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book_n	heaven_n	life_n	write_v	3,782	5	5.8197	4	true

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

hold the transmutation of Mettals to be the highest point and fastigium in Philosophy this is all their intent and desire and that God would be most esteemed by them and honored which could make great store of Gold and in abundance the which with unpremeditate prayers they hope to attain of the alknowing God and searcher of all hearts we therefore do by these presents publickly testifie That the true Philosophers are far of another minde esteeming little the making of Gold which is but a parergon for besides that they have a thousand better things And we say with our loving Father R. C. C. Phy aurum nisi quantum aurum for unto them the whole nature is detected he doth not rejoyce that he can make Gold and that as saith Christ the devils are obedient unto him but is glad that he seeth the Heavens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending and his name written in the book of life Also we do testifie that under the name of Chymia many books and pictures are set forth in Contumeliam gloriae Dei as we wil name them in their due season and wil give to the pure-hearted a Catalogue or Register of them And we pray all learned men to take heed of these kinde of Books for the enemy never resteth but soweth his weeds til a stronger one doth root it out So according to the wil and meaning of Fra C. R. C. we his brethren request again all the learned in Europe who shal read sent forth in five Languages this our Famam and Confessionem that it would please them with good deliberation to ponder this our offer and to examine most nearly and most sharply their Arts and behold the present time with all diligence and to declare their minde either Communicato consilio or singulatim by Print And although at this time we make no mention either of our names or meetings yet nevertheless every ones opinion shal assuredly come to our hands in what language so ever it be nor any body shal fail who so gives but his name to speak with some of us either by word of mouth or else if there be some lett in writing And this we say for a truth That whosoever shal earnestly and from his heart bear affection unto us it shal be beneficial to him in goods body and soul but he that is false-hearted or onely greedy of riches the same first of all shal not be able in any manner of wise to hurt us but bring himself to utter ruine and destruction Also our building although one hundred thousand people had very near seen and beheld the same shal for ever remain untouched undestroyed and hidden to the wicked world sub umbra alarum tuarum Jehova A Preface of the Confession to the Reader who is desirous of Wisdom HEre Gentle Reader you shal finde incorporated in our Confession thirty seven Reasons of our purpose and intention the which according to thy pleasure thou mayst seek out and compare them together thou mayst also consider with thy self if they be weighty and sufficient enough to bring and perswade thee for to take our parts Verily it requires no smal pains to confirm that which men have not yet seen but when it shal once com to light we doubt not but they will then justly be a shamed of such doubts and conjectures And as we do now altogether securely freely and without any hurt call the Pope of Rome Antichrist the which heretofore was held for a deadly sin and such in all Countries were put to death for it So we know certainly that the time shal likewise come that that which we yet keep in secret we shal openly freely and with a loud voice publish and confess it before al the world the which Gentle Reader wish with us with all thy heart that it may happen with speed Confessio Fraternitatis Or The Confession of the laudable Fraternity of the most honorable Order of the Rosie Cross written to the Learned of Europe WHatsoever there is published and made known to every one concerning our Fraternity by the foresaid Fama let no man esteem lightly of it nor hold it as an idle or invented thing and much less receive the same as though it were onely a meer conceit of ours It is the Lord Jehovah who seeing the Lords Sabbath is almost at hand and hastened again his period or course being finished to his first beginning doth turn about the course of Nature and what heretofore hath been sought with great pains and dayly labor is now manifested unto those who make small account or scarcely once think upon it but these which desire it it is in a manner forced and thrusted upon them that thereby the life of the godly may be eased of all their toyl and labor and be no more subject to the storms of unconstant Fortune but the wickedness of the ungodly thereby with their due and deserved punishment be augmented and multiplied Although we cannot be by any suspected of the least Heresie or of any wicked beginning or purpose against the worldly Government we do condemn the East and the West meaning the Pope and Mahomet blasphemers against our Lord Jesus Christ and offer and present with a good will to the chief head of the Romish Empire our prayers secrets and great treasures of Gold Yet we have thought good and fit for the Learned sakes to add somewhat more to this and make a better explanation if there by any thing too deep hidden and set down over dark in the Fama or for certain reasons were altogether omitted and left out hoping herewith the Learned will be more addicted unto us and be made far more fitter and willing for our purpose Concerning the alteration and amendment of Philosophy we have as much as at this present is needful sufficiently declared to wit that the same is altogether weak and faulty yet we doubt not although the most part falsly do all edge that she I know not how is sound and strong yet notwithstanding she fetches her last breath and is departing But as commonly even in the same place or Country where there breaketh forth a new unaccustomed disease Nature also there discovereth a medicine against the same so there doth appear for so manifold infirmities of Philosophy the right means and unto our Patria sufficiently offered whereby she may become sound again which is now to be renewed and altogether new No other Philosophy we have then that which is the head sum the foundation and contents of all faculties sciences and arts the which if we will behold ourage containeth much of Theology and medicine but little of the wisdom of Lawyers and doth diligently search both heaven and earth or to speak briefly thereof which doth manifest and declare sufficiently Man whereof then all Learned who will make themselves known unto us and come into our brotherhood shall finde more wonderful secrets by us then heretofore they did attain

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