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FRANCIS BACON. His connection with the Rosicrucians and Masonic Societies.
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No one can study history and life of Francis Bacon without very soon being driven to the conclusion that a deep mystery surrounds him and his activities, and we should find Ben Johnson's estimation of his poetic genius—which, he said, 'filled up all numbers'—unintelligible, if we only knew him by the few words that bear his name.
There is no doubt that Bacon intentionally surrounded himself with mystery that he might be more free to carry out his great aim, for, as he himself said, 'The Glory of God is to conceal a thing, the Glory of the King is to find out,' and Ben Johnson recognises this fact in his verse on the great man: 'Thou standest as though a mystery thou didst, &c' His reason for preserving such secrecy in his procedure lay, doubtless, in the fact that at that time, darkness, superstition and ignorance prevailed throughout the length and breadth of the land. It is popularly supposed that the Elizabethan era was the Golden Age of learning, and that in those days great minds jostled each other both at court and tavern; but sidelights on the history of that period do not confirm this idea, not is it possible to regard as truly enlightened a time when professional witchfinders were employed and paid at the rate of 20s. for every convicted witch (see Davenport Adams, Witches and Warlocks.) We are told that during the thirty-nine years prior to the accession of James I. upwards of seventeen thousand people in Scotland alone were tried, tortured, and put to a horrible death for alleged witchcraft, this being but one example of the ignorance and superstition that prevailed, not only in England but throughout Europe. It was at this period of darkness that Francis Bacon set himself the stupendous task of enlightening the world.
This great and god-like soul was born, we are told, at York House, A.D. 1651, in the Strand, London. (Harold Baylet in his Tragedy of Sir Francis Bacon traces from a cypher story his royal connection.) His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, was Councillor to Queen Elizabeth and a man of distinguished learning; his mother, Anne Cook, a lady of highly cultivated mind and great piety, and an eminent Latin and Greek scholar. 'These being the parents,' says Dr. Rowley, 'you may easily imagine what the issue is like.' Anne Cook was the second wife of Sir Nicholas; his first wife was quite an ordinary woman, of whom there is little to say excepting that she left three sons and three daughters, none of whom appear to have come much into contact with Francis.
To Lady Bacon two sons, Anthony and Francis, were born, both of whom must have been influenced from early infancy by the religious views of their mother, whom Francis especially esteemed as a Saint of God. She sincerely believed that the cause of the Reformation was the cause of Christ, and was a Calvinist of the severest principles. She was closely related to the Greys, Burleighs, Russels, and Hosbys, whose calvinistic principles had sent many of them into exile, and some even to the block, and in her fierce repugnance to the Roman Church she trained her sons. But Francis Bacon's religion was built upon a far wider and broader basis than that of his pious mother.
At twelve years of age Francis was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Master then being Whitgift, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and there he hoped to learn all that man could know. Before he had been there long he became conscious of keen disappointment. He stayed only three years, during which time he was more than once driven away by outbreaks of the plague—on one occasion for as long as eight months. In the three years he had made much progress, but he begged his father to remove him, because by that time he had already conceived a profound contempt for the course of study pursued there. Leaving the University at fifteen, he carried with him the germs of his plan for re-constituting the whole round of arts and sciences, a plan from which he never departed.
During his stay at the University Dr. Rawley tells us 'Francis first fell into dislike of the philosophy of Aristotle, not for the worthlessness of the author, but for the unfruitfulness of the way; being a philosophy only strong for disputations and contentions, but barren of the production of works for the benefit of the life of man. To him it was apparent that the strict followers of Aristotle could not hope to rise above the level of Aristotle, and indeed it seems that at the end of the sixteenth century men neither knew nor desired to know more than was to be learned from this school of philosophy. It was at this time (the date of which, says Rawley, deserves to be recorded) to which the extraordinary youth of fifteen gave expression as follows: 'If our study of Nature be thus barren, our method of study must be wrong; might not a better method be found?' And with him, even at that early age, to conceive what might be and ought to be, was to set himself to find means to put it into execution. It is not reasonable to suppose that this boy philosopher did not communicate such thoughts to his father and brother, to both of whom he was deeply attached, and whose ideas were known to have been in close sympathy with his own, and though we find but very little mention is made of either Sir Nicholas or Anthony, who was two years older than Francis, the latter invariably speaks of his brother in words of devotion and affection, e.g. 'My dearest brother,' 'Anthony my comforte.' What became of Anthony is almost unknown; he was evidently a generous, unselfish, and admiring brother, who thought no sacrifice too great to make for the benefit of Francis and his aims, and he seems to have acted as a kind of propagandist on the Continent of Bacon's secret society, which was, as we shall try to show in our next article, the Rosicrucian Society.
For the next year—a year fraught with much importance, as we shall see later on, for it was then that he first formulated his great scheme for the enlightenment of the whole world (in the Fama Fraternitatis the founder of the Rosicrucians is referred to as being of the age of sixteen)—the young Francis studied at home. He was then sent to join the gay life of court and camp. As a member of the suite of Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at the French Court, he travelled through France and met many distinguished people.
FRANCIS BACON AND THE ROSICRUCIANS
How Francis Bacon spent the year at home after having left Cambridge, is not recorded by his biographer, but we find some information on the matter in a Rosicrucian document, The Fama Fraternitatis. In this paper—full as are all those Rosicrucian manifestoes of Bacon's ideas and peculiarities of expression—we read, 'That the high and noble spirit of one of the Fraternity was stirred up to enter into a scheme for a general reformation of the whole world, and that he would follow the method of the ancients, for which purpose he travelled to the East.' We may interpret this to mean that the young philosopher would study the ancient philosophies, and Hermetic writers. The Fama informs us that this young member was sixteen years old, and during one year had pursued his studies alone. This can only mean that having left college he was pursuing advanced studies alone, and was endeavouring, as many others had done before, to get a knowledge of the first cause of things.
Thus at the end of his sixteenth year we find Bacon with a definitely formed plan of his life's work, viz., to reform religion, science and art.
His first great effort in this scheme for the widespread dissemination of knowledge was to get a number of the best intellects from amongst the students of the universities at home and abroad to collaborate with him in compiling a dictionary. This object especially links him with the whole system of the Rosicrucians; for he claims it as his own method by which the great deficiency of learning was to be remedied, and we find that Mrs. Henry Potts states that the author of 'Fama Fraternitatis' makes a similar claim.
To complete such a vast and difficult task, he sought the cooperation of the most eminent scholars of the day, for this was to him a sacred duty—one of the first and most needful steps towards the accomplishment of the great end he had in view. In reference to it he says, 'I want this primary history to be compiled with a religious care, as if every particular were stated on oath, seeing that it is the book of God's works, and, so far as the majesty of heavenly things may be compared with the humbleness of earthly things, a kind of second scripture.'
The friends he gathered round him to help him in his first great work formed themselves into a society which afterwards became known to the world as the Rosicrucian Society. We find the whole aim and object of this society set forth by Bacon in his New Atlantis, and it is this work that affords us one important proof that Bacon was the founder of the Rosicrucian Society, for the Society he hints at in the New Atlantis is no other than the Rosicrucians themselves. This is definitely affirmed by W. F. C. Wigston, in his work on Bacon, Shakespeare, and the Rosicrucians. As the full test of this evidence would occupy too much space I would refer those interested in the subject to the above-mentioned book, or better still, to Mr. A. E. Waite's The Real History of the Rosicrucians founded on their Manifestoes. On page 315 will be found 'The History of John Heydon, Mystic, Geomancers and Rosicrucian, author of the Holy Guide,' and on page 348, 'John Heydon's Voyage to the land of the Rosicrucians,' and if this voyage is compared with Francis Bacon's New Atlantis a startling discovery will be made. No effort is visible by Heydon to disguise his writing, both the narratives run along smoothly, word for word, line for line, perfect duplicates, the only difference being that Heydon calls the society, 'The Temple of the Rosy Cross,' and Bacon speaks of it as the 'House of Solomon, and sometimes as the 'College of the Six Days Work.' It may be said that Heydon was an imposter, and copied from Bacon, but that this is not so, is shown by Mr. W. F. C. Wigston, who vouches for him as a true Rosicrucian and knowing this to be a [a] teaching upon which the Society was founded, he desired to preserve it to the order, and took this means of doing so.
There is further evidence that Bacon was the founder of this Order. We know that he had framed a scheme for Universal Reformation, and we find in the famous Rosicrucian document the Fama Fraternitatis; or a Discovery of the most Laudable Order of the Rosy Cross, and again in the Confessio Fraternitatis, an attempt to call together the learned men of the world for this purpose. Again, in the following passage from the Fama we find the author throwing contempt upon Aristotle and Galen, as Francis Bacon had done at the University.
Now in this passage we find several leading ideas of Bacon strongly emphasized, e.g., if the learned men of the world could be brought together, and work in harmony they could bring about the perfection of all Arts and make new discoveries in the secret of nature. This he clearly states in the New Atlantis to be one of the objects of the society of which he says, 'The end of our foundation is the knowledge of the causes and the secret motion of things, and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire to the effecting of all things possible.'
Again the disparagement of Aristotle in the Fama at once links it with Bacon, and recalls his constant dislike of him, and all his school. In fact, the striking record we have of Bacon is his disagreement at a very early age with the teaching of Aristotle.
Another passage in the Fama runs:—
This is exactly how Bacon commenced his great work.
There is no historical evidence to show that such a society as the Rosicrucians existed at all prior to the sixteenth century; the only knowledge that we have of the society is obtained from three documents: The Fama Fraternatitis, The Confessio Fraternatitis R.C., and The Chemical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz, all these were published in 1614 to 1616. They were addressed 'To the learned in general, and the Governors of Europe.' Although these documents appeared in Germany, there is reason to believe that they were published simultaneously in other countries.
It is stated in the Fama that the Manifesto is set forth in five languages, and the same assertion is repeated in the Confessio. It seems that the German editions are the only ones that have survived. This probably has led to Germany being erroneously associated with the Rosicrucians, but various writers have testified that, in spite of their endeavours to trace the Fraternity there, they were unable to do so, and therefore formed the opinion that its existence was merely an ingenious fiction. Although it did not take root in Germany, it flourished in England, where its founder lived.
Now the story of the foundation of the secret Brotherhood, or the Order of the Rosy Cross—the story of the death and burial of Christian Rosencreutz and the opening of the tomb, is summarily disposed of by MR. A. E. Waite in his Real History of the Rosicrucians.
He says: 'Taking 1614 as the year when the Fama was published, and supposing the discovery of the burial place to have antedated the manifesto by the shortest possible period, we are brought back to the year 1494, one year after the birth of Paracelcus, whose book is supposed to contain the account. This point is of course conclusive.
Thus it is obvious that the history of Christian Rosenkreutz is not historically true, and that the society did not originate in the manner which is described in the Fama. There we have at once positive proof of the antedating of the origin of the society . This fact goes a long way to show that the real origin of the society was about the end of the sixteenth, and early part of the seventeenth century, the time of Bacon's 'Manhood.'
After finding Francis Bacon's initials amongst the member's names inscribed in the vault where the body of Christian Rosenkreutz lay under the altar, I maintain that the antedating of this tale of Christian Rosenkreutz was a splendid fiction, first for safety's sake, and also to give romance, interest, and colour to the origins of the society.
These manifiestoes and the Chymical Marriage have been stated to be the work of Johann Valentin Andreas. This Mr. Waite considers quite unacceptable, as Andreas himself seemed to look upon them as a farce and never viewed them seriously. Much more evidence might be advanced to show that Bacon, that great and god-like spirit, was the founder of this secret society, from which so many other secret societies started in later times. The whole aim of his life and mind was the good of others; he was prepared for any sacrifice, for any trouble, for this end. This is writ large from his childhood, for we find this marvellous man, already when scarcely more than a boy, thinking out ways and means to life mankind out of its ignorance and superstition. Such a scheme as the Universal Reformation, required an even more remarkable man to think it out, than to put it into execution. Only a man of place, power, of refinement, and of high culture, and learned in many tongues could hope to infuse the idea of such a secret society for the bettering of humanity all over Europe. It could not be done openly—the envy, danger, and evil of the time can hardly be realised by us to-day. Mr. Waite truly remarks that: 'Beneath the broad tide of human history there flowed an undercurrent of secret society,' but such a society only He whom we now know and reverence as the Master R (who was at that time Francis Bacon) could have accomplished such a task; all the learning and wisdom of that century we owe to him, and in reading and studying the life and work of a living Master, one who has never left His work, but is now to-day as closely in touch with the society as He was when He founded it. He it was Who brought to us the Hermetic and ancient Mysteries in the form of the Rosicrucian and Masonic Societies, Who at that time admitted woman on the same terms as man, for He knew no injustice or inequality, but only love.
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