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Article ANCIENT WEITEES AND MODEEN PEACTICES ← Page 5 of 7 →
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Ancient Weitees And Modeen Peactices
society , poured in from all sides from persons who were anxious to become members of the order , most of them containing , as proofs of their qualifications , proofs of their skill in alchemy or cabbalism ; a number of these letters are now , we are told , preserved in the library
at Gottingen . There appeared pamphlets containing opinions of the society , each writer pretending to more correct knowledge than his predecessors . Quarrels arose , partisans started up on all sides ; and the more the as yet invisible society retreated from the public advances , so much the more eager were its admirers , so much the
more determined its antagonists . Of the many printed letters to the society , however , none had been answered ; and all attempts to discover any particulars relating to it , or even the place of its retreat , were baffled . Many impostors meanwhile arose , who gave themselves out as members of the Eosicrucian order , and imposed
on the credulity of many , and defrauded them of their money bymeans of alchemy , or of their health by panaceas . Three in particular were punished for this offence by the magistracy at Wetzlar , at Nuremberg , and at Augsburg ; one of them losing his ears in running the gauntlet ,, and another being hanged . About this time , however , appeared a work by one Andrew Liban , who wrote against the practicability of the meditated reformation ,
ridiculed the legend of Father Eosycross , threw contempt on the sciences they professed , and drew the attention of the various governments to the confusion which was resulting from the reported existence of a society which , nevertheless , did not make its appearance . Let our readers here again bear in mind that we are not giving this as the bond fide history of the order of the Rose Croix , but are simply quoting it from De Quincey .
These writings of Liban , added to others of the same tendency , would probably have suppressed all the Eosicrucian pretensions , but for the fact that those who had eagerly sought for admission into the imaginary order , and had found all their efforts unavailing , suddenly determined that they toere themselves Rosicrueians already to all intents and purposes—at least as to all the essential marks laid down
in the then books . "We also , " they argued , " are persons of great knowledge ; we make gold , or shall make it ; we also , no doubtonly give us time—shall reform the world ; external circumstances are nothing ; substantially it is clear that wo are the Eosicrucian
order . " Upon this ( says De * Qiiincey ) 5 they went on in numerous books and pamphlets to assert that they were the very identical order instituted by Father Eosycross , and described in the " Fama Eraternitatis . " But now Andrea found that he , though he had been hitherto enjoying the confusion and excitement which had resulted
from his efforts , had raised an apparition which it was beyond his art to lay . We do not suspect our Eosicrucian friends in the present day of the pretended arts of gold-finding , & c , which are here attributed to their predecessors , and therefore we know we shall do no violence to their feelings by the extracts which follow . Well knowing that in all that crowd of aspirants who were clamorously
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Weitees And Modeen Peactices
society , poured in from all sides from persons who were anxious to become members of the order , most of them containing , as proofs of their qualifications , proofs of their skill in alchemy or cabbalism ; a number of these letters are now , we are told , preserved in the library
at Gottingen . There appeared pamphlets containing opinions of the society , each writer pretending to more correct knowledge than his predecessors . Quarrels arose , partisans started up on all sides ; and the more the as yet invisible society retreated from the public advances , so much the more eager were its admirers , so much the
more determined its antagonists . Of the many printed letters to the society , however , none had been answered ; and all attempts to discover any particulars relating to it , or even the place of its retreat , were baffled . Many impostors meanwhile arose , who gave themselves out as members of the Eosicrucian order , and imposed
on the credulity of many , and defrauded them of their money bymeans of alchemy , or of their health by panaceas . Three in particular were punished for this offence by the magistracy at Wetzlar , at Nuremberg , and at Augsburg ; one of them losing his ears in running the gauntlet ,, and another being hanged . About this time , however , appeared a work by one Andrew Liban , who wrote against the practicability of the meditated reformation ,
ridiculed the legend of Father Eosycross , threw contempt on the sciences they professed , and drew the attention of the various governments to the confusion which was resulting from the reported existence of a society which , nevertheless , did not make its appearance . Let our readers here again bear in mind that we are not giving this as the bond fide history of the order of the Rose Croix , but are simply quoting it from De Quincey .
These writings of Liban , added to others of the same tendency , would probably have suppressed all the Eosicrucian pretensions , but for the fact that those who had eagerly sought for admission into the imaginary order , and had found all their efforts unavailing , suddenly determined that they toere themselves Rosicrueians already to all intents and purposes—at least as to all the essential marks laid down
in the then books . "We also , " they argued , " are persons of great knowledge ; we make gold , or shall make it ; we also , no doubtonly give us time—shall reform the world ; external circumstances are nothing ; substantially it is clear that wo are the Eosicrucian
order . " Upon this ( says De * Qiiincey ) 5 they went on in numerous books and pamphlets to assert that they were the very identical order instituted by Father Eosycross , and described in the " Fama Eraternitatis . " But now Andrea found that he , though he had been hitherto enjoying the confusion and excitement which had resulted
from his efforts , had raised an apparition which it was beyond his art to lay . We do not suspect our Eosicrucian friends in the present day of the pretended arts of gold-finding , & c , which are here attributed to their predecessors , and therefore we know we shall do no violence to their feelings by the extracts which follow . Well knowing that in all that crowd of aspirants who were clamorously