Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CXCIII. Of the Fraternity of the Rosie-Cross. (Book 193)

I Find that these Brethren being associated in Germany two or three hundred years ago, sware mutual Fidelity to observe the Laws of their Fraternity; the chief of which was Secrecy, never to speak or write but in the Allegories of their Cabal, whose pretension is to re-establish all Discipilines and Sciences, especially Physick, which, they say, is ignor'd and ill practis'd by all others; themselves alone having the Knowledge of so

many Secrets that they hold the Philosopers Stone for one of the least, and professing to imitate sundry other Societies of an∣cient time; as first, that of the Kings, Priests, and Philosophers of Aegypt, under the names of Isis, Osiris, Apis, Anubis, and Mer∣cury, the mysteries whereof they hid under their Hieroglyphical Letters, leaving the use of the common way of writing to the vulgar: For proof whereof they alledge, that the first Priest of this Fraternity being urg'd by Alexander to discover to him the Secret of Isis and Osiris, told him for the whole Secret, that they were not gods but men whom they worshipt. With which An∣swer, Alexander was so well satisfied, that he writ word thereof to his Mother Olympias, desiring her to burn his Letter as soon as she had read it, for fear of Scandal. The second Society which they alledge, is, the College of the Eumolpides, so called from Eumolpus its Author, an Eleusinian Priest at Eleusis in Athens, in imitation of that instituted in Greece by Orpheus, to the honor of Baochus; of which Eumolpides, the supream Sacrificer carry'd a golden key in his mouth to mind him of keeping the Secret, which was not communicated to all the initiated in this Order, but only to such as were of approv'd discretion. The Third (they say) was that of the Samothracians, who were never troubled with sickness or poverty, the two grand scourges of Life; maintaining themselves in perpetual Health by repairing the radical humidity, and by Astrological Application of Specifical Re∣medies deriv'd to them from their Predecessors; and having by their great work secret means of supplying the common necessi∣ties of their Confreres and Associates. Then follow the Magi of Persia, where, Cicero saith, it was required as a Condition of ad∣mitting any to be King, that he were skill'd in natural Magick, that is, in the most profound and admirable secrets of Nature; to learn which, Empedocles and Plato, purposely sail'd into Persia. Of this Magick they make Zoroaster the Author, who liv'd six hun∣dred years before Moses, and spent twenty years in a Desart in studying the works of Nature, trying the Effects ensuing upon the Application of Actives to Passives; whence he got the name of Necromancer, as if he invok'd Devils. Next they quote the Chaldaeans in Babylon, and the Brachmans in India; both sorts vi∣sited by Apollonius, to whom Hyarchas the Moderator of the East shew'd a Well four paces broad, by which they swore, having near it a Cup full of fire, which perpetually burning, never sur∣mounted the brims of the Vessel, and two Hogsheads, the one of wind, the other of rain, both which infallibly follow'd upon open∣ing the same. They bring in likewise the Gymnosophists of Aethiopia, who assembled under an Elm, and saluted the same Apollonius by his name, without having ever known him. Pythagoras also, they say, profess'd the Secret, trying his Disciples taciturnity by five years silence, and hiding his mysteries under Numbers. They tell further of one Aucarsus who did many wonders, appearing in several places at the same time, killing with one word a Serpent

that destroy'd a whole a Country; and lastly, they mention a Colledge of Arabians in the City of Damcar, where the Author of this Brotherhood of the Rosie-Cross had his Academy, after the establishment whereof he went to Fez to instruct the Moors, where his progress was such, that the Society came to be diffus'd into Germany, Poland, and Hungary.

The Second said, That the rise of this Fraternity is by Mayerus referr'd to the year 1378, when a German Gentleman (the in∣itial Letters of whose name were A.C.) of the Age of fifteen years, was shut up in a monastery, where having learnt Latine and Greek, in his seventh year he began to journey to the Holy Land; but falling sick at Damas, he heard so much talk of the Sages of Ara∣bia, that recovering, he went to Damcar the City of these Sages, who saluted him by his proper name, and telling him that they waited for him a long time, discover'd to him many Secrets; after he had learnt their Language and the Mathematicks, he travell'd into Aegypt and Spain; then return'd into Germany, de∣fraying his expences by the invention he had of making Gold, with which he built and liv'd magnificently for five years; after∣wards be thinking himself of reforming the Sciences, which he had design'd from the beginning, he associated to himself three Bro∣thers to whom he communicated his Secrets. These four not sufficing for the great number of Patients which flockt to them from all parts to be cur'd, they took four more who enacted among themselves these Rules of their Society. I. None shall make other Profession but of curing the sick gratis. II. None shall be ty'd to any particular Habit, but left to conform therein to place and time. III. Every Brother shall assemble once a year on a set day, in their House call'd the House of the H. Ghost, or signifie the cause of his absence. IV. He shall choose a wor∣thy and fit person to succeed him after his death. V. These two Letters R. C. shall be their Symbole, Signet, and Character. VI. The Fraternity shall be kept secret for a 100. years. These Articles being sworne to, he retain'd two of the Brothers with him, and sent the rest about the world. This founder, they say, liv'd 106. years, was buryed secretly by his Confreres in the year 1484; after which time, these Brothers succeeded one another, every one of them living no less than a 100. years; and in the year 1604. one of them finding a stone in a wall pierc'd through with a nail, which denoted something more than ordinary, pull'd it out with great difficulty, and discover'd a Vault; wherein, amongst other strange things, he found the Sepulchre of this Founder with this inscription in Latine, I shall be manifested after six score years: And at the bottome, A, C, R, C, In my life time I made this Abridgment of the Universe for my Sepulchre, with many devises, one a side, and four in circles. The Body held in its Hand a parchment-book written with Golden Letters, at the end of which was his Elogium, containing among other things, that after having heap'd up more riches than a King or Emperor,

of which he judg'd his own Age unworthy, he left them to be sought for by posterity, and built a little world answering to the great one in all its motions, by which he had compendiously ac∣quir'd the Knowledge of all things past, present, and to come; and after he had liv'd above a 100. years, he render'd his Soul to his Creator amidst the embraces and last kisses of his Brethren, not by reason of any disease, (which his own Body never felt, and he permitted not others to suffer) but God with-drew from his Bo∣dy the illuminated Soul of this most beloved Father, most agree∣able Brother, most faithful Master, and intire Friend. The same Mayerus saith, that the place of these Rosie-Crucians Colledge is still unknown, but yet they repair to it from all the parts of the world. In the year 1613. News came that one of these Brethren nam'd Mulley om Hamet, having assaulted Mulley Sidan King of Fez, and Marocco strongly arm'd, defeated him with a handful of unarm'd men, and seiz'd his throne; from whence these Con∣querors were to go into Spain, where at the same time some Spa∣niards taking upon them the title of Illuminati, fell into the hands of the Inquisition. This report oblig'd the Society to publish two Books, intitul'd, Fama & Confessio, wherein, after refutation of wrongful reputations, they set down their Maxims, and say, That the great Knowledge of their Founder is not to be won∣der'd at, since he was instructed in the Book M, which some in∣terpret the Book of the World; others, the Book of Natural Magick, which he translated out of Arabick into Latine: out of which, they affirm, that Paracelsus afterwards learnt all his Knowledge; which being new, 'tis no wonder, they say, that both he and they be derided and hated by the rest of men. And that the above-said Founder caus'd to be collected into another Book for his Disciples all that man can desire or hope, to wit, both Celestial and Earthly Goods; these last consisting chiefly in Health, Wisdom, Riches, to acquire all which, they shew the means. In brief, that their main end is, by Travells and Confer∣ences with the Learned, to obtain the Knowledge of all the Se∣crets in the World, and relate them to their Society, and to none else.

The Third said, That there have ever been spirits extrava∣gant, irregular, and incapable of all Discipline both Political and Ecclesiastical. Hence have risen in the Church Heresiarchs and Schismaticks; in the State, Rebels and Mutineers; in the Sciences, Innovators and presumptuous persons, who wanting Ability and Constancy to undergo the pains of Study necessary for obtaining the skill requisite to the right exercise of the least Disciplines and Professions, take upon them to blame what they understand not; and as the vulgar easily close with Calumnies, to which the faults of the Professors, not the Professions, give but too much occasion; so they readily prepossess the Understand∣ing of their Hearers. For which there is more matter in Phy∣sick than there is in any other Profession, because the vulgar, who

judge thereof, consider only events, which are not in our power but only the application of causes; the rest being the work of Nature. Hence Paracelsus, and others of that gang, started up in the world, establishing new Principles, and vaunting them∣selves upon the authority of imaginary antiquity. And as no Opinion is so erroneous but hath its followers; so there have been found people enough of that sort to make a Colledge, who forgetting that one of the faults they charg'd upon the Rational Physicians, was, that in their prescriptions they made use of a strange Language and Cyphers unknown to the vulgar, have imitated those above-mention'd Priests of Aegypt, who made an outside shew of brave Ornaments, which being lifted up, you see nothing but a Cat, or an Ox at the stall. Thus all their discourse is only of Aurum Potabile, Mercurius Vitae, Magistery of Pearls, Quintessences, Spirits, Extracts, which they denote by Cyphers invented at pleasure, and apply (as they say) only according to the mind of Heaven, all the cadences whereof they observe and measure for that purpose: But if you look to the bottome of all, you will see their Hands foul'd with coals or dung, their Faces discolour'd by the Arsenical Exhalations of the Minerals they pre∣pare in their furnaces; and yet the most pitiful wretch of them all will swear that he knows the great work. Indeed, this were no great matter, if the success of their Practise made amends for the defects of their Theory. But seing chief remedies consist in vomiting or purging violently, whereof few Bodies are capable; no wonder if people use them only in desperate cases. Nor is their impertinence sufferable, whilst, to credit themselves, they pretend to be descended from the Gymnosophists, from whom, 'tis to be fear'd, they inherit at last nothing else but their naked∣ness. For what better title have they for their succeeding to all those ancient Societies, (I mean such as were commendable and worthy of imitation) than our Faculties have, which are au∣thoriz'd by the Laws of the Prince, by possession immemorial, and a conformity of all Nations, which renders their right as strong as that of Nations. Wherefore I advise these Brethren, if they will not betake themselves to study as as others do, to render themselves altogether Invisible, (as they pretend to be) with∣drawing from the Commerce of the rest of Mankind.

The Fourth said, Who openly profess'd himself one of this Fraternity, said that Doctor Flud of England had ingeniously in∣terpreted these three Letters; F. fide, R. religione, C. charitate, though the common opinion prevails, which will have them signifie, Fratres Roseae Crucis. But neither of these interpreta∣tions can pass for a great Secret; wherefore it appears upon further search, that the Cross is truly significative there, but in another sense, which is, that in this † the word LƲX is includ∣ed, whence some think that these Brothers took in Spain the title of Illuminati: I shall venture further, and add that Ros (Dew) which is the most powerful dissolver of Gold amongst natural and

not corrosive Bodies, is nothing else but Light condens'd and render'd corporeal, which being concocted and digested artifici∣ally in convenient time in its proper vessel, is the true Menstruum of the Red Dragon, i. e. of Gold, the true matter of Philsophers. Of which Secret, this Society desiring to leave Posterity intimati∣on in their Name, styll'd themselves Brethren of the Rosie Cross. Thus Jacob's blessing upon Esau, contain'd only these two mat∣ters, De Rore Coeli, & pinguedine Terrae det tibi Deus. Whereas this Society is charg'd with pretences of being invisible, they mean only that it hath no visible marks to distinguish it from others, as other Societies have, namely, several colours and fa∣shions of habits, but 'tis known and visible only to those of the Society it self.