CLfl OF THE PROLONGATION 



"'which confifted of but a few members, in whofe 

 te breafts he laid up the myfteries of that fublime wif- 

 " dom he had brought with him from the eaft, princi- 

 cc pally the philofopher's rtone, and, by virtue of it s 

 cc the uriiverfal medicine, and the art of tranfmuting 

 <c the ignoble metals into fflver and gold, as an eternal 

 " and facred depofit. After his death, which fell out 

 cc in his hundred and twentieth year, without any pre- 

 cc vious ficknefs, the fecret fociety of which he was 

 ** the founder, (as a filter or daughter of the oriental 

 <c fociety at Damafcus) kept itfelf for a long time in 

 <c clofe concealment, till its exiftence was difcovered, 

 " no man can tell how, or by whom, about the afore- 

 C€ mentioned time." 



In this relation, the falfe may eafily be feparated 

 from the true. Every one knows that there were no 

 longer any Chaldeans, properly fo called, in being. 

 By the chaidean fages, by whom Rofencreutz was in- 

 ftructed in the facred magifm and cabbala, no. others 

 can be meant than fages of the order of our ufbec der- 

 vife ; and what hinders us from believing, that it was 

 the very fame fociety, with which Paul Lucas became 

 acquainted in the year 1705. at BnuTa, lince we know, 

 that they were in full activity in Flamel-'s time, and 

 had connexion with the jewifh cabbalift, the author of 

 the book from whence Flamel learnt the fecret of the 

 philofopher's ftone ? — But it is erroneous and ridicu- 

 lous to pretend that Chriftian Rofencreutz, who pof- 

 fefTed the philosophers ftone, mould die at the age of 

 a hundred and twenty. How ? a man like him to die 

 fo young ! What, he gone ? Yes, vanilhed from the 

 light of his brethren of the lower degrees, he may be. 



But 



