There was never a learned Virtuoso of\nthis kind, but I had correspondence with him. In a word, for my Zeal to\nthis science, I quickly found that I was well approved by all. I had for\nmy companions, Princes, Great Lords, Gown-men, Handsome Ladies, and\nUnhandsome too; Doctors, Prelates, Fryars, Nuns: in fine People of all\nRanks and Qualities. Some of them were for converse with Angels, others\nwith Devils, others with their Genius, others with Incubus's; some\naddicted themselves to the cure of diseases, some to Star-gazing, some to\nthe secrets of Divinity, and almost all to the Philosopher's stone.\n\nThey all agreed, that these grand secrets, and especially the\nPhilosopher's stone, were hardly to be found out, and that but very few do\nattain to them, but they had all in particular, a very good opinion of\nthemselves, to believe that they were of the number of the Elect. By good\nluck, with infinite impatiency, the most considerable of them expected at\nthis time, the arrival of a lord, who was a great Cabalist, and whose\nEstate lyes upon the frontiers of Poland. He had promised by letters to\nthe children of Philosophy in Paris to come and visit them; and so to pass\nfrom France into England. I had a Commission to write an answer to this\ngreat man: I sent him the scheme of my Nativity, that he might judge if I\nwere capable of aspiring to the supreme wisdom. My scheme and my letter\nwere so happy to oblige him to do me the honour of answering me; that I\nshould be one of the first that he would see at Paris; and that, if Heaven\ndid not oppose, there should be nothing wanting in him to introduce me\ninto the Society of the Wise.\n\nIn the well management of my good fortune, I entertain a regular\ncorrespondence with the illustrious German: I propose to him, from time to\ntime, great doubts, as well grounded as I could, concerning the Harmony of\nthe World, the Numbers of Pythagoras, the Revelations of St. John, and the\nfirst chapter of Genesis. The greatness of the matter ravished him! He\nwrit to me unheard of Wonders; and I plainly saw that I had to deal with a\nman of a most vigorous and most copious imagination. I was astonished one\nremarkable day, when I saw a man come in a most excellent Mien, who,\nsaluting me gravely, said to me in the French tongue, but in the accents\nof a foreigner: Adore my son; Adore the most glorious and great God of the\nSages and let not thyself be puffed up with pride, that he sends to thee\none of the children of Wisdom to constitute thee a fellow of their\nsociety, and make thee partaker of the wonders of his Omnipotency.\n\nThis strange manner of salutation, did upon the sudden surprise me, and I\nbegan, at first, to question, whether or no it might not be some\napparition: nevertheless, recovering my spirits the best I could, and\nlooking upon him as civilly as the little fear I was seized with, could\npermit me, Whatever you be (said I to him) whose Complement savours not of\nthis world, you do me a great honour in making me this visit. But I\nbeseech you, if you please, before I worship this God of the Sages, let me\nknow of what God and what Sages you speak. Do me the favour to sit down on\nthis chair and give yourself the trouble to tell me, what this God is, and\nwhat these Sages, this Company, these Wonders of Omnipotency, and after or\nbefore all this, what kind of creature I have the honour to speak to.\n\nSir, you receive me most Sage-like (said he, smiling, and taking the chair\nwhich I presented him) you desire me on a sudden to explain things to you,\nwhich, if you please, I shall not resolve to-day. The Complement which I\nmade you, are the words which the Sages use at first, to those to whom\nthey purpose to open their hearts and to discover their mysteries. I had\nthought that being so wise as you seemed to me in your letters, this\nsalutation would not have been unknown to you, and that it would be the\nmost pleasing Complement that could be made you by the Count of Gabalis.\n\nAh! Sir (cried I, remembering that I had a ticklish game to play) how\nshall I render myself worthy of so much goodness? Is it possible that the\nexcellentest of all men should be in my study? that the great Gabalis\nshould honour me with his visit?\n\nI am the least of the Sages (replied he, with a serious look) and God, who\ndispenses the beams of his wisdom by weight and measure, as his\nsovereignty pleases, has given me but a small talent, in comparison of\nthat which I admire in my fellows. I hope that you may equal them, one\nday; if I durst judge of it by the scheme of your nativity, which you did\nme the honour to send me: but you give me cause to complain of you, Sir\n(added he, smiling) in taking me even now for a Spirit. Not for a Spirit,\n(said I to him) but I protest to you, Sir, that calling to my remembrance\non a sudden, what Cardan relates of his father; that being one day in his\nstudy, he was visited by unknown persons, cloathed in divers colours; who\nentertained him in a pleasant discourse concerning their nature and\nemployment. I understand you (interrupted the Count), they were Sylphes,\nof which I shall talk to you hereafter: they are a kind of Aerial\nsubstances; who sometimes come to consult the Sages concerning the books\nof Averroes, which they do not well understand. Cardan was a coxcomb, for\npublishing that amongst his subtilties: he had found those memories\namongst his father's papers, who was one of us, and who seeing that his\nson was naturally a babbler, would teach him nothing of what was most\nconsiderable; but let him puzzle his brains in Astrology, by which he was\nnot cunning enough to prevent his sons being hanged. This ass was the\ncause of your doing me the injury to take me for a Sylphe. Injury (replied\nI!) Why, Sir, should I be so unfortunate to--I am not angry at it\n(interrupted he) since you are not obliged to know beforehand, that all\nthese elementary spirits are our disciples; for they are most happy, when\nwe will stoop so low, as to instruct them; and the least of our Sages is\nmore knowing than all those little gentlemen. But we shall talk more at\nlarge of this, some more convenient time; it is sufficient for me to-day,\nthat I have had the satisfaction to see you. Endeavour, my son, to make\nyourself worthy of receiving the Cabalistical Illuminations: the hour of\nyour regeneration is come; the fault is your own, if you become not a new\ncreature. He went out of my study, and I complained of his short visit, as\nI waited on him back, that he had the cruelty to leave me so quickly,\nafter he had let me be so happy, as to have a glimpse of his light. But\nhaving assured me with a grand grace that I should lose nothing by this\nsudden departure, he got up into his coach, and left me in a surprise\nwhich I am not able to express. I could not believe my own eyes, nor my\nown ears: I'm sure (said I) that this is a man of great quality; that he\nhath an estate of five thousand pounds a year, besides he appears very\naccomplished. Is it possible that he can thus suffer himself to be filled\nwith these fooleries? He has talked to me of these Sylphes with great\nearnestnes: should he prove a sorcerer in the upshot? and should I have\nbeen deceived till now, in believing that there were no such things? But\nsuppose he was a Sorcerer, are there also some of them so devout as this\nman appears to be?\n\nThe Count was pleased to allow me all the night in Prayer, and in the\nmorning by break of day, he acquainted me with a note that he would come\nto my house by eight of the clock, and that if I pleased, we might go and\ntake the air together. I waited for him; he came, and after reciprocal\ncivilities, let us go (said he to me) to some place where we may be free\ntogether and where nobody may interrupt our discourse.\n\nHe seeing that we were as free from company as he could desire said:--How\nhappy shall you be, my son, if heaven has the kindness to put those\ndispositions into your soul, which the high mysteries require of you. You\nare about to learn how to command nature; God above shall be your master,\nand the Sages only shall be your equals, the supreme intelligences shall\nesteem it as glory to obey your desires. When you shall be enrolled\namongst the children of Philosophy, and that your eyes shall be fortified\nby the use of our sacred medicine, you shall immediately discover that the\nElements are inhabited by most perfect creatures, from the knowledge and\ncommerce of whom, the sin of the unfortunate Adam has excluded all his too\nunhappy posterity. This immense space which is between the earth and the\nHeavens, has more noble inhabitants than birds and flies; this vast ocean\nhas also other troops, besides dolphins and whales; the profundity of the\nearth, is not only for moles; and the element of fire (more noble than the\nother three) was not made to be unprofitable and void.\n\nThe air is full of an innumerable multitude of people having human shape,\nsomewhat fierce in appearance, but tractable upon experience; great lovers\nof the sciences, subtil, officious to the Sages, and enemies to sots and\nignorants. Their wives and their daughter have a kind of masculine beauty,\nsuch as we describe the Amazons to have. How Sir (cried I), would you\npersuade me, that these friends you speak of are married?\n\nBe not so fierce, my son (replied he) for so small a matter. Believe\nwhatsoever I tell you, to be solid and true. I am making known nothing to\nyou, but the principles of the antient Cabal, and there needs nothing more\nto justify them, than that you should believe your own eyes; but receive\nwith a meek spirit the light which God sends you by my interposition. Know\nthat the Seas and Rivers are Inhabited, as well as the air: the ancient\nSages have called these kind of people Undians or Nymphs. They have but\nfew males amongst them, but the women are there in great numbers: their\nbeauty is marvellous, and the daughters of men have nothing in them\ncomparable to these.\n\nThe earth is filled almost to the centre with Gnomes or Pharyes, a people\nof small stature, the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious\nstones. They are ingenious, friends of men, and easy to be commanded. They\nfurnish the children of the Sages with as much money as they have need of,\nand never ask any other reward than the glory of being commanded. The\nGnomides or Wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are little, but very\nhandsome and their habit marvellously curious.... As for the Salamanders,\nthe inhabitants of the region of fire, they serve the Philosophers, but\nthey seek not for their company with any great eagerness. The wives of the\nSalamanders are fair, nay, rather more fair than all others, seeing they\nare of a purer element. You will be charmed more with the beauty of their\nwit than of their body, yet you cannot choose but be grieved for these\npoor wretches when they shall tell you that their soul is mortal, and that\nthey have no hope of enjoying eternal happiness, and of the Supreme Being,\nwhich they acknowledge and religiously adore. They will tell us, that\nbeing composed of the most pure parts of the elements which they inhabit,\nand not having in them any contrary qualities, seeing they are made but of\none element, they die not but after many Ages, but alas! what is such a\nTime, in respect of Eternity? They must eternally resolve into their\nnothing. This consideration does sorely afflict them; and we have trouble\nenough, to comfort them concerning it.\n\nOur Fathers, the Philosophers, speaking to God face to face, complained to\nhim of the unhappiness of these people, and God whose mercy is without\nbounds, revealed to them, that it was not impossible to find out a remedy\nfor this evil. He inspired them, that by the same means as man, by the\nalliance which he contracted with God, has been made partaker of Divinity:\nthe Sylphs, the Gnomes, the Nymphs, and the Salamanders by the alliance\nwhich they might contract with man, might be made partakers of\nimmortality. So a She-Nymph or a Sylphide becomes Immortal, and capable of\nthe blessing to which we aspire, when they shall be so happy as to be\nmarried to a Sage; a Gnome, or a Sylph ceases to be mortal, from the\nmoment that he espouses one of our daughters.\n\nHence arose the error of the former ages, of Tertullian, of Justin Martyr,\nof Lactantius, Cyprian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Athengoras the Christian\nPhilosopher, and generally of all the writers of that time. They had\nlearnt that these elementary Demi-men, had endeavoured a commerce with\nmaids, and they have from thence imagined that the fall of the angels had\nnot happened, but for the love which they were touched with after women.\nCertain Gnomes, desirous of becoming immortal, had a mind to gain the good\naffections of our daughters, and had brought abundance of precious stones\nof which they are the natural guardians, and these authors, relying on the\nBook of Enoch, which they misunderstood, thought that it was the attempt\nwhich these Amorous Angels had offered to the chastity of our wives. In\nthe beginning these children of heaven begat famous giants by making\nthemselves beloved by the daughters of men, and the old Cabalists,\nJosephine and Philo (as all the Jews are ignorant) and after them all the\nother Authors, which I have just now named, as well as Origen and\nMacrebius, and have not known that they were the Sylphs, and other people\nof the elements that under the name of the Children of Elohim, are\ndistinguished from the children of men. Likewise that which the Sage Saint\nAugustine, has had the modesty to leave undetermined, touching the\npursuits which those called Faunes or Satyrs, made after the Africans of\nhis time, is cleared by that which I have now alleged of the desire which\nall these elementary inhabitants have, of allying themselves to men; as\nthe only means to attain to the immortality which they have not.\n\nNo, no! Our Sages have never erred so as to attribute the fall of the\nfirst Angels to their love of women, no more than they have put men under\nthe power of the Devil; by imputing all the adventures of the Nymphs and\nSylphs to him, of which the historians speak so largely. There was nothing\ncriminal in all that. They were the Sylphs, which endeavoured to become\nImmortal. Their innocent pursuits, far enough from being able to\nscandalize the Philosophers, have appeared so just to us, that we are all\nresolved by common consent, utterly to renounce women; and entirely to\ngive ourselves to the immortalizing of the Nymphs and Satyrs.\n\nGood Lord (cried I) What do I hear? Was there ever such marvellous F----.\nYes, my son (interrupted the Count) admire the marvellous felicity of the\nSages! Instead of women, whose fading beauty passes away in a short time,\nand is followed with horrible wrinkles and ugliness, the Philosophers\nenjoy beauties which never wax old, and whom they have the glory to make\nimmortal. Guess at the love and the acknowledgment of those invisible\nmistresses, and with what ardour they strive to please the charitable\nphilosopher, who labours to immortalize them.\n\nAh! Sir (cried I once again), I renounce ----. Yes, you Sir, (pursued he,\nwithout giving me the leisure to finish) Renounce the fading pleasures\nwhich are to be had with women; the fairest among them all is loathsome in\nrespect of the homeliest Syphide: no displeasure ever follows our Sage\nembraces. Miserable Ignorants! How should you complain, that ye have not\nthe power to taste of the Philosophick pleasures. Miserable Count de\nGabalis (interrupted I, in an accent mixed with Choler and Compasion) Will\nyou give me leave to tell you at last, that I renounce this senseless\nwisdom; that I find this visionary philosophy very ridiculous; that I\ndetest the abominable embraces which make you affect these Phantasms; and\nthat I tremble for you, and wonder that some one of these pretended\nSylphides does not hurry you to Hell, in the middle of your transports and\nraptures; and for fear, lest so honest a man as you, should not perceive\nthe end of your foolish Chymerick Zeal, and should not repent of so great\na crime. Oh! Oh! (answered he) mischief light on thy indocible spirit. His\naction, I must confess, affrighted me; but it was yet worse, when I\nperceived, that going further from me, he drew out of his pocket a Paper\nwhich I could easily see at that distance to be full of Characters; yet I\ncould not well discern it. He read them gravely, and spake low. I guessed\nthat he was invoking some spirit for my ruin, and repented me more than a\nlittle for my inconsiderate Zeal. If I escape this adventure (cried I),\nI'll never have to do with a Cabalist more. I fixed my eyes upon him, as\nupon a judge that was ready to condemn me to death; when at last I\nperceived that his looks became serene. 'Tis hard, (said he, smiling, and\ncoming towards me again) 'Tis hard for you to kick against the Pricks. You\nare a vessel of Election. Heaven has ordained you to be the greatest\nCabalist of your age. Behold the scheme of your Nativity, which cannot\nfail. If it be not now, and that too by my means, 'twill be a great\nwonder, as it appears by this Saturn retrograde.\n\nAlas, sir (said I to him) if I must become a Sage, it will never be but by\nthe means of the Great Gabalis; but to deal freely with you, I am afraid,\nthat you will find it a difficult matter to bend me to this Philosophical\nmode. It seems (continued he) that you should be but ill read in Physicks,\nthat cannot be persuaded of the existence of these people? I know not\n(answered I) but I cannot imagine that these can be anything else but\nfriends disguised. Do you still (said he) rather believe your own\nWhimseys, than Natural Reason? than Plato, Pythagoras, Celsus, Psellus,\nProclus, Porphyrius, Jamlicus, Plotinus, Trismegistus, Noblius, Dorneus,\nFludd; than the great Phillippus Aureolus Theophractus Bombst Paracelsus\nde Honeinhem; and than all our Society.\n\nI would believe you (answered I) as soon, nay sooner than all these; but,\ndear sir, could you not so order the business with the rest of your\nsociety, that I might not be obliged to have carnal knowledge of these\nelementary ladies? Away, away (replied he) you have your own liberty,\nwithout doubt; for nobody loves, unless he has a mind to it. Few of the\nSages have been able to defend themselves from their Charms, but it has\nbeen observed that some reserving themselves wholly and entirely for\ngreat things (as you will know in time), would never do this honour to\nthe Nymphs. I will be then of this number (said I), but yet neither can I\nresolve to lose time about the ceremonies which I have heard a Prelate\nsay, must be practised by those who mean to converse with their Geniuses.\nThis Prelate knew not what he said (said the Count), for you shall see ere\nlong, that there are no Geniuses there; and besides, that never any Sage\nemployed either ceremonies or superstition for the familiarity of the\nGeniuses, no more than for the people of whom we speak.\n\nThe Cabalists do nothing, but by the principles of nature: and if there\nare sometimes found in our books certain strange words, characters, or\nfumigations, 'tis but to conceal the philosophical principles from the\nignorant. Admire the simplicity of Nature, in all her most marvellous\noperations! And in this simplicity, a Harmony and Agreement so great, so\njust, and so necessary that it will make you return back in despite of\nyourself from your weak imaginations. That which I am now about to tell\nyou, we teach those of our disciples, which we will not let altogether\nenter into the Sanctuary of Nature; and to whom we will nevertheless, not\nutterly deprive of the Society of the elementary people, merely out of the\ncompassion which we have for these poor wretches.\n\nThe Salamanders (as you have already, perhaps, comprehended) are composed\nof the most subtile parts of the Sphere of Fire, conglobated and organized\nby the action of the universal fire (concerning which, I shall one day\nentertain you further) so called, because it is principal of all the\nmotions of nature.\n\nThe Sylphes in like manner, are composed of the purest atoms of the air:\nthe Nymphs of the most delicate parts of the water, and the Gnomes of the\nsubtlest parts of the Earth. There was a great proportion betwixt Adam and\nthese so perfect Creatures; because they being composed of that which was\nmost pure in the four elements; he comprehended the perfection of these\nfour sorts of people, and was their natural King. But since the time that\nhis sin precipitated him into the excrements of the elements (as you shall\nsee hereafter) the Harmony was disordered, and there was no more\nproportion, he being become impure and dull in respect of the substances\nso pure and so subtil. What remedy for this evil? How shall we remount\nthis throne and recover this lost sovereignty? O Nature! Why do they study\nthee so little? Do you not comprehend my son, with what simplicity nature\ncan render to man the goods which he has lost? Alas! Sir (replied I), I am\nvery ignorant in all these simplicities, you speak of. But yet (pursued\nhe) it is very easy to become knowing in them.\n\nIf we would recover that empire over the Salamanders, we must purifie, and\nexalt the element of fire which is in us, and raise up the tone of this\nslackened string, we need do no more, but concentre the fire of the world\nby concave mirrors in a globe of glass. And herein, is that great piece of\nart which all the ancients have so religiously concealed, and which the\ndivine Theophrastus has discovered. There is formed in this globe a solar\npowder, which being purified by itself from the mixture of other elements,\nand being prepared according to art, becomes in a very little time,\nsovereignly proper to exalt the fire which is in us, and make us become\n(according to our phrase) of a fiery nature. From that time the\ninhabitants of the sphere of fire become our inferiors, and ravished to\nsee our mutual harmony re-established, and that we once more approach to\nthem. They have all the kindness for us which they have for their own\nspecies, all the respect which they owe to the image and to the lieutenant\nof their Creator; and all the concern which may make evident in them, the\ndesire of obtaining by us the immortality which they want. 'Tis true that\nas they are more subtil than those of the other elements, they live a very\nlong time, so they are not very forward to importune the Sages to make\nthem immortal. You may accommodate yourself with one of these, if the\naversion which you have witnessed to me last not with you to the end:\nperchance, she will never speak to you of that which you fear so much.\n\nIt will not be so with the Sylphs, the Gnomes and the Nymphs, for they\nliving a less time, have more need of us, and so their familiarity is more\neasie to obtain. You need but shut up a glass filled with conglobated air,\nwater or earth, and expose it to the sun for a month; then separate the\nelement according to art, which is very easie to do, if it be earth or\nwater. 'Tis a marvellous thing to see, what a vertue any one of these\npurified elements have to attract the Nymphs, Sylphs, and Gnomes. In\ntaking but never so little every day, for about a month together, one\nshall see in the air the volant republique of the Sylphs; the Nymphs come\nin shoals up the rivers, and the guardians of treasures, presenting you\nwith their riches. Thus, without characters, without ceremonies, without\nbarbarous words you become absolute master over all these people. They\nrequire no worship of the Sages, since they know well enough that he is\nnobler than they. Thus venerable nature teaches her children how to repair\nthe elements by the elements. Thus is harmony re-established. Thus man\nrecovers his natural empire, and can do all things in the elements,\nwithout demons, or unlawful art. Thus you see, my son, that the Sages are\nmore innocent than you thought. You say nothing to me----.\n\nI admire sir (said I), and I begin to fear that you will make me to become\na Chymist. Ah! God preserve thee from that, my child (cried he). 'Tis not\nto these fooleries that your nativity designs you, I will warrant you on\nthe contrary, from being troubled about that: I told you already, that the\nSages shew not these things, but to those whom they will not admit into\ntheir society. You shall have all these advantages, and others infinitely\nmore glorious, and more pleasant, by ways clearly more philosophical. I\nhad not described those methods to you, but to let you see the innocence\nof this Philosophy, and to take you out of these panic fears.\n\nI thank God, sir (answered I), I am not at present, in any such fear as I\nwas even now. And although I do not yet resolve upon the accommodation\nwhich you propose to me with the Salamanders; I cannot refrain from having\nthe curiosity to learn how you have discovered that these Nymphs and these\nSylphs die. Truly (replied he) they tell us so, and we see them die. How\n(said I) can you see them die, and yet your commerce renders them\nimmortal? That would be well (pursued he) if the number of the Sages\nequalled the number of these people: besides that, there are many amongst\nthem, who rather choose to die, than hazard by becoming immortal, the\nbeing so unhappy as they see the devils are. And 'tis the devil, who\ninspired with these opinions: for there is no mischief, which he doth not\ndo to hinder the poor creatures from becoming immortal by our alliance.\nInsomuch that I look upon it (and so ought you my son) as a most\npernicious temptation, and a motion of very little charity, to have this\naversion which you show to it.\n\nMoreover, as concerning their death, of which you speak: what was it that\nobliged the Oracle of Apollo, to say, that all those who speak Oracles,\nwere mortal, as well as he; as Porphyrius reports? And, what think you,\nwas the meaning of that voice which was heard on all the coast of Italy,\nand struck so great a terror into all those who were upon the sea? The\nGreat Pan is Dead! They were the people of the air: who gave notice to the\npeople of the water that the chiefest and most aged of all the Sylphs, was\nnewly dead.\n\nAt that time when this voice was heard (said I to him) I suppose that the\nworld worshipped Pan and the Nymphs: and that these gentlemen, whose\ncommerce you are preaching of to me, were the false gods of the heathen.\n'Tis true, my son (replied he) the Sages have always been of that\nopinion, that the Devil never had the power to make himself worshipped. He\nis too unhappy, and too weak, ever to have had this pleasure, and this\nauthority. But he has been able to persuade the elementary hosts to shew\nthemselves to men, and make men erect temples to them; and by the natural\ndominion which every one has over the element which he inhabits, they\ntrouble the air, and the sea, set the earth in combustion, and dispense\nthe fire of heaven, according to their humour: insomuch that they had no\ngreat trouble to be taken for Deities, so long as the sovereign being\ndispensed the salvation of the world. But the devil never received all the\nadvantage of his malice, which he hoped he should; for it has happened\nfrom thence, that Pan, the Nymphs, and the rest of the elementary people,\nhaving found the means of changing this commerce of worship, into a\ncommerce of love; (for you may remember, that amongst the ancients, Pan\nwas the king of those gods whom they called Incubuses, and who always\nearnestly sought the acquaintance of maids), many heathens have escaped\nthe devil, and shall never burn in hell.\n\nI do not well understand you, sir (said I) You have not minded me, to\nunderstand me (continued he, smiling, and in a jeering tone). Behold what\nyou pass over! and likewise what your doctors pass over, who know not what\nthese excellent Physicks mean! Behold the great mystery of all this part\nof philosophy, which concerns the elements, and which will take away (if\nyou have but never so little love for yourself), this repugnance to\nphilosophy, which you have witnessed to me this day! Know then, my son;\nand go not about to divulge this great Arcanum to any unworthy ignorant.\nKnow, that as the Sylphs acquire an immortal soul, by the alliance which\nthey contract with the men who are predestinated; so also, the men who\nhave no right to eternal glory: those miserable wretches, whose\nimmortality is but a lamentable advantage, for whom the Messias was\nsent--\n\nThen, you gentlemen of the Cabal, are Jansenists likewise (interrupted I?)\nWe know not what that is, my child (proceeded he, somewhat angrily) and we\nscorn to inform ourselves wherein consists the different sects and divers\nreligions, with which the ignorant puzzle their heads. We keep to the\nancient religion of our fathers, the Philosophers; wherein 'tis very\nnecessary that I instruct you. But come again to the purpose: these men\nwhose sad immortality is nothing but an eternal misfortune; the unhappy\nchildren, whom the Sovereign Father has neglected, have also this\nrecourse, that they may become mortal, by contracting alliance with these\nelementary people. So that you see, the Sages hazard nothing for Eternity.\nIf they are predestinated, they have the pleasure to carry with them to\nheaven (in quitting the prison of this body) the Sylphide or Nymph, which\nthey have immortalised! and if they be not predestinated, the commerce of\nthe Nymph renders their soul mortal, and delivers them from the horrors of\nthe second death. So the Devil saw all the Pagans escape, who allied\nthemselves to the Nymphs: and so the Sages, or friends of the Sages, when\nGod inspires us to communicate to any one, the four elementary secrets\n(which I have now been teaching you), free themselves from the Peril of\nbeing damned.\n\nWithout lying, sir (cried I, not daring to put him again into an ill\nhumour, and finding it requisite to defer the telling him plainly my\nopinion, till I should have discovered all the secrets of his Cabal, which\nI judged by this glimpse, must needs be very full of pleasure and\ndivertisement): without lying, you advance wisdom to a great height! And\nyou had reason to tell me, that this surpassed all our doctors; and I\nbelieve, that this likewise passes all our magistrates too; and that, if\nthey could discover who those were that escaped the devil by this means\n(as ignorance is very unjust), they would engage in the devil's interest,\nagainst these fugitives and make a strong party for him. Yes, it is for\nthat (pursued the Count) that I have so strictly commanded you; to keep\nreligiously this secret. Your judges are strange persons. They condemn a\nmost innocent action as a dismal crime. What a barbarity was it, to burn\nthose two priests which the Prince of Miranda says he knew of, who had\neach of them his Sylphide, for the space of forty years! What an inhuman\nthing was it to put Joan Hervilles to death, for having laboured six and\nforty years, to immortalise a Gnome! And, what a piece of ignorance was\nthat of Bodin, to represent her as a witch; and that from thence he might\ntake advantage to authorise popular errors, touching pretended Sorcerers;\nin a book as impertinent as his Commonwealth is reasonable.\n\nBut it is late; and I do not consider, that you have not yet dined. 'Tis\nyourself, that you mean, sir (said I), for as for my part, I could listen\nto you till to-morrow, without inconvenience. For me! Alas! (replied he,\nlaughing, and walking towards the gate), 'tis easily seen that you\nunderstand but little what philosophy is. The Sages eat but for their\npleasure, and never for necessity. I had a quite contrary idea of Wisdom\n(answered I), I had thought that you wise men should never eat but to\nsatisfy nature. You are abused (said the Count). How long think you, that\nour Sages can subsist without eating? How can I tell? (answered I), Moses\nand Elias, you know, fasted forty days: you Sages, I make no doubt, may do\nit, some days less. What a great piece of business would that be (replied\nhe), the most wise men that ever was, the Divine, the almost adorable\nParacelsus, affirms, that he has seen many of the Sages fast twenty years,\nwithout eating anything whatsoever. He himself, before he attained to the\nmonarchy of wisdom, whereof we have justly presented him the sceptre, he,\nI say, would undertake to live many years without eating, by taking but\nhalf a scruple of his Solar Quintescence. And if you would have the\npleasure to make any one live without victuals, you need do no more, but\nprepare the earth, as I told you it must be prepared, for the Society of\nthe Gnomes: this earth applied to the navle, and renewed when it is dry,\nwill cause any one to live without eating or drinking, and that without\nany trouble.\n\nAnd the use of this Catholic-Cabalistical Medicine, frees us much better\nfrom all the importunate necessities, to which nature makes the ignorant\nsubject; we eat not, but when it pleases us; and all the superfluity of\nfood passing away by an insensible Transpiration, we are never ashamed to\nbe men. There he held his peace.\n\nIn succeeding interviews the Count de Gabalis further explains to his\ninterlocutor the nature and pursuits of the elementary spirits; asserts\nthat it was they only, and not the vile gods of the Greeks and Romans,\nthat delivered the oracles of old; that they continually kept watch over\nman to do him service, and to warn him of approaching evil. It was they\nwho sent omens and furnished him with the understanding to interpret them,\nand who filled his mind with presentiments when some great calamity was\nimpending over him, that he might perchance avoid it. They also sent him\ndreams for the regulation of his fate. But \"alas,\" continues the Count,\n\"men ignorantly misunderstand and reject their kindness. A poor Sylph\nhardly dares to shew himself lest he should be mistaken for an imp of\nevil; an Undine cannot endeavour to acquire an immortal soul, by loving a\nman, without running the risk of being considered a vile, impure phantom;\nand a Salamander, if he shews himself in his glory, is taken for a devil,\nand the pure light which surrounds him considered the fire of hell. It is\nin vain that, to dispel these unworthy suspicions, they make the sign of\nthe cross when they appear, and bend their knees when the Divine name is\nuttered. All their efforts are useless. Obstinate man persists in\nconsidering them enemies of that God whom they know, and whom they adore\nmore religiously than men do. The prayer which you will find preserved by\nPorphyne, and which was offered up in the Temple of Delphos for the\nenlightenment of the Pagans, was the prayer of a Salamander.\" In short\nwithout continuing to quote the words of the Count de Gabalis, he asserted\nthat all the supernatural appearances with which the history of every age\nand nation was full, were to be, and could only be, explained by the\nagency of these elemental sprites; that the deeds attributed to devils,\nimps and witches, were the creations of a false and degrading\nsuperstition, unworthy to be believed by philosophers. There were no\nfiends with\n\n  \"----'aery tongues that syllable mens' names\n  On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.\"\n\nbut beneficent spirits, the friends of man. The _peris_ of eastern\nromance, the _fees_, the _fatas_, and the fairies of European legends,\nwere names which, in their ignorance, the people of different countries\nhad given to the Sylphs. Vulcan, Bacchus, and Pan, though the Greeks did\nnot know it, were Gnomes; Neptune and Venus, and all the Naiads and\nNereids, were but the Undines of the Rosicrucians; Apollo was a\nSalamander, and Mercury a Sylph; and not one of the personages of the\nmultifarious mythology of the Greeks and Romans, but could be ranged under\none or other of these classes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n_The Hermetick Romance; or Chymical Wedding._\n\n\nA remarkable work was published at Strasbourg, in the year 1616, entitled,\n\"The Hermetick Romance: or the Chymical Wedding. Written in High Dutch by\nChristian Rosencreutz.\" This book though not given out to the world until\nthe above year, is said to have existed in manuscript for some time\npreviously, as far back in fact as 1601, thus making it the oldest\nRosicrucian book extant. A modern writer says: The whole Rosicrucian\ncontroversy centres in this publication, which Buhle describes as a comic\nromance of extraordinary talent.\n\nOwing to its importance, we shall have to make some lengthy extracts from\nthe translation made in 1690, by E. Foxcroft of King's College, Cambridge.\nIt is arranged in chapters, denominated days, marked from one to seven.\n\n\nThe First Day.\n\nOn an evening before Easter Day, I sate at a Table, and having (as my\ncustom was) in my humble prayer sufficiently conversed with my Creator,\nand considered many great mysteries (whereof the Father of Lights his\nMajesty had shewn me not a few) and being now ready to prepare in my\nheart, together with my dear Paschal Lamb, a small unleavened, undefiled\ncake; all on a sudden ariseth so horrible a tempest, that I imagined no\nother but that through its mighty force, the hill whereon my little house\nwas founded, would fly in pieces. But in as much as this, and the like\nfrom the devil (who had done me many a spite) was no new thing to me; I\ntook courage and persisted in my meditation, till somebody (after an\nunusual manner) touched me on the back; whereupon I was so highly\nterrified, that I durst hardly look about me; yet I shewed myself as\ncheerful as (in the like occurrences) human frailty would permit. Now the\nsame thing still twitching me several times by the coat, I looked back,\nand behold it was a fair and glorious lady whose garments were all skye\ncolour, and curiously (like Heaven) bespangled with golden stars. In her\nright hand she bare a trumpet of beaten gold, whereon a name was engraven\n(which I could well read in) but am as yet forbidden to reveal it. In her\nleft hand she had a great bundle of letters of all languages, which she\n(as I afterwards understood) was to carry into all countries. She had also\nlarge and beautiful wings, full of eyes throughout, wherewith she could\nmount aloft and fly swifter than any eagle. I might perhaps have taken\nfurther notice of her, but because she staid so small a time with me, and\nterror and amasement still possessed me, I was fain to be content. For as\nsoon as I turned about, she turned her letters over and over, and at\nlength drew out a small one, which with great reverence she laid down upon\nthe table, and without giving one word departed from me. But in her\nmounting upwards, she gave so mighty a blast on her gallant trumpet, that\nthe whole hill echoed thereof, and for a full quarter of an hour after, I\ncould hardly hear my own words.\n\nIn so unlooked-for an adventure, I was at loss, how either to advise or\nassist my poor self, and therefore fell upon my knees, and besought my\nCreator to permit nothing contrary to my eternal happiness to befall me;\nwhereupon with fear and trembling I went to the letter which was now so\nheavy, as had it been mere gold, it could hardly have been so weighty. Now\nas I was diligently viewing it, I found a little Seal, whereupon a curious\ncross with this inscription, IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, was engraven.\n\nNow as soon as I espied this sign I was the more comforted, as not being\nignorant that such a Seal was little acceptable, and much less useful to\nthe Devil. Whereupon I tenderly opened the letter and within it, in an\nAzure Field, in Golden Letters, found the following verses written--\n\n      This day, this day, this, this\n      The Royal wedding is.\n  Art thou thereto by birth inclin'd\n  And unto joy of God design'd,\n  Then mayst thou to the mountain tend\n  Whereon three stately Temples stand,\n  And there see all from end to end.\n      Keep watch and ward,\n      Thyself regard;\n  Unless with diligence thou bathe,\n  The Wedding can't thee harmless save:\n  He'll damage have that here delays,\n  Let him beware, too light that weighs.\n\nUnderneath stood Sponsus and Sponsa.\n\nAs soon as I had read this letter, I was presently like to have fainted\naway, all my hair stood on end, and a cold sweat trickled down my whole\nbody. For although I well perceived that this was the appointed wedding,\nwhereof seven years before I was acquainted in a bodily vision, and which\nnow so long time I had with great earnestness attended, and which lastly,\nby the account and calculation of the Planets, I had most diligently\nobserved, I found so to be, yet could I never foresee that it must happen\nunder so grievous and perilous conditions. For whereas I before imagined\nthat to be a welcome and acceptable guest, I needed only be ready to\nappear at the wedding; I was now directed to Divine Providence, to which\nuntil this time I was never certain. I also found by myself, the more I\nexamined myself, that in my head there was nothing but gross\nmisunderstanding and blindness in mysterious things, so that I was not\nable to comprehend even those things which lay under my feet, and which I\ndaily conversed with, much less that I should be born to the searching\nout and understanding of the secrets of Nature; since in my opinion Nature\nmight everywhere find a more _vertuous_ disciple, to whom to intrust her\nprecious, though temporary and changeable treasures. I found also that my\nbodily behaviour, and outward good conversation, and brotherly love\ntowards my neighbour, was not duly purged and cleansed; moreover, the\ntickling of the flesh manifested itself, whose affection was bent only to\npomp and bravery, and worldly pride, and not to the good of mankind; and I\nwas always contriving how by this art I might in short time abundantly\nincrease my profit and advantage, rear up stately palaces, make myself an\neverlasting name in the world, and other the like carnal designs. But the\nobscure words concerning the Three Temples did particularly afflict me,\nwhich I was not able to make out by any after speculation, and perhaps\nshould not yet, had they not been wonderfully revealed to me. Thus\nsticking betwixt hope and fear, examining myself again and again, and\nfinding my own frailty and impotency, not being in any wise able to\nsuccour myself, and exceedingly amazed at the fore-mentioned threatening;\nat length I betook myself to my usual and most secure course; after I had\nfinished my earnest and most fervent prayer, I laid me down in my bed,\nthat so perchance my good angel by the Divine permission might appear, and\n(as it had formerly happened) instruct me in this doubtful affair, which\nto the praise of God, my own good, and my neighbour's hearty and faithful\nwarning and amendment did now likewise fall out. For I was scarce fallen\nasleep, when me-thought, I, together with a numberless multitude of men\nlay fettered with great chains in a dark dungeon, wherein, without the\nleast glimpse of light, we swarmed like bees over one another, and thus\nrendered each other's affliction more grievous. But although neither I,\nnor any of the rest could see one jot; yet I continually heard one heaving\nhimself above the other, when his chains or fetters were become ever so\nlittle lighter, though none of us had much reason to shove up the other,\nsince we were all captive wretches. Now as I with the rest had continued a\ngood while in this affliction, and each was still reproaching the other\nwith his blindness and captivity, at length we heard many trumpets\nsounding together, and kettle-drums beating so artificially thereto, that\nit even revived and rejoiced us in our calamity.\n\nDuring this noise, the cover of the dungeon was from above lifted up, and\na little light let down unto us. Then first might truly have been\ndiscerned the bustle we kept, for all went pesle-mesle, and he who\nperchance had too much heaved up himself, was forced down again under the\nothers feet. In brief, each one strove to be uppermost, neither did I\nmyself linger, but with my weighty fetters slipped up from under the rest,\nand then heaved myself upon a stone, which I laid hold of; howbeit, I was\nseveral times caught at by others, from whom yet as well as I might, with\nhands and feet, I still guarded myself. For we imagined no other but that\nwe should all be set at liberty, which yet fell out quite otherwise. For\nafter the nobles, who looked upon us from above through the hole, had a\nwhile recreated themselves with this our struggling and lamenting, a\ncertain hoary headed Ancient Man, called to us to be quiet, and having\nscarce obtained it, began (as I still remember) thus to say:--\n\n  If wretched mankind would forbear\n    Themselves so to uphold,\n  Then sure on them much good confer\n    My righteous mother would.\n  But since the same will not insue\n  They must in care and Sorrow rue,\n    And still in Prison lie.\n  Howbeit my dear mother will\n    Their follies over-see,\n  Her choicest gifts permitting still\n    Too much in th' Light to be.\n  Though very rarely it may seem\n  That they may still keep some esteem,\n  Which else would pass for forgery.\n  Wherefore in honour of the Feast\n    We this day solemnize,\n  That so her Grace may be increast\n    A good deed she'll devise,\n  For now a cord shall be let down,\n  And whosoe'er can hang thereon,\n    Shall freely be releast.\n\nHe had scarce done speaking, when an ancient matron commanded her servants\nto let down the cord seven times into the dungeon, and draw up whosoever\ncould hang upon it. Good God! that I could sufficiently describe the hurry\nand disquiet that then arose amongst us, for every one strove to get at\nthe cord, and yet only hindered each other. But after seven minutes a sign\nwas given by a little bell, whereupon at the first pull the servants drew\nup four. At that time I could not come near the cord by much, having to my\nhuge misfortune, betaken myself to a stone at the wall of the dungeon, and\nthereby was disabled to get to the cord which descended in the middle. The\ncord was let down the second time, but divers because their chains were\ntoo heavy, and their hands too tender, could not keep their hold on the\ncord, but with themselves beat down many another, who else, perhaps, might\nhave held fast enough; nay, many an one was forcibly pulled off by another\nwho yet could not himself get at it; mutually envious were we even in this\nour great misery. But they of all others most moved my compassion whose\nweight was so heavy that they tore their very hands from their bodies, and\nyet could not get up. Thus it came to pass that at these five times, very\nfew were drawn up. For as soon as the sign was given, the servants were\nso nimble at the draught, that the most part tumbled one upon another, and\nthe cord, this time especially, was drawn up very empty. Whereupon the\ngreatest part, and even I myself, despaired of Redemption, and called upon\nGod that he would have pity on us, and (if possible) deliver us out of\nthis obscurity, who also then heard some of us: for when the cord came\ndown the sixth time, some of them hung themselves fast upon it, and whilst\nin the drawing up, the cord swung from one side to the other, it (perhaps\nby the will of God) came to me, which I suddenly catching, got uppermost\nabove all the rest, and so at length beyond hope came out; whereat I\nexceedingly rejoiced, so that I perceived not the wound, which in the\ndrawing up I received on my head by a sharp stone, till I with the rest\nwho were released (as was always before done) was fain to help at the\nseventh and last pull, at which time through straining, the blood ran down\nall over my clothes, which I nevertheless for joy regarded not. Now when\nthe last draught whereon the most of all hung was finished, the matron\ncaused the cord to be laid away and willed her aged son (at which I much\nwondered) to declare her resolution to the rest of the Prisoners, who\nafter he had a little bethought himself, spoke thus unto them:\n\n                   Ye children dear,\n                   All present here,\n  What is but now compleat and done,\n  Was long before resolved on:\n  What ev'r my mother of great grace\n  To each on both sides here hath shewn\n  May never miscontent misplace;\n  The joyful time is drawing on,\n  When every one shall equal be,\n  None wealthy, none in penury.\n  Who ev'r receiveth great commands,\n  Hath work enough to fill his hands.\n  Who ev'r with much hath trusted been,\n  'Tis well if he may save his skin.\n  Wherefore your lamentations cease,\n  What is't to waite for some few days.\n\nAs soon as he had finished the words, the cover was again put and locked\ndown, and the trumpet and kettle-drums began afresh, yet could not the\nnoise thereof be so loud but that the bitter lamentation of the prisoners\nwhich arose in the dungeon was above all, which soon also caused my eyes\nto run over. Presently after the ancient matron, together with her son,\nsat down upon seats before prepared, and commanded the Redeemed should be\ntold. Now as soon as she understood the number, and had written it down in\na gold-yellow tablet, she demanded every one's name, which were also\nwritten down by a little page; having viewed us all, one after another,\nshe sighed, and spoke to her son, so as I could well hear her. 'Ah? how\nheartily am I grieved for the poor men in the dungeon! I would to God, I\ndurst release them all,' whereunto her son replied; 'It is, mother, thus\nordained of God, against whom we may not contend. In case we all of us\nwere lords, and possessed all the goods upon earth, and were seated at\ntable, who would there then be to bring up the service?' whereupon his\nmother held her peace, but soon after she said; 'Well, however, let these\nbe freed from their fetters,' which was likewise presently done, and I,\nexcept a few, was the last, yet could I not refrain, but (though I still\nlooked upon the rest) bowed myself before the ancient matron, and thanked\nGod that through her, He had graciously and fatherly vouchsafed to bring\nme out of such darkness into the light: after me the rest did likewise, to\nthe satisfaction of the matron. Lastly, to every one was given a piece of\ngold for a remembrance, and to spend by the way; on the one side whereof\nwas stamped the rising sun, on the other (as I remember) these three\nletters, D. L. S., and therewith everyone had license to depart, and was\nsent to his own business, with this annexed intimation, that we to the\nglory of God should benefit our neighbours, and reserve in silence what we\nhad been intrusted with, which we also promised to do, and so departed one\nfrom another. But in regard of the wounds which the fetters had caused me,\nI could not well go forward, but halted on both feet, which the matron\npresently espying, laughing at it, and calling me again to her, said thus\nto me, My son, let not this defect afflict thee, but call to mind thy\ninfirmities, and therewith thank God who hath permitted thee even in this\nworld, and in the state of thy imperfection to come into so high a light,\nand keep these wounds for my sake. Whereupon the trumpets began again to\nsound, which so affrighted me that I awoke, and then first perceived that\nit was only a dream, which yet was so strongly impressed upon my\nimagination, that I was still perpetually troubled about it, and methought\nI was yet sensible of the wounds on my feet. Howbeit, by all these things\nI well understood that God had vouchsafed that I should be present at this\nmysterious and hidden wedding; wherefore with child-like confidence I\nreturned thanks to his Divine Majesty, and besought him that he would\nfurther preserve me in this fear, that he would daily fill my heart with\nwisdom and understanding, and at length graciously (without my desert)\nconduct me to the desired end. Hereupon I prepared myself for the way, put\non my white linen coat, girded my loins with blood-red ribbon, bound\ncrossways over my shoulder; in my hat I stuck four red roses, that I might\nsooner by this token be taken notice of among the throng. For food I took\nbread, salt, and water, which by the counsel of an understanding person, I\nhad at certain times used, not without profit, in the like occurrences.\nBefore I parted from my cottage I first in this dress and wedding garment,\nfell down on my knees and besought God, that in case such a thing were,\nhe would vouchsafe me a good issue. And thereupon in the presence of God I\nmade a vow, that if anything through his grace should be revealed unto me,\nI would employ it neither to my own honour nor authority in the world, but\nto the spreading of his name, and the services of my neighbour. And with\nthis vow and good hope, I departed out of my cell with joy.\n\n\nThe Second Day.\n\nI was hardly got outside of my Cell into a Forest, when methought that the\nwhole heavens had already trimmed themselves against this wedding, for\neven the birds in my opinion chanted more pleasantly than before, and the\nyoung fawns skipped so merrily that they rejoiced my old heart, and moved\nme to sing. At length I espied a curious green heath, whither I betook\nmyself out of the forest. Upon the heath stood three tall Cedars, to one\nof which was fastened a tablet, upon which was curious writing, offering\nto him who had heard anything concerning the nuptials of the king, four\nways, all of which would lead to the royal court. The reader was exhorted\nto choose which he would, and to persevere therein, receiving at the same\ntime warning as to the dangers to which he would be committed. As soon as\nI had read this writing, all my joy was near vanished again, and I, who\nbefore sang merrily, began now inwardly to lament, for although I saw all\nthe three ways before me, and understood that henceforward it was\nvouchsafed me to make choice of one of them; yet it troubled me that in\ncase I went the stormy and rocky way, I might get a miserable and deadly\nfall; or taking the long one, I might wander out of it through byways, or\nbe otherwise detained in the great journey. Neither durst I hope that I\nshould be the very he, who should choose the royal way. I saw likewise the\nfourth before me, but it was so invironed with fire and exhalations, that\nI durst not draw near it, and therefore again and again considered\nwhether I should return back, or take any of the ways before me. I\npresently drew out my bread and cut a slice of it, which a snow white\ndove, of whom I was not aware, sitting upon the tree, espyed and thereupon\ncame down and betook herself very familiarly to me, to whom I willingly\nimparted my food, which she received, and so with her prettiness did again\na little refresh me. But as soon as her enemy, a black raven, perceived\nit, he straight darted himself down upon the dove, and taking no notice of\nme, would needs force away the dove's meat, who could no otherwise guard\nherself but by flight; whereupon they both together flew towards the\nsouth, at which I was so hugely incensed and grieved, that without\nthinking what I did, I made haste after the filthy raven and so against my\nwill ran into one of the forementioned ways a whole field's length, and\nthus the raven being chased away, and the dove delivered, I then first\nobserved what I had inconsiderately done, and that I was already entered\ninto a way, from which under peril of great punishment I durst not retire,\nand though I had still wherewith in some measure to comfort myself, yet\nthat which was worst of all to me was, that I had left my bag and bread at\nthe tree, and could never retrieve them again. At length upon a high hill\nafar off I espied a stately portal, to which not regarding how far it was\ndistant, I hasted, because the sun had already hid himself under the\nhills, and I could elsewhere espy no abiding place, and this verily I\nascribe only to God, who might well have permitted me to go forward in\nthis way, and with-held my eyes that so I might have gazed beside this\ngate, to which I now made mighty haste, and reached it by so much\ndaylight, as to take a very competent view of it. Now it was an exceeding\nRoyal beautiful portal. As soon as I was come under it there stepped forth\none in a sky coloured habit, whom I in friendly manner saluted, which\nthough he thankfully returned it, yet he instantly demanded of me my\nletter of invitation. O how glad was I that I had then brought it with\nme. I quickly presented it, wherewith he was not only satisfied, but\nshowed me abundance of respect, saying, come in, my brother, an acceptable\nguest you are to me; and withall intreated me not to with-hold my name\nfrom him. Now having replied that I was a brother of the Red-Rosie Cross,\nhe both wondered and seemed to rejoice at it, and then proceeded thus, My\nbrother, have you nothing about you wherewith to purchase a token? I\nanswered my ability was small, but if he saw anything about me he had a\nmind to, it was at his service. Now he having requested of me my bottle of\nwater, and I granted it, he gives me a golden token, whereon stood no more\nbut these two letters, S. C., intreating me that when it stood me in good\nstead, I would remember him. After which I asked him, how many were got in\nbefore me, which he also told me, and lastly out of mere friendship, gave\nme a sealed letter to the second porter. Now having lingered some time\nwith him, the night grew on, whereupon a great beacon upon the gate was\nimmediately fired, that so if any were still upon the way, he might make\nhaste thither. At length after sufficient information, and an advantageous\ninstruction, I friendly departed from the first porter. On the way,\nthough, I would gladly have known what was written in my letter, yet since\nI had no reason to mistrust the porter, I forbare my purpose, and so went\non the way, until I came likewise to the second gate which although it was\nvery like the other, yet was it adorned with images and mystic\nsignifications. Under this gate lay a terrible grim lion, chain'd, who as\nsoon as he espied me arose and made at me with great roaring: whereupon\nthe second porter, who lay upon a stone of marble, awaked, and wished me\nnot to be troubled or affrighted, and then drove back the lion, and having\nreceived the letter, which I with trembling reached him, he read it, and\nwith very great respect, spoke thus to me; Now well-come in God's Name\nunto me the man who of long time I would gladly have seen. Meanwhile he\nalso drew out a token, and asked me whether I could purchase it. But I\nhaving nothing else but my salt, presented it to him, which he thankfully\naccepted. Upon this token again stood only two letters, namely, S. M.\nBeing now just about to enter discourse with him, it began to ring in the\nCastle, whereupon the porter counselled me to run apace, or else all the\npains and labour I had hitherto taken would serve to no purpose, for the\nlights above began all ready to be extinguished; whereupon I dispatched\nwith such great haste that I heeded not the porter, in such anguish was I,\nand truly it was but necessary, for I could not run so fast but that the\nVirgin, after whom all the lights were put out, was at my heels, and I\nshould never have found the way, had not she with her torch, afforded me\nsome light. I was moreover constrained to enter the very next to her, and\nthe gate was so suddenly clapped to, that a part of my coat was locked\nout, which I verily was forced to leave behind me, for neither I nor they\nwho stood ready without and called at the gate could prevail with the\nporter to open it again, but he delivered the keys to the Virgin, who took\nthem with her into the court. Under this gate I was again to give my name,\nwhich was this last time written down in a little vellum book, and\nimmediately with the rest dispatched to the Lord Bridegroom. Here it was\nwhere I first received the true Guest-Token, which was somewhat less than\nthe former, but yet much heavier; upon this stood three letters S. P. N.\nBesides this, a new pair of shoes were given me, for the floor of the\ncastle was laid with pure shining marble; my old shoes I was to give way\nto one of the poor who sat in throngs under the gate. Two pages, with as\nmany torches, then conducted me into a little room; there they willed me\nto sit down on a form, which I did, but they, sticking their torches in\ntwo holes in the pavement, departed, and left me thus alone. Soon after I\nheard a noise, but saw nothing, and it proved to be certain men who\nstumbled in upon me; but since I could see nothing I was fain to suffer\nand attend what they would do with me, but presently perceiving them to be\nbarbers, I intreated them not to justle me so, for I was content to do\nwhatever they desired, whereupon they quickly let me go, and so one of\nthem fine and gently cut away the hair round about from the crown of my\nhead, but on my forehead, ears, and eyes, he permitted my grey locks to\nhang.\n\nIn this first encounter I was ready to despair, for inasmuch as some of\nthem shoved me so forcibly, and I could yet see nothing I could think no\nother but that God, for my curiosity, had suffered me to miscarry. Now\nthese invisible barbers carefully gathered up the hair which was cut off\nand carried it away with them. After which the two pages entered again,\nand heartily laughed at me for being so terrified. But they had scarcely\nspoken a few words with me when again a little bell began to ring, which\nwas to give notice for assembling, whereupon they willed me rise, and\nthrough many walks, doors, and winding stairs lighted me into a spacious\nhall. In this room was a great multitude of guests, emperors, kings,\nprinces, and lords, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, and all sorts of\npeople, at which I hugely marvelled, and thought to myself, ah, how gross\na fool hast thou been to engage upon this journey with so much bitterness\nand toil, when here are even those fellows whom thou well knowest, and yet\nhad'st never any reason to esteem. They are now all here, and thou with\nall thy prayers and supplications art hardly got in at last. This, and\nmore, the devil at that time injected, whom I notwithstanding (as well as\nI could) directed to the issue. Meantime one or other of my acquaintance\nhere and there spake to me: Oh Brother Rosencreutz! art thou here too?\nYea, my brethren, replied I, the grace of God hath helped me in also; at\nwhich they raised a mighty laughter, looking upon it as ridiculous that\nthere should be need of God in so slight an occasion. Now having demanded\neach of them concerning his way, and found that most were forced to\nclamber over the rocks, certain trumpets (none of which we saw) began to\nsound to the table, whereupon they all seated themselves, everyone as he\njudged himself above the rest, so that for me and some other sorry fellows\nthere was hardly a little nook left at the lower-most table. Presently the\ntwo pages entered, and one of them said grace; after this meat was brought\nin, and albeit none could be seen, yet everything was so orderly managed,\nthat it seemed to me as if every guest had had his proper attendant. Now\nmy artists having somewhat recruited themselves, and the wine having a\nlittle removed shame from their hearts, they presently began to vaunt and\nbrag of their abilities. One would prove this, another that, and commonly\nthe most sorry idiots made the loudest noise. Ah, when I call to mind what\npreternatural and impossible enterprises I then heard, I am still ready to\nvomit at it. In fine they never kept in their order, but whenever one\nrascal here, another there, could insinuate himself in between the nobles;\nthen pretended they the finishing of such adventures as neither Sampson\nnor yet Hercules with all their strength could ever have achieved. This\nwould discharge Atlas of his burden; the other would again draw forth the\nthree-headed Cerberus out of Hell. In brief, every man had his own prate,\nand yet the great lords were so simple that they believed their pretences,\nand the rogues so audacious, that although one or other of them was here\nand there rapped over the fingers with a knife, yet they flinched not at\nit, but when any one perchance had filched a gold chain, then would all\nhazard for the like. I saw one who heard the rustling of the heavens. The\nsecond could see Plato's ideas. A third could number Democritus's atoms.\nThere were also not a few pretenders to perpetual motion. Many an one (in\nmy opinion) had good understanding, but assumed too much to himself, to\nhis own destruction. Lastly, there was one also who would needs out of\nhand persuade us that he saw the servitors who attended, and would still\nhave pursued his contention, had not one of those invisible waiters\nreached him so handsome a cuff upon his lying muzzle, that not only he,\nbut many who were by him became as mute as mice. But it best of all\npleased me, that all those, of whom I had any esteem were very quiet in\ntheir business, and made no loud cry of it, but acknowledged themselves to\nbe _misunderstanding_ men, to whom the mysteries of nature were too high,\nand they themselves much too small. In this tumult I had almost cursed the\nday wherein I came hither, for I could not but with anguish behold that\nthose lewd vain people were above at the board, but I in so sorry a place\ncould not, however, rest in peace, one of those rascals scornfully\nreproaching me for a motley fool. Now I thought not that there was yet one\ngate behind, through which we must pass, but imagined I was during the\nwhole wedding, to continue in this scorn, contempt and indignity, which\nyet I had at no time deserved, either of the Lord Bridegroom or the Bride,\nand therefore (in my opinion) he should have done well to have sought out\nsome other fool to his wedding than me. Behold, to such impatience doth\nthe iniquity of this world reduce simple hearts. But this really was one\npart of my lameness, whereof I dreamed. And truly this clamour the longer\nit lasted, the more it increased. For there were already those who boasted\nof false and imaginary visions, and would persuade us of palpably lying\ndreams. Now there sat by me a very fine quiet man, who oftentimes\ndiscoursed of excellent matters, at length he said, Behold, my brother, if\nany one should now come who were willing to instruct these blockish people\nin the right way, would he be heard? No, verily, replied I. The world,\nsaid he, is now resolved (whatever comes on it) to be cheated, and cannot\nabide to give ear to those who intend its good. Seest thou also that same\ncoxcomb, with what whimsical figures and foolish conceits he allures\nothers to him. There, one makes mouths at the people with unheard of\nmysterious words. Yet believe me in this, the time is now coming when\nthose shameful Vizards shall be plucked off, and all the world shall know\nwhat vagabond impostors were concealed behind them. Then perhaps that will\nbe valued which at present is not esteemed. Then there began in the hall\nsuch excellent and stately music as all the days of my life I never heard\nthe like of. After half an hour this music ceased. Presently after began a\ngreat noise of kettle drums, trumpets, etc. The door opened of itself and\nmany thousand small tapers came into the hall, all which of themselves\nmarched in so very exact order as altogether amazed us, till at last the\ntwo fore-mentioned pages with bright torches, lighting in a most beautiful\nvirgin, all drawn on a gloriously gilded triumphant self-moving throne,\nentered the hall. It seemed to me she was the very same who before on the\nway kindled and put out the lights, and that these her attendants were the\nvery same whom she formerly placed at the trees. She was not now as before\nin sky colour, but arrayed in a snow white glittering robe which sparkled\nof pure gold and cast such a lustre that we durst not steadily behold it.\n\nSuch guests as chose to stay throughout the night, having announced their\nintention of so doing, were bound in their chambers with cords, in such a\nway that they could by no means free themselves. At length in my sorrowful\nthoughts I fell asleep.\n\n\nThe Third Day.\n\nOn the morrow all being assembled, the Trumpets, etc., began again to\nsound and we imagined that the Bridegroom was ready to present himself,\nwhich nevertheless was a huge mistake. For it was again the yesterday's\nVirgin who had arrayed herself all in red velvet and girded herself with a\nwhite scarf. Her train was now no more of small tapers, but consisted of\ntwo hundred men in harness who were all clothed in red and white. As soon\nas they were alighted from the throne, she comes straight to us prisoners,\nand after she had saluted us, she said in a few words: That some of you\nhave been sensible of your wretched condition is hugely pleasing to my\nmost mighty lord, and he is also resolved you shall fare the better for\nit. And having espied me in my habit, she laughed and spake, good lack!\nHast thou also submitted thyself to the yoke? I imagined thou would'st\nhave made thyself very snug, which words caused my eyes to run over. After\nwhich she commanded we should be unbound, and coupled together and placed\nin a station where we might behold the scales, for, said she, it may yet\nfare better with them than with the presumptuous who yet stand here at\nliberty. Meanwhile the scales which were entirely of gold were hung up in\nthe midst of the hall. There was also a little table covered with red\nvelvet, and seven weights placed thereon. First of all stood a pretty\ngreat one, next four little ones, lastly, two great ones severally; and\nthese weights in proportion to their bulk were so heavy that no man can\nbelieve or comprehend it. The Virgin having sprung up into her high\nthrone, one of the pages commanded each one to place himself according to\nhis order, and one after the other, step into the scales. One of the\nemperors made no scruple of it, but first of all bowed himself a little\ntowards the Virgin, and afterwards in all his stately attire went up,\nwhereupon each captain laid in his weight, which (to the wonder of all) he\nstood out. But the last was too heavy for him, so that forth he must, and\nthat with such anguish that the Virgin herself had pity on him, yet was\nthe good emperor bound and delivered over to the sixth band. Next came\nforth another emperor, who stepped haughtily into the scale and having a\ngreat thick book under his gown, he imagined not to fail; but being scarce\nable to abide the third weight, and being unmercifully slung down, and\nhis book in that affrightment slipping from him, all the soldiers began to\nlaugh, and he was delivered up bound to the third band. Thus it went with\nsome others of the emperors. After these came forth a little short man\nwith a curled beard, an emperor too, who after the usual reverence got up\nalso, and held out so steadfastly, that methought had there been more\nweights ready, he would have outstood them; to whom the Virgin immediately\narose, and bowed before him, causing him to put on a gown of red velvet,\nand at last reached him a branch of laurel, having good store of them upon\nher throne, upon the steps whereof she willed him to sit down. After him,\nhow it fared with the rest of the emperors, kings and lords would be too\nlong to recount, but I cannot leave unmentioned that few of those great\npersonages held out. After the inquisition had also passed over the\ngentry, the learned, and unlearned, and the rest, and in each condition\nperhaps one, it may be, two, but for the most part none, was found\nperfect, it came at length to those honest gentlemen the vagabond\ncheaters, and rascally Lapidem Spitalanficum, who were set upon the scale\nwith such scorn that I myself for all my grief was ready to burst with\nlaughing, neither could the very prisoners themselves refrain, for the\nmost part could not abide that severe trial, but with whips and scourges\nwere jerked out of the scale, and led to the other prisoners. Thus of so\ngreat a throng so few remained, that I am ashamed to discover their\nnumber.\n\nThe Inquisition being completely finished, and none but we poor coupled\nhounds standing aside, at length one of the captains stepped forth and\nsaid, Gracious Madam, if it please your ladyship, let these poor men who\nacknowledged their misunderstanding be set upon the scale, also without\ntheir incurring any danger of penalty, and only for recreation's sake, if\nperchance anything that is right may be found amongst them. We being\nuntied were one after another set up. My companion was the fifth who held\nout bravely, whereupon all, but especially the captain, applauded him, and\nthe Virgin shewed him the usual respect. I was the eighth. Now as soon as\n(with trembling) I stepped up, my companion who already sat by in his\nvelvet, looked friendly upon me, and the Virgin herself smiled a little.\nBut for as much as I outstayed all the weights, the Virgin commanded them\nto draw me up by force, wherefore three men moreover hung on the other\nside of the beam, and yet could nothing prevail. Whereupon one of the\npages immediately stood up and cried out exceeding loud, THAT'S HE, upon\nwhich the other replied, then let him gain his liberty, which the Virgin\nacceded, and being received with due ceremonies, the choice was given me\nto release one of the captives, whosoever I pleased. Afterwards a Council\nof the seven captains and us was set, and the business was propounded by\nthe Virgin as president, who desired each one to give his opinion, how the\nprisoners were to be dealt with.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe story is a long one, and we must present the rest only in outline. It\ngoes on to say that the kinds of punishment to be dealt out to the\nprisoners were then discussed and arranged, after which another banquet\ntook place, when these captives were required to make confession of being\ncheats and vagabonds, which after some expostulation they agreed to,\nappealing at the same time for mercy which was refused, though variations\nin the degrees of punishment were promised.\n\nWhen the sentences had all been executed, there came forward \"a beautiful\nsnow white Unicorn with a golden collar about his neck. In the same place\nhe bowed himself down upon both his fore feet, as if hereby he had shewn\nhonour to the Lyon, who stood so immoveably upon the fountain, that I took\nhim to be of stone or brass, who immediately took the naked sword, which\nhe bare in his Paw and break it in the middle in two, the pieces whereof\nto my thinking sunk into the fountain, after which he so long roared,\nuntil a white dove brought a branch of olive in her bill, which the Lyon\ndevoured in an instant, and so was quieted. And so the Unicorn returned to\nhis place with joy, while our Virgin led us down by the winding stairs.\"\n\nThe narrative grows complicated as it proceeds, and none the less strange\nin its character; its details are inexplicable and tedious, and it will be\nimpossible to lay them before our readers. The writer proceeds to describe\nhis rambles about the castle, the wonders which there met his gaze, his\nrespectful treatment at the banquet, and a problem proposed by the Virgin\nwhich was duly debated by each in turn.\n\n\nFourth Day.\n\nPresented to the King by the Virgin who explained that the lords had\nventured hither with peril of body and life--assured by Atlas of the\nKing's welcome--promised by the Virgin that she would remove the burden of\nhis old age--performance of a comedy.\n\n\nFifth Day.\n\nFurther explorations of the castle--discovery of the burial place of Lady\nVenus, \"that beauty which hath undone many a great man both in fortune,\nhonour, blessing, and prosperity.\" Journey with the Virgin to the Tower of\nOlympus.\n\n\nSixth Day.\n\nDistribution by lot of Ladders, Ropes and Wings--the mysterious\nbird--restoring the dead to life.\n\n\nSeventh Day.\n\n\"After eight o'clock I awaked and quickly made myself ready, being\ndesirous to return again into the tower, but the dark passages in the wall\nwere so many and various that I wandered a good while before I could find\nthe way out. The same happened to the rest, too, till at last we all met\nagain in the neathermost vault, and habits entirely yellow were given us,\ntogether with our golden fleeces. At that time the Virgin declared to us\nthat we were Knights of the Golden Stone, of which we were before\nignorant. After we had now thus made ourselves ready and taken our\nbreakfasts, the old man presented each of us with a medal of gold; on the\none side stood these words: AR. NAT. MI. On the other these, TEM. NA. F.\n\nExhorting us, moreover, we should enterprise nothing beyond and against\nthis token of remembrance. Herewith we went to the sea, where our ships\nlay so richly equipped, that it was not well possible but that such brave\nthings must first have been brought thither. The ships were twelve in\nnumber; our flags were the twelve celestial signs, and we sate in Libra.\nBesides other things, our ship had also a noble and curious clock, which\nshewed us all the minutes. The ships passed on and before we had sailed\ntwo hours the mariner told us that he already saw the whole lake almost\ncovered with ships, by which we could conjecture they were come but to\nmeet us, which also proved true. As soon as they were well in ken of us,\nthe pieces were discharged on both sides, and there was such a din of\ntrumpets, shalms, and kettledrums that all the ships upon the sea capered\nagain. Finally as soon as we came near they brought our ships together and\nso made a stand. Immediately the old Atlas stepped forth on the King's\nbehalf, making a short but handsome oration, wherein he welcomed us and\ndemanded whether the royal presents were in readiness. The rest of my\ncompanions were in an huge amazement, whence this king should arise, for\nthey imagined no other but that they must again awaken him. We suffered\nthem to continue in their wonderment, and carried ourselves as if it\nseemed strange to us too. After Atlas's oration, out steps our old man\nmaking somewhat a larger reply, wherein he wished the King and Queen all\nhappiness and increase, after which he delivered up a curious small\ncasket, but what was in it I know not; only it was committed to Cupid, who\nhovered between them both, to keep. After the oration was finished, they\nagain let off a joyful volley of shot, and so we sailed on a good time\ntogether, till at length we arrived at another shore. This was near the\nfirst gate at which I first entered. At this place again there attended a\ngreat multitude of the King's family together with some hundreds of\nhorses. Our old lord and I most unworthy were to ride even with the King,\neach of us bearing a snow white ensign, with a red cross. I had fastened\nmy tokens round my hat of which the young King soon took notice, and\ndemanded if I were he, who could at the gate redeem those tokens? I\nanswered in the most humble manner, Yes. But he laughed on me, saying,\nthere henceforth needed no ceremony; I was his father. Then he asked\nwherewith I had redeemed them. I replied, with water and salt, whereupon\nhe wondered who had made me so wise, upon which I grew somewhat more\nconfident, and recounted unto him, how it had happened to me with my\nbread, the dove, and the raven, and he was pleased with it, and said\nexpressly that it must needs be that God had herein vouchsafed me a\nsingular happiness.... Meantime the tables were prepared in a spacious\nroom, in which we had never been before; into this we were conducted with\nsingular pomp and ceremony. This was the last noblest meal at which I was\npresent. After the banquet the tables were suddenly taken away, and\ncertain curious chairs placed round about in circle, in which we together\nwith the King and Queen, both their old men, the ladies and virgins were\nto sit. After which a very handsome page opened the above mentioned\nglorious little book, when Atlas immediately placing himself in the midst,\nbegan to bespeak us to the ensuing purpose. That his royal majesty had not\nyet committed to oblivion the service we had done, and how carefully we\nhad attended our duty, and therefore by way of retribution had elected all\nand each of us Knights of the Golden Stone. That it was therefore further\nnecessary not only once again to oblige ourselves towards his royal\nmajesty, but to now swear too upon the following articles, and then his\nroyal majesty would likewise know how to behave himself towards his liege\npeople. Upon which he caused the page to read over the articles, which\nwere these:--\n\n1.--You my lords the knights, shall swear, that you shall at no time\nascribe your order either unto any devil, or spirit, but only to God your\nCreator, and his handmaid Nature.\n\n2.--That you will abominate all whoredom, incontinency and uncleanness,\nand not defile your order with such vices.\n\n3.--That you through your talents will be ready to assist all that are\nworthy, and have need of them.\n\n4.--That you desire not to employ this honour to worldly pride and high\nauthority.\n\n5.--That you shall not be willing to live longer than God will have you.\n\nNow being to vow to them all by the King's sceptre, we were afterwards\nwith the usual ceremonies installed knights, and amongst other privileges\nset our ignorance, poverty and sickness; to handle them at our pleasure.\nAnd this was afterwards ratified in a little chapel, and thanks returned\nto God for it. And because every one was there to write his name, I writ\nthus,\n\n  Summa Scientia nihil Scire,\n  Fr. Christianus Rosencreutz,\n  Eques aurei Lapidis,\n  Anno 1549.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n_Conclusion--Modern Rosicrucianism._\n\n\nIn Notes and Queries for Nov. 15th, 1886, we find the following:--\"In the\nStudent's Encyclopaedia, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1883, I find\nthe following twofold statement: 'Even to-day a Rosicrucian lodge is said\nto exist in London, whose members claim by asceticism to live beyond the\nallotted age of man, and to which the late Lord Lytton vainly sought\nadmission.' May I ask whether anything authentic can be learnt (1) as to\nthe existence of these modern Rosicrucians, and (2) as to Lord Lytton's\nfailure to gain admission among them?\"\n\nIn the number of Dec. 13 of the same year, the above query was thus\nanswered: \"The Soc. Rosic. in Anglia still holds several meetings a year\nin London. The Fratres investigate the occult sciences; but I am not aware\nthat any of them now practice asceticism, or expect to prolong life on\nearth indefinitely. It is not customary to divulge the names of candidates\nwho have been refused admission to the first grade, that of Zelator, so\nmust ask to be excused from answering the question as to Lord Lytton.\n\n  WYNN WESTCOTT, _M.B., Magister Templi_.\"\n\nIn September of the previous year a correspondent asked if any one could\ninform him if there were still any members of the society of the Rosy\nCross (or Rosicrucians); and if there were, how could one communicate with\nthem? Also if there were still any alchemists searching for the\nphilosopher's stone and the transmutation of metals? This evoked the\nfollowing reply:--\n\n\"Some say the modern Rosicrucians are the same as the Freemasons; but as\nin the main they lived isolated, they could have been but slightly\nconnected with the masons. The range of celebrated men included in the\nsociety is large:--Avicenna, Roger Bacon, Cardan, down to Mr. Peter\nWoulfe, F.R.S., who lived at No. 2, Barnard's Inn, and was, according to\nMr. Brand, the last true believer in alchemy. But no doubt some few still\ndabble in these occult things.\" Notes and Queries, Series 6, vol 8, 317.\n\nOn the same page of the same volume we have:--\"The Rosicrucians are now\n(how I know not) incorporate with, and form one of the highest ranks, if\nnot the highest rank, of English Freemasons.\" Also:--\"In reply to Charles\nD. Sunderland, allow me to say there are yet living both Rosicrucians and\nAlchemists.\"\n\nDe Quincey does not hesitate for a moment in deciding as to the identity\nbetween Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. He says:--\"I shall now undertake\nto prove that Rosicrucianism was transplanted to England, where it\nflourished under a new name, under which name it has been since\nre-exported to us in common with other countries of Christendom. For I\naffirm as the main thesis of my concluding labours, that Freemasonry is\nneither more nor less than Rosicrucianism as modified by those who\ntransplanted it to England.\" He then proceeds with an argument to shew\nthis identity between the two, an argument to which our limited space\nforbids us to do more than briefly allude. He says:--\"In 1633 we have seen\nthat the old name was abolished; but as yet no new name was substituted;\nin default of such a name they were styled _ad interim_ by the general\nterm, wise men. This, however, being too vague an appellation for men who\nwished to form themselves into a separate and exclusive society, a new one\nhad to be devised bearing a more special allusion to their characteristic\nobjects. Now the immediate hint for the Masons was derived from the legend\ncontained in the _Fama Fraternitatis_, of the \"House of the Holy Ghost.\"\nThis had been a subject of much speculation in Germany; and many had been\nsimple enough to understand the expression of a literal house, and had\ninquired after it up and down the empire. But Andrea had made it\nimpossible to understand it in any other than an allegoric sense, by\ndescribing it as a building that would remain invisible to the godless\nworld for ever.\" Theophilus Schweighart also had spoken of it thus: \"It is\na building,\" says he, \"a great building, _carens fenestris et foribus_, a\nprincely, nay an imperial palace, everywhere visible, and yet not seen by\nthe eyes of man.\" This building in fact, represented the purpose or object\nof the Rosicrucians. And what was that? It was the secret wisdom, or, in\ntheir language, _magic_--viz., 1. Philosophy of nature, or occult\nknowledge of the works of God; 2. Theology, or the occult knowledge of God\nhimself; 3. Religion, or God's occult intercourse with the spirit of man,\nwhich they imagined to have been transmitted from Adam through the\nCabbalists to themselves. But they distinguished between a carnal and a\nspiritual knowledge of this magic. The spiritual knowledge is the business\nof Christianity, and is symbolised by Christ himself as a rock, and a\nbuilding of human nature, in which men are the stones and Christ the\ncorner stone. But how shall stones move and arrange themselves into a\nbuilding? \"They must become living stones.\" But what is a living stone? \"A\nliving stone is a mason who builds himself up into the wall as a part of\nthe temple of human nature.\" In these passages we see the use of the\nallegoric name masons upon the extinction of the former name. In other\nplaces Fludd expresses this still more distinctly. The society was\ntherefore to be a masonic society, in order to represent typically that\ntemple of the Holy Spirit which it was their business to erect in the\nspirit of man. This temple was the abstract of the doctrine of Christ, who\nwas the Grand-master: hence the light from the East, of which so much is\nsaid in Rosicrucian and Masonic books. After pursuing the matter in a\nsimilar strain somewhat further, De Quincey sums up the results of his\ninquiry into the origin and nature of Freemasonry as follows:--\n\n1. The original Freemasons were a society that arose out of the\nRosicrucian mania, certainly within the thirteen years from 1633 to 1646,\nand probably between 1633 and 1640. Their object was magic in the\ncabbalistic sense--_i.e._, the occult wisdom transmitted from the\nbeginning of the world, and matured by Christ; to communicate this when\nthey had it, to search for it when they had it not: and both under an oath\nof secrecy.\n\n2. The object of Freemasonry was represented under the form of Solomon's\nTemple, as a type of the true Church, whose cornerstone is Christ. This\nTemple is to be built of men, or living stones: and the true method and\nart of building with men it is the province of magic to teach. Hence it is\nthat all the masonic symbols either refer to Solomon's Temple, or are\nfigurative modes of expressing the ideas and doctrines of magic in the\nsense of the Rosicrucians, and their mystical predecessors in general.\n\n3. The Freemasons having once adopted symbols, &c., from the art of\nmasonry, to which they were led by the language of Scripture, went on to\nconnect themselves in a certain degree with the order itself of handicraft\nmasons, and adopted their distribution of members into apprentices,\njourneymen, and masters. Christ is the Grand-Master, and was put to death\nwhilst laying the foundation of the temple of human nature.\n\n4. The Jews, Mahomedans and Roman Catholics were all excluded from the\nearly lodges of Freemasons. The Roman Catholics were excluded on account\nof their intolerance: for it was a distinguishing feature of the\nRosicrucians that they first conceived the idea of a society which should\nact on the principle of religious toleration, wishing that nothing should\ninterfere with the most extensive co-operation in their plans except such\ndifferences about the essentials of religion as make all co-operation\nimpossible.\n\n5. Freemasonry, as it honoured all forms of Christianity, deeming them\napproximations more or less remote to the ideal truth, so it abstracted\nfrom all forms of civil polity as alien from its own objects, which,\naccording to their briefest expressions, are (1) The Glory of God; (2) The\nservice of men.\n\n6. There is nothing in the imagery, mythi, ritual, or purposes of the\nelder Freemasonry, which may not be traced to the romances of Father\nRosycross, as given in the Fama Fraternitatis.\n\nDe Quincey is not the only writer who has expressed himself to the effect\nthat the systems of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism are virtually\nidentical; others have said so as well, and in stating their views have\nnot scrupled to write most severely respecting what they believed to be\nthe tricks and impositions of both. Mr. George Soane in his \"New\nCuriosities of Literature,\" says of the Freemasons, that he can shew their\nsociety sprang out of decayed Rosicrucianism just as the beetle is\nengendered from a muck-heap. And further he says, \"not a few of the old\nnursery tales still maintain their ground amongst us; and of these\nFreemasonry is the most disseminated and the most ridiculous.\" \"Of\ncourse,\" he continues \"such an opinion will shock many gentlemen, who wear\naprons, leather or silk as the case may be, and who amuse themselves with\ntalking of light from the east, and the building of Solomon's Temple, and\nwith many other childish pranks, which if played off in the broad daylight\nwould be ridiculous.\"\n\nHe goes on to say:--\"In wading through a mass of alchemical trash for very\ndifferent purposes, I was struck by the great similarity both of the\ndoctrine and symbols existing between the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons.\nWith more haste than judgment I at first imagined that the brethren of the\nRosy Cross were only imitators of the Freemasons, but after a long and\npatient enquiry, pursued through more volumes than I should like to\nventure upon again for such an object, I was forced to abandon my\nposition. The Freemasons did indeed, like the Rosicrucians, lay claim to\ngreat antiquity, but while some of them modestly dated the origin of their\norder from Adam, I could by no means trace it back farther than the first\nhalf of the seventeenth century. Their historical assertions, when fairly\ntested and examined, crumbled into dust; the negative proofs were as\nstrong against them as they well could be; and at length the conclusion\nwas to my mind inevitable.\"\n\nSoane then proceeds to say:--\"I feel not the slightest hesitation in\nsaying that the Freemasons have no secret beyond a few trumpery legends\nand the attaching of certain religious and moral meanings to a set of\nemblems, principally borrowed from the mechanical art of the builder. I\naffirm too that all such symbols, with their interpretations, are of\nRosicrucian origin, and that the Freemasons never belonged to the working\nguilds, their objects being totally different.\"\n\nProfessor Buhle in his last chapter maintains that \"Freemasonry is neither\nmore nor less than Rosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted it\ninto England.\" Dr. Mackey, however, takes a contrary view, and in the\nSynoptical Index to his \"Symbolism of Freemasonry, and Rosicrucians,\"\nsays:--\"A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth\ncentury, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. It was a\nsecret society much resembling the masonic in its organization and in some\nof the subjects of its investigation, but it was no other way connected\nwith Freemasonry.\"\n\nFifty years ago a writer in the Penny Cyclopaedia said:--\"Some say that the\norder of Rosicrucians is identical with that of Freemasons, one of whose\ndegrees or dignities is called in some countries the degree of the Red\nCross. The Rosicrucians have not been heard of as a separate order for\nnearly a century past, but some have thought that they continued to exist\nunder the name of the Illuminati, who were much talked of in Germany and\nFrance in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Barruel, after\ndescribing the ceremonies with which candidates were admitted to the\ndegree of Red Cross in some Freemasons' Lodges, which however, he says,\nvary in different countries, observes that these ceremonies which were\napparently allusive to the Passion of Jesus Christ, were differently\ninterpreted, according to the dispositions of the candidates; that some\nsaw in it a memento of the Passion, others an introduction to the arcana\nof alchemy and magic, and others at last a blasphenous invective against\nthe founder of Christianity which the Rosicrucians had derived from the\nTemplars of old.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE ROSIE CRUCIAN PRAYER TO GOD.\n\nJESUS MIHI OMNIA.\n\n[Triangle]\n\n\n\"Oh Thou everywhere and good of All, whatsoever I do, remember, I beseech\nthee, that I am but Dust, but as a Vapour sprung from Earth, which even\nthy smallest Breath can scatter; Thou hast given me a Soul, and Laws to\ngovern it; let that Eternal Rule, which thou didst first appoint to sway\nMan, order me; make me careful to point at thy Glory in all my wayes; and\nwhere I cannot rightly know Thee, that not only my understanding, but my\nignorance may honour thee. Thou art All that can be perfect; Thy\nRevelation hath made me happy; be not angry, O Divine One, O God the most\nhigh Creator, if it please thee, suffer these revealed Secrets, thy Gifts\nalone, not for my praise, but to thy Glory, to manifest themselves. I\nbeseech thee most gracious God, they may not fall into the hand of\nignorant envious persons, that cloud these truths to thy disgrace, saying,\nthey are not lawful to be published, because what God reveals, is to be\nkept secret. But Rosie Crucian Philosophers lay up this Secret into the\nbosome of God, which I have presumed to manifest clearly and plainly. I\nbeseech the Trinity, it may be printed as I have written it, that the\ntruth may no more be darkened with ambiguous language. Good God, besides\nthee nothing is. Oh stream thyself into my Soul, and flow it with thy\nGrace, thy Illumination, and thy Revelation. Make me to depend on Thee;\nThou delightest that Man should account Thee as his King and not hide what\nHoney of Knowledge he hath revealed. I cast myself as an honourer of Thee\nat thy feet. O establish my confidence in Thee, for thou art the fountain\nof all bounty, and canst not but be merciful, nor canst thou deceive the\nhumbled Soul that trusts Thee: And because I cannot be defended by Thee,\nunless I live after thy Laws, keep me, O my Soul's Sovereign, in the\nobedience of thy Will, and that I wound not my Conscience with vice, and\nhiding thy Gifts and Graces bestowed upon me; for this I know will destroy\nme within, and make thy Illuminating Spirit leave me: I am afraid I have\nalready infinitely swerved from the Revelations of that Divine Guide,\nwhich thou hast commanded to direct me to the Truth; and for this I am a\nsad Prostrate and Penitent at the foot of thy Throne; I appeal only to the\nabundance of thy Remissions. O my God, my God, I know it is a mysterie\nbeyond the vast Soul's apprehension, and therefore deep enough for man to\nrest in safety in. O Thou Being of all Beings, cause me to work myself to\nThee, and into the receiving armes of thy paternal Mercies throw myself.\nFor outward things I thank Thee, and such as I have I give unto others, in\nthe name of the Trinity, freely and faithfully, without hiding anything of\nwhat was revealed to me, and experienced to be no Diabolical Delusion or\nDream, but the Adjectamenta of thy richer Graces; the Mines and\ndeprivation are both in thy hands. In what thou hast given me I am\ncontent. Good God ray thyself into my Soul, give me but a heart to please\nThee, I beg no more than thou hast given, and that to continue me,\nuncontemnedly and unpittiedly honest. Save me from the Devil, Lusts and\nMen: and for those fond dotages of Mortality, which would weigh down my\nSoul to Lowness and Debauchment, let it be my glory (planting myself in a\nNoble height above them) to contemn them. Take me from myself, and fill me\nbut with thee. Sum up thy blessings in those two, that I may be rightly\ngood and wise; And these for thy eternal Truths' sake grant and make\ngrateful.\"[5]\n\n\nTHE END.\n\nS. & J. BRAWN, Printers, 13, Gate Street, Holborn, London, W.C.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n[1] Mackay, Pop. Delusions.\n\n[2] Hist. of Philosophy, ii. 462.\n\n[3] Mackay.\n\n[4] New Curiosities of Literature, vol. 2, p. 46.\n\n[5] The Holy Guide, 1652.\n\n\n\n\nPhallic and Mystical Series,\n\nCr. 8vo, Vellum, 7s. 6d. each.\n\n_Only a very limited number_, PRIVATELY PRINTED.\n\n\nPHALLICISM.--A Description of the Worship of =Lingam-Yoni= in various parts\nof the World, and in different Ages, with an Account of Ancient and Modern\nCrosses, particularly of the =Crux Ansata= (or Handled Cross) and other\nSymbols connected with the Mysteries of =Sex Worship=. (_Out of print_).\n\n\nOPHIOLATREIA.--An Account of the Rites and Mysteries connected with the\nOrigin, Rise, and Development of =Serpent Worship= in various parts of the\nWorld, enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a full description of the\ncelebrated Serpent Mounds and Temples, the whole forming an exposition of\none of the phases of =Phallic=, or =Sex Worship=.\n\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS, MONUMENTS AND REMAINS; Illustrations of the Rise and\nDevelopment of the =Phallic Idea= (Sex Worship), and its embodiment in\nWorks of Nature and Art. _Etched Frontispiece._\n\n\nCULTUS ARBORUM.--A Descriptive Account of =Phallic Tree Worship=, with\nillustrative Legends, Superstitious Usages, etc.; exhibiting its Origin\nand Development amongst the Eastern and Western Nations of the World, from\nthe earliest to modern times.\n\nThis work has a valuable bibliography which will be of the greatest use\nand value to the student of Ancient Faiths. It contains references to\nnearly five hundred works on Phallism and kindred subjects.\n\n\nFISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE as ELEMENTS AND DEITIES in the =Phallic Faiths\nand Worship= of the Ancient Religions of GREECE, BABYLON, ROME, INDIA,\netc., with illustrative Myths and Legends.\n\n\nARCHAIC ROCK INSCRIPTIONS; an Account of the Cup and Ring Marking on the\nSculptural Stones of the Old and New Worlds.\n\nThis subject, though comparatively a new one, and upon which a very\nlimited amount of literature has been written, has excited considerable\ncuriosity among its discoverers. These strange figures and marks bear the\nsame resemblance whether found in England, Ireland, Scotland, India,\nMexico, Brazil, North America, Sweden, etc. Probably the cup and ring\nmarkings were connected with the religious mysteries surrounding the\nworship of Baal. They are asserted on good authority to be Phallic\nSymbols, which subject the author has treated of in the present work.\n\n\n_IN THE PRESS._\n\nA new work on the =MASCULINE CROSS= Theory, and recent discoveries\nconnected with Phallicism.\n\n\n_OTHER WORKS._\n\nMATRIMONIAL CEREMONIES DISPLAYED.--Wherein are exhibited the various\nCustoms, Odd Pranks, Whimsical Tricks and Surprising Practises of near one\nhundred different Kingdoms and Peoples in the World, now used in the\nCelebration and Consummation of Matrimony, collected from the Papers of a\n=Rambling Batchelor=, with the Adventures of Sir Harry Fitzgerald and his\n=Seven Wives=. Cr. 8vo, Japanese parchment, 6s.\n\nThe above volume describes the extensive and extraordinary ceremonies of\nthe different nations of the world, including an interesting account of\nthe more free and easy rites of the savage tribes. There will also be\nfound an entertaining description of the ceremonies of the Indians in\nAmerica, at the time of its first colonisation by the Europeans.\n\n\nFLAGELLATION, History of, among different Nations, a Narrative of the\nStrange Customs and Cruelties of the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, etc., with\nan Account of its Practice among the Early Christians as a Religious\nStimulant and Corrector of Morals, also Anecdotes of Remarkable Cases of\nFlogging and of celebrated Flagellants. Cr. 8vo, parchment, 6s.\n\nA curious history of whipping inflicted by force, and voluntarily\npractised by the Monks, Heathens, etc., with Anecdotes of its use by\nKings, Bishops, Abbots, etc.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nPunctuation has been corrected without note.\n\nThe following misprints have been corrected:\n  \"the the\" corrected to \"the\" (page 5)\n  \"Sytsem\" corrected to \"System\" (page 11)\n  \"Morever\" corrected to \"Moreover\" (page 33)\n  \"his\" corrected to \"is\" (page 47)\n  \"yon\" corrected to \"you\" (page 58)\n  \"nevertherless\" corrected to \"nevertheless\" (page 59)\n  \"inhabttants\" corrected to \"inhabitants\" (page 89)\n  \"and and\" corrected to \"and\" (page 93)\n  \"kness\" corrected to \"knees\" (page 103)\n  \"understauding\" corrected to \"understanding\" (page 105)\n  \"mdae\" corrected to \"made\" (page 128)\n\nOther than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and\nhyphenation have been retained from the original.\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Mysteries of the Rosie Cross: Or, the History of that Curious Sect of the Middle Ages, Known as the Rosicrucians; with Examples of their Pretensions and Claims as Set Forth in the Writings of Their Leaders and Disciples","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":45891}