Section 9

Rofte Crucian VU^ SICK.

CHAP. XVI.

How the Rofie Crucians make a Chlrurgeons Ir.ftrUment ; t hat it {hail
fierce through any fart of the whole bodyt whom (en fe or feeling ,
and found the depth of a wound. The difference of Common Phyft-
clans Raw, Blunt, and herby medicines, and Rofte Crucians :
what a Phyftclan ought to be, what they ought ts learn , and what
they ought to fraBlfe, and then I fhall love them «f the order of

the. Rofte Crof's.

J J

BUt I wear away time in vain, to (peak fo much about &
matter; andyec fith all are not of like Capacity, I will adde
one yet familiar example; when a Surgeon goeth about to fearch
n wound that is deep, if he thmft at it with a Butchers pricks he
Would move Laughter-, let him take a Thorne, and it wil pierce
ibmewhat prettily; but to do it throughly, and at his ptea&re
he will ufe , (though to the great grief of his Patient') a fine and
long internment of Mettal. But a right Surgeon the common ones
are but Batchers, fuch a one as is a Phyftclan, and Aftrologer> nay
a Rofte Crucian alfo, would touch his Inftrument, with a Load-
ftine, that is commonly found, to make it pierce throughout the
body without all fenfe or feeling ; Even fo good Phyftclans fuch
an one, as the Lord Marques of fVorcefter had, whom he taught
many fine invent ions : he told me of a Golden ball that this Lord
made, th.it let him throw it into a River or Pooler would arife a-
again from the bottom at what hour he pleafed. This noble Mar-
ines fhevved me a key of the lock, that would tell him who touch-
ed it. Nay if ic fortuned to be pickt he could know who did it,and
what was taken away (tyti^yt)fypo facts) and many rare things I
have feen this princely Philofopher do, which his excellency was
pleafed tofhew me;fuch asthefe are hard to be found in this Go-
vernment, where none of thefe can live without great envie. If
one of thsfe Rofte Crucians be to encounter with our grea tert ene-
mies ,thefe four we fpeak of,he would not Ihope,ifhe were a true
Refte Crucian be fo mad as tothruft at them with the Raw and

blunt

Rofte C melon P H Y S I C K. s£

blunt Herby Medicines fuch as Dr. Scarborough, prefcribe,no
nor although they be fharpenedby Jacob He) don, by plain di-
itillations : neither would he, I think for pitty,(Ung xhzpw pa-
ttern with Eugenlus Phllalethes Martyrdome of rude and rank
Minerals, and unlefsf they were made into a tine clean natural
and temperate quality, which would work mightily, and deftroy
eitherofthere four great difeafes , Leprofie, Goat, Dropfie, and
Fallingjickjxfs ' but feed,Comfort, or at leaft not offend, and hurt
his patient; they labour in vain that pra&ife otherwife. Thefe
are the medeclr.es which I onely ufe, and which a good and wife
Phyftcian ought onely to feek and follow, and if he cannot find it,
let him ufe the cure them f elves. But fuch a thing as this, I^fay,
brought to this equality, and finenefs of frame and temper, (were
it at the firfN, wight ?tlant or mineral) was-it which our father and
founder Mofes, ('the cnief of the Rofie Crofs) faid is like to Hea-
ven, and the ftrength of all ftrengths piercing and fubduingal!
things.

This was it that warranted his Sonsthzrojie Crucians to avow
fo floutly, that Art was long and Life fhort, and all difeafes cura-
ble, when Hippocrates the Father of Common Phyficians, was dri-
ven by the infirmity and endlefs matter of his weak body , and
envious mind tinctured with Covetoufnefs,and fickle Medicines,
to cry to Rofie Cruciansfaw. they would not hear fuch hard-heart-
ed Fellows,nor give him long Life, he faid therefore that Art was
long, and Life was floor v. And whereas he and his orY-fpring
were fain to leave many difeafed hehplefs, to the great (liame of
Art and Plague of mankind, is it any marvel when as they prick
at them ( as I faid) with a Butchers-prick ? Nay, fee what they do
by their practice, they be fo Far from all help and comfort to the
Patient in greateft danger, that they increafe his wifer ey s many
vvaies, except the great eater GF all pain, and their common Me-
dicine Death, be quickly adminiftred .- Firft, they make the Pati-
ent fnfter the punilhment due to their own flothful Idlenefc, bur-
dening his ftomach with that labour of loofnening and fundering
the Fine from the Grofs, which they fnould before have taken in-
to their Glajfes : and then by doing thefe often, they clean tire
his feeble Nature (as it would tire ahorfe) when as by Gripping
the foul and grofs fluff, that dills [he working, and reteining the

I 2 Vertue

60 Eafie Crucian P H Y S I C K.

Vertuc in a narrow ftrong body, they might doe as much at one
time as they doe now in twenty, and becaufe their Medicines
applyed are of fmaller power and weaker than the things
that hurt us, they feed nourifh and flrengthcn the difeafe and
ficknefs,but for all thisjf fome of this company and fide ofLeeches
have been and are yet fometimes able to heal all difeafes in our
body f though with much ado, as you have heard) fave the four
named remedilefs, yeaandthofe afwellin their fpring as before
their ripenefs,as they themfelv.es report. Is there any Proportion
in Geometry ? Let the College of PhyJiciansUy meafures why the
Rofe Crucian mighty Medicines which I call Cure-the-grcats, paf-
fing thefe in power, as much as the ripenefs of a difeafe is above
the Springy fhall not overmatch the ripe as well as the green Dif-
eafes : Wherefore there be no doubts left, but this plainly true ,
That albeit the Grecians is weak and halting in this kind of heal-
ing, yet is the Egyptian, or (as now they terme it) the Paracel-
fians and Mineral skill fufficient to cure all difeafes : Then I have
paid the whole fumme of my promife, touching the fecond
means and helps to Blifs and Happinefs , which is Life and
Health.

Before I clofe, I think it very meet, while the time and place
very fitly ferveth, to do a good deed, and this fhall be my intent
to admonifh and exhort the Grecian Leaches, and their Scholars
the English, Spanish, and French Phyficians, whom if they follow
Hippocrates, Plato, Pythagoras, and his fellows, I love for their
Learning, and piety for their mifleading others .{'although it be
grievous, I know to old Scholars, wone in a kind of Learning,
to unlearne all as it were and begin again, for their own Credit*
and Virtue, yea and profit fake alfo, if they efieem that beft, to
leave thofe Gilded Pills and Sugred Baits , and all other crafty
fnares, wherewith the World hath been fo long caught and
fo long tormented, and to feek this onely heavenly Society; as
(to you that are learned J eafily may temper your felves, and be
acquainted with the ready,true, plain and certain way of Heal-
ingdifeafes. I think in former time they were not greatly to
be blamed and accufed but of dulnefs and we.iknefsof underfhn-
ding, in not applying and feeing this periecHon, and Applying of
all their wants; but fince they have been fo often warned not

with

Rofte Crucian PHYSICK. 61

with words only, but with examples of Learned men, Matheo-
lm Fernelltts, Scverinus Dantts, Philo Iud&us, Diodorus Slcttlus ,
and other fuch like which have and doe revolt, and flie away from
them daily, yea and by the certain dc^ds of Paracelfe,k were im-
qity to fit ftill : Well, few words will ferve to wife and vertuous
Phyficlans, fuch as are of themfelves forward.

But there is another, and I am afraid, the greater fort, lefs ho-
neft,more Idle and Covetous, full of windy Pride and Words,
but empty of all good learning, and they are no friends to Rofie
Crucians, x\oi they to them, and thefeno gentle warning of any,
no though a Roft-e Crucian himfelf fhould come and bring Truth
her felf along with him in perfon,would prevail : who care not it
feems if half mankind (ho Ad perilh for want of help and fuccour,
rather then lofe their gains ; And which not onely fpeak foully
but write foolimly, againft this overflourifhing vertue, but alfo
like the giddy people of my time, where they catch the State, ba-
nifh the men that hold and poffefs it; whereas if it were a good
Commonwealth (quoth Arlfiotle) the matter would be fo far
from Banishment or Imprisonment, as they would efteem fuch a
man as well as the Laws ( for he is himfelf a Law) exempt from
all obedience, and judge him worthy to be followed and obeyed
as a perpetual King.

This untowardnefs and crookednefs in men canfodMhur AI-,
healing Anceftors the Ko/ie Crucians from time to time, never to
abide their Sentence, but to the great hurt and lofs of mankind
go into willing Banlfhment, you have cftablifhed a kind of Govern-
ment among you (to purfue the fame, like a little ) wherein

you rule alone over the weak and forry fubjects of mens Bodies,
then their health and fafety yo 1 ought to feek onely, befides e-
nough to maintain a contented eftare alfo , which Plato allowed
his Governours, and nor proSt only (that were Tyranny) both for
humanity and Religion fake, for to omit Religion, which they do
lightly omit, if a Phyfitian begin once to make a prey
of men, he is not onely no man , but a moft Fierce
and cruell Beaft , not fit to be compared and matched
and matched any where, if you feek all over the world as with
the mlfhapen modifier of India, which Ariftotle defcribes, and calls
Martichora;\vhkh being by nature or culiome, I know not whe-
ther,

6t JtyfrCtfj/toPHYSICK.

ther^vcry greedy upon mansflefli , is with manifold and won-
derful helpes furnifhed, and armed unto it.
Firlt vritn a face like a KiJh^ voice like ^Trumpet, two fit things
to allure ;and call him in) and then if he flye , with the fvviftnefs of
an Hart to overtake him, he darts like a Porcupine, to wound him
afar of ; and with the tail of a Scorpion, as it were a poyfoned
(haft, near hand to fling him : furthermore, left all this might not
ferve, by occafion of Armour, \vz hath feet like a Lion, fiercely and
cruelly to tear him, and three rowes of teeth, on each Chap for
the in devouring. Apply you and the Apothecarries,the red your
ielves, in fecret for my part, as I am not a Rofie Crucian, fo I am
as well as they, forry to fee evil done. And I am loath to fpeak
evil of it, and lure were not the great grief and envy I dobear ; and
alwayesdid, to fee defert trodden down by fuch unworthinefs,and
ibme little hopes I have to hear of the amendment, andfoof
the return of the truth, and good men out of banifhment and im-
prifonment, you fhould have found me in Weftm'mfter-liall : as
I have been an Attumy in Termetime, and mean to continue my
pracUfe there fo long as I live, except in the Vacation, which
I intend to ipend in Chlm'cal and Rofie Crucian Medicines
for the good of hone ft plain meaning men wfcxjffti% JWffjtfo

But Tome may ask what I mean by R.C. the Ceremonle is an
Ebony Cro/J, flou:ifhed and deckt with Rofes of Gold , the Crofs
typlfesChrlfls iuflferings upon the Crofs for our fins, the Rofes of
bold fhew the Glory and Beauty of his Refurrettlon from death to
life. And this is carried to Adefque, Caflle, Apamla, Chaulatean
Vlrlffa CaxxHch, Aiount Calverj, Haran and Mount Sinai, where
they meet when they pleafe'and make Refolution of all their
Actions, and then difperfe themfelves abroad, taking their plea-
fure alwayes in one of thefe/?/4f^,\vhers they refolve alio all
queflions of whatfocver bath been done, Is done,orfoallbe done In
the world, from the beginning to the end thereof. And thefe are the
men are called Rofie Crucians.

~T FINIS.

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