Rosa Florescens - The Blooming Rose

Rosa Florescens - The Blooming Rose

Written by Florentinus de Valentia

1617

Transcription and translation by Paul Ferguson

JESUS IS EVERYTHING TO US!

against the calumnies of F. G. MENAPIUS [Johann Valentin Alberti]

or

A brief account of and response to the thoughtless calumnies of F.G. MENAPIUS against the Rosicrucian Brotherhood as published in Noricum first in Latin on 3 June 1617 and then in German on 15 July of that year.

Written out of simple enthusiasm
by
Florentinus de VALENTIA, a most humble servant of the Order of St. Benedict

1617

Priusquam perquisiveris, ne crimineris:
Cognosce primum, atque tunc increpa.

You must first carry out a thorough investigation, lest you denounce someone without reason. Understand first, and then rebuke.

[Adapted from the Decretum of Gratian, chapter LXXVI].

Florentinus de Valentia, by the grace of God a most humble servant of Christian Rosencreutz, wishes the God-fearing reader good comprehension and all possible good fortune.

Our dear pious Brother FRIDERICUS G., surnamed MENAPIUS, has distributed two different missives or open letters (which, however, read more like intemperate rebukes or libels), both of them sent from the region of Noricum, one dated 3 June written in Latin and the other dated 15 July of the current year 1617 written in German. These missives – disguised as an 'Epistle' – argue that the highly-blessed Pansophy of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, something with which he has yet to familiarise himself, should be suppressed and viewed with suspicion, unlike his own superb erudition (which, as I am aware, is certainly not to be despised when it is not abused) which he feels should be made widely known, for as Menapius, in another German-language publication dating from around the same time, arrogantly boasts, 'I have made it clear – yes absolutely clear – that the experience that you (i.e. the Brothers) have acquired in the fields of Law, Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, History, and Politics is well-known to me, but I wanted to give you some advice in the languages that are known to me, for I can understand fifteen languages and speak and write eleven'. An unsuspecting reader would readily visualise the writer on the basis of this description while perhaps avoiding asking too many awkward questions about the self-praise. It is certainly true and widely known (as, for example, Hugo Alverda reports in his Fortalitium Scientiae, even if this work strikes me as equally suspicious) is that the author is a not unlearned man who has also benefited from extensive travelling by both land and sea. His knowledge of languages is also well known to me. But when he pig-headedly claims to know not just how to advise the Brothers on all the sciences and branches of learning but also how to equal their knowledge and abilities in such fields he is making exaggerated claims and it is to be hoped that things turn out differently in practice.

For it is an idle delusion on his part and a misconception that took root for the most part a long time ago that the Brotherhood is solely concerned with conducting pointless controversies in Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, English, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, German, Dutch, Greek or other languages. As the Brotherhood itself makes clear, it is more concerned with acquiring a deeper and more extensive knowledge of the realities of nature than with the niceties of all sorts of different languages and so on, since these are nothing more than stark recordings and mere shadows of things, which only exist because other things do.

But we take little notice of such matters. The most sublime art of the learned is day-long disputation of puzzling questions, conducted discriminatingly, without bias, without intellectual contamination, logically – and without any examination of the things themselves. Once this process is complete they will be know what they knew already. They focus on the goals not on the things themselves, on the shadow rather than the wall [cf. Plato's Allegory of the Cave], and yet they want to be physicians, natural scientists and great scholars! If however you took matters in hand and tried to reason and engage with them and obtain ocular demonstration then out of every ten of them you would not find one whose work used terminology that was in perfect harmony ['in gleicher Concordanz', this is an expression of Jakob Böhme's, cf. Mysterium Magnum 17:34]. But enough of this. It is not my intention to scold anyone, but rather to seriously urge people to acquire a true and just awareness of God and his creatures.

Menapius begins his Latin missive as follows:

Qui negligit, quid de se quisq[ue] sentiat, ut gravius nunc nil dicam, cum arrogans est, tum dissolutus. Nam cum duo necessaria sint, conscientia, & Fama: Illa propter te, haec propter proximum; non sufficit benè agere, sed & benè audire unumquemq[ue] par est. Idcirco vos, si probi & honesti viri estis, quare bonis & doctis viris malè de vobis suspicandi causam hactenus reliquistis?

In other words: 'He who takes no account of what someone else thinks about him (a subject that I shall refrain from expanding upon for now) is arrogant, and therefore dissolute, for two things are of paramount importance: a good mind and a good reputation, the former being your own responsibility, and the latter the responsibility of others. It is not enough therefore to act well. It is equally important to listen to what people have to say. Why therefore, if you [i.e. the Brothers] are the upright and honest men you claim to be, have you to date given the good and the learned just cause to be suspicious of you?'

With these words he accuses the Brotherhood – on a completely speculative basis – of engaging in fraud and mischief. As he then explicitly concludes, the Brothers must be either a gang of useless idlers who do nothing except engage in fraudulent teaching and baseless hypotheses and who abuse the hard work of printers, or worthless vagabonds, deceivers, practitioners of the black arts and magicians, or indeed none of these but instead an incarnation and personification of the Devil himself.

Who can recognise this as the opinion of a learned Christian? O Menapius, the old proverb certainly applies to you, 'In a clever man you never find a small amount of foolishness'. In your first missive you make it clear that you want to be seen as refined and learned, yet just because the Brothers were rather slow in disclosing themselves to you, you pile up these baseless and groundless calumnies, expressed in quite immoderate terms. The good thing is that many fine and honourable people are refusing to be overcome by anger but are biding their time in patience and expectation. Believe me, even one hundred libellous letters (if you have a Pandora's Box of political diatribes upon which to draw) will never persuade the Brothers to disclose themselves to you before the appointed time. Will you not try and prove your allegations against what you accusing these innocent fellows of? To call God's creature and image, who has never offended you, a devil, to challenge the might of God your creator, to presumptuously ascribe to the Evil Fiend God's glorious works and gifts, is simply going too far. For you know what is said in St. Matthew, Chapter 5:22, '...whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire'. Why therefore do you seek to make your brother and you yourself indeed along with him to be the Devil? I do not seek to set your feet on the right path, for that is an honour that should be left to God alone. As Isaiah 42:8 says: 'I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images'.

You should therefore only pay heed to Christ your true Saviour, who in the Gospel so severely demanded of you: 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust' (St. Matthew 5:43-45). This is because we poor men climb together but there will always one who wants to climb above the others, someone who is equal to none, but who wishes to be silent among them. For what our minds do not comprehend immediately must surely be unrighteous and the work of the Devil, and it is well worth taking to heart that God's omnipotence can tolerate this and interpose His inexpressible mercy for as long as is necessary.

Because Menapius in his first Epistle boasts of his researches into the Philosopher's Stone I would have thought that he would have acted rather more humbly and not have spoken so rashly about the breadth of his knowledge. It is out of character for me to feel personal hatred towards him for that reason. God gave him an intellect to enable him to understand the error of his ways. What man does in haste he repents at leisure: perhaps Menapius had simply been too eager to believe in some fraud's imposture, something that of course has also happened to others. As always, where Christ builds His temple the devil builds a chapel alongside, and there are false Brothers aplenty who, in the guise of great learning, seek to put themselves forward and who, in harming others, acquire great authority. Menapius might have been one such victim, so perhaps we should tell him about the Platonic Numbers, for I can scarcely credit that a true Rosicrucian could now appear in the person of such an untutored individual.

Like all intemperate judges, Menapius asks why the Brothers, confronted as they are by every turbulence within the Empire, do not come to the aid of the Christian rulers or their poor beleaguered subjects. Julian de Campis should have dealt with this question adequately, but I myself should not pass over this matter in silence. Menapius should not be allowed to think that the Brotherhood has failed or would ever fail to meet his requirements. Every day the Brotherhood helps with teaching and moral guidance both in writing for the learned and in person and orally for the unlettered lovers of God, but it is simply not advisable at the present time that such activities should be turned in to public exhibition or a sort of fairground. For the people are too godless: they neither wish to learn nor to be guided. If they do find something that suits them then they are just as likely to use it for purposes of sexual licence, scandal, vice and worldly pleasure as for the honour of God – yes, even to the extent of suffering the damnation of their own poor souls. Man should be god-fearing and pious, for this is a time when the roses are blossoming, and all shall be well if only we place our trust in God.

The fact that the Brothers travel hither and thither does not make them deceivers and traitors, as all their wanderings are obviously for the use and benefit of their neighbours, nor does it do any harm if they do not reveal their names or nationalities to everyone. A moment's reflection will confirm that it is still dangerous to do so, and in any case Menapius has himself made use of this same safety-measure that he accuses the Brothers of adopting: the two initials F. and G. are presumably his given name and surname, which he (justifiably) thought it unwise to reveal to us, but regarding 'Noricum' he has no excuses, for even though it is a very extensive area it is not his fatherland. It might be the case that, in the manner of great travellers, he takes the whole world as his country, which is why he has adopted the cosmopolitan name of Menapius, though whether this is to indicate that he is a disciple of the Ancient Greek satirist Menippus or a predecessor of his I leave it to others to work out. He himself gives nothing away, but believe me a true Brother is so frank that he would not shy away from revealing both a well-merited nickname and even his birthname, as is well known to those who have daily conversations with the Brothers. But their identities should not be revealed unless there is an absolute need! They shall remain who they are until the time is right to identify them.

That Menapius further alleges that the Rosicrucian Brotherhood despises and seeks to destroy all universities, academies, learned doctors and masters because it has said that all the arts and sciences are heavily afflicted and languished in obscurity until 1615 is the fruit of prejudice and is flatly contradicted by the Brotherhood's own writings. Menapius thinks that the Brotherhood talks too much and too flatteringly about the Reformation, and cites as examples the art of lifting heavy weights, hydraulic engineering, crane engineering, stone-breaking, war machines, hydraulic and pneumatic machinery, the art of constructing spheres, automata, arithmetic, geometry, navigation, statuary, founding, engraving etc., which he claims have all reached the highest levels of perfection.

With respect I believe it is unnecessary to demonstrate that mechanics is in a far, far worse state than it was formerly. Where are truly great works now to be found, such as the immense constructive efforts of Archimedes? Who is there among hundreds of appropriately skilled people who would even dare to create such a work even if they were confident that they knew how to do it?

Who can create a heaven for me or explain the rationale and workings of it of the kind that the poet Claudian wrote about:

Jupiter in parvo cum cerneret aethera vitro,
Risit, & ad superos talia dicta dedit.
Huccine mortalis progressa potentia cura?
Jam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor.
[Claudian, Epigrams XVI, In Sphaeram Archimedis]

That is to say: 'Seeing the heavens reflected in a glass globe, Jupiter smiled and said to the other immortals, 'So, at last human industry is making some progress! My great creation has now been portrayed in a fragile globe'.'

But who is there among our architects who could make anything like the Colossus of Rhodes? Where is the wooden flying dove of Archytes of Tarentum? Who nowadays has the brains of a Roger Bacon or an Albertus Magnus? Where are the mathematics of Boëthius? Where are the skilfully-made mirrors and optical devices? And I shall pass over in silence the ever-burning lamps, perpetual motion and many other similar things, the discoverers of which did all the hard initial work and then elaborated them without the benefit of pre-examined fundamentals in order to achieve honour, to contribute to society and to stir the blood.

What is there really in modern arithmetic? Is not a great deal still hidden in algebra? Who knows of anyone today who can manipulate numbers the way Pythagoras did to achieve awareness of God? Who knows the correct way of playing Rithomachy [a type of chess]? Who understands the use and composition of the Pythagorean wheel, regarding which so much sophistical deception has been produced in huge volumes with titles like Nomandia, as witness Dr. Robert Fludd in his Apologia contra Libavium?

In music we have many delightful melodies to be sure, but where among them is still to be found the lofty and wonderful consonance and musical harmony of all creatures – righteous, true, primordial and implanted by God in nature and all things – from which Sympathy and Antipathy can be learned and with which so many incredible things can be done?

In geometry is not the squaring of the circle, or the proportion of a straight line to a curve, or the division of angles into unequal parts and many other things besides not completely unknown at the present time – indeed many hundreds of things if you really seek them out, things that have often been forgivably boasted about? As for navigation, does Menapius, if he really has travelled as far by sea as by land, understand the nature of the magnet, and can he explain the real reason for declination and inclination?

Reuchlin in Hebrew, Budé in Greek, Erasmus in Latin, Ronsard in French, Lipsius in history, Giovanni della Casa in etiquette, Hyppolitus a Collibus in politics, Freher in ancient history, Vigelius in Justinian civil law, Gailius in the procedures of the Imperial Chamber, Julius Caesar Scaliger in medicine, Schegk in logic, Fonseca in metaphysics, Muret in oratory, Sanazarius in poetics, Frischlin in grammar, Tycho Brahe in mathematics, Lassus in music, Dürer in painting, Salvador in athletics, Domenico Fontana in architecture, and others in various other fields have certainly attained great fame? But it does not follow that their fields of study cannot be improved upon, and that everyone has certain shortcomings or deficiencies which posterity must rectify. And as Menapius himself acknowledges, you can be as learned and as experienced as you like but you shoudl always remember that the greatest part of your knowledge is the smallest part of that which you have yet to learn.

Every day we see new things being invented and discovered which man never before conceived of, or improvements being made to existing things. But no one should think that these are the very best things that could ever exist, for if we believed that then we would certainly fall into an infamous mode of life. For through assiduous speculation we can bring even great things into being. Is not astronomy in the highest state of imperfection, is astrology indeed not in a state of corruption, are chronology and time-keeping not imprecise? Is not physics, as regards experimentation, quite meagre? Is not ethics, as regards practice, a rara avis? Is not politics deeply mistrusted? If a person can be like a weather-vane, turning this way and that just to suit himself – what they call a political dunderhead – then surely law and justice will disintegrate, and justice will be replaced by cunning?

What does Medicine really consist of? Is it not really quite conjectural and uncertain? Have not medical treatments been vainly polluted with the arts of vagabonds, charlatans and old wives, not to mention the Universal Medicine, regarding which it can be said: 'As regards words, many have been said by many, and as regards deeds, nothing has been achieved by most'. Is not some form of rectification therefore required? Does the dilapidated temple of Pallas Athene not need rebuilding? 'No', says Menapius, at least not through such means, which he claims are against the order of nature. But how does he know that? Who told him that the promises made by the Brotherhood are contrary to God and nature, since he himself acknowledges that nature still conceals a great deal. Menapius needs to reflect a little and not be so quick to throw blasphemies around and accuse people of being black magicians. I shall not consider here the value of the works of such as Cornelius Agrippa, Johann Trithemius and Pietro d'Albano, even though I know for certain that they conceal much in the form of necromancy, and yet are in and of themselves purely natural and not in the slightest bit contrary to God, especially those of Trithemius who, even so, must be regarded as an obvious magician.

So what kind of novel and incomprehensible profession is Menapius telling me about? Is it perhaps the mouse-ology imparted to the physician in Wetzlar? I do consider such an art to be possible, and the author should not think that just because he cannot do something himself then that necessarily means that no one else can do it. There are a hundred secrets more incredible than this mouse-ology and yet perfectly feasible. He who understands the Great Book of Nature with all its seals and characters imprinted by God, who meditates upon the Universal Spirit of the World, who contemplates in deep reverence the origin and continuation of all creatures, and who reflects upon his own power, as upon all wisdom, yes upon God Himself within him, will certainly encounters things that Menapius considers impossible.

It can only follow, as F.E.D. [Frater E.D.?] writes in the introduction to his Response, that 'everyone covets Nature's gold and silver treasure, her precious stones and riches, and wants to be seen as important in the eyes of the world. God created all these things for man to use as a heart over him thereby to recognise his godly wealth and omnipotence, and to praise, honour and thank Him for it. But everyone wants to accumulate and demand these things in the good times and with little effort, danger and work, and whereas thitherto they have set up God before them and sought Him, and give themselves up to Him, now no one wants to dig deep, to seek and to find'. If only we would dare to open our mouths and allow the baked doves to fly into them that would be a gentle art, and the person behind the oven might well become a rich man. But since one has to make some sort of effort no one is at home and everyone thinks 'I want to stick, as the Spanish are reputed to do, with the old thing, which up to now we carried in the sack'.

It is remarkable, and indeed beyond my comprehension, that Menapius should have worked on the Philosopher's Stone and yet not have learned certain things. Can he really not picture to himself this mouse-invitation? In that case, what does he think of the other invitation? Once again, the Brothers do not promise the impossible: it is not a question of just talking but of substantiating.

I would like to bet that Dr. Molther's plausible account is as close to the truth as the unproven and bad-tempered pronouncements of Menapius. Let it be shown that the five texts by the Brotherhood quote sophistically and sycophantically. Had these works not even mentioned the Bible and remained completely silent about the spiritual ergon then they would certainly have been unrighteous and godless, but since they urge you first to seek the Kingdom of God and seek rebirth in Christ they must be Anabaptists, godless vagabonds, traitors or, indeed, the Devil himself! Who can make any sense of this? They say the holy word of God should be recommended to man before all things, they are not unduly attached to the dead-letter (which, after all, gives rise to all kinds of quarrels and divisions) but instead see with the eyes of the understanding – purely, passively – into the eternal, unique and true Book of Life, in which are concealed all the arts, sciences and things that are impossible for human understanding to grasp.

For what is science if it never departs from the written word? Nothing. Paracelsus, in his Secretum Magicum, writes that heathen texts, since they should not be seen as lying at the foundations of Nature or capable of serving as a guide to her, should be considered worthless and consigned to the flames, whilst the greatest book of all, Wisdom, which flows from the unique spirit of God, should be sought out from the centre of Nature. For in this book lie the foundations of Nature, and the truth and awareness of all things, which must only be sought from God by means of humble prayer, as Christ taught us: 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God' [St. Matthew 6:33] and 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him' [James 1:5], for there the source of all wisdom is to be found.

That is the opinion of Paracelsus, whom Menapius impudently calls an agent and sewer of Satan, even though Paralcesus' own writings are diametrically opposed to Satanism in both evidence and argument. If you take the trouble to read the writings of Paracelsus you will see for yourself what he believed about God and His word. I find it impossible to believe that he ever said that 'if God won't help, then the Devil will', a statement that Menapius imputes to him and which he uses as raw material in his tiresome arguments.

What I do know is that in his philosophical treatise De Sanctorum Beneficiis et Vindictis Paracelsus asks, 'What should a military commander do who if he does not draw his strength from God?' and he answers, 'Nothing'. He says much the same in his first Defensio: 'I want to defend myself against the allegations surrounding my supply to the preseent monarch of a completely new medicine. People ask me, 'Who taught you how to make that?' to which I reply, 'Who taught the grass and the other vegetation how to grow?' For God said, 'Come to me and learn from me that I am mild and humble of heart. From Him flows the basis of truth, and whatever does not proceed from Him is Temptation. The Devil is the master of a thousand arts, in whom many false signs and prodigies are concealed. He never takes a holiday. Like a roaring lion he pursues us so that he can brand both ourselves and the Christ as liars'.

How exactly can we reconcile these statements with the picture of Paracelsus that Menapius provides? It is well known that Paracelsus had many envious and unruly disciples (regarding which he once said that some had been lucky to escape the hangman's rope) and they may perhaps have added a great many additional details to the historical record. It is also possible that, in anger, Paracelsus let certain things slip due to his coarse rustic nature (though I must admit I find that hard to believe) for he was after all just a man and not a creature of angelic purity. And what does he have to say about magical incantations in his Philosophia Occulta? Does he not say that such incantations are against God, against His Word and Law, and against the Light of Nature, and are the suspect soil of the damned upon which no man should ever set his foot, but which the magistracy should suppress and punish with the greatest severity?

As he says in his De Characteribus, section 278, 'God gives great power to all creatures, which comes from all of them and them alone. We should not despise this power, for nothing is ever created without a purpose, not even the humblest dung-beetle. But if you wish to acquire this power in the Devil's name, amidst superstition and false beliefs, then you must accept the reward for doing so, for the Devil cannot not turn a single hair white or black unless superstition is brought into the glorious works of God'.

To sum up, I can hardly believe Valerius Herberger when he refers in his homily about the sacrilege of the Last Supper to Paracelsus uttering to those around him a word that is hardly in agreement with his published writings, as will be readily understood from the examples that I have quoted. In addition Menapius should have been able to show sufficient leniency to spare him from both his own and other people's comments: one should not after all speak ill of the dead and absent friends, if only because to do so would imply that Albert Magnus was similar to Paracelsus, Cardano not much better, and Trithemius, who set forth his beliefs so enthusiastically in his Polygraphia and Steganographia, works that I would more readily agree with than the unfounded calumnies of Menapius, would be completely useless.

In winter it is not impossible to get all kinds of plants to grow if you have the things you need, but since such matters are not really the point of this treatise I shall pass over them in silence and return to the subject.

How can Menapius be so vicious and ungentle as to accuse those who would wish him and every true Christian nothing but success and good fortune – people he has never even seen or heard – of being familiar spirits, and compare them to the Devil himself? For not to have an opinion on something is to court prejudice. Such things are soon said, but they take rather longer to prove.

Regarding the puzzling description of the 'College' of the Brotherhood, which Menapius adopts as the subject of his (no less mocking) missive written in the German language, although I myself have never read anything about it at any time in any Rosicrucian document nor heard anything about it from other people, and although this could easily be nothing more than a figment of the author's imagination (something however that I do not wish to accuse him of) since everyone whom one would expect to be in it who is member of the Brotherhood has been questioned about it, I do not see why the senior magistracy should be involved in blindly hunting this College down. For whom has the laudable Society currently offended? Whom has it treated so brusquely and unjustly?

Who is being molested or slandered by their publications? Nobody as far as I know, at least not without having to put up with much more in return from other people. The only thing they can justly be accused of is that they are not so quick to rush in with all sorts of trickery, and teach and enrich anyone and everyone without distinction, for if they did so privilege and worldiness would be favoured, the greatest efforts would be devoted to eating and drinking, and our earthly paradise would consist of nithing more than self-indulgent living. But how many people would sincerely desire something like that, just like that atheist who, as he set up a magnificent and luxurious banquet, uttered the following godless words: 'If I knew for certain that I would live eternally in such joy then I would gladly make a gift of the heavenly Jerusalem to God and all his saints'. How many people would make a wish to be given a seven-cubit neck just to enjoy the feel of the drink as they poured it down their throat? Among one hundred people there would scarcely be one who would use the glorious works for the honour of God and his neighbour.

Anyone who after mature reflection would stab the Brothers in the back in this way must certainly be the most useless and hopeless wretches, rogues and thieves. But that causes them no problems, any more than those who dispute the forged documents that are disseminated under their names. A day will certainly come when we shall know who is right and who is wrong. Let people caluminiate, for it makes no difference either way.

In his first missive Menapius says that the Brothers should have recruited Johannes Corneus, a Doctor of Civil and Canon Law as well as a Doctor of Medicine, to teach at their school. I think that if Dr. Corneus was truly as learned as this introduction makes him sound then he would certainly have been more sensible than Menapius, and would certainly not have praised himself so highly nor have vomited up such unprovable vituperations. Be that as it may, what Menapius accuses people of he himself is guilty of. For we can readily gather from all the evidence available that his vituperation is aimed at the parergon, for he refers to Holy Scripture or Theosophy on no more than two occasions but can talk at length about a 'powder that is salty but fusible, incombustible, more than perfect, as well as a most excellent, wonderful, eternal, sublime, Hermetically-sublimed elixir and medicine exalted to a state of glorification', and this is indeed what he devotes most of his attention to.

But just because his investigations did not immediately produce the expected results he starts calumniating, and carries on like that right until the end, and it is this in particular that makes me want to answer him so curtly – and in the German language too – so that the multitude might see and understand just how often the Brotherhood suffers injury, as well as because the majority of the writings of the Brotherhood are published among us in German.

When, in his first missive, Menapius does mention Holy Scripture he has a question for the Brothers which Johannes Silvertus first raised, and which is still awaiting an answer: just how do the Brothers know that, before the end of the world, everything must reach a level of perfection that is equivalent to that which prevailed when our First Parents were still in a state of moral integrity? He also points out that the following quotation from the prophet Isaiah suggests that just the opposite will be the case: 'Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir' [Isaiah 13:6-12].

To answer this query briefly: I would like to know first of all why Menapius asks this question, since no Rosicrucian has ever made such a claim, which means that Menapius has either misunderstood them or has mischievously corrupted their meaning, for who has ever thought that we would become just like Adam and Eve again in this life?

The author of the Fama writes: 'God has certainly decided, before the destruction of the world (which will soon follow) to allow it to experience once again such truth, light and warmheartedness such as the First Man Adam threw away and lost in Paradise'. He says 'the world', but not 'everyone', because in another sentence he excludes those who covet gold, and Julian de Campis expressly says, 'If it was known exactly what the Rosicrucians promise then never again would such a song and dance be made about it'. For the world is too wicked, and good and evil will be experienced until the very end, so the saying of Isaiah is in no way contradicted. God's terrifyingly unpredictable future remains, even though quite a few god-fearing people might discover the treasure of wisdom. For does God not say, in Joel: 'And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call' [Joel 2:28-32].

Here, loyal reader, you see expressly stated how both the terrifying wonder and the illumination of the believers can co-exist, with one being a hindrance of the other. And why should it not be possible for man to demand such perfection in this life seeing that all art, science, all creatures, heaven and earth, the whole world, yes God himself, is concealed within him? Man can do anything by means of God, who has His dwelling-place within him, and he can understand by and from himself any books such as a learned man might write, as they are nothing more than a memorial or testimony through which man is reminded and convinced of what is within him, for we cannot acquire any understanding from the letters alone but must impart our understanding to them.

If that was not the case and the Holy Scripture carried the sense itself withing it then there would not be so many sects and groups, because the words would mean the same to everyone. But instead everyone interprets them according to his own understanding, so do not place your understanding in the book therefore but in the spirit, and the spirit within the man, for man must act towards the spirit completely passively and not use his own will but must allow God to work within him freely according to all His convenience and delight, for God, like a father of all arts and suitability, yes the eternal and unique wisdom itself, will also illuminate for him his soul and awareness with the godly heavenly understanding, to such an extent that in this life nothing can be too much for him and in the future life nothing can be against him. For 'it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life' [John 6:63].

Now we must go back and seek out the origin of this text, namely the Spirit, and we must listen to it and learn from it on a silent Sabbath. Out of all the books in the world you can learn without especial difficulty from just one single book, and this book is within you and within all men, both great and inferior, both young and old, both learned and unlettered. But there are few – yes few indeed! – who can read it. Yes, there are many very learned people who are forced to deny it within themselves, and so cleave to the dead-letter which lies outside them, and so abandon the Book of Life which, even so, is indited with the finger of God in all men's hearts.

What a wonderful treasure it is to have and to know this book, as well as to understand it, as you will learn from Chapter 7 of the Wisdom of Solomon: 'God hath granted me to speak as I would, and to conceive as is meet for the things that are given me, because it is he that leadeth unto wisdom, and directeth the wise. For in his hand are both we and our words; all wisdom also, and knowledge of workmanship. For he hath given me certain knowledge of the things that are, namely, to know how the world was made, and the operation of the elements, the beginning, ending, and midst of the times, the alterations of the turning of the sun, and the change of seasons, the circuits of years, and the positions of stars, the natures of living creatures, and the furies of wild beasts, the violence of winds, and the reasonings of men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots, and all such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know. For wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me, for in her is an understanding spirit holy, one only, manifold, subtil, lively, clear, undefiled, plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that is good quick, which cannot be letted, ready to do good, kind to man, steadfast, sure, free from care, having all power, overseeing all things, and going through all understanding, pure, and most subtil, spirits. For wisdom is more moving than any motion: she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty' [Book of the Wisdom of Solomon 7:15-25, King James version].

This is the Book of Life, of the Spirit, it is wisdom, yes it is God Himself and His Kingdom within man, which is why St. Luke says, 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you' [Luke 17:20-21]. Similarly, in Corinthians: 'For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power' [1 Corinthians 4:20]. And this is the ergon of the Brothers, the preliminary work of the Kingdom of God and the highest wisdom of your so-called Pansophy. For who could wish for more than Solomon wished for in the words set out so comprehensively above? For to understand God and all His creatures is the summa hominis perfectio, the highest perfection of man. Oh that we might reflect often and deeply upon this book, which not only speaks to us in the writings of Solomon and of the Brothers but is also present, as we have said, within you, within me, within all men, none excepted. For if this book did not exist then no man in the whole world might even live. It is the life of all men and it is the light of all men, which is a torch to them in the darkness. It is God's word.

For just as, through that word, all men were created, so must all men be maintained and live in the word and through the word. The word is the wisdom of God in man. It is the image of God in man. It is the spirit or finger of God in man. It is the seed of God or the Law of God, it is Christ, it is God's Kingdom and it is all in all.

Oh, God wants us to read this book in preference to all the heathen writings, and to contemplate God in preference to anything else! But the eye gazes upon lovely things and is beguiled thereby. But to a greater extent the inner eye should gaze upon God, which makes it rejoice in the highest and causes its awareness to be wholly informed in all things. For just as if the little finger is placed or held before the eye it stops you seeing a whole town or mountain, so also a brief but vile worldly pleasure can blind you to the eternal and infinite treasure of the new-born, which is sweeter than honey, sweeter even than the virgin honey that drips from the honeycomb.

Ah, but can we really compare the sweetness even of all the world with a single spark of godly wisdom? Would it not be better to surrender oneself to God, to know and understand all things, here in healthiness and there in eternal life, than to spend one's time in this world in supposed joy, guzzling food and drink, enjoying luxury and fornication, and cultivating excessive ambition, over-indulgence and forgetfulness of God, and displaying stupidity in all its forms, only to suffer eternal damnation thereafter? Reflect upon the Christian heart.

Consider, my dear Brother Menapius, whether your question and your argument has been satisfactorily answered. I know and want to assure you that if you hallow God upon just a few such sabbaths and if you read in this Book with the eyes of spiritual understanding then you will be guided more in both spiritual and creaturely matters, and will become wiser and more learned, than if you had read all the works of all the philosophers, poets, orators or grammarians or knew many hundreds of languages, which are not as advantageous to you as a few sabbaths of this kind, as they draw their strength from a true heart and not from hypocrisy. I ask you, for your own benefit, not to allow the Aristotelian humours to penetrate so much into your soul and character, and not to drive out this discovery of the common people, this fathomless treasure, from its habitation. If you do that then you will be pleasing to God, useful to your neighbour and a true Rosicrucian (something you still innocently mistake for the Devil) for this is your greatest and most important masterpiece, namely to read the Book of life, the Book of Nature and the Book of the World, to surrender yourself, for these books arise from your own origins. If you do that then whatever great and high promises the Brothers make in their publications – passing over in silence the mouse-episode in Wetzlar – will no longer seem problemaical for you, for everyone could be wise and blessed enough if only they wished to follow God.

Adam only lost his wisdom through his own will. Now his guilt has been atoned for by Christ. If we now want to imitate our Saviour, if we do not wish to defy our God, but instead taper to suit His will our own comfort, our own reason, our own supposed understanding, our own cleverness and so on, and surrender to our LORD God our body and soul as a clean dwelling and habitation then He shall certainly perform without hindrance His miracle within us: He in us, and we in Him, shall dwell in eternity.

And this in brief is the view of the Brotherhood, at least until another time is reached – not that all men should be equal (for the majority are too stubborn and godless) but that the believers who keep a pure sabbath for God will be like Adam in Paradise, for it is precisely this pure knowledge and peace in Christ that Paradise consists of, things that an old theologian warns us to observe but which are not observed. Indeed, the Rosicrucian promise says that whoever is in this Paradise will not only by quite natural means be able to broadcast his opinion clearly and unambiguously in the practice of the light and in the spirit of the universals, across several hundred miles, but also will happily learn from a book all the arts of the world, and how to attract to himself pearls, gold and precious stones, how to fully understand everything within the micro- and macrocosm, how to secretly learn the thoughts of men, just like Solomon could, how to to effortlessly prepare the Blessed Stone for his kin and his neighbours' use and, indeed, to understand the whole of nature naked and revealed.

For there are many more wonderful things that the Lord God shares with his saintly followers for their entertainment and their honourable recreation, one of which at least exceeds all our wisdom. If we consider the sympathy of natural things, regarding which nothing fundamental has yet been learned but which are nonetheless so useful that many miracles that might appear unbelievable to man can be performed with them.

Try and explain to me how just one of these things comes about. If I lay two lutes with equal tuning on a table and then place a straw on one of the strings of one of the lutes and pluck the corresponding string of the other lute the straw will immediately fall, even though the strings of the other lute have not been disturbed [see Sir Francis Bacon, Natural History, http://tinyurl.com/mkvvohf ]. In the same way, why does the magnet attract iron, and why does amber attract hair and small particles? What is the explanation of the weapon-salve [http://tinyurl.com/mdcvk9l ] and things like it? Through sympathy one can 'travel' hundreds of thousands of miles by land and sea in a perfectly natural manner without boots or writingimplements, and even if someone is located twelve fathoms below sea-level yet another person can make known to him everything that he wants in a twinkling. Through antipathy on the other hand you can, just like our Brother in Wetzlar, drive anyone that is hostile to you out of your rooms, lodgings and house, so that even though he would like to remain there he is forced to leave and knows not how, without other people or he himself noticing anything. I will pass over in silence many other wonderful things which can be done with instruments and so on using just air and light, and similarly with water.

Yes, whoever correctly opens just the smallest page of the Book of Nature and anatomises it with the scalpel of the true understanding will find therein more secrecy and art than he would in ten years of disputating the dead-letter, especially with regard to the Universal Medicine, and, yes, can sometimes perform great miracles and terrible things with a wicked and very particular chemical experiment either for amusement or for serious purposes, such as for example when you make evergreen plants, expensive precious stones and pearls, or very useful medicines for all sorts of human injuries and illnesses. Similarly you can make a powder which, when laid freely and unrestrictedly against anything of a common nature to itself, will smash everything that it encounters to smithereens with a terrible but silent thunder.

Similarly, an author might contemplate how, through the natural chemical universal art, he can bring into his chamber all sorts of secrets and arcana in addition to a likeness of the entire firmament and all the planets just as they circulate in the heavens or, again, in a vessel filled with water how through skilful preparation he can cause to appear very beautifully and most wonderfully everything that was brought into existence and fashioned in the six days of the first Creation, with all their appurtenances and their inexpressible character, and in due order. But I digress, and it is impossible in any case for me to tell you everything for this wisdom is inexhaustible and could never be fully covered even in eternity.

God our true Father gives and bestows, so that we might contemplate his mercy, convince the gainsayers when they deny the inner witness of the spirit or the unction in us (1 John 2) of Him Who is holy and for Whom all the ground is laid, and that we finallybecome clever enough to abandon human learning and give honour to God and Christ alone and become and remain subservient to Him in obedient belief, so that we are not thus 'wretchedly tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine' [Ephesians 4:14].

So look now my dear Menapius at what the Roscrucians really intend: namely to serve God and their fellow-men according to their innermost power, to discover nature and use nature's secrets for the benefits of those who believe in Christ, and to use the honour of God's name for eternal glory and praise. Here is their all in all, else they know nothing, attempt nothing, and wish for nothing.

Abandon your libels therefore, stop calling your god-fearing brothers devils, let go of your anger, your hatred and your malevolence, remember that no one is insulting you, and even if we assume that you were correct in your views then you should not have approached the matter with such coarseness. Proprium enim amicorum est amicè monere et moneri (for the true characteristic of a friend is that they advise and are advised in a friendly way). 'Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes' [John 2:8-11].

Therefore Menapius, do not hate those who love you, do not scold those who only wish you well, do not pursue those who seek only your own well-being, do not accuse of treachery those who have placed themselves at the disposal of their fatherland, and do not take for the Devil those who have God before their eyes both day and night. Judge not God, or you yourself shall be judged.

Already many of your mulberries have fermented, but I hope that God will avenge his innocent followers and will cause the laudable Society to expand still further and enable it to see the light of day in joy and delight.

Johannes Silvertus calls them false prophets and enthusiasts. I hope that he never has to prove those allegations.

I am confident that many honourable and godly people of both high and low estate will be found who will be able to go into these matters more deeply, will consider our fragility, and will in some cases actually join our Society, or in other cases be hungry and thirsty for what the Society stands for. But they will see and understand that the Society does not arise from an evil foundation but that it comes from the Light of the Father. Fulfilment is at hand, and all the lacks and defects will be remedied.

My clothing is close to me, my body is closer, my soul is closer still, but God is the closest of all, for what use would my soul be to me without God? Therefore I shall hate myself so that God might love me, I shall be nothing so that for God I shall become everything. To Him I shall offer myself like a child and shall adjust my will to His in searching for all and allowing his Kingdom to prevail in me so that I suffer no lack in any other way, and God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost shall help me and all believers to achieve that goal.

I am sure, my dear Menapius, that you will be content to follow my sincere advice so far as you are able, for no offence against you is intended. God speed you beneath the shadow of the wings of Jehovah!

I wrote this in Frankfurt during the autumn market-days, 1617.

Forentinus de Valentia.

THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS