Response to the Illustrious Brothers of the Rosy Cross

Heus, LEO, cruce fidis; lux SATHODIE.
Ho, Lion, trust in the Cross; light [shines] “Sathodie.”
(The word “SATHODIE” appears as printed—likely a motto/chronogram or a coined form.)

Nam quando fide curris, onus propulsans Ecclesiae, vigebit.
For when you run by faith, driving back the Church’s burden, it shall thrive.

Anno M.DC.XIIX. — In the year 1618.




Translated to English from the book:
Deutsches Theatrum chemicum, auf welchem der berühmtesten Philosophen und Alchymisten Schrifften 1728

RESPONSE — S.P.

Brothers in the Lord,
we know well what assent and what concourse of learned men you are accustomed to have.

For although the time is at hand when those who overcome the horned beast, the Antichrist, will stand upon the glassy sea mingled with fire, and will have harps and will sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and wonderful are your works, O Lord,” etc.,

yet we know that the temple filled with the glory and power of God is still smoking, so that no one can enter it until the seven last plagues are completed—of which two still remain; the sixth is now running its course. For the waters of the East have been dried up, and a way seems to be laid out for the kings; the rest will come to pass.

But you at least are paving the road, so that, through that last plague—most august of all—we may hasten to lofty and great felicity, and thence to that eternal jubilee in the most holy city, which will be prefigured by that temporal felicity.

Yet alas, before the great tree, cut down by that great eagle from Lebanon and planted in the merchant-city of Babel, is brought low, may the tree planted by the Lord grow and be exalted, planted on the high mountain, cut from that same Lebanon!

Woe, until the type of the flying eagle that laid waste Jerusalem pass away, and great Babylon drain the ποτήριον (“cup”) of the wrath of God; and so that beast which was and is not, and again ascends from the abyss, be thrust down into destruction. For they will wage war against the Lamb; but by the Lamb—with whom are those who are called, faithful, and chosen of God—they will be conquered, etc.

We know, brothers, that you will not yet have the desired influx of learned men while these things are still unfinished, and that the temple of God will remain closed, and your building of the Holy Spirit with its repositories kept hidden, until even the seventh plague is accomplished—whereupon Your Fraternity will bring help to a good cause. For the Lord Himself will execute vengeance upon the beast through you. He is our hammer and our weapons; you are His servants. He will crush chariots and charioteers, males and females alike, old men and full-grown men, youths and virgins, shepherds and flocks, peasants and their yoke, princes and magnates—you are the instrument.

We shall experience this, and our heart will rejoice; we shall grow green like the grass. The hand of Jehovah will appear upon His servants, and His wrath upon His enemies. From the north evil will flash forth like lightning, and the Lion will rush out from his thicket. The pearl long lost will be found by a most abject man; it will even be encircled with gold and given as a gift to the Lion; he will wear it hanging from his neck with the greatest honor. He likewise will restrain the violence of the Wolf and the She-Bear, and he will scatter them, so that the beasts of the forest may live in safety.

Then the old art will come to an end, while the new one will lie despised; a new nest will arise, all glory will perish; the feathers of that eastern bird will be consumed by the noonday sun. But you, earthly Lion, who are bowed down and bound—what lot will you have? All your glory will perish, and all your strength will be changed. Then will be the time when at last we shall joyfully sing ALLELU-JAH: salvation and honor, glory and power; and again ALLELU-JAH! Blessed are they who are called—indeed, who shall be judged worthy.

Accordingly, since you, Venerable Brothers, have not hesitated—by a most generous nod—in your several little books to summon and invite all lovers of wisdom and promoters of divine worship to that divine wisdom which alone casts the Antichrist down from his seat: who does not see the pious and holy aim of your invitation? For it is surely not likely—even if all the treasures of the world are stored up with you—that anyone should be called to riches (which are sought only by the evil), with the glory of the divine name set aside.

I am glad to exclaim with the most devout father C.R.C.: “Pfui aurum, nisi quantum aurum.” (Fie on gold—save only in so far as it is true gold!)

Let the Church arise, let the Commonwealth flourish, let the concord of theologians—so long and so earnestly entreated with many groans—bloom; and let the reformation of the Evangelicals be furthered. Pray for the happiness of Jerusalem may there be peace within your walls; let all confusion and preposterous disorder be banished, together with its offspring—impiety and contempt of divine worship, thefts, adulteries, crimes. Let right order be kept, and all will be well.

Grant that we too in our time may see the God of order, and that the ranks of his wisdom may flow into us—those ranks, I say, of the world thrice twofold, so that they may flow back to the fountainhead of all order. Grant that, after we have ferried across the measure of the fourth millenary, we may return upon the river’s bank and behold trees fruitful for a happier age, whose leaves do not wither and whose monthly fruits do not decay. Grant that we may eat of these fruits and be healed by these leaves, and enjoy immortal food—from a flame indissoluble, though it melt as easily as ice.

Therefore, lamenting the condition of this most unhappy and most turbulent age, we—eager for your wisdom (rather, the wisdom granted to you from above)—implore your aid; we await your call, that ours also, if it so seem good to God, may be an offense to Antichrist, for the glory of our Christ, the life which we ourselves acknowledge to have been received, we dedicate and devote—nothing except what looks to the glory and honor of His most holy name, to the restoration of His holy order in the Church and in the commonwealth, and to our own instruction—loving nothing, longing for nothing, but wisdom.

For wisdom is a lovable good, and a ray of the divine Majesty, and the daughter of the Most High.

Therefore we beg—by whatever we can, by the glory (I would say) of God and of our Christ, which we would most gladly see advanced—that you would make us worthy and partakers of your calling or invitation, doing nothing with those masked and pierced fellows who have not even, as they say, touched with the very lips that divine wisdom.

The single dove sighs, holding the green olive branch; and our eyes gladly behold things fair and pleasant, so that the seed may more gladly grow green. May it grow green, may it blossom, may it thrive, may it increase—the kingdom of Christ, the Church, the Commonwealth, the reformation of the Evangelicals. For we shall behold the lights, and our dew shall be as the dew of green herbs, so that we may cast the giants down into ruin; for the gates will be opened, and the doors shall not be shut. Our Christ will go before us and will humble the glorious ones of the earth; He will break the doors of brass, he will crush the bronze gates and shatter the iron bars, and he will give to us hidden treasures and the secrets of mysteries, that we may know JEHOVAH himself.

As to who we are, or of what condition, and where we live—this will easily be clear to you. Some of us are citizens of the world; some contend for the glory of Christ—men to whom nothing can be dearer than religion, faith, discretion (silence), wisdom, and knowledge; and who are able to put a check upon riches and upon the gaudy provocations of this world. Moreover we have set down our names plainly and clearly—yet not such as are obvious or well known to everyone—from which, in your prudence, we think you can easily understand our purpose, or gather it from other circumstances. For to make an open profession of ourselves to this unclean world is, for us, a matter of religion; nor is it permitted, nor expedient; indeed it is plainly contrary to our design.

Therefore once again we implore your generosity and kindness, most excellent gentlemen: help us who have been invited. For long have we with our prayers begged from God that Wisdom might be betrothed to us—that Wisdom which is the breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the brightness of the Almighty, etc.

May the God of hosts and the Father of lights aid us on both sides, that we may ever yearn not for the things below but for the things above—[seeking] the glory and power of the Almighty—and may we both celebrate and do [his will] now and forever. Farewell.

V. F. (Vestrae Fraternitati — “to Your Fraternity”)

The most devoted,
HERCULES OVALLODIVS, Alsatian;
HEERMANNUS CONDESTANUS;
MARTIVS a CASA, [of] Marseilles.

Hamburg,
from the Froben bookshop.
In the year 1618.

Dated Nov. 18, 1731.