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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	author_n	life_n	write_v	1,812	5	5.6284	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85092	The fame and confession of the fraternity of R: C: Commonly, of the Rosie Cross. With a præface annexed thereto, and a short declaration of their physicall work. By Eugenius Philalethes.; Fama fraternitatis. English.	Vaughan, Thomas, 1622-1666.; Andreä, Johann Valentin, 1586-1654, attributed name.	1652 (1652)	Wing F350A; Thomason E1291_3; ESTC R200745	45,529	134

say that there is no Smoak without some Fire so amongst these forreign Fables came in some Indian Allegories and probably the Brachmans themselves had given them out at once to declare and obscure their Knowledg These Allegories are but two and Jarchas insists much upon them besides a solemn Acknowment {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} There is no reason said he but we should believe there are such Things The first of these two Mysteries is the Pantarva which Ficinus corruptly transcribes Pantaura and of this Apollonius desired to know the Truth namely if there was such a Stone at all and whether it was enriched with so strange a Magnetism as to attract to it self all other precicious Stones This Question the Brachman satisfies experimentally for he had this goodly Stone about him and favour'd Apollonius with the sight thereof But for our better Information let us hear Jarchas himself describe it for he doth it so fully that a very ordinary Capacity may go along with him This Stone saith he is generated in certain earthy Caverns some four yards deep and hath in it such abundance of Spirit that in the place of its Conception the Earth swells up and at last breaks with the very Tumor But to look out this Stone belongs not to every Body for it vanisheth away unless it be extracted with all possible Caution only we that are Brachmans by certain practises of our own can find out the Pantarva These are the words of Jarchas where you shall observe That he hath confounded the first and second Generation of the Stone it being the Custom of the Philosophers never to express their Mysteries distinctly The second Birth then he hath fully and clearly discovered for when the Philosophers first Earth is moistened with its own milk it swells being impregnated with frequent Imbibitions till at last it breaks and with a soft heat sublimes and then ascends the Heavenly Sulphur being freed from his Hell for it leaves behind the Binarius or Terra Damnata and is no more a Prisoner to that Dross This first heavenly Sulphur is commonly called Petra stellata Terra Margaritarum but Raymund Lully calls it Terram Terrae and in a certain place he describes it thus Haec est Tinctura saith he quae a vili Terrâ se spoliat aliâ multum nobili reinduit se But elsewhere prescribing some Caveats for the Rorid Work he expresly mentions the first and second Sulphurs commonly called Sulphura de Sulphuribus Hoc saith he intelligitur de Terrâ quae non est separata a Vase de Terra Terrae This is enough to prove the Affinity of the Pantarva and the Philosophers Stone Let us now return to Jarchas for he proceeds in his Instructions and Apollonius hears him to no purpose The Pantarva saith he after night discovers a Fire as bright as day for it is fiery and shining but if you look on it in the day-time it dazles the eye with certain gleams or Coruscations Whence this Light came and what it was the Brachman was not ignorant of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} That Light said he which shines in it is a Spirit of admirable Power for it attracts to it self all things that are near it And here he tells Tyaneus that if precious Stones were cast into the Sea or into some River and this too confusedly as being far scattered and dispersed one from another yet this Magical Stone being let down after them would bring them again together for they would all move towards the Pantarva and cluster under it like a swarm of Bees This is all he tells him but in conclusion he produceth his Pantarva in plain terms he shewed him the Philosophers Stone and the miraculous Effects thereof The second Secret which Apollonius stumbled on for he knew it not as a Secret was the Gold of the Gryphons and this also Jarchas doth acknowledg but I shall forbear to speak of it for I hold it not altogether convenient It is time now to dismiss Apollonius and his Brachmans and this I will do but I shall first prevent an Objection though a sorry one for Ignorance makes use of all Tools It will be said perhaps I have been too bold with Apollonius who in the opinion of many men and such as would be thought learned was a very great Philosopher To this I answer that I question not any mans learning let them think of themselves as they please and if they can let them be answerable to their thoughts But as for Apollonius I say the noise of his Miracles like those of Xavier may fill some credulous ears and this sudden Larum may procure him Entertainment but had these Admirers perused his History they had not betray'd so much weakness as to allow him any sober Character It is true Philostratus attributes many strange performances to him as that he should raise the Dead free himself from Prison and shake off his Chains with as much Divinity as S. Peter himself Nay that pleading with Domitian in a full Senate he should suddenly vanish away and be translated in a moment from Rome to Puteoli Truly these are great effects but if we consider only what Philostratus himself will confess we shall quickly find that all these things are but his Inventions For in the Beginning of his Romance where he would give his Readers an Accompt of his Materials and from what hands he received them he tells us that Damis who was Apollonius his fellow-traveller did write his Life and all the Occurrences thereof but these Commentaries of Damis saith he were never published by Damis himself only a friend of his a Some-body {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a certain familiar of Damis did communicate them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to Julia the Queen And here Philostratus tells me that this Queen commanded him to transcribe these Commentaries It seems then they were originally written in the Greek and Philostratus is a meer Transcribler and no Author This I cannot believe for Damis was an Assyrian and as he himself confesseth a very ignorant person and altogether illiterate but meeting with Apollonius {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and conversing with the Greeks he also was almost made a Grecian but not altogether not so learned a Grecian as to write Histories and in a stile like that of Philostratus But this is not all Our Author tells us of one Maeragenis who had formerly written the Life of Apollonius in four Books but this fellow saith he was ignorant of the Performances or Miracles of Tyaneus And what follows this Ignorance {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} We must not therefore believe Maeragenis And why not I beseech you Because forsooth he lived near if not in the days of Apollonius but never heard of those monstrous fables which Philostratus afterwards invented We must then believe Philostratus himself for he is the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}

Hands To be short then this Umbrage and Mist of their Text required some Comment and Clearness but few being able to Expound the World ran generally to the other side and the School-men have got the Day not by Weight but by Number This considered it cannot be thought unreasonable and certainly not unseasonable if a Society conscious of the Truth and skil'd in the abstruse principles of Nature shall endeavour to rectifie the world for hitherto we have been abused with Greek Fables and a pretended knowledge of Causes but without their much desired Effects We plainly see that if the least Disease invades Us the School-men have not one Notion that is so much a charm as to cure Us and why then should we imbrace a Philosophie of meer words when it is evident enough that we cannot live but by Works Let us not for shame be so stupid any more for 't is a Barbarous Ignorance to maintaine that for Truth which our own dayly Experience can assure us to be False But some body will reply That the Antiquitie of this Peripatism may claim some Reverence and we must complementally invite it abroad not churlishly turn it out of Doors This in my opinion were to dance before Dagon as David did before the Ark to pay that respect to a Lye which is due onely to the Truth and this is Answer sufficient As for that Fraternity whose History and Confession I have here adventured to publish I have for my own part no Relation to them neither do I much desire their Acquaintance I know they are Masters of great Mysteries and I know withal that nature is so large they may as wel Receive as Give I was never yet so lavish an Admirer of them as to prefer them to all the World for it is possible and perhaps true that a private man may have that in his possession wherof they are Ignorant It is not their title and the noyse it hath occasion'd that makes me commend them The Acknowledgment I give them was first procured by their Books for there I found them true Philosophers and therefore not Chimaera's as most think but Men Their Principles are every may Correspondent to the Ancient and Primitive Wisdome nay they are consonant to our very Religion and confirm every point thereof I question not but most of their Proposals may seem Irregular to common Capacities but where the Prerogative and Power of Nature is known there will they quickly fall even for they want not their Order and Sobriety It will be expected perhaps that I should speak something as to their Persons and Habitations but in this my cold Acquaintance will excuse me or had I any Familiarity with them I should not doubt to use it with more Discretion As for their Existence if I may speak like a School-man there is great reason we should believe it neither do I see how we can deny it unless we grant that Nature is studied and Books also written and published by some other Creatures then Men It is true indeed that their Knowledg at first was not purchased by their own Disquisitions for they received it from the Arabians amongst whom it remained as the Monument and Legacy of the Children of the East Nor is this at all improbable for the Eastern Countries have been always famous for Magical and Secret Societies Now am I to seek how far you will believe me in this because I am a Christian and yet I doubt not but you will believe a Heathen because Aristotle was one Take then amongst you a more acceptable Ethnic I mean Philostratus for thus he delivers himself in the life of Apollonius He brings in his Tyaneus discoursing with Prince Phraotes and amongst other Questions proposed to the Prince Apollonius asks him Where he had learnt his Philosophy and the Greek Tongue for amongst the Indians said this Greek there are no Philosophers To this simple Quaere the Prince replies {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and with a notable Sarcasm {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. Our Forefathers said he did ask all those who came hither in ships if they were not Pirates for they conceived all the World but themselves addicted to that vice though a great one But you Grecians ask not those strangers who come to you if they be Philosophers To this he adds a very dissolute Opinion of the same Grecians namely that Philosophy which of all Donatives is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Divinest should be esteemed amongst them as a thing indifferent and proportionate to all Capacities And this I am sure saith Phraotes to Apollonius is a kind of Piracy tolerated amongst you {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which being applyed here to Philosophy I should make bold to render it Sacriledg But the Prince proceeds and schools his Novice for such was Apollonius who was never acquainted with any one Mystery of Nature I understand saith he that amongst you Grecians there are many Intruders that injustly apply themselves to Philosophy as being no way conformable to it These usurp a Profession which is not their own as if they should first rob men of their Clothes and then wear them though never so disproportionate and thus do you proudly stradle in borrowed Ornaments And certainly as Pirates who know themselves liable to innumerable tortures do lead a sottish and a loose kind of life Even so amongst you these Pirates and Plunderers of Philosophy are wholly given to Lusts and Compotations and this I suppose is an Evil that proceeds from the Blindness and Improvidence of your Laws For should any Man-stealer be found amongst you or should any adulterate your Coyn these were Offences Capital and punished with Death But for such as counterfeit and corrupt Philosophy your Law corrects them not neither have you any Magistrate ordained to that purpose Thus we see in what respect the Greek Sophistry was with the Indians and that clamorous Liberty they had to distract one another some of them being Epicures some Cynics some Stoics some again Peripatetics and some of them pretended Platonics It is not to be doubted but the scuffling and squabling of these Sectaries did at last produce the Sceptic who finding nought in the Schools but Opposition and Bitterness resolved for a new course and secured his Peace with his Ignorance Phraotes having thus returned that Calumny which Apollonius bestowed on the Indians to the Bosom of this conceited Greek gives him now an Accompt of his own Colledg I mean the Brachmans with the Excellent and wholesom Severity of their Discipline And here I cannot but observe the Insolence of Tyaneus who being a meer stranger in the Indies notwithstanding runs into a positive Absurdity and before he had conversed with the Inhabitants concludes them no Philosophers These bad Manners of his I could and perhaps not unjustly derive from the Customary Arrogance of his Country-men whose kindness to their own Issue

witness and acknowledg That from the beginning of the World there hath not been given unto Men a more worthy a more excellent and more admirable and wholesom Book then the holy Bible Blessed is he that hath the same yea more blessed is he who reads it diligently but most blessed of all is he that truly understandeth the same for he is most like to God and doth come most near to him But whatsoever hath been said in the Fama concerning the Deceivers against the Transmutation of Mettals and the highest Medicine in the World the same is thus to be understood that this so great gift of God we do in no manner set at naught or despise it But because she bringeth not with her always the knowledg of Nature but this bringeth forth not only Medicine but also maketh manifest and open unto us innumerable Secrets and Wonders Therefore it is requisite that we be earnest to attain to the understanding and knowledg of Philosophy And moreover excellent Wits ought not to be drawn to the Tincture of Mettals before they be exercised well in the knowledg of Nature He must needs be an unsatiable Creature who is come so far that neither Poverty nor Sickness can hurt him yea who is exalted above all other men and hath Rule over that the which doth anguish trouble and pain others yet will give himself again to idle things as to build houses make Wars and use all manner of Pride because he hath of Gold and Silver infinite store God is far otherwise pleased for he exalteth the lowly and pulleth down the proud with disdain to those which are of few words he sendeth his holy Angel to speak with them but the unclean Bablers he driveth in the Wilderness and solitary places The which is the right Reward of the Romish Seducers who have vomitted forth their Blasphemies against Christ and as yet do not abstain from their Lyes in this clear shining Light In Germany all their Abominations and detestable Tricks have been disclosed that thereby he may fully fulfill the measure of sin and draw near to the end of his punishment Therefore one day it will come to pass that the Mouth of those Vipers will be stopped and the three double Horn will be brought to nought as thereof at our Meeting shall more plain and at large be discoursed For Conclusion of our Confession we must earnestly admonish you that you put away if not all yet the most Books written by false Alchimists who do think it but a Jest or a Pastime when they either misuse the holy Trinity when they do apply it to vain things or deceive the people with most strange Figures and dark Sentences and Speeches and cozen the simple of their money as there are now adays too many such Books set forth which the Enemy of Mans Welfare doth dayly and will to the end mingle among the good Seed thereby to make the Truth more difficult to be beleeved which in her self is simple easie and naked but contrarily Falshood is proud haughty and coloured with a kind of Lustre of seeming godly and of humane Wisdom Ye that are wise eschew such Books and turn unto us who seek not your moneys but offer unto you most willingly our great Treasures We hunt not after your Goods with invented lying Tinctures but desire to make you Partakers of our Goods We speak unto you by Parables but would willingly bring you to the right simple easie and ingenuous Exposition Understanding Declaration and Knowledg of all Secrets We desire not to be received of you but invite you unto our more then Kingly Houses and Palaces and that verily not by our own proper motion but that you likewise may know it as forced unto it by the Instigation of the Spirit of God by his Admonition and by the Occation of this present time What think you loving people and how seem you affected seeing that you now understand and know That we acknowledg our selves truly and sincerely top rofess Christ condemn the Pope addict our selves to the true Philosophy lead a Christian life and dayly call intreat and invite many more unto our Fraternity unto whom the same Light of God likewise appeareth Consider you not at length how you might begin with us not only by pondering the Gifts which are in you and by experience which you have in the Word of God beside the careful Consideration of the Imperfection of all Arts and many other unfitting things to seek for an amendment therein to appease God and to accommodate you for the time wherein you live Certainly if you will perform the same this profit will follow That all those Goods which Nature hath in all parts of the World wonderfully dispersed shall at one time altogether be given unto you and shall easily disburden you of all that which obscureth the Understanding of Man and hindereth the working thereof like unto the vain Epicides and Excentrick Astronomical Circles But those Pragmatical and busie-headed men who either are blinded with the glistering of Gold or to say more truly who are now honest but by thinking such great Riches should never fail might easily be corrupted and brought to Idleness and to riotons proud living Those we do desire that they would not trouble us with their idle and vain crying But let them think that although there be a Medicine to be had which might fully cure all Diseases nevertheless those whom God hath destinated to plague with Diseases and to keep them under the Rod of Correction such shall never obtain any such Medicine Even in such manner although we might inrich the whole World and endue them with Learning and might release it from Innumerable Miseries yet shall we never be manifested and made known unto any man without the especial pleasure of God yea it shall be so far from him whosoever thinks to get the benefit and be Partaker of our Riches and Knowledg without and against the Will of God that he shall sooner lose his life in seeking and searching for us then to find us and attain to come to the wished Happiness of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross A SHORT ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER This Advertisement Reader invites thee not to my Lodging for I would give thee no such Directions my Nature being more Melancholy then Sociable I would onely tell thee how Charitable I am for having purposely omitted some Necessaries in my former Discourse I have upon second Thoughts resolved against that silence There is abroad a bold ignorance for Philosophie hath her Confidents but in a sense different from the Madams This Generation I have sometimes met withall and least they should ride and repent I thought it not amiss to shew them the Praecipieces The second Philosophicall work is commonly cal'd the gross work but 't is one of the greatest Subtilties in all the Art Cornelius Agrippa knew the first Praeparation and hath clearly discovered it but the Difficulty of the second