CHAPTER IV.

THE CONFESSION OF THE ROSICRUCIAN FRATERNITY, ADDRESSED TO THE LEARNED OF EUROPE

.
THE translation of this manifesto which follows the Fama in the edition accredit
ed by the great name of Eugenius Philalethes is prolix and careless: being made
not from the Latin original but from the later German version. As a relic of Eng
lish Rosicrucian literature I have wished to preserve it, and having subjected i
t to a searching revision throughout, it now represents the original with suffic
ient fidelity for all practical purposes. The "Confessio Fraternitatis" appeared
in the year 1615 in a Latin work entitled "Secretioris Philosophiæ Consideratio B
revio à Philippo à Gabella, Philosophiæ studioso, conscripta; et nunc primum unà cum Con
fessione Fraternitatis R. C.," in lucem edita, Cassellis, excudebat G. Wesselius
, a 1615, Quarto." It was prefaced by the following advertisement:--
"Here, gentle reader, you shall finde incorporated in our Confession thirty-seve
n reasons of our purpose and intention, the which according to thy pleasure thou
mayst seek out and compare together, considering within thyself if they be suff
icient to allure thee. Verily, it requires no small pains to induce any one to b
elieve what doth not yet appear, but when it shall be revealed in the full blaze
of day, I suppose we should be ashamed of such questionings. And as we do now s
ecurely call the Pope Antichrist, which was
p. 86
formerly a capital offence in every place, so we know certainly that what we her
e keep secret we shall in the future thunder forth with uplifted voice, the whic
h, reader, with us desire with all thy heart that it may happen most speedily.
"FRATRES R. C."
Confessio Fraternitatis R. C. ad Eruditos Europæ.
CHAPTER I.
Whatsoever you have heard, O mortals, concerning our Fraternity by the trumpet s
ound of the Fama R. C., do not either believe it hastily, or wilfully suspect it
. It is Jehovah who, seeing how the world is falling to decay, and near to its e
nd, doth hasten it again to its beginning, inverting the course of Nature, and s
o what heretofore hath been sought with great pains and dayly labor He doth lay
open now to those thinking of no such thing, offering it to the willing and thru
sting it on the reluctant, that it may become to the good that which will smooth
the troubles of human life and break the violence of unexpected blows of Fortun
e, but to the ungodly that which will augment their sins and their punishments.
Although we believe ourselves to have sufficiently unfolded to you in the Fama t
he nature of our order, wherein we follow the will of our most excellent father,
nor can by any be suspected of heresy, nor of any attempt against the commonwea
lth, we hereby do condemn the East and the West (meaning the Pope and Mahomet) f
or their blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ, and offer to the chief head
of the Roman Empire our prayers, secrets, and great treasures of gold. Yet we ha
ve thought good for the sake of
p. 87
the learned to add somewhat more to this, and make a better explanation, if ther
e be anything too deep, hidden, and set down over dark, in the Fama, or fur cert
ain reasons altogether omitted, whereby we hope the learned will be more addicte
d unto us, and easier to approve our counsel.
CHAPTER II.
Concerning the amendment of philosophy, we have (as much as at this present is n
eedful) declared that the same is altogether weak and faulty; nay, whilst many (
I know not how) alledge that she is sound and strong, to us it is certain that s
he fetches her last breath.
But as commonly even in the same place where there breaketh forth a new disease,
nature discovereth a remedy against the same, so amidst so many infirmities of
philosophy there do appear the right means, and unto our Fatherland sufficiently
offered, whereby she may become sound again, and new or renovated may appear to
a renovated world.
No other philosophy we have then that which is the head of all the faculties, sc
iences, and arts, the which (if we behold our age) containeth much of Theology a
nd Medicine, but little of Jurisprudence; which searcheth heaven and earth with
exquisite analysis, or, to speak briefly thereof, which doth sufficiently manife
st the Microsmus man, whereof if some of the more orderly in the number of the l
earned shall respond to our fraternal invitation, they shall find among us far o
ther and greater wonders then those they heretofore did believe, marvel at, and
profess.
CHAPTER III.
Wherefore, to declare briefly our meaning hereof, it becomes us to labor careful
ly that the surprise of our challenge
p. 88
may be taken from you, to shew plainly that such secrets are not lightly esteeme
d by us, and not to spread an opinion abroad among the vulgar that the story con
cerning them is a foolish thing. For it is not absurd to suppose many are overwh
elmed with the conflict of thought which is occasioned by our unhoped graciousne
ss, unto whom (as yet) be unknown the wonders of the sixth age, or who, by reaso
n of the course of the world, esteem the things to come like unto the present, a
nd, hindered by the obstacles of their age, live no otherwise in the world then
as men blind, who, in the light of noon, discern nothing onely by feeling.
CHAPTER IV.
Now concerning the first part, we hold that the meditations of our Christian fat
her on all subjects which from the creation of the world have been invented, bro
ught forth, and propagated by human ingenuity, through God's revelation, or thro
ugh the service of Angels or spirits, or through the sagacity of understanding,
or through the experience of long observation, are so great, that if all books s
hould perish, and by God's almighty sufferance all writings and all learning sho
uld be lost, yet posterity will be able thereby to lay a new foundation of scien
ces, and to erect a new citadel of truth; the which perhaps would not be so hard
to do as if one should begin to pull down and destroy the old, ruinous building
, then enlarge the fore-court, afterwards bring light into the private chambers,
and then change the doors, staples, and other things according to our intention
.
Therefore, it must not be expected that new comers shall attain at once all our
weighty secrets. They must proceed
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step by step from the smaller to the greater, and must not be retarded by diffic
ulties.
Wherefore should we not freely acquiesce in the onely truth then seek through so
many windings and labyrinths, if onely it had pleased God to lighten unto us th
e sixth Candelabrum? Were it not sufficient for us to fear neither hunger, pover
ty, diseases, nor age? Were it not an excellent thing to live always so as if yo
u had lived from the beginning of the world, and should still live to the end th
ereof? So to live in one place that neither the people which dwel beyond the Gan
ges could hide anything, nor those which live in Peru might be able to keep secr
et their counsels from thee? So to read in one onely book as to discern, underst
and, and remember whatsoever in all other books (which heretofore have been, are
now, and hereafter shal come out) hath been, is, and shal be learned out of the
m? So to sing or to play that instead of stony rocks you could draw pearls, inst
ead of wild beasts spirits, and instead of Pluto you could soften the mighty pri
nces of the world? O mortals, diverse is the counsel of God and your convenience
, Who hath decreed at this time to encrease and enlarge the number of our Frater
nity, the which we with such joy have undertaken, as we have heretofore obtained
this great treasure without our merits, yea, without any hope or expectation; t
he same we purpose with such fidelity to put in practice, that neither compassio
n nor pity for our own children (which some of us in the Fraternity have) shal m
ove us, since we know that these unhoped for good things cannot be inherited, no
r be conferred promiscuously.
p. 90
CHAPTER V.
If there be any body now which on the other side wil complain of our discretion,
that we offer our treasures so freely and indiscriminately, and do not rather r
egard more the godly, wise, or princely persons then the common people, with him
we are in no wise angry (for the accusation is not without moment), but withall
we affirm that we have by no means made common property of our arcana, albeit t
hey resound in five languages within the ears of the vulgar, both because, as we
well know, they will not move gross wits, and because the worth of those who sh
al be accepted into our Fraternity will not be measured by their curiosity, but
by the rule and pattern of our revelations. A thousand times the unworthy may cl
amour, a thousand times may present themselves, yet God hath commanded our ears
that they should hear none of them, and hath so compassed us about with His clou
ds that unto us, His servants, no violence can be done; wherefore now no longer
are we beheld by human eyes, unless they have received strength borrowed from th
e eagle.
For the rest, it hath been necessary that the Fama should be set forth in everyo
ne's mother tongue, lest those should not be defrauded of the knowledge thereof;
whom (although they be unlearned) God hath not excluded from the happiness of t
his Fraternity, which is divided into degrees; as those which dwell in Damcar, w
ho have a far different politick order from the other Arabians; for there do gov
ern onely understanding men, who, by the king's permission, make particular laws
, according unto which example the government shall also be instituted in Europe
(according to the description set down by our Christianly Father), when
p. 91
that shal come to pass which must precede, when our Trumpet shall resound with f
ull voice and with no prevarications of meaning, when, namely, those things of w
hich a few now whisper and darken with enigmas, shall openly fill the earth, eve
n as after many secret chafings of pious people against the pope's tyranny, and
after timid reproof, he with great violence and by a great onset was cast down f
rom his seat and abundantly trodden under foot, whose final fall is reserved for
an age when he shall be torn in pieces with nails, and a final groan shall end
his ass's braying, the which, as we know, is already manifest to many learned me
n in Germany, as their tokens and secret congratulations bear witness.
CHAPTER VI.
We could here relate and declare what all the time from the year 1378 (when our
Christian father was born) till now hath happened, what alterations he hath seen
in the world these one hundred and six years of his life, what he left after hi
s happy death to be attempted by our Fathers and by us, but brevity, which we do
observe, will not permit at this present to make rehearsal of it; it is enough
for those which do not despise our declaration to have touched upon it, thereby
to prepare the way for their more close union and association with us. Truly, to
whom it is permitted to behold, read, and thenceforward teach himself those gre
at characters which the Lord God hath inscribed upon the world's mechanism, and
which He repeats through the mutations of Empires, such an one is already ours,
though as yet unknown to himself; and as we know he will not neglect our invitat
ion, so, in like manner, we abjure all deceit, for we promise that no man's upri
ghtness and hopes
p. 92
shall deceive him who shall make himself known to us under the seal of secresy a
nd desire our familiarity. But to the false and to impostors, and to those who s
eek other things then wisdom, we witness by these presents publikely, we cannot
be betrayed unto them to our hurt, nor be known to them without the will of God,
but they shall certainly be partakers of that terrible commination spoken of in
our Fama, and their impious designs shall fall back upon their own heads, while
our treasures shall remain untouched, till the Lion shall arise and exact them
as his right, receive and imploy them for the establishment of his kingdom.
CHAPTER VII.
One thing should here, O mortals, be established by us, that God hath decreed to
the world before her end, which presently thereupon shall ensue, an influx of t
ruth, light, and grandeur, such as he commanded should accompany Adam from Parad
ise and sweeten the misery of man: Wherefore there shall cease all falshood, dar
kness, and bondage, which little by little, with the great globe's revolution, h
ath crept into the arts, works, and governments of men, darkening the greater pa
rt of them. Thence hath proceeded that innumerable diversity of persuasions, fal
sities, and heresies, which makes choice difficult to the wisest men, seeing on
the one part they were hindered by the reputation of philosophers and on the oth
er by the facts of experience, which if (as we trust) it can be once removed, an
d instead thereof a single and self-same rule be instituted, then there will ind
eed remain thanks unto them which have taken pains therein, but the sum of the s
o great work shall be attributed to the blessedness of our age.
p. 93
As we now confess that many high intelligences by their writings will be a great
furtherance unto this Reformation which is to come, so do we by no means arroga
te to ourselves this glory, as if such a work were onely imposed on us, but we t
estify with our Saviour Christ, that sooner shall the stones rise up and offer t
heir service, then there shall be any want of executors of God's counsel.
CHAPTER VIII.
God, indeed, hath already sent messengers which should testifie His will, to wit
, some new stars which have appeared in Serpentarius and Cygnus, the which power
ful signs of a great Council shew forth how for all things which human ingenuity
discovers, God calls upon His hidden knowledge, as likewise the Book of Nature,
though it stands open truly for all eyes, can be read or understood by only a v
ery few.
As in the human head there are two organs of hearing, two of sight, and two of s
mell, but onely one of speech, and it were but vain to expect speech from the ea
rs, or hearing from the eyes, so there have been ages which have seen, others wh
ich have heard, others again that have smelt and tasted. Now, there remains that
in a short and swiftly approaching time honour should be likewise given to the
tongue, that what formerly saw, heard, and smelt shall finally speak, after the
world shall have slept away the intoxication of her poisoned and stupefying chal
ice, and with an open heart, bare head, and naked feet shall merrily and joyfull
y go forth to meet the sun rising in the morning.
p. 94
CHAPTER IX.
These characters and letters, as God hath here and there incorporated them in th
e Sacred Scriptures, so hath He imprinted them most manifestly on the wonderful
work of creation, on the heavens, the earth, and on all beasts, so that as the m
athematician predicts eclipses, so we prognosticate the obscurations of the chur
ch, and how long they shall last. From these letters we have borrowed our magick
writing, and thence have made for ourselves a new language, in which the nature
of things is expressed, so that it is no wonder that we are not so eloquent in
other tongues, least of all in this Latin, which we know to be by no means in ag
reement with that of Adam and of Enoch, but to have been contaminated by the con
fusion of Babel. 1
CHAPTER X.
But this also must by no means be omitted, that, while there are yet some eagle'
s feathers in our way, the which do hinder our purpose, we do exhort to the sole
, onely, assiduous, and continual study of the Sacred Scriptures, for he that ta
keth all his pleasures therein shall know that he hath prepared for himself an e
xcellent way to come into our Fraternity, for this is the whole sum of our Laws,
that as there is not a character in that great miracle of the world which has n
ot a claim on the memory, so those are nearest and likest unto us who do make th
e Bible the rule of their life, the end of all their studies, and the compendium
of the universal world, from whom we require not that it should be continually
in their mouth, but that they should

p. 95
appropriately apply its true interpretation to all ages of the world, for it is
not our custom so to debase the divine oracle, that while there are innumerable
expounders of the same, some adhere to the opinions of their party, some make sp
ort of Scripture as if it were a tablet of wax to be indifferently made use of b
y theologians, philosophers, doctors, and mathematicians. Be it ours rather to b
ear witness, that from the beginning of the world there hath not been given to m
an a more excellent, admirable, and wholesome book then the Holy Bible; Blessed
is he who possesses it, more blessed is he who reads it, most blessed of all is
he who truly understandeth it, while he is most like to God who both understands
and obeys it.
CHAPTER XI.
Now, whatsoever hath been said in the Fama, through hatred of impostors, against
the transmutation of metals and the supreme medicine of the world, we desire to
be so understood, that this so great gift of God we do in no manner set at naug
ht, but as it bringeth not always with it the knowledge of Nature, while this kn
owledge bringeth forth both that and an infinite number of other natural miracle
s, it is right that we be rather earnest to attain to the knowledge of philosoph
y, nor tempt excellent wits to the tincture of metals sooner then to the observa
tion of Nature. He must needs be insatiable to whom neither poverty, diseases, n
or danger can any longer reach, who, as one raised above all men, hath rule over
that which loth anguish, afflict, and pain others, yet will give himself again
to idle things, will build, make wars, and domineer, because he hath of gold suf
ficient, and of silver an inexhaustible
p. 96
fountain. God judgeth far otherwise, who exalteth the lowly, and casteth the pro
ud into obscurity; to the silent he sendeth his angels to hold speech with them,
but the babblers he driveth into the wilderness, which is the judgment due to t
he Roman impostor who now poureth his blasphemies with open mouth against Christ
, nor yet in the full light, by which Germany hath detected his caves and subter
ranean passages, will abstain from lying, that thereby he may fulfil the measure
of his sin, and be found worthy of the axe. Therefore, one day it will come to
pass, that the mouth of this viper shall be stopped, and his triple crown shall
be brought to nought, of which things more fully when we shall have met together
.
CHAPTER XII.
For conclusion of our Confession we must earnestly admonish you, that you cast a
way, if not all, yet most of the worthless books of pseudo chymists, to whom it
is a jest to apply the Most Holy Trinity to vain things, or to deceive men with
monstrous symbols and enigmas, or to profit by the curiosity of the credulous; o
ur age doth produce many such, one of the greatest being a stage-player, a man w
ith sufficient ingenuity for imposition; such doth the enemy of human welfare mi
ngle among the good seed, thereby to make the truth more difficult to be believe
d, which in herself is simple and naked, while falshood is proud, haughty, and c
oloured with a lustre of seeming godly and humane wisdom. Ye that are wise esche
w such books, and have recourse to us, who seek not your moneys, but offer unto
you most willingly our great treasures. We hunt not after your goods with invent
ed lying tinctures, but desire to make you partakers of our goods. We do not rej
ect parables,
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but invite you to the clear and simple explanation of all secrets; we seek not t
o be received of you, but call you unto our more then kingly houses and palaces,
by no motion of our own, but (lest you be ignorant of it) as forced thereto by
the Spirit of God, commanded by the testament of our most excellent Father, and
impelled by the occasion of this present time.
CHAPTER XIII.
What think you, therefore, O Mortals, seeing that we sincerely confess Christ, e
xecrate the pope, addict ourselves to the true philosophy, lead a worthy life, a
nd dayly call, intreat, and invite many more unto our Fraternity, unto whom the
same Light of God likewise appeareth? Consider you not that, having pondered the
gifts which are in you, having measured your understanding in the Word of God,
and having weighed the imperfection and inconsistencies of all the arts, you may
at length in the future deliberate with us upon their remedy, co-operate in the
work of God, and be serviceable to the constitution of your time? On which work
these profits will follow, that all those goods which Nature hath dispersed in
every part of the earth shall at one time and altogether be given to you, tanqua
m in centro solis et lunæ. Then shall you be able to expel from the world all thos
e things which darken human knowledge and hinder action, such as the vain (astro
nomical) epicycles and eccentric circles.
CHAPTER XIV.
You, however, for whom it is enough to be serviceable out of curiosity to any or
dinance, or who are dazzled by the glistering of gold, or who, though now uprigh
t, might
p. 98
be led away by such unexpected great riches into an effeminate, idle, luxurious,
and pompous life, do not disturb our sacred silence by your clamour, but think,
that although there be a medicine which might fully cure all diseases, yet thos
e whom God wishes to try or to chastise shall not be abetted by such an opportun
ity, so that if we were able to enrich and instruct the whole world, and liberat
e it from innumerable hardships, yet shall we never be manifested unto any man u
nless God should favour it, yea, it shall be so far from him who thinks to be pa
rtaker of our riches against the will of God that he shall sooner lose his life
in seeking us, then attain happiness by finding us.
FRATERNITAS R. C.

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Footnotes
94:1 The original reads Babylonis confusione, "by the confusion of Babylon."

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