Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 223
and doing nothing to draw upon thern the special notice of
others. They were even to conceal any special or superior
knowledge which they might have acquired, * actually professing
ignorance when interrogated, the only science of which they
were allowed to show any kuowledge heing " the science of
healing." Perhaps this is to be taken partly in its literal
sense, and the rule may have been made with the benevolent
intention of encouraging the study of medicine and surgery,
which Bacon found to be terribly deficient ; also, this permission
would enable the experts in these subjects to come to
the rescue on emergency, and to help to alleviate the bodily
sufferings of their fellow-creatures. Still, a comparison of the
Rosicrucian works obliges us to see that it was to remedy
the deformities of the age, to heal the sores and cankers of
miserable souls, to minister to the mind diseased, that the Rosy
Cross brethren were really labouring ; and this fifth rule gives
a good hint as to the reason why Bacon did not "profess to be a
poet, why " Burton " 1 should not profess to be a theologian, or
''
Montaigne "profess to be a philosopher."
The thought arises : What could be the object of this rule ?
Even if it were desirable, for the safety of the author of dangerous
or advanced publications, that his name should be concealed,
what reason could there be for obliging the man himself to feign
ignorance of subjects which he had specially studied, and this,
too, in days when the revival of learning was a subject of discussion
and pride, and when to be supposed learned was a
feather in a man's cap ?
There seems to be only one really satisfactory explanation of
this and other rules, namely, that the so-called authors ivere not
the true authors of the books which passed under their names;
that at the best they were translators, revisors, or editors, often
mere transcribers and media for publication. Under these circumstances
it would not only have been false, had they claimed
the authorship of works which they did not write, but it would
have been fatal and foolish in the extreme had they gone about
professing to talk of matters which they did not understand. <
1 W"e wonder if this rule is still in force. Experience persuades us that it is.