Western European stream·Rosicrucian Manifestos·The Real History of the Rosicrucians (Waite's commentary)·Introduction

Source context

Theme

distinction between exoteric literary history and the inner reality of Rosicrucianism

Steiner

• GA 99, 1907-05-22Steiner states that those acquainted only with the outer literary history of Rosicrucianism know very little of its real content, and that Rosicrucian theosophy has existed since the fourteenth century as an inner tradition distinct from its documented appearances.
• GA 93a, 1905-10-10Steiner identifies the Rosicrucians as messengers of the White Lodge, with never more than seven genuine initiates at one time, distinguishing authentic inner transmission from the broader circle of pupils and public claimants.

Cross-tradition

• Kabbalistic esotericismKabbalah likewise distinguishes between public textual transmission (the written Torah) and the living oral chain of initiation (Sod), a structural parallel to the Rosicrucian split between documented history and inner brotherly transmission.
• Sufi tariqa doctrineSufi traditions similarly contrast the outer sharia-conformant appearance of their orders with the silsila, the unbroken interior chain of transmission from master to initiate, as the locus of real spiritual content.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION.

"In cruce sub sphera venit sapientia vera."--Hermetic Axiom.

"La rose qui a été de tout temps l’emblême de la beauté, de la vie, de l’amour et du plaisir, exprimait mystiquement toutes les protestations manifestées à la renaissance. . . . Rénuir la rose, à la croix, tel était le problème posé par la Haute Initiation."--Éliphas Lévi.

THREE derivations are offered of the name Rosicrucian. The first, which is certainly the most obvious, deduces it from the ostensible founder of the order, Christian Rosenkreuze. I shall show, however, that the history of this personage is evidently mythical or allegorical, and therefore this explanation merely cakes the inquiry a step backward to the question, What is the etymology of Rosenkreuze? The second derivation proposed is from the Latin words Ros, dew, and Crux, cross. This has been countenanced by Mosheim, who is followed by Ree's Encyclopædia; and other publications. The argument in its favour may be fairly represented by the following quotation:--"Of all natural bodies, dew was deemed the most powerful dissolvent of gold; and the cross, in chemical language, was equivalent to light; because the figure of a cross exhibits at the same time the three letters of which the word lux, or light, is compounded. Now, lux is called . . . the seed or menstruum of the red dragon, or, in other words, that gross and corporeal light, which, when properly

digested and modified, produces gold. Hence it follows, if this etymology be admitted, that a Rosycrucian philosopher is one who by the intervention and assistance of the dew, seeks for light, or, in other words, the substance called the Philosopher's Stone." 1

This opinion exaggerates the importance attributed to the dew of the alchemists. The universal dissolvent has figured under various names, of which ros is by no means most general; the comprehensive "Lexicon Alchymiæ" does not mention it. According to Gaston le Doux, in his "Dictionnaire Hermétique," Dew, simply so called, signifies Mercury; Dew of the Philosophers is the matter of the stone when under the manipulation of the artist, and chiefly during its circulations in the philosophical egg. The White and Celestial Dew of the Wise is the philosophical stone perfected to the White. Mosheim derived his opinion from Peter Gassendi, 2 and from a writer in Eusebius Renandot's "Conferences Publiques," 3 who confesses that he knew nothing whatsoever of the Rosicrucians till the task of speaking on the subject was imposed on him by the Bureau d’Addresse. He says:--"Dew, the most powerful dissolvent of gold which is to be found among natural and non-corrosive substances, is nothing else but light coagulated and rendered corporeal; when it is artistically concocted and digested in its own vessel during a suitable period it is the true menstruum of the Red Dragon, i.e., of gold, the true matter of the Philosophers. The society desiring to bequeath to posterity the ineffaceable sign of this secret, caused them to adopt the name Frères de la Rozée Cuite." The mystic triad

of the Society, F. R. C., has been accordingly interpreted Fratres Roris Cocti, the Brotherhood of the Concocted or Exalted Dew, but the explanation has little probability in itself.

"Several chemists," says Pernetz, in his "Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermétique," "have regarded the dew of May and September as the matter of the Magnum Opus, influenced doubtless by the opinion of various authors that dew was the reservoir of the universal spirit of Nature. . . . But when we seriously study the texts of the true philosophers, wherein they snake reference to dew, we are soon convinced that they only speak of it by a similitude, and that theirs is metallic, that is, it is the mercurial water sublimated into vapour within the vase, and precipitated at the bottom in the form of fine rain. Thus when they write of the dew of the month of May, they are referring to that of their philosophic Spring, which is governed by the gemini of the alchemical Zodiack, which differs from the ordinary astronomical Zodiack. Philalethes has positively said that their dew is their mercurial water rising from putrefaction."

The third derivation is that which was generally adopted, even from the beginning, by writers directly or indirectly connected with the Rosicrucians. It deduces the term in question from the words rosa, rose, and crux. This is sanctioned by various editions of the society's authoritative documents, which characterise it as the Broederschafft des Roosen Creutzes, that is, the Rose-Crucians, or Fratres Rosatæ Crucis, according to the "Confessio Recepta," terms quite excluding the conception of dew, which in German is Thau, while in Latin the Brothers of the Dewy Cross would be Fratres Roratæ Crucis. This derivation is also supported by the supposed symbol of the Order, whose "emblem,

monogram, or jewel," says Godfrey Higgins, "is a Red Rose on a Cross, thus:--

When it can be done it is surmounted with a glory and placed on a calvary. When it is worn appended and made of cornelian, garnet, ruby, or red glass, the calvary and glory are generally omitted." 1

Mr Hargrave Jennings, who borrows the whole of this passage 2 without acknowledgment of any kind, also tells us that "the jewel of the Rosicrucians is formed of a transparent red stone with a red cross on one side and a red rose on the other--thus it is a crucified rose."

All derivations, however, are to some extent doubtful and tentative. The official proclamations of the Society are contained in the "Fama Fraternitatis," and in the "Confessio Fraternitatis," which, in their original editions, appear to describe it simply as the Fraternitas de R. C., while the initials of its founder are given as C. R. "The Chemical Nuptials of Christian Rosen Kreuze," published anonymously at Strasbourg in 1616, and undeniably connected with the order, seem to identify it as the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross, and its founder as Father Rosycross. These designations at any rate were immediately adopted in Germany, and they appear in the subsequent editions of both manifestos,

though as early as 1618 I find Michael Maier, the alchemist, expressing a different opinion on this point in his "Themis Aurea, hoc est, De Legibus Fraternitatis R. C. Tractatus." "No long time elapsed, when the Society first became known by that which was written, before an interpreter came forward who conjectured those letters to signify the Rose Cross, in which opinion the matter remains till this present, notwithstanding that the Brothers in subsequent writings do affirm it to be erroneously so denominated, and testify that the letters R. C. denote the name of their first inaugurator. 1 If the mind of one man could search that of another and behold formed therein the idea or sensible and intelligible form, there would be no necessity for speech or writing among men. But this being denied to us while we subsist in this corporeal nature, though doubtless granted to pure intelligences, we explain our rational conceptions one to another by the symbols of language and writing. Therefore letters are of high efficacy when they embrace a whole society and maintain order therein, nor is an opportunity afforded to the curious to draw omens from integral names, nor from families situations, nor from places persons, nor from persons the secrets of affairs."

Proposing his own definitions, he says:--"I am no augur nor prophet, notwithstanding that once I partook of the laurel, and reposed a few brief hours in the shadow of Parnassus; nevertheless, if I err not, I have unfolded the significance of the characters R. C. in the enigmas of the sixth book of the Symbols of the Golden Table. R signifies Pegasus, and C, if the sense not the sound be considered,

lilium. Let the KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARCANA be the key to thee. Lo, I give thee the Arcanum! d. wmml. zii. w. sgqqhka. x. Open if thou canst. . . . Is not this the hoof of the Red Lion or the drops of the Hippocrene fountain?" Beneath this barbarous jargon we discern, however, an analogy with the Rose symbolism. Classical tradition informs us that the Red Rose sprang from the blood of Adonis, but Pegasus was a winged horse which sprang from the blood of Medusa, and the fountain of Hippocrene was produced by a stroke of the hoof of Pegasus.

In England the pseudonymous author of the "Summum Bonum," who is supposed to be Robert Fludd, gives a purely religious explanation of the Rose Cross symbol, asserting it to mean "the Cross sprinkled with the rosy blood of Christ." 1 The general concensus of opinion is preferable to fanciful interpretations, and we may therefore safely take the words Rosa and Crux as explanatory of the name Rosicrucian, and by Fratres R. C. we may understand Fratres Roseæ Crucis, despite the silence of the manifestos and the protests of individual alchemists.

The next question which occurs is the significance of this curious emblem--a Red Rose affixed to a red, or, according to some authors, a golden cross. This question cannot be definitely answered. The-characteristic sign of a secret society will be naturally as mysterious as itself in the special meaning which the society may attach to it, but some intelligence concerning it can perhaps be gleaned from its analysis with universal symbolism. Now, the Rose and the Cross, in their separate significance, are emblems of the most palmary importance and the highest antiquity.

There is a Silver Rose, called Tamara Pua, in the Paradise of the Brahmans. "This Paradise is a garden in heaven, to which celestial spirits are first admitted on their ascent from the terrestrial sphere. The Rose contains the images of two women, as bright and fair as a pearl; but these two are only one, though appearing as if distinct according to the medium, celestial or terrestrial, through which they are viewed. In the first aspect she is called the Lady of the Mouth, in the other, the Lady of the Tongue, or the Spirit of Tongues. In the centre of this Silver Rose, God has his permanent residence."

A correspondence will be readily recognised between this divine woman or virgin--two and yet one, who seems to typify the Logos, the Spirit of Wisdom, and the Spirit of Truth--and the two-edged sword of the Spirit in the Apocalypse, the Sapientia quæ ex ore Altissimii prodiit, as it is called in the sublime Advent antiphon of the Latin Church. The mystical Rose in the centre of the allegorical garden is continually met with in legend. Buddha is said to have been crucified for robbing a garden of a flower, 1 and after a common fashion of mythology, the divine Avatar of the Indians is henceforth identified with the object for which he suffered, and he becomes himself "a flower, a Rose, a Padma, Lotus, or Lily." Thus he is the Rose crucified, and we must look to the far East for the origin of the Rosicrucian emblem. According to Godfrey Higgins, this is "the Rose of Isuren, of Tamul, and of Sharon, crucified for the salvation of men--crucified," he continues, "in the heavens at the vernal equinox." In this connection we may remember the

[paragraph continues] Gnostic legend that Christ was crucified in the Empyrean; and as Nazareth, according to St Jerome, signified the flower, and was situated in Carmel, "the vineyard or garden of God," Jesus of Nazareth, by a common extension of the symbolism, is sometimes identified as this crucified flower. 1

In classical fable, the garden of Midas, the King of the Phrygians, was situated at the foot of Mount Bermion, and was glorified by the presence of roses with sixty petals, which exhaled an extraordinary fragrance. Now, the rose was sacred to Dionysius, or Bacchus, and Bacchus endowed Midas with the power of transmuting everything into gold; so here is a direct connection between the Rose and Alchemy.

In the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, Lucius is restored to his human shape by devouring a chaplet of roses. Everywhere the same typology meets us. The Peruvian Eve sinned by plucking roses, which are also called Frute del Arbor. 2 A messenger from heaven announces to the Mexican Eve that she will bear a Son who shall bruise the serpent's head; he presents her with a Rose, and this gift was followed by an Age of Roses, as in India there was the Age of the Lotus.

There are occasional allusions to the Rose in the Hebrew Scriptures, but it is used as a poetic image rather than an arcane symbol, and as such it has been always in high favour with poets. 3

In the west it appears for the first time in allegorical literature as the central figure in the "four-square garden" of the ancient "Romance of the Rose." The first part of this poem was written by Guillaume de Lorris before the year 1260, and it was completed by Jean de Meung, whose death occurred in the year 1316, according to the general opinion. This extraordinary work, once of universal popularity, is supposed by some of its commentators to admit of an alchemical interpretation, and openly professes the principles of the Magnum Opus. 1 The garden, or vergier, which contains the Rose, is richly sculptured on its outer walls with symbolical figures of Hatred, Treason, Meanness, Covetousness, Avarice, Envy, Sadness, Age, Hypocrisy, Poverty--all the vices and miseries of mortality. Idleness opens the gate to him, Merriment greets him and draws him into the dance, and then he beholds the God of Love, accompanied by Dous-Regars, a youth who carries his bows and arrows, by Beauty, Wealth, Bounty, Frankness, Courtesy, &c. The lover, while he is contemplating the loveliness of the Rose,

Qui est si vermeille et si fine . . . Des foilles i ot quatre paire, Que Nature par grand mestire I ot assises tire à tire.

Le coe ot droite comme jons, Et par dessus siet li boutons, Si qu ’il ne cline ne ne pent. L’ odor de lui entor s’ espent; La soatisme qui en ist, Toute la place replenist, 1

is pierced by the shafts of the deity, but he does not in spite of his sufferings abandon his project, which is to possess the Rose, and after imprisonment and various adventures,

La conclusion du Rommant Est que vous voyez cy l’Amant Qui prent la Rose à son plaisir, En qui estoit tout son désir.

[paragraph continues] It will require no acquaintance with the methods of the symbolists to discern the significance of this allegory:--

La Rose c’est d’Amour le guerdon gracieux. 2

[paragraph continues] But a little later the same emblem reappears in the sublime poem of Dante. The Paradise of the Divina Commedia 

consists, says Eliphas Lévi, of "a series of Kabbalistic circles divided by a Cross, like Ezekiel's pantacle; a Rose blossoms in the centre of this Cross, and it is for the first time that we find the symbol of the Rosicrucians publicly and almost categorically revealed."

The passage referred to, so far as regards the Rose, is as follows:--

"There is in heaven a light, whose goodly shine Makes the Creator visible to all Created, that in seeing him alone Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far, That the circumference were too loose a zone To girdle in the sun. All is one beam, Reflected from the summit of the first, That moves, which being hence and vigour takes. And as some cliff; that from the bottom eyes His image mirror’d in the crystal flood, As if to admire his brave apparelling Of verdure and of flowers; so, round about, Eyeing the light, on more than million thrones, Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth Has to the skies return’d. How wide the leaves Extended to their utmost, of this ROSE, Whose lowest step embosoms such a space Of ample radiance! Yet, nor amplitude Nor height impeded, but my view with ease Took in the full dimension of that joy. Near or remote, what then avails, where God Immediate rules, 1 and Nature, awed, suspends Her sway? Into the yellow of the Rose Perennial, which, in bright expansiveness, Lays forth its gradual blooming, redolent Of praises to the never-wintering sun. . . . Beatrice led me. . . .

In fashion as a snow-white Rose lay then Before my view the saintly multitude, Which in his own blood Christ espoused. Meanwhile That other host that soar aloft to gaze And celebrate His glory whom they love, Hovered around, and like a troop of bees Amid the vernal sweets alighting now, Now clustering where their fragrant labour glows, Flew downward to the mighty flower; a rose From the redundant petals streaming back Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy. Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold: The rest was whiter than the driven snow. And as they flitted down into the flower, From range to range fanning their plumy loins, Whispered the peace and ardour which they won From that soft winnowing. Shadow none, the vast Interposition of such numerous flights Cast from above, upon the flower, or view Obstructed aught. For through the Universe Wherever merited, Celestial Light Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.                CARY'S DANTE, "The Paradise," xxx., xxxi.

"Not without astonishment will it be discovered," continues Lévi, that the Roman de la Rose and the Divine Comedy are two opposite forms of the same work--initiation into intellectual independence, satire on all contemporary institutions and allegorical formulations of the great secrets of the Rosicrucian Society. These important manifestations of occultism coincide with the epoch of the downfall of the Templars, since Jean de Meung or Clopinel, contemporary of Dante's old age, flourished during his most brilliant years at the Court of Philippe le Bel. The 'Romance of the Rose' is the epic of ancient France. It is a profound work in a trivial guise, as learned an exposition of the mysteries of occultism as that of Apuleius. The Rose of Flamel, of Jean de Meung, and of Dante, blossomed on the same rose-tree."

This is ingenious and interesting, but it assumes the point in question, namely, the antiquity of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, which, it is needless to say, cannot be proved by the mere existence of their symbols in the mystical poetry of a remote period. In the Paradise of Dante we find, however, the emblem whose history we are tracing, placed, and assuredly not without reason, in the supreme, central heaven amidst the intolerable manifestation of the Untreated Light, the Shecinah of Rabbinical theosophy, 1 the chosen habitation of God--"a sacred Rose and Flower of Light, brighter than a million suns, immaculate, inaccessible, vast, fiery with magnificence, and surrounding God as if with a million veils. This symbolic Rose is as common a hierogram throughout the vast temples and palaces of the Ancient East as it is in the immense ruins of Central America." 2

From the time of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines a common device in heraldry is the Rose-Emblem. It figures on our English coins; it is used as a royal badge in the Civil War between the houses of York and Lancaster, it is associated above all with the great mediæval cultus of the Mother of God, being our Lady's flower par excellence, as the lily is characteristic of St Joseph. "As an emblem of the Virgin, the Rose, both white and red, appears at a very early period; it was especially so recognised by St Dominic, when he instituted the devotion of the rosary, with direct reference to St Mary. The prayers appear to have been symbolised as roses." 3 In Scandinavia the same flower was sacred to the goddess Holda, who is called "Frau

[paragraph continues] Rosa," and "it was partly transferred, as were other emblems of Holda, Freyja, and Venus, to the Madonna, who is frequently called by the Germans, Mariën-Röschen . . . But there has been a tendency to associate the White Rose with the Virgin Mary, that being chiefly chosen for her feast-days, while the more earthly feelings associated with the 'Frau Rosa,' are still represented in the superstitions connected with the Red Rose."

In Germany it appears as the symbol of silence. It was sculptured on the ceiling of the banquet hall to warn the guests against the repetition of what was heard beneath it. "The White Rose was especially sacred to silence. It was carved in the centre of the Refectory of the ancients for the same reason," and the expression Sub Rosa, which was equivalent among the Romans to an inviolable pledge, originated in the ancient dedication of the flower to Aphrodite, and its reconsecration by Cupid to Harpocrates, the tutelary deity of Silence, to induce him to conceal the amours of the goddess of love.

In mediæval alchemy Rosa signifies Tartarum, and in the twelfth Clavis of Basil Valentine there is a vase or yoni with a pointed lingam rising from its centre, and having on each side a sprig surmounted by a Rose. Above is the well-known emblem

which symbolises the accomplishment of the Magnum Opus, while through an open window the sun and moon shed down their benign influence and concur in the consummation of the ineffable act. 1

The same Rose-symbol is to be found in the hieroglyphics of Nicholas Flamel--

The mystic Rose Of Hermic lore, which issues bright and fair, Strange virtues circling with the sap therein, Beneath the Universal Spirit's breath, From the Mercurial Stone.

Finally, in 1598, Henry Khunrath, a supreme alchemical adept, published his "Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ," containing nine singular pantacles, of which the fifth is a Rose of Light, in whose centre there is a human form extending its arms in the form of a cross, and thus reversing the order.

The Cross is a hierogram of, if possible, still higher antiquity than the floral emblem. It is at any rate more universal and contains a loftier and more arcane significance. Its earliest form is the Crux Ansata,

which, according to some authorities, signified hidden wisdom, and the life of the world to come; according to others, it is the lingam; as the hieroglyphic sign of Venus it is an ancient allegorical figure, and represents the metal copper in alchemical typology. The Crux Ansata and the Tau

are met with on most Egyptian monuments. In the latter form it was an emblem of the creative and generative energy, and, according to Payne Knight, was, even in pre-Christian times, a sign of salvation.

The Cross, "the symbol of symbols," was used also by the Chaldæans; by the Phoenicians, who placed it on their coins; by the Mexicans, who paid honour to it and represented their God of the Air, nailed and immolated thereon; by the Peruvians, who, in a sacred chamber of their palace, kept and venerated a splendid specimen carved from a single piece of fine jasper or marble; and by the British Druids. It was emblazoned on the banners of Egypt, and in that country, as in China, was used to indicate "a land of corn and plenty." When divided into four equal segments it symbolised the primeval abode of man, the traditional Paradise of Eden. It entered into the monograms of Osiris, of Jupiter Ammon, and of Saturn; the Christians subsequently adopted it, and the Labarum of Constantine is identical with the device of Osiris. It is equally common in India, and, according to Colonel Wilford, is exactly the Cross of the Manichees, with leaves, flowers, and fruits springing from it. It is called the divine tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of life and knowledge, and is productive of all things good and desirable. 1

According to Godfrey Higgins we must go to the Buddhists for the origin of the Cross, "and to the Lama of Thibet, who takes his name from the Cross, called in his language Lamh." The Jamba, or cosmic tree, which Wilford calls, the tree of life and knowledge, figures in their maps of the "world as a cross 84 joganas (answering to the 84 years of the life of Him who was exalted upon the Cross), or 423 miles high, including the three steps of the Calvary, with which, after the orthodox Catholic

fashion, it was invariably represented. The neophyte of the Indian Initiations was sanctified by the sign of a Cross, which was marked on every part of his body. After his perfect regeneration it was again set upon his forehead and inverted upon his breast. 1

The paschal lamb of the Jewish passover was roasted on a cross-shaped wooden spit, and with this sign Ezekiel ordered the people to be marked who were to be spared by the destroyer. Thus it figures as a symbol of salvation, but classical mythology attributes its invention to Ixion, who was its first victim. As an instrument of suffering and death, it is not, however, to be found on ancient monuments. It had no orthodox shape among the Romans when applied to this purpose, and the victims were either tied or nailed, "being usually left to perish by thirst and hunger." 2

In the Christendom of both the East and West this divine symbol has a history too generally known to need recapitulation here. On this point the student may consult the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," where a mass of information is collected.

The following interesting passage will show the connection which exists between the Cross and alchemy. "In common chemistry," says Pernetz, crosses form characters which indicate the crucible, vinegar, and distilled vinegar. But as regards hermetic science, the Cross is . . . the symbol of the four elements. And as the philosophical stone is composed of the most pure substance of the grosser elements . . ., they have said, In cruce salus, salvation is in the Cross; by comparison with the salvation of our souls purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ who hung on the

tree of the Cross. Some of them have even pushed their audacity further, and fear not to employ the terms of the New Testament to form their allegories and enigmas. Jean de Roquetaillade, known under the name of Jean de Rupe Scissa, and Arnaud de Villeneuve, say in their works on the composition of the Stone of the Philosophers:--It is needful that the Son of Man be lifted up on the Cross before being glorified; to signify the volatilisation of the fixed and igneous part of the matter." 1

I have briefly traced the typological history of the Rose and Cross. It is obvious, as I have already remarked, that the antiquity of these emblems is no proof of the antiquity of a society which we find to be using them at a period subsequent to the Renaissance. It does not even suppose that society's initiation into the hieratic secrets which the elder world may have summarised in those particular symbols. In the case which is in question, such a knowledge would involve the antiquity of the Rosicrucians, because it is only at a time long subsequent to their first public appearance that the past has been sufficiently disentombed to uncover the significance of its symbols to uninitiated students. Can a correspondence be established between the meaning of the Rose and the Cross as they are used by the ancient hierogrammatists, and that of the Rose-Cross as it is used by the Rosicrucian Fraternity? This is the point to be ascertained. If a connection there be, then in some way, we may not know what, the secret has been handed down from generation to generation, and the mysterious brotherhood which manifested its existence spontaneously at the beginning of the seventeenth century, is affiliated with the hierophants of Egypt and India, who,

almost in the night of time, devised their allegories and emblems for the blind veneration of the vulgar and as lights to those who knew.

In the fifth book of the "Histoire de la Magie," Eliphas Lévi provides the following commentary on the Rosicrucian symbol:--

"The Rose, which from time immemorial has been the symbol of beauty and life, of love and pleasure, expressed in a mystical manner all the protestations of the Renaissance. It was the flesh revolting against the oppression of the spirit, it was Nature declaring herself to be, like grace, the daughter of God, it was love refusing to be stifled by the celibate, it was life desiring to be no longer barren, it was humanity aspiring to a natural religion, full of love and reason, founded on the revelation of the harmonies of existence of which the Rose was for initiates the living and blooming symbol. The Rose, in fact, is a pantacle; its form is circular, the leaves of the corolla are heart-shaped, and are supported harmoniously by one another; its colour presents the most delicate shades of primitive hues; its calyx is purple and gold. . . . The conquest of the Rose was the problem offered by initiation to science, while religion toiled to prepare and establish the universal, exclusive, and definitive triumph of the Cross.

"The reunion of the Rose and the Cross, such was the problem proposed by supreme initiation, and, in effect, occult philosophy, being the universal synthesis, should take into account all the phenomena of Being."

This extremely suggestive explanation has the characteristic ingenuity of the hierophants of theosophical science, but it has no application whatsoever to the ostensible or

ascertainable aims of the Rosicrucian adepts. It is the product of intellectual subtlety and the poetic gift of discerning curious analogies; it is quite beside the purpose of serious historical inquiry, and my object in quoting it here is to show by the mere fact of its existence that the whole question of the significance of the Crucified Rose, in its connection with the society, is one of pure conjecture, that no Rosicrucian manifestos and no acknowledged Brother have ever given any explanation concerning it, and that no presumption is afforded by the fact of its adoption for the antiquity of the society or for its connection with universal symbolism.

The researches of various writers, all more or less competent, have definitely established the Crux Ansata as typical of the male and female generative organs in the act of union, the Egyptian Tau, with its variants as typical of the masculine potency, and the Rose as the feminine emblem. Then by a natural typological evolution the Cross came to signify the divine creative energy which fecundated the obscure matrix of the primeval substance and caused it to bring forth the universe. The simple union of the Rose and the Cross suggests the same meaning as the Crux Ansata, but the crucified Buddhistic Rose may be a symbol of the asceticism which destroys natural desire. There is little correspondence, in either case, with known Rosicrucian tenets, and, therefore, the device of the Rose-Cross is separated from ancient symbolism, and is either a purely arbitrary and thus unexplainable sign, or its significance is to be sought elsewhere.

Now, I purpose to show that the Rosicrucians were united with a movement, which, originating in Germany, was destined to revolutionise the world of thought and to

transform the face of Europe; that the symbols of the Rose and the Cross were prominently and curiously connected with this movement, and that the subsequent choice of these emblems by the secret society in question, followed naturally from the fact of this connection, and is easily explainable thereby. To accomplish this task satisfactorily, I must first lay before my readers the facts and documents which I have collected concerning the Fraternity.

Footnotes

6:1 Mosheim, Book iv., sect. 1.

6:2 "Examen Philosophiæ Fluddanæ," sect. 15, op. iii,, 261.

6:3 "Conferences du Bureau d’Addresse," vol. v., p. 509.

8:1 Anacalypsis, ii., p. 243.

8:2 "The Rosicrucians," &c., p. 281. Ed. 1870.

9:1 The "Fama Fraternitatis" makes use of the initials C. R., afterwards of R. C., C. R. C., &c., to designate their founder.

10:1 Elsewhere he interprets the letters F.R.C. to mean Faith, Religion, and Charity. See Renandot, "Conferences Publiques," v., p. 509.

11:1 The same story is told of Indra, who was crucified by the keepers of the Hindoo Paradise for having robbed it.

12:1 Professor Max Müller considers the word ῥόδον to be Aryan, and originally to have meant simply a sprig or flower.

12:2 "Mexican Antiquities," vol. vi., p. 120.

12:3 In Persia it is connected with the nightingale. "Tradition says that the bird utters a plaintive cry whenever the flower is gathered, and that it will hover round the plant in the spring-time, till, overpowered with its fragrance, it falls senseless to the ground. The Rose is supposed to burst forth from its bud at the opening song of the nightingale. You may place a handful of fragrant herbs p. 13 and flowers before the nightingale," say the Persian poets. "Yet he wishes not, in his constant and faithful heart, for more than the sweet breath of his beloved Rose."--Friend, "Flowers and Flower Lore." There is a Persian Feast of Roses, which lasts the whole time the flower is in bloom.

13:1 See in particular the verses 16914 to 16997, and the speech of Genius.

"Jean de Meung," says Langlet du Fresnoy in his "Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique," flourished at the Court and at Paris in the pontificate of John XXII., and according to the fashion of the times was addicted to the curious sciences, and in particular to Hermetic Philosophy. He composed two treatises called "Nature's Remonstrances to the Alchemist," and "The Alchemist's Answer to Nature."

14:1

Amongs the knoppes I these one So faire, that of the remnant none Ne preise I halfe so well as it, Whan I avise in my wit, For it so well was enlumined With colour red, as well fined As nature could it make faire, And it hath leaves well foure paire, That kinde hath set through his knowing About the red roses springing, The stalke was as rishe right, And thereon stood the knoppe upright. That it ne bowed upon no side, The swote smell sprung so wide, That it died all the place about.            CHAUCER, "The Romaunt of the Rose."

14:2 Baïf--"Sonnet to Charles IX."

15:1 Compare the Oriental legend, previously cited, of that Silver Rose in which God has His permanent residence. It is an extraordinary instance of identity in the celestial symbolism of East and West.

17:1 See Additional Notes, No. 1.

17:2 "The Book of God," part iii., p. 511.

17:3 Hilderic Friend, "Flowers and Flower-Lore."

18:1 See Additional Notes, No. 2.

20:1 "Asiatic Researches," x. 124. The pre-Christian cross is not infrequently associated with a tree or trees. Balfour, "Cyclop. of India," i., p. 891.

21:1 "History of Initiations."

21:2 Higgins’ "Anacalypsis," i., pp. 500, 503.

22:1 "Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermétique."

Introduction

CHAPTER XIII.

ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: JOHN HEYDON.

THE last of the line of apologists who has any claim on our notice is the extraordinary Royalist mystic and geomancer, John Heydon, who, in the preface to "The Holy Guide," has left us the following interesting and curious fragment of autobiography:--

"I was descended from a noble family of London in

[paragraph continues] England, being born of a complete tall stature, small limbs, but in every part proportionable, of a dark flaxen haire, it curling as you see in the Effigies, 1 and the above figures of

[paragraph continues] Astrologie at the time I was born: this is also the Character of my Genius Malhitriel, and Spirit Taphza Benezelthar Thascraphimarah. I had the small pox and rickets very

young--Ascendent to Conjunction, Mars, and Sol to the quartile of Saturn. I was at Tardebich in Warwickshire, neer Hewel, where my mother was borne, and there I learned, and so carefull were they to keep me to the book and from danger, that I had one purposely to attend me at school and at home. For, indeed, my parents were both of them honourably descended. They put me to learn the Latine tongue to one Mr George Linacre, the minister of the Gospel at Golton; of him I learned the Latine and Greek perfectly, and then was fitted for Oxford. But the Warrs began, and the Sun came to the body of Saturn and frustrated that design; and whereas you are pleased to stile me a noble-natured, sweet gentleman, 1 you see my nativity:--Mercury, Venus, and Saturn are strong, and by them the Dragon's head and Mars, I judge my behaviour full of rigour, and acknowledge my conversation austere. In my devotion I love to use the civility of my knee, my hat, and hand, with all those outward and sensible motions which may express or promote invisible devotion. I followed the army of the King to Edgehill, and commanded a troop of horse, but never violated any man, &c., nor defaced the

memory of saint or martyr. I never killed any man wilfully, but took him prisoner and disarmed him; I did never divide myself from any man upon the difference of opinion, or was angry with his judgment for not agreeing with me in that from which, perhaps, within a few dayes, I should dissent myself. I never regarded what religion any man was of that did not question mine. And yet there is no Church in the world whose every part so squares unto my conscience, whose articles, constitutions, and customs seem so consonant unto reason, and, as it were, framed to my particular devotion as this whereof I hold my belief, the Church of England, to whose faith I am a sworn subject, and therefore in a double obligation subscribe unto her articles, and endeavour to observe her constitutions. Whatsoever is beyond, as points indifferent, I observe according to the rules of my private reason, or the humour and fashion of my devotion, neither believing this because Luther affirmed it, or disproving that because Calvin hath disfavoured it. Now as all that dye in the war are not termed souldiers, neither can I properly term all those that suffer in matters of religion martyrs. And I say, there are not many extant that in a noble way fear the face of death lesse than myselfe; yet from the moral duty I owe to the commandement of God, and the natural respects that I tender unto the conversation of my essoine and being, I would not perish upon a ceremony, politique points, or indifferency; nor is my belief of that untractable temper, as not to bow at their obstacles or connive at matters wherein there are not manifest impieties. The leaves, therefore, and ferment of all, not only civil, but religious actions, is wisdome, without which to commit ourselves to the flames is homicide, and, I fear, but to passe through one fire into another. I behold, as a champion,

with pride and spirites, and trophies of my victories over my enemies, and can with patience embrace this life, yet in my best meditations do often defie death; I honour any man that contemns it, nor can I love any that is afraid of it--this makes me naturally love a souldier that will follow his captain. In my figure you may see that I am naturally bashful. Yet you may read my qualities on my countenance. About the time I travelled into Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Arabia, the Ascendent was then directed to the Trine of the Moon, Sextile of Mercury and Quartile of Venus. I studied philosophy and writ this treatise, 1 and the 'Temple of Wisdome,' &c. Conversation, age, or travell hath not been able to affront or enrage me, yet I have one part of the modesty which I have seldom discovered in another, that is (to speak truly), I am not so much afraid of Death as ashamed thereof. It is the very disgrace and ignominy of our natures, that in a moment can so disfigure us that our beloved friends stand afraid and start at us; the birds and beasts of the field that before in a naturall feare obeyed us, forgetting all allegiance, begin to prey upon us. This very thought in a storm at sea hath disposed and left me willing to be swallowed up in the abyss of waters, wherein I had perished unseen, unpitied, without wondering eyes, tears of pity, lectures of morality, and none had said;--Quantum mutatus ab illo. Not that I am ashamed of the anatomy of my parts, or can accuse Nature of playing the pupil in any part of me, or my own vitious life for contracting any shameful disease upon me, whereby I might not call myself a compleat bodyed man, free from all diseases, sound, and, I thank God, in perfect health.

"I writ my 'Harmony of the World,' when they were all at discord, and saw many revolutions of kingdomes,

emperours, grand signiours, and popes; I was twenty when this book was finished, but me thinks I have outlived myself, and begin to be weary of the Sun, although the Sun now applies to a Trine of Mars. I have shaken hands with delight and know all is vanity, and I think no man can live well once but he that could live twice, yet for my part I would not live over my howres past, or begin again the minutes of my dayes, not because I have lived them well, but for fear I should live them worse. At my death I mean to take a total adieu of the world, not caring for the burthen of a tombstone and epitaph, nor so much as the bare memory of my name to be found anywhere, but in the Universal Register of God. I thank God that with joy I mention it, I was never afraid of Hell, nor never grew pale at the mention of Sheol, or Tophet, &c., because I understand the policy of a pulpit, and fix my contemplations on Heaven.

"I writ the 'Rosie Crucian Infallible Axiomata,' in foure books, and study not for my own sake only but for theirs that study not for themselves. In the Law I began to be a perfect clerk; I writ the 'Idea of the Law,' &c., for the benefit of my friends and practice in the King's Bench. I envy no man that knows more than myself, but pitty them that know lesse. For Ignorance is rude, uncivill, and will abuse any man, as we see in bayliffs, who are often killed for their impudent attempts; they'll forge a warrant and fright a fellow to fling away his money, that they may take it up; the devill, that did but buffet St. Paul, playes me thinks at Sharpe with me. To do no injury nor take none, was a principle which to my former years and impatient affection seemed to contain enough of morality, but my more settled years and Christian constitution have fallen upon severer resolutions. I hold there is no such thing as injury, and if there be, there is no such injury as revenge, and no such

revenge as the contempt of an injury. There be those that will venture to write against my doctrine, when I am dead, that never durst answer me when alive. I see Cicero is abused by Cardan, who is angry at Tully for praising his own daughter; and Origanus is so impudent, that he adventures to forge a position of the heavens and calls it Cornelius Agrippa's nativity, and they say that Cornelius was borne to believe lyes and to broach them. Is not this unworthiness to write such lyes, and shew such reasons for them? His nativity I could never finde, I believe no man knows it, but by a false figure thus they scandalize him. And so they may use me, but behold the scheam of my nativity in Geomancy,

and the character of my spirit Taphzabnezeltharthaseraphimarah,

projected by a learned lord for the honour (? hour) of birth. Now let any astrologer, geomancer, philosopher, &c., judge my geniture; the figures are right according to the exact time of my birth, rectified by accidents and verified by the effects of directions. Now in the midst of all my endeavours, there is but one thought that dejects me--that my acquired parts mast perish with myself, nor can be legacyed amongst my dearly beloved and honoured friends. I do not fall out or contemn a man for an errour, or conceive why a difference in opinion should divide an affection; for a modest reproof or dispute, if it meet with discreet and peaceable natures, doth not infringe the laws of charity in all arguments.

"When the mid heaven was directed to the Trine of the Moon, I writ another book, and entituled it, 'The Fundamental Elements of Philosophy, Policy, Government and the Laws,' &c. After this time I had many misfortunes, and yet I think there is no man that apprehends his own miseries less than myself, and no man that so nearly apprehends another's. I could lose an arm without a tear, and with few groans, methinks, be quartered into pieces, yet can I weep seriously, with a true passion, to see the merciless Rebels in England forge a debt against the King's most loyall subjects,

purposely to put them in the Marshalsey, or other Houses of Hell to be destroyed in prison, or starved, or killed by the keepers, and then two or three poore old women for as many shillings shall perswade the Crowner and the people to believe the men dyed of consumptions. It is a barbarous part in humanity to add unto any afflicted parties’ misery, or endeavour to multiply in any man a passion whose single nature is already above his patience.

"The Ascendent to the Quartile of Saturn, and part of Fortune to the Sextile of the Moon came next; and it is true I had loved a lady in Devonshire, but when I seriously perused my nativity, I found the seventh House afflicted, and therefore never resolve to marry; for, behold, I am a man, and I know not how: I was so proportioned 1 and have something in me that can be without me, and will be after me, and here is the misery of a man's life; he eats, drinks, and sleeps to-day that he may do so tomorrow, and this breeds diseases, which bring death, 'for all flesh is grass.' And all these creatures we behold are but the herbs of the field digested into flesh in them, or more remotely carnified in ourselves; we are devourers not onely of men but of ourselves, and that not in an allegory but a positive truth, for all this masse of flesh which we behold came in at our mouths; this frame we look upon hath been upon our trenchers, and we have devoured ourselves, and what are we? I could be content that we might raise each other from death to life as Rosie Crucians doe without conjunction, or that there were any way to perpetuate the world without this trivial and vain way of coition as Dr Brown calls it. It is the foolishest act a wise man commits all his life, nor is there anything that will more deject his cold imagination than to consider what an odd

errour he hath committed. 1 Had the stars favoured me, I might have been happy in that sweet sex.

"I remember also that this Quartile of Saturn imprisoned me at a messenger's house for contending with Cromwell, who maliciously commanded I should be kept close in Lambeth House, as indeed I was two years. My person he feared, and my tongue and pen offended him, because, amongst many things, I said particularly, such a day he would die, and he dyed. It is very true Oliver opposed me all his life, and made my father pay seventeen-hundred pounds for his liberty; besides, they stole, under pretence of sequestering him, two thousand pounds in jewels, plate, &c., and yet the King's noblest servants suffer upon suspition of death.

"When the moon was directed to the Quartile of Sol, and the M. C. to the opposition of Sol, I was by the phanatick Committee of Safety committed to prison, and my books burnt, yet I would not entertain a base design, or an action that should call me villain, for all the riches in England; and for this only do I love and honour my own soul, and have, methinks, two arms too few to embrace myself. My conversation is like the Sun with all men, and with a friendly aspect to good and bad. Methinks there is no man bad, and the worst best, that is, while they are kept within the circle of those qualities wherein there is good. The method I should use in distributive justice I

often observe in commutation, and keep a geometrical proportion in both, whereby becomming equal to others, I become unjust to myself, and suberogate in that common principle, 'Doe unto others as thou wouldst be done unto thy self'; yet I give no alms to satisfie the hunger of my brother, but to fulfil and accomplish the will and command of God. This general and indifferent temper of mine doth nearly dispose me to this noble virtue amongst those million of vices I do inherit and hold from Adam. I have escaped one and that a mortal enemy to charity, the first and father sin, not onely of man, but of the devil, Pride--a vice whose name is comprehended in a monosyllable, but in its nature not circumscribed with a world. I have escaped it in a condition that can hardly avoid it; these petty acquisitions and reputed perfections that advance and elevate the conceits of other men add no feather unto mine. And this is the observation of my life--I can love and forgive even my enemies."

The materials supplied in this singular fragment of an autobiography are supplemented by a "Life of John Heydon," from the pen of Frederick Talbot, Esq., which was prefixed to "The Wise Man's Crown," and which I shall present to my readers in a compressed form, to avoid the prolixity and irrelevance of much of the original.

John Heydon, the son of Francis and Mary Heydon, now of Sidmouth in Devonshire, is not basely but nobly descended. Antiquaries derive them from Julius Heydon, King of Hungary and Westphalia, that were descended from the noble family of Cæsar Heydon in Rome, and since this royal race the line runs down to the Hon. Sir Christopher Heydon of Heydon, near Northwick; Sir John Heydon, late lord-lieutenant of the king's Tower of London,

and the noble Chandlers in Worcestershire of the mother's side, which line spread by marriage into Devonshire, among the Collins, Ducks, Drues, and Bears. He had one sister, named Anne Heydon, who dyed two years since, his father and mother being yet living. He was born at his father's house in Green-Arbour, London, and baptized at S. Sepulchre's, and so was his sister, both in the fifth and seventh years of the reign of King Charles I. He was educated in Warwickshire, among his mother's friends, and so careful were they to keep him and his sister from danger, and to their books, that they had one continually to wait upon them, both to the school and at home.

He was commended by Mr John Dennis, his tutor in Tardebick, to Mr George Linacre, priest of Cougheton, where he learned the Latine and Greek tongues. The war at this time began to molest the universities of this nation. He was then articled to Mr Michael Petty, an attorney at Clifford's Inn, with eighty pound, that at five years’ end he should be sworn before Chief Justice Roll. Being very young, he applyed his minde to learning, and by his happy wit obtained great knowledge in all arts and sciences. Afterwards he followed the armies of the King, and for his valour commanded in the troops. When he was by these means famous for learning and arms, he travelled into Spain, Italy, Arabia, Ægypt, and Persia, gave his minde to writing, and composed, about twenty years since, "The Harmony of the World," and other books, preserved by the good hand of God in the custody of Mr Thomas Heydon, Sir John Hanmer, Sir Ralph Freeman, and Sir Richard Temple. During the tyrant's time first one had these books, then another, and at last, at the command of these honourable, learned, and valiant knights, they were printed.

He wrote many excellent things, and performed many rare experiments in the arts of astromancy, geomancy, &c., but especially eighty-one--the first upon the King's death, predicted in Arabia by him to his friends; the second upon the losses of the King at Worcester, predicted at Thauris, in Persia; the third predicted the death of Oliver Cromwell in Lambeth House, to many persons of honour, mentioned in his books; the fourth he wrote of the overthrow of Lambert, and of the Duke of Albymarle his bringing again of the King to his happy countries, and gave it to Major Christopher Berkenhead, a goldsmith at the Anchor, by Fettes Lane End in Holborn; the fifth precaution or prediction he gave to his Highness the Duke of Buckingham, two months before the evil was practised, and his enemy, Abraham Goodman, lies now in the Tower for attempting the death of that noble prince; the sixth, for Count Grammont, when he was banished into England by the King of France; and he predicted, by the art of astromancy and geomancy, the King's receiving of him again into favor, and his marriage to the Lady Hamelton; the seventh, for Duke Minulaus, a peer of Germany, that, the Emperour sent to him when the Turk had an army against him, and of the death of the pope. The rest are in his books. By these monuments the name of Heydon, for the variety of his learning, was famous not onely in England, but also in many other nations into which his books are translated. He hath taught the way to happiness, the way to long life, the way to health, the way to wax young, being old; the way to resolve all manner of questions, present and to come, by the rules of astromancy and geomancy, and how to raise the dead.

He is a man of middle stature, tending to tallness, a

handsome straight body; an ovall, ruddy face, mixed with a clear white, his hair of a dark flaxen-brown colour, soft, and curling in rings gently at the ends of the locks; his hands and fingers long and slender, his legs and feet well proportioned, so that to look upon he is a very compleat gentleman. But he never yet cast affection on a woman, nor do I find him inclined to marry. He is very often in great ladies’ chambers, and, I believe, his modest behaviour makes them the more delighted in his company. The princes and peers, not only of England but of Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, send to him dayly, and upon every occasion he sheweth strong parts and a vigorous brain. His wishes and aimes speak him owner of a noble and generous heart; his excellent books are admired by the world of lettered men as prodigies of these later times; indeed (if I am able to judge anything), they are full of the profoundest learning I ever met withal'. if any man should question my judgement, they may read the comendations of both universities, besides the learned Thomas White and Thomas Revell, Esquires, both famous in Rome and other parts beyond sea, that have highly honoured this gentleman in their books. Yet he hath suffered many misfortunes. His father was sequestered, imprisoned, and lost two thousand pounds by Cromwell; this Oliver imprisoned this son also two years and a half, or thereabout, in Lambeth House, for he and his father's family were always for the king, and endeavoured to the utmost his restoration; and indeed the tyrant was cruel, but John Thurloe, his secretary, was kind to him, and pittied his curious youth. Joshua Leadbeater, the messenger, kept him (at his request and Mr John Bradley's) at his own house, and gave him often leave to go abroad, but being yet

zealous and active for the king, he was again taken and clapt up in Lambeth House. In these misfortunes it cost him £1000 and upwards. After this, some envious villains forged actions of debt against him, and put him in prison. It seems at the beginning of these misfortunes a certain harlot would have him marry her, but denying her suit, or that he ever promised any such thing, and that he ever spake to her in his life good or evil, she devised, with her confederates, abundance of mischief against him. Many courted him to marry, but he denyed. Now there was left amongst a few old almanacks and scraps of other men's wits, collected and bequeathed unto the world by Nicholas Culpeper, his widdow, Alice Culpeper; she hearing of this gentleman that he was an heir to a great fortune, courts him by letters of love to no purpose. The next saint in order was she that calls herself the German princess; but he flies high and scorns such fowl, great beasts. The first of these two blessed birds caused Heath to arrest him, and another after him laid actions against him that he never knew or heard of.

In this perplexity was he imprisoned two years, for they did desire nothing but to get money or destroy him, for fear, if ever he got his liberty, he might punish them; but he, being of a noble nature, forgave them all their malice, and scorns to revenge himself upon such pittiful things. God indeed hath done him justice, for this Heath consumes to worse then nothing; and, indeed, if I can judge or predict anything, his baudy-houses will be pawned, and he will die a miserable, diseased beggar. Heydon's mistris, when he was very young, and a clerk, desired him to lye with her; but he, like Joseph, refusing, she hated him all her life. God preserved him, although one of these three lewd women swore this gentleman practised the art magick.

[paragraph continues] She told Oliver Cromwell she saw familiar spirits come and go to him in the shape of conies, and her maid swore she had often seen them in his chamber when he was abroad, and sometimes walking upon the house top in a moonshine night, and sometimes vanishing away into a wall or aire; yet she never saw him in her life, nor could she tell what manner of man he was. These stories were not credited, and for all these, and many more, afflictions and false accusations, I never saw him angry, nor did he ever arrest or imprison any man or woman in all his life, yet no client of his was ever damnyfied in his suit.

He was falsly accused but lately of writing a seditious book, and imprisoned in a messenger's custody; but his noble friend, the duke of Buckingham, finding him innocent and alwaies for the king, he was discharged, and indeed this glorious duke is a very good and just judge; although some speak slightly of him, he studies the way to preserve his king and country in peace, plenty, and prosperity. It is pitty the king hath no more such brave men as he; a thousand such wise dukes as this,

"Like marshall’d thunder, back’d with flames of fire,"

would make all the enemies of the King and Christendome quake, and the Turk fly before such great generals. In all submission we humbly pray for this great prince, and leave him to his pleasure, and return to our subject.

John Heydon hath purposely forsaken Spittle-Fields, and his lodgings there, to live a private life, free from the concourse of multitudes of people that daily followed him; but if any desire to be advised, let them by way of letter leave their business at his booksellers, and they shall have answer and counsel without reward, for he is neither envious nor enemie to any man; what I write is upon my own knowledge.

He writes now from Hermeupolis, a place I was never at. It seems, by the word, to be the City of Mercury, and truly he hath been in many strange places, among the Rosie Crucians, and at their castles, holy houses, temples, sepulchres, sacrifices; all the world knows this gentleman studies honourable things, and faithfully communicates them to others; yet, if any traduce him hereafter, they must not expect his vindication. He hath referred his quarrel to the God of Nature; it is involved in the concernments of his truths, and he is satisfied with the peace of a good conscience. He hath been misinterpreted in his writing; with studied calumnies, they disparage his person whom they never saw, nor perhaps will see. He is resolved for the future to suffer, for he says, "God condemns no man for his patience." His enemies are forced to praise his vertue, and his friends are sorry he hath not ten thousand pounds a year. He doth not resent the common spleen; and when the world shall submit to the general tribunal, he will find his advocate where they shall find their judge. When I writ this gentleman's life, God can bear me witness, it was unknown to him, and for no private ends. I was forced to it by a strong admiration of the mistery and majesty of Nature written by this servant of God and secretary of Nature. I began his life some years since, and do set it down as I do finde it. If any man oppose this I shall answer; if you are for peace, peace be with you; if you are for war, I have been so too (Mr Heydon doth resolve never to draw sword again in England, except the King command him). Now, let not him that puts on the armour boast like him that puts it off. Gaudet patientia duris is his motto, and thus I present myself a friend to all artists, and enemy to no man.

The list of Heydon's published works is as follows:--

Eugenius Theodidactus, The Prophetical Trumpeter . . . illustrating the Fate of Great Britain. (A celestial vision in heroic verse) . . . By the Muses' most unworthy John Heydon. London, 1655.

A New Method of Rosie Crucian Physick; wherein is shewed the cause and . . . cure of all diseases. London, 1658. 4to.

Advice to a Daughter in opposition to advice to a Son, or directions for your better conduct through the various and most important events of this life. London, 1658. 12mo.

The Idea of the Law charactered from Moses to King Charles. London, 1660. 8vo.

The Rosie Crucian Infallible Axiomata; or, generall rules to know all things past, present, and to come. London, 1660. 12mo.

The Holy Guide, Leading the Way to the Wonder of the World: A Compleat Phisitian, teaching the knowledge of all things, past, present, and to come. London, 1662. 8vo.

Theomagia; or, The Temple of Wisdome. In three parts spirituall, celestiall, and elementall. London, 1662-3-4. 8vo.

The Harmony of the World, being a discourse of God, Heaven, Angels, Stars, Planets, Earth, &c., whereunto is added the State of the New Jerusalem. . . . London, 1662. 8vo.

Psonthonpanchia; Being a Word in Season to the Enemies of Christians, and an appeal to the natural faculties of the mind of man, whether there be not a God. London, 1664. 8vo.

The Wise Man's Crown; or, The Glory of the Rosie-Cross . . . with the full discovery of the true Cœlum Terræ, or first matter of the Philosophers. . . . With the Regio 

[paragraph continues] Lucis, and Holy Household of Rosie Crucian Philosophers. London, 1664. 8vo.

El Havarevna; or, the English Physitian's Tutor in the Astrobolismes of Mettals Rosie Crucian. London, 1665. 8vo.

The philosophical principles of John Heydon need hardly detain us long. That Typhon is the adversary of Beata Pulchra, that Hyle is the spirit of the cold and dry earth, that Beata Pulchra is the vivifying spirit of Nature, that the bodies of the dead rebellious angels became a fruitless and unprofitable chaos, are matters which will scarcely interest the serious student. His alchemical theories and experiments belong to the lowest dregs of this much degraded science, except in those parts which are bodily stolen from Eugenius Philalethes; 1 and all that is of value in his numerical mysticism, geomantic revelations, astromancy, and investigations of spiritual mysteries, is derived from anterior writers. His medical treatises are disfigured by his gross superstition and credulity; but the unheard of experiments and recipes which they occasionally provide make them extremely curious reading. Très rares, très curieux, et récherchés des amateurs, his books, one and all, command large prices in the market, and the republication of his marvellous Rosicrucian reveries and romances, is a venture that deserves well at the hands of all students of the byways of occultism.

In John Heydon we find the names Rosicrucian, Rosicrucianism, &c., used in a general sense, and as terms to conjure with. The supposed brethren are confounded with the elder alchemists, theosophists, etc., and an irrational

antiquity is gratuitously bestowed on them. The author denies that he is a member of the Fraternity, but he interprets all its secrets, and expounds all its doctrines, in an authoritative manner, and he claims personal acquaintance with various members of the Society, as will appear from the following

Footnotes

315:1 The portraits prefixed to several of John Heydon's works represent him as a young, beardless man, of an amiable but melancholy countenance.

316:1 This account is addressed to the high priest or grand master of the Rosicrucians, in whose presence he represents himself to be standing.

318:1 "The Holy Guide."

323:1 "I could be content that we might procreate like trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to perpetuate the world without this trivial and vulgar way of coition: it is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his life, nor is there anything that will more deject his cooled imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of folly he hath committed. I speak not in prejudice, nor am averse from that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful."--Religio Medici, pt. ii. sec. 9.

332:1 Compare the "Temple of Wisdome," vol. i., last pages, with the Preface to Vaughan's "Euphrates," and also with the "Occult Philosophy" of Agrippa, book iv.

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