-
Articles/Ads
Article BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES ← Page 10 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches
finding of his tomb , and ( p . 35 ) some of their rules , and some few other unimportant particulars , and the relation that in the vault was found a prediction by C . R . himself , that his tomb should be discovered " apres six vingts ans . " To seek for any account of French Rosicrucianism therein is fruitless .
It would perhaps be unsatisfactory to conclude this sketch of various opinions on the Order of the Rosy Cross without some mention of its famous symbol . Was Rosencreutz the name of a person , or only feigned from the conjunction of two natural objects famed from all antiquity ? It is their conjunction that is curious . It is scarcely possible to find two emblems more
dissimilar than the cross and the rose;—this the symbol of joy and pleasure , that of pain and degradation , of patience and complete subversion . It Avas when the spirit of mankind Avas enlightened by the Christian religion that their significant union Avas possible at the foot of the cross ; on its croAvn of thorns the Christian seeks , and he finds , his most fragrant and delicious roses .
The significancy of the rose in the ceremonials and mythologies of the ancients is Avell knoivn , and must be of the greatest antiquity ; the best proof of which is the various vulgar notions that had time to be developed concerning it . Sh- Thomas Browne quotes an old Latin verse , in Avhich the cause is likened to a closed bud of the flower : —
" TJtque latet rosa suo putamine clausa , Sic os vincla ferat , validisque arctetur habenis Indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris ; " * which Avould be an appropriate reason , if it were true ; but unfortunately it is not the rosebud , but the full-blown rose , that is universally given . Other explications of the Roman symbol go back to then- mythology , and tell us that Venus ,
Avishing to succour Adonis from the attack of the wild boar Avhich killed him , received a Avound , the blood of Avhich falling upon a white rose , changed its colour , and formed the red variety , which Avas thence dedicated to her memory , and which , having been given to her son Harpocrates , the god of silence , became always identified Avith his office as the guardian of secrecy . f This is told in a Latin epigram : —
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Biographical Sketches
finding of his tomb , and ( p . 35 ) some of their rules , and some few other unimportant particulars , and the relation that in the vault was found a prediction by C . R . himself , that his tomb should be discovered " apres six vingts ans . " To seek for any account of French Rosicrucianism therein is fruitless .
It would perhaps be unsatisfactory to conclude this sketch of various opinions on the Order of the Rosy Cross without some mention of its famous symbol . Was Rosencreutz the name of a person , or only feigned from the conjunction of two natural objects famed from all antiquity ? It is their conjunction that is curious . It is scarcely possible to find two emblems more
dissimilar than the cross and the rose;—this the symbol of joy and pleasure , that of pain and degradation , of patience and complete subversion . It Avas when the spirit of mankind Avas enlightened by the Christian religion that their significant union Avas possible at the foot of the cross ; on its croAvn of thorns the Christian seeks , and he finds , his most fragrant and delicious roses .
The significancy of the rose in the ceremonials and mythologies of the ancients is Avell knoivn , and must be of the greatest antiquity ; the best proof of which is the various vulgar notions that had time to be developed concerning it . Sh- Thomas Browne quotes an old Latin verse , in Avhich the cause is likened to a closed bud of the flower : —
" TJtque latet rosa suo putamine clausa , Sic os vincla ferat , validisque arctetur habenis Indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris ; " * which Avould be an appropriate reason , if it were true ; but unfortunately it is not the rosebud , but the full-blown rose , that is universally given . Other explications of the Roman symbol go back to then- mythology , and tell us that Venus ,
Avishing to succour Adonis from the attack of the wild boar Avhich killed him , received a Avound , the blood of Avhich falling upon a white rose , changed its colour , and formed the red variety , which Avas thence dedicated to her memory , and which , having been given to her son Harpocrates , the god of silence , became always identified Avith his office as the guardian of secrecy . f This is told in a Latin epigram : —