Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

CHAPTER VII.
THE ROSICRUCTANS : THEIR RULES, AIMS, AND METHOD OF
WORKING.
" Woorko when God woorkes." — Promiis.
" "
To see how God in all His creatures works ! 2d Henry VI.
" Ripening would seem to be the proper work of the sun, . . . which operates
by gentle action through long spaces of time, whereas the operations of Are,
urged on by the impatience of man, are made to hasten their work." — Novum
On/an um.
BRIEF
and incomplete as are the previous chapters, it is hoped
that they may serve their purpose of unsettling the minds
of those who suppose that the history, character, aims, and work
of Bacon are thoroughly understood, and that all is known that
is ever likely to he known concerning him.
The discrepancies of opinion, the tremendous gaps in parts of
the story, the unexpected facts which persistent research and
collation of passages have continued to unearth, the vast
amount of matter of every description which (unless philology
be an empty word and the study of it froth and vanity)
must, in future years, be ascribed to Bacon, are such as to force
the explorer to pause, and seriously to ask himself, Are these
things possible? Could any one man, however gigantic his
powers, however long his literary life, have produced all the works
which we are forced by evidence, internal and, sometimes, also,
external, to believe Bacon's — his in conception, in substance, in
diction, even though often apparently paraphrased, interpolated,
or altered by other hands?
The mind of the inquirer turns readily toward the history of
the great secret societies which were formed during the Middle
Ages, and which became, in troublous times of church or state,
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