ly initiated in the sublime wisdom of the east, during his
travels in Egypt and Fez. From what we are enabled to learn from this
work, the intention of the founder and the final aim of the society,
appear to have been the accumulation of wealth and treasures, by means
of secrets known only to the members; and by a proper distribution of
these treasures among princes and potentates, to promote the grand
scheme of the society, by producing "a general revolution of all
things." In their "confession of faith," there are many bold and
singular dogmas; among others, that the end of the world is at hand;
that a general reformation of men and manners will speedily take place;
that the wicked shall be expelled or subdued, the Jews converted, and
the doctrine of Christ propagated over the whole earth. The
Rosencrucians not only believed that these events must happen, but they
also endeavoured to accelerate them by unremitted exertions. To their
faithful votaries and followers, they promised abundance of celestial
wisdom, unspeakable riches, exemption from disease, an immortal state of
man of ever blooming youth, and above all the _philosopher's stone_.

Learning and improvement of the mind were, by this order, considered as
superfluous and despised. They found all knowledge in the Bible; this,
however, has been supposed rather a pretext to obviate a charge, which
was brought against them, of not believing in the Christian religion.
The truth is, they imagined themselves superior to divine revelation,
and supposed every useful acquisition, every virtue to be derived from
the influence of the Deity on the soul of man. In this, as well as in
many other respects, they appear to be followers of Paracelsus, whom
they profess to revere as a Messenger of the divinity. Like him, they
pretend to cure all diseases; through _faith_ and the power of the
imagination, to heal the most mortal disorders by a touch, or even by
simply looking at the patient. The universal remedy was likewise a grand
secret of the order, the discovery of which was promised to all its
faithful members.

It would be unnecessary to enumerate any more of such impious fancies,
if the founder of this still lurking sect, now partly revivified, had
not asserted, with astonishing effrontery, that human life was capable
of prolongation, like a fire kept up by combustible matter, and that he
was in the possession of a secret, which could verify this assertion. It
is evident,