CHAPTER IV.

THE CONFESSION OF THE ROSICRUCIAN FRATERNITY,
ADDRESSED TO THE LEARNED OF EUROPE.

THE translation of this manifesto which follows the
Fama in the edition accredited by the great name of
Eugenius Philalethes is prolix and careless : being made
not from the Latin original but from the later German ver-
sion. As a relic of English Eosicrucian literature I have
wished to preserve it, and having subjected it to a search-
ing revision throughout, it now represents the original with
sufficient fidelity for all practical purposes. The " Confessio
Fraternitatis " appeared in the year 1615 in a Latin work
entitled " Secretions Philosophise Consideratio Brevio a
Philippo a Gabella, Philosophise studioso, conscripta ; et
nunc primum una cum Confessione Fraternitatis R C.," in
lucem edita, Cassellis, excudebat G. Wesselius, a 1615.
Quarto." It was prefaced by the following advertisement : —
" Here, gentle reader, you shall finde incorporated in our
Confession thirty-seven reasons of our purpose and inten-
tion, the which according to thy pleasure thou mayst seek
out and compare together, considering within thyself if they
be sufficient to allure thee. Verily, it requires no small
pains to induce any one to believe what doth not yet appear,
but when it shall be revealed in the full blaze of day, I
suppose we should be ashamed of such questionings. And
as we do now securely call the Pope Antichrist, which was

.

86 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

formerly a capital offence in every place, so we know
certainly that what we here keep secret we shall in the future
thunder forth with uplifted voice, the which, reader, with
us desire with all thy heart that it may happen most
speedily. " FRATRES R. C."

Confessio Fraternitatis R. C. ad Eruditos Europce.