Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
heaven burned up the water , on the occasion when he condemned the priests of Baal who could not do likewise . — See Kings I ., cap . xviii . Blavatsky claims that at the present time the priesls of the secret temples of the Buddhists in Tibet , India , and Japan , use asbestos as a wick in lamps , which burn continuously without replenishing . Trithemius , Libavius , his commentator , and Korndorf , about the year 1500 , each composed
a material , by chemical processes , which they professed would burn for ever . Maleer , a reverend missionary , states that he knew of a great golden lamp in a hollow place inside a temple at Trevnndrum , kingdom of Travancore , which he had the best authority for believing had burned continuously for 120 years . The Abbe Hue , a great traveller , states that he has seen and examined an Everburning Lamp .
By the Levitical Law—Lev . vi ., v . 13—the fire on the altar of Jehovah was never to be allowed to go out ; but we are not told that it was ever burning without supply . It has been suggested that it everburning lamps were ever known , they would have been found in this application ; but we know that the sacred flame was allowed to go out , and was renewed from heaven
on several occasions . —Lev . ix ., 24 ; 2 Chron . vii ., 1 ; 1 kings xviii ., 38 . Other writers have taken the other side of the argument , viz ., that the gift of a flame that would need no attention would have tended to idolatry , to which the Israelites were ever prone . The Chaldeans and Persians used to maintain a perpetual fire in the temples .
Certain scholars have considered that the " window " mentioned as placed in the Ark of Noah was not such , as during a period of prolonged cloud and storm a window would not light such a chamber . In the Hebrew version of Genesis , cap . 6 , v . 16 , the word is tzer , which means "something transparent , " and is to be compared with the similar word zer , always translated " splendour " or "light , " hence they suggest that this tzer , or zer , was some form of ever burning light , or " the universal spirit fixed in a transparent body , " similar to the Mysterious Urim and Thummim .
Alchemy and its successor , Chemistry , are said to have originated in Egypt , that land of ancient marvels , and , indeed , these names arc intimately related , the ancient name of Egypt being Chm , or Land of Ham , from which the title Chymia , in Greek Chemi % ? 7 / u and Ges Cham 7 J / 9 % a / £ is derived . The learned Kircher writes in A . D . 1650 that several travellers in Egypt found in his time Burning Lamps in the Tombs at Memphis .
Numa Pompilius , King of Rome , who certainty experimented with the natural electricity of the clouds , built a Temple to the Nymph Egeria , and made in it a spherical dome , in which he caused to burn a Perpetual Flame of Fire in her honour ; bnt in what manner this flame was produced we have no knowledge . Nathan Bailey , in his " Brittanic Dictionary , " 1736 , remarks that in the Museum of Rarities at Leyden , in Holland , there were two of these lamps , only partially destroyed .
A lamp still burning was found during the Papacy of Paul III . ; about 1540 , in a tomb in the Appian Way at Rome , supposed to be that of Tulliola , the daughter of Cicero . The tomb was inscribed : " Tulliolx Filire Meae ; " she died B . C . 44 . ; it had burned over 1550 years , and became extinguished as soon as exposed to the air ; the whole body was in perfect preservation , and was found floating in a vessel of oil . —See " Pancirollus , Rerum Memorabilium Deperditarum , " vol . I ., p . 115 , Franciscus Maturantius , Hermolaus , and Scardeonius .
Such a lamp is stated to have been found in 1401 , in the reign of Hen . III ., King of Castile , not far from Rome , on the Tiber , in the stone tomb of Pallas , the Arcadian , son of Evander , slain by " Turnus Rex Rotulorum " in the wars at the time of the building of Rome ; nothing could extinguish the flame of this lamp until it was broken . On the tomb were the words : " Filius Evandri Pallas , quern lancea Turni militis occidit , mole sua jacet hie . "—See " Martianus , Liber Chronicorum , " lib . xii ., cap . 67 .
• Two miles from Rome an inundation broke down a wall , and disclosed an ancient tomb ; on the cover stone were the letters " P . M . R . C . cum Uxore ; " in it an earthern urn was found ; when fractured , a bituminous smoke issued ; in the bottom was a lamp , which went out ; the fragments were still oily ; this became dry after exposure . —See " Lowthorp , Abrigment of Philos . Trans ., " vol . III ., sec . xxxv ., also No . 185 , p . 227 .
In a certain temple of Venus in Egypt there hanged a lamp which neither rain nor wind could put out , says , St . Augustine , in his work " De Civitate Dei , " lib . xxi ., cap . 6 , and he associates its make with Magic , and the Devil , as indeed do alt Roman Catholic authorities whenever they mention any of these lamps . Fortunius Licetus describes this lamp in his work " De Reconditis Lucernis Aiuiquorum , " cap . vi ., and see " Isidorus , De Gemmis . "
Ludovicus Vives , 1610 , in his notes to St . Augustine , says that in his father ' s time , A . D . 1580 , a lamp was found in a tomb , which from the inscription was 1500 years old ; it fell to pieces when touched . This Commentator does not follow his master in his denunciation of these lamps , but says they must have been made by men of the greatest skill and wisdom . — See also " Maiolus , Episcopus , Colloquies . "
At Edessa , or Antioch , in a recess over a gateway a burning lamp was found by the soldiers of Chosroes , King of Persia , elaborately closed in from the air . From a date inscribed it was known to have been placed there soon after the time of Christ , or 500 years before . Beside this lamp a crucifix was found fixed . —See " Fortunius Licetus , " cap . vii ., and Citesius in his " Abstinens Consolentanea . "
In the volcanic island of Nesis , near Naples , in the year 600 a marble tomb was found , and when opened it contained a vase in which was a lamp still alight ; the light paled and soon was extinguished when the vase was broken . —See " Licetus , " cap . x . See " Baptista Porta , Magia Naturalis , " lib . xii . cap . ult ., A . D . 1658 .
A very notable example occurred in the discovery of lamps buried in urns about A . I ) . 2500 ; they were taken possession of by Franciscus Maturantius , and described by him in a letter to Alphenus , his friend ; they had been buried 1500 years . A labourer at Atesle , near Padua , in Italy , found
a sepulchre , in which was a fictile urn , and within it there stood another urn , and in this smaller one a lamp burning brightly ; and on each side of it there was a vessel , or ampulla , each ol them full a of pure fluid oil ; one was made of gold , and the other one of silver . On the outer urn were these words engraved : —
Plutoni sacrum munus ne attingite fures , Thieves ! Grasp not thisgiftsacredto Pluto , Ignotum est vobis hoc quod in urna latet Ye are ignorant of what it contains hidden , Namque elcmenta gravi clausit digests For Maximus Olybius has enclosed in labore , This small urn , elements digested with Vase sub hoc modico Maximus Olybius . heavy toil , Adsit secundo custos sibi copia cornu Let abundance be present in a second vase Ne tanti pretium depereat laticis . as a guardian to it , Lest the value of so much oil should perish .
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
On the smaller one were these words : — Abitc hinc pessimi Fures _ _ Get ye hence , most wicked thieves , Vos quid vultis , vestris cum oculis emisitiis . . What do you desire with your rolling eyes ? Abite hinc , vestro cum Mercurio GetyehencewithyourbroadhattedMercury Petasato caduceato que Carrying a wand " with twisted snakes . Donum hoc Maximum , Maximus Olybius Maximus Olybius makes this , Plutoni sacrum facit . His greatest offering , sacred to Pluto .
See " F . Licetus , " cap . ix ., and " Scardeonus , De Antiq . Urbis Patavimc , Rubeus , De Destillationc , " and " Lazius , Wolfhang , " lib . iii ., cap . 18 . Hermolaus Barbarus , in his Corollary to Dioscorides , speaks of a wondrous liquor to sustain combustion , known to Democritus and Trismegistus .
Jacobus Mancinus wrote to Licetus that he knew of a burning lamp dug up from the Monte Cavallo at Rome ; it was still burning when found , and within it was a bituminous substance . Plutarch in his work " De Defectu Oraculorum , " states that in a Temple to Jupiter Amnion a lamp stood in the open air , and neither wind nor rain put it out , and the priests told him it had burned continually for years . — See also " Licetus , " cap . v . Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians made a
special and extensive use of lamps in the religious festivals , and that the Temples of King Mycerinus had many mysterious ones . Strabo , and Pausanias in his Atticus , narrate that in the Temple of Minerva Polias , at Athens , there was a mysterious lamp of gold always burning ; it was made by Callimachus . The altar of the Temple of Apollo Carneus , at Cyrene , was similarly furnished . A like account is given of the great Temple of Aderbain , in Armenia , by Said Ebn Batric .
Kenealy in his " Book of God calls attention to the name Carystios applied to the asbestine wicks of the lamps in ancient Greek temples , and draws attention to its relations to Chr . of Christos and to Eucharist , anointed with oil , as to everburning lamps before the throne , as in the Apocalypse . Chrs .= solar fire . Chre .= sun = he burned . Krs .= sun = Kupios = Cyrus .
Ceres = was called Ta : difera = torch bearing . Chrs ., from this also comes Eros in Greek , material . light coming from ineffable light . There is a curious reference of asbestos to fire , and the heat of the sun , in " The Ecstatic Journey to Heaven " of Kircher , where Casmiel , the genius of this world , gives Theodidaktos a boat of asbestos to embark in for his travels to and on the sun , the centre of heat . —See " Itinerar 1 , Dialogue 1 , " cap . 5 .
Irish lore recounts a mysterious everburning flame in the Temple at Kildare , sacred to St . Bridget—Daughter of Fire . —See Giraldus Cambrensis , De Mirab . Hibern . 2 , xxxiv . Khunrath , in his " Amphitheatrum Sapiential / Etern ; e , " cites the ancient author of "The Apocalypse of the Sweet Spirit of Nature , " as
speaking of a liquid which burneth with a bright light and wastes not . At the dissolution of the Monastries in Britain , by order of Henry VIII ., a tomb , in Yorkshire , purporting to be that of Constantius Chlorus , father of the Great Constantine , was opened and ransacked , and a lamp burning was found in it : he died 300 A . D . —See Camden " Brittania " ( Gough ' s edition , III . p . 242 ( 572 ? ) .
Lazius , in his " Comment . Reipub . Roma ; , " writes that the Romans under the Empire possessed the secret of preserving lights in tombs by means of the oiliness of gold , resolved by their art into a fluid . —See lib . III ., cap . 18 . An ancient Roman tomb was discovered in Spain , near Cordova , near the site of the ancient Castellum priscum ; in this tomb was found a lamp . This lamp is described by Mr . Wetherell , of Seville . —See an essay by Wray , " Athenaeum , " Aug . Sth , 1846 .
the last relation which I propose to cite to you is from Dr . Robert Plot , the Archaeologist , written in the time of Charles the Second , as follows : —
A certain man , engaged in digging , having at a particular spot turned up the earth deeper than usual , came upon a door , which he subsequently was able to open , and found beneath it a descending passage with steps ; these he descended , and ultimately , with much trepidation and many delays , he arrived at the entrance of a vault . This underground chamber was lighted urj by a lamp , which was placed in front of a statue of a man in armour sitting at a table , leaning on his left arm ; in his right hand was a sceptre or weapon .
When the intruder advanced , a portion of the floor moved with his weight , and the figure became raised up , at the next step the arm was elevated , and as the man took the third step the arm descended , shattering the lamp and extinguishing it . The man was terrified , and made a hasty retreat as soon as he recovered possession of his senses sufficiently to find his way out of the vault .
The place became famous for some lime as the sepulchre of a Rosicrucian , and was regarded as a triumph of mystic skill and knowledge , which at once proved the possession of undreamed 01 powers in the designer , and yet provided the means of as certainly keeping his secret . —See also "Spectator , " No . 379 of 1712 .
, This essay has already extended beyond the contemplated limits , so I refrain from a long resume . These pages provide much food for thought . That lamps have burned for long periods of time untended is testified to by more than 150 authorities , and some dozen instances of this marvel are borne witness to by a large proportion of these authors .
From the time that has elapsed since everburning lamps were found , and from the comparative ignorance of the world at that period of the distant past , comes to our minds some hesitation and doubt as to accuracy of detail , and this is unavoidable .
But the consensus of ancient opinion must point to the broad conclusion that there formerly existed an art that has been lost in the dim lig ht of the dark ages of the world . Pancirollus catalogues many other such lost arts , and modern science is flung back baffled from the performance of many a deed which could have been freely done by the
ancient sages . Several of our most modern discoveries have been shown to have been anticipated by men who are contemptuously regarded by modern scientists . So it has ever been . Earth knows but little of its greatest men ; its greatest men are but pigmies in the presence of time , antiquity , and futurity . " Knowledge comes , but wisdom lingers , " said the poet laureate . The Christian Rosicrucian can only exclaim" Lead , kindly Light , lead thou me on ; The night is dark , and 1 am far from home . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
heaven burned up the water , on the occasion when he condemned the priests of Baal who could not do likewise . — See Kings I ., cap . xviii . Blavatsky claims that at the present time the priesls of the secret temples of the Buddhists in Tibet , India , and Japan , use asbestos as a wick in lamps , which burn continuously without replenishing . Trithemius , Libavius , his commentator , and Korndorf , about the year 1500 , each composed
a material , by chemical processes , which they professed would burn for ever . Maleer , a reverend missionary , states that he knew of a great golden lamp in a hollow place inside a temple at Trevnndrum , kingdom of Travancore , which he had the best authority for believing had burned continuously for 120 years . The Abbe Hue , a great traveller , states that he has seen and examined an Everburning Lamp .
By the Levitical Law—Lev . vi ., v . 13—the fire on the altar of Jehovah was never to be allowed to go out ; but we are not told that it was ever burning without supply . It has been suggested that it everburning lamps were ever known , they would have been found in this application ; but we know that the sacred flame was allowed to go out , and was renewed from heaven
on several occasions . —Lev . ix ., 24 ; 2 Chron . vii ., 1 ; 1 kings xviii ., 38 . Other writers have taken the other side of the argument , viz ., that the gift of a flame that would need no attention would have tended to idolatry , to which the Israelites were ever prone . The Chaldeans and Persians used to maintain a perpetual fire in the temples .
Certain scholars have considered that the " window " mentioned as placed in the Ark of Noah was not such , as during a period of prolonged cloud and storm a window would not light such a chamber . In the Hebrew version of Genesis , cap . 6 , v . 16 , the word is tzer , which means "something transparent , " and is to be compared with the similar word zer , always translated " splendour " or "light , " hence they suggest that this tzer , or zer , was some form of ever burning light , or " the universal spirit fixed in a transparent body , " similar to the Mysterious Urim and Thummim .
Alchemy and its successor , Chemistry , are said to have originated in Egypt , that land of ancient marvels , and , indeed , these names arc intimately related , the ancient name of Egypt being Chm , or Land of Ham , from which the title Chymia , in Greek Chemi % ? 7 / u and Ges Cham 7 J / 9 % a / £ is derived . The learned Kircher writes in A . D . 1650 that several travellers in Egypt found in his time Burning Lamps in the Tombs at Memphis .
Numa Pompilius , King of Rome , who certainty experimented with the natural electricity of the clouds , built a Temple to the Nymph Egeria , and made in it a spherical dome , in which he caused to burn a Perpetual Flame of Fire in her honour ; bnt in what manner this flame was produced we have no knowledge . Nathan Bailey , in his " Brittanic Dictionary , " 1736 , remarks that in the Museum of Rarities at Leyden , in Holland , there were two of these lamps , only partially destroyed .
A lamp still burning was found during the Papacy of Paul III . ; about 1540 , in a tomb in the Appian Way at Rome , supposed to be that of Tulliola , the daughter of Cicero . The tomb was inscribed : " Tulliolx Filire Meae ; " she died B . C . 44 . ; it had burned over 1550 years , and became extinguished as soon as exposed to the air ; the whole body was in perfect preservation , and was found floating in a vessel of oil . —See " Pancirollus , Rerum Memorabilium Deperditarum , " vol . I ., p . 115 , Franciscus Maturantius , Hermolaus , and Scardeonius .
Such a lamp is stated to have been found in 1401 , in the reign of Hen . III ., King of Castile , not far from Rome , on the Tiber , in the stone tomb of Pallas , the Arcadian , son of Evander , slain by " Turnus Rex Rotulorum " in the wars at the time of the building of Rome ; nothing could extinguish the flame of this lamp until it was broken . On the tomb were the words : " Filius Evandri Pallas , quern lancea Turni militis occidit , mole sua jacet hie . "—See " Martianus , Liber Chronicorum , " lib . xii ., cap . 67 .
• Two miles from Rome an inundation broke down a wall , and disclosed an ancient tomb ; on the cover stone were the letters " P . M . R . C . cum Uxore ; " in it an earthern urn was found ; when fractured , a bituminous smoke issued ; in the bottom was a lamp , which went out ; the fragments were still oily ; this became dry after exposure . —See " Lowthorp , Abrigment of Philos . Trans ., " vol . III ., sec . xxxv ., also No . 185 , p . 227 .
In a certain temple of Venus in Egypt there hanged a lamp which neither rain nor wind could put out , says , St . Augustine , in his work " De Civitate Dei , " lib . xxi ., cap . 6 , and he associates its make with Magic , and the Devil , as indeed do alt Roman Catholic authorities whenever they mention any of these lamps . Fortunius Licetus describes this lamp in his work " De Reconditis Lucernis Aiuiquorum , " cap . vi ., and see " Isidorus , De Gemmis . "
Ludovicus Vives , 1610 , in his notes to St . Augustine , says that in his father ' s time , A . D . 1580 , a lamp was found in a tomb , which from the inscription was 1500 years old ; it fell to pieces when touched . This Commentator does not follow his master in his denunciation of these lamps , but says they must have been made by men of the greatest skill and wisdom . — See also " Maiolus , Episcopus , Colloquies . "
At Edessa , or Antioch , in a recess over a gateway a burning lamp was found by the soldiers of Chosroes , King of Persia , elaborately closed in from the air . From a date inscribed it was known to have been placed there soon after the time of Christ , or 500 years before . Beside this lamp a crucifix was found fixed . —See " Fortunius Licetus , " cap . vii ., and Citesius in his " Abstinens Consolentanea . "
In the volcanic island of Nesis , near Naples , in the year 600 a marble tomb was found , and when opened it contained a vase in which was a lamp still alight ; the light paled and soon was extinguished when the vase was broken . —See " Licetus , " cap . x . See " Baptista Porta , Magia Naturalis , " lib . xii . cap . ult ., A . D . 1658 .
A very notable example occurred in the discovery of lamps buried in urns about A . I ) . 2500 ; they were taken possession of by Franciscus Maturantius , and described by him in a letter to Alphenus , his friend ; they had been buried 1500 years . A labourer at Atesle , near Padua , in Italy , found
a sepulchre , in which was a fictile urn , and within it there stood another urn , and in this smaller one a lamp burning brightly ; and on each side of it there was a vessel , or ampulla , each ol them full a of pure fluid oil ; one was made of gold , and the other one of silver . On the outer urn were these words engraved : —
Plutoni sacrum munus ne attingite fures , Thieves ! Grasp not thisgiftsacredto Pluto , Ignotum est vobis hoc quod in urna latet Ye are ignorant of what it contains hidden , Namque elcmenta gravi clausit digests For Maximus Olybius has enclosed in labore , This small urn , elements digested with Vase sub hoc modico Maximus Olybius . heavy toil , Adsit secundo custos sibi copia cornu Let abundance be present in a second vase Ne tanti pretium depereat laticis . as a guardian to it , Lest the value of so much oil should perish .
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
On the smaller one were these words : — Abitc hinc pessimi Fures _ _ Get ye hence , most wicked thieves , Vos quid vultis , vestris cum oculis emisitiis . . What do you desire with your rolling eyes ? Abite hinc , vestro cum Mercurio GetyehencewithyourbroadhattedMercury Petasato caduceato que Carrying a wand " with twisted snakes . Donum hoc Maximum , Maximus Olybius Maximus Olybius makes this , Plutoni sacrum facit . His greatest offering , sacred to Pluto .
See " F . Licetus , " cap . ix ., and " Scardeonus , De Antiq . Urbis Patavimc , Rubeus , De Destillationc , " and " Lazius , Wolfhang , " lib . iii ., cap . 18 . Hermolaus Barbarus , in his Corollary to Dioscorides , speaks of a wondrous liquor to sustain combustion , known to Democritus and Trismegistus .
Jacobus Mancinus wrote to Licetus that he knew of a burning lamp dug up from the Monte Cavallo at Rome ; it was still burning when found , and within it was a bituminous substance . Plutarch in his work " De Defectu Oraculorum , " states that in a Temple to Jupiter Amnion a lamp stood in the open air , and neither wind nor rain put it out , and the priests told him it had burned continually for years . — See also " Licetus , " cap . v . Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians made a
special and extensive use of lamps in the religious festivals , and that the Temples of King Mycerinus had many mysterious ones . Strabo , and Pausanias in his Atticus , narrate that in the Temple of Minerva Polias , at Athens , there was a mysterious lamp of gold always burning ; it was made by Callimachus . The altar of the Temple of Apollo Carneus , at Cyrene , was similarly furnished . A like account is given of the great Temple of Aderbain , in Armenia , by Said Ebn Batric .
Kenealy in his " Book of God calls attention to the name Carystios applied to the asbestine wicks of the lamps in ancient Greek temples , and draws attention to its relations to Chr . of Christos and to Eucharist , anointed with oil , as to everburning lamps before the throne , as in the Apocalypse . Chrs .= solar fire . Chre .= sun = he burned . Krs .= sun = Kupios = Cyrus .
Ceres = was called Ta : difera = torch bearing . Chrs ., from this also comes Eros in Greek , material . light coming from ineffable light . There is a curious reference of asbestos to fire , and the heat of the sun , in " The Ecstatic Journey to Heaven " of Kircher , where Casmiel , the genius of this world , gives Theodidaktos a boat of asbestos to embark in for his travels to and on the sun , the centre of heat . —See " Itinerar 1 , Dialogue 1 , " cap . 5 .
Irish lore recounts a mysterious everburning flame in the Temple at Kildare , sacred to St . Bridget—Daughter of Fire . —See Giraldus Cambrensis , De Mirab . Hibern . 2 , xxxiv . Khunrath , in his " Amphitheatrum Sapiential / Etern ; e , " cites the ancient author of "The Apocalypse of the Sweet Spirit of Nature , " as
speaking of a liquid which burneth with a bright light and wastes not . At the dissolution of the Monastries in Britain , by order of Henry VIII ., a tomb , in Yorkshire , purporting to be that of Constantius Chlorus , father of the Great Constantine , was opened and ransacked , and a lamp burning was found in it : he died 300 A . D . —See Camden " Brittania " ( Gough ' s edition , III . p . 242 ( 572 ? ) .
Lazius , in his " Comment . Reipub . Roma ; , " writes that the Romans under the Empire possessed the secret of preserving lights in tombs by means of the oiliness of gold , resolved by their art into a fluid . —See lib . III ., cap . 18 . An ancient Roman tomb was discovered in Spain , near Cordova , near the site of the ancient Castellum priscum ; in this tomb was found a lamp . This lamp is described by Mr . Wetherell , of Seville . —See an essay by Wray , " Athenaeum , " Aug . Sth , 1846 .
the last relation which I propose to cite to you is from Dr . Robert Plot , the Archaeologist , written in the time of Charles the Second , as follows : —
A certain man , engaged in digging , having at a particular spot turned up the earth deeper than usual , came upon a door , which he subsequently was able to open , and found beneath it a descending passage with steps ; these he descended , and ultimately , with much trepidation and many delays , he arrived at the entrance of a vault . This underground chamber was lighted urj by a lamp , which was placed in front of a statue of a man in armour sitting at a table , leaning on his left arm ; in his right hand was a sceptre or weapon .
When the intruder advanced , a portion of the floor moved with his weight , and the figure became raised up , at the next step the arm was elevated , and as the man took the third step the arm descended , shattering the lamp and extinguishing it . The man was terrified , and made a hasty retreat as soon as he recovered possession of his senses sufficiently to find his way out of the vault .
The place became famous for some lime as the sepulchre of a Rosicrucian , and was regarded as a triumph of mystic skill and knowledge , which at once proved the possession of undreamed 01 powers in the designer , and yet provided the means of as certainly keeping his secret . —See also "Spectator , " No . 379 of 1712 .
, This essay has already extended beyond the contemplated limits , so I refrain from a long resume . These pages provide much food for thought . That lamps have burned for long periods of time untended is testified to by more than 150 authorities , and some dozen instances of this marvel are borne witness to by a large proportion of these authors .
From the time that has elapsed since everburning lamps were found , and from the comparative ignorance of the world at that period of the distant past , comes to our minds some hesitation and doubt as to accuracy of detail , and this is unavoidable .
But the consensus of ancient opinion must point to the broad conclusion that there formerly existed an art that has been lost in the dim lig ht of the dark ages of the world . Pancirollus catalogues many other such lost arts , and modern science is flung back baffled from the performance of many a deed which could have been freely done by the
ancient sages . Several of our most modern discoveries have been shown to have been anticipated by men who are contemptuously regarded by modern scientists . So it has ever been . Earth knows but little of its greatest men ; its greatest men are but pigmies in the presence of time , antiquity , and futurity . " Knowledge comes , but wisdom lingers , " said the poet laureate . The Christian Rosicrucian can only exclaim" Lead , kindly Light , lead thou me on ; The night is dark , and 1 am far from home . "