Westcott_W_W-Everburing_Lamps_of_the_Ancients.pdf

Rosicrucian Thoughts on the Ever-Burning Lamps of the Ancients.

By W. Wynn Westcott

Frater Roseae Crucis.

The ordinary Englishman of to-day considers the idea of a lamp which should be

everburning only less absurd than the idea of perpetual motion. To the dabbler in modern

science it is but little less absurd, but to the deepest thinkers, and to Rosicrucians, a

scintillula of light appears on this mysterious subject. The true adept has discovered that

although Nature is bound in general laws which seem universal, yet in Nature herself

evidence may be found, when properly searched for, that at certain times and seasons,

and in certain modes, unknown to us, her laws are over-ridden and replaced by a power to

which she, the mighty mother, has herself to bow. The pages of the history of the world

present to us many instances of such events, which we generally class as miracles; some

of them are as well authenticated as any points in ancient history. The Israelitic passage

of the Red Sea, the swallowing of Jonah by a whale which brought him forth again alive,

and the Ascension of Jesus, are examples. The power of prophesy is a contradiction of

the ordinary powers of earthly beings, and is so far miraculous. Angel visitors come but

rarely now from the realms of glory; is heaven more distant? Or have men grown cold?

Rosicrucians are nothing if not Christians, and Christians have ever believed in miracle,

or have ever acknowledged the existence of an Omnipotence who can act at times in such

a manner as to leave the traces and steps of the process so hidden as to tempt scoffers to

doubt, and doubters to scoff.

But although perpetual motion be but a dream to us earthbound mortals, we do not doubt

a future perpetual existence, and it is as reasonable to picture to ourself a perpetual flame,

as an Eternity of Life. The ancient Egyptian priests pictured life as a flame. The Great

Master of the Temple of this world being omnipotent, and able to do all things, does not

usually proceed by miracles, or they will not be prized as such; an essence of miracle is

rarity, a miracle imitated is not a second miracle. Ordinary events, then, being the

extreme of opposition to miracle, there are yet events of a third and intermediate type,

marvels, which cannot be understanded of the people, but which are yet the product of a

special gift to certain men, their spirits, minds, and bodies, who by due, careful, and

sufficient training, wisdom and experience, have earned such a reward.

Such should the typical Rosicrucian be, a terrestrial earthly Body, the Temple in which

dwells a mind trained to understand the powers of Nature, and enshrined within this, as a

canopy, should sit a Divine afflatus, a portion of the Spirit of God, an ala of the Celestial

Dove who brooded over the chaos, and this spirit may by patent submission to Deity, and

by active efforts at power, draw down to itself a commission to work wonders, and so do

"not as other men do."

The great tendency of the modern times has been to reduce all men to a level, a dead

level, of mediocrity, an effort fatal to the supremacy of individuals, and which has tended

to discourage research into the Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science, as opposed to

the parrot- like study of what are known as modern sciences, a study of enormous value to

mankind, but yet not the stepping stones on the direct road to Deity. History then narrates

the lives of many men, who, from the exhibition of uncommon powers and transcendent

abilities and wisdom, are pointed out as the possessors of what we may fairly call occult

Inspiration, "Poeta nascitur non fit;" but I should add "Magus nascitur non solum fit." No

accident of birth alone can make a Magician, but intensity of duly directed effort may do

so in a certain number of persons with specially favourable mental powers. We may be

all born with an equal right to existence; but it is absurd to say we are all to be chiefs or

Magi, for, as we are told in the Master's Degree, "some must rule, and some obey."

In 1484 died Christian Rosenkreuz, our great prototype; he was such a man; by the

dispositions he made, and the Society he designed, he shook the whole Christian world

for a century of years, and laid the first stones of the edifice we are still building to-day.

In his tomb, when it was opened by the Fratres, in 1604, or 120 years after his decease,

were found, besides other mysterious articles, lamps of a special and peculiar

construction; hence the study of Sepulchral Lamps is one particularly germane to us. The

discovery of lamps in ancient sepulchres, in some cases extinguished, in others burning

with brilliance, was no rarity in the middle ages; but the destroying hands of the Goth and

the Vandal have left few ancient tombs for modern research to explore. We have to

content ourselves with the observations and reports of our forefathers, the narratives of

Arabian, Roman, and mediaeval authors. No fewer than 170 such authorities have written

on this subject. Many of these references, in Greek and Latin literature, to lucent bodies,

phosphorescence, and "mystic la mps found in tombs," deserve study, and will repay

perusal.

The Darkness of Death and the Darkness of the Tomb are, and have ever been, common

phrases; no wonder, then, that the ancients sought to minimise it. Hence we find that the

relatives of a deceased person were desirous of relieving the gloom hanging over the

grave of a beloved wife, kind parent, or respected brother, by any means in their power.

To include in the tomb a lamp and leave it burning was a kindly attention, even if it

burned but one short hour; it was an offering to Pluto, to the Manes; it kept away spirits

of evil, and preserved peace to the dead man: this knowledge of the limited time such a

lamp could possibly remain alight acted, doubtless, as a stimulus to the discovery of a

means of prolonging the burning power of a lamp indefinitely, and if I read history aright,

in at least a few instances, the problem has been solved; so far at any rate as the

manufacture of a lamp which should burn until deranged by the barbarian invader of its

precincts. I shall narrate a few examples, premising that these are instances of different

modes of obtaining the desired effect; besides these instances the ancient Latin authors

speak of the use as illuminants, not alone of lamps, but of natural lucent bodies, which

would suffice to dispel the gloom to some slight extent. Such were the diamond, the

carbuncle, the glow-worm, the exposure of phosphorus to the air, the ignition of certain

substances which burn alone without any wick or arrangement, such as camphor, which

will burn even floating on water. The presence of a combustible gas, which issues from

clefts in the rock in some mines and caverns, seems to have been known, and was

probably taken advantage of by the ancient sages to enhance the mystery and majesty of

their secret rites. It is very possible that some of the priests of old were aware of the

lucent property of some forms of sulphide of calcium, which have attracted much

attention the last few years, in the shape of luminous paint.

I will sub mit also that references exist in the history of remote ages to suggest the

mysterious light now so freely handled and produced by electricity was not unknown to

the ancient sages. Numa, King of Rome, studied electricity, and left pupils of his art, of

who m we are told was his successor Tullus Hostilius, who was destroyed whilst

endeavouring to draw down from heaven and coerce the electric fluid from thunder

clouds, or, as they said, front Jupiter Tonans. Eliphaz Levi remarks- "It is certain that the

Zoroastrian Magi had means of producing and directing electric power unknown to us."-

"Historie de la Magie," p. 57. Mediaeval scholars have fully debated several points in

regard to ever-burning lamps, but in all cases without arriving at any definite result; much

erudition has been expended on the question whether a lamp found burning on breaking

open a tomb was not ignited by the admission of air, and had not been actually burning

until it was disturbed; there is modern evidence in favor of this view, from the analogy of

some chemical experiments, as, for example, phosphorised oil is invisible in the dark

when enclosed in a sealed vial, when this is opened a light pours forth. On the other hand,

evidence exists that some of the lamps actually paled and went out when the cavern in

which they were found was opened, as a fine metal wire made white-hot by electricity in

a sealed glass vacuumed ceases to shine when the glass is broken; others again burned on

and could hardly be extinguished by water or other means, until the arrangement of the

lamp was broken.

Other authors, taking for granted that some of these lamps had burned for hundreds of

years, have discussed the necessary relation between oil or liquid consumed and wick.

With regard to wick, there are several names of substances proposed as incombustible;

but they are probably only synonyms of one body, namely, asbestos, which is even now

used in our gas fires. It does not consume, although kept constantly red hot with flames

flickering over it. Other names for it were-

Asbestinum-Plutarch uses this term, Pliny, and Solinus, and Baptista Porta; Linum

Asbestinum by Albertus Magnus.

Amiantus-By Pancirollus, and by Lucius Vives.

Plume Alum-See Cyclopaedia by E. Chambers, 1741, art. "Allum," and so called by

Wecker, De Secretis, lib. 3, cap. 2, and Agricola.

Earth Flax-Dr. Plot uses this name.

Linum Vivum- Mentioned by Plutarch, also as Linum Carpasium and Lapis Carystius-see

De Defectu Oraculorum, and Pausanias in his Atticus.

Salamander's Wool-So called by Fria r Bacon and Joachimus Fortius.

The ancients, we know, did try incombustible metal wires as wicks; but found that oil

would not pass up them, as it does up fibres of cotton or wool.-See "Philos.

Transactions," No. 166, p. 806, of the year 1684.

In respect to the oil for the lamp, there is no consensus of opinion as to the nature of it;

neither of the authorities who narrate the finding of the lamps describe it in any way, yet

many Latin authors discuss it. Some speak of it as bituminous oil, derived from the earth,

thus forecasting the recent extensive use of petroleum. None of them definitely associate

it with any known animal or vegetable oil. Many mystic references are, however, made to

the labours of the Alchemists, who thought it must be of the nature of an essential oil of

Sol, the metal gold, to be derived from it by alchemic processes. Sol, they say, must be

dissolved into an unctuous humour, or the radical moisture of Sol must be separated.-See

"Wolfhang Lazius," lib. III., c. 8, and "Camden Brittania," p. 572. For, say they,

inasmuch as gold is so pure that it bears repeated meltings without wasting, so if it be

dissolved into an oily residuum, such should support fire without being consumed.

It may suitably be explained in this place that the oldest Alchemists held peculiar views

on flame and fire. Fire was to them an element-one of four; there were two contraries in

nature, three principles, and four elements. Fire, as such, should not need what we call

fuel to consume; but only as a means of detaining it in a certain place.-See "Licetus, De

Lucernis," cap. 20-21 and "Theophrastus." They said there may be a relation between fire

and fuel of three sorts-if the strength of the fire exceed that of the humour, it presently

burns out; if the humour be too strong for the fire, the fire departs; but if the radical

strength of the humour and of the fire be co-equal, then, caeteris paribus, that fire would

burn continually, until the surrounding states of radical moisture or natural heat should be

altered by external circumstances, as if a flame be made to burn in a closed vault, it

would depart when such was opened.

Rosicrucian and Alchemical doctrines, especially their views on the connection between

Fire and Water, are brought into close apposition to the dogmas of the religion of the

Hebrews in some portions, at least, of the sacred writings, notably in the volume of the

"Maccabees," Book II., cap. I., where we are told that when the Jews were led captive

into Persia, the priest took the Sacred Fire from the Altar, and hid it in a dry, hollow place.

Many years after, in more favourable times, Nehemiah sent priests to fetch this fire,

nothing doubting its existence; they found water only in its stead. Nehemiah caused an

altar of sacrifice to be made of wood and other materials, and this water was poured upon

them, before all the people; when the clouds of the sky passed away, and the sun

appeared; then the water that had been poured over the sacrifice burst into flame. The

connection between Fire and Water again becomes prominent when we note the miracle

of Elijah, who made a sacrificial altar, poured water on it, and fire from heaven burned up

the water, on the occasion when he condemned the priests of Baal who could not do

likewise.-See Kings I., cap. xviii. Blavatsky claims that at the present time the priests of

the secret temples of the Buddhists in Tibet, India, and Japan, use asbestos as a wick in

lamps, which burn continuously without replenishing. Trithemius, Libavius, his

commentator, and Korndorf, about the year 1500, each composed a material, by chemical

processes, which they professed would burn for ever. Mateer, a reverend missionary,

states that he knew of a great golden lamp in a hollow place inside a temple at

Trevandrum, kingdom of Travancore, which he had the best authority for believing had

burned continuously for 120 years. The Abbe Huc, a great traveller, states that he has

seen and examined an Everburning Lamp.

By the Levitical Law-Lev. vi., v. 13-the fire on the altar of Jehovah was neve r to be

allowed to go out; but we are not told that it was ever burning without supply. It has been

suggested that if everburning lamps were ever known, they would have been found in this

application; but we know that the sacred flame was allowed to go out, and was renewed

from heaven on several occasions.-Lev. ix., 24; 2 Chron. vii., 1; 1 Kings xviii., 38. Other

writers have taken the other side of the argument, viz., that the gift of a flame that would

need no attention would have tended to idolatry, to which the Israelites were ever prone.

The Chaldeans and Persians used to maintain a perpetual fire in the temples.

Certain scholars have considered that the "window" mentioned as placed in the Ark of

Noah was not such, as during a period of prolonged cloud and storm a window should not

light such a chamber. In the Hebrew version of Genesis, cap. 6, v. 16, the word is tzer,

which means "something transparent," and is to be compared with the similar word zer,

always translated "splendour" or "light," hence they suggest that this tzer, or zer, was

some form of ever burning light, or "the universal spirit fixed in a transparent body,"

similar to the Mysterious Urim and Thummim.

Alchemy and its successor, Chemistry, are said to have originated in Egypt, that land of

ancient marvels, and, indeed, these names are intimately related, the ancient name of

Egypt being Chm or Land of Ham, from which the title Chymia, in Greek Chemi and Ges

Cham is derived. The learned Kircher writes in A.D. 1650 that several travellers in Egypt

found in his time Burning Lamps in the Tombs at Memphis.

Numa Pompilius, King of Rome, who certainly experimented with the natural electricity

of the clouds, built a Temple to the Nymph Egeria, and made in it a spherical dome, in

which he caused to burn a Perpetual Flame of Fire in her honour; but in what manner this

flame was produced we have no knowledge. Nathan Bailey, in his "Brittanic Dictionary,"

1736, remarks that in the Museum of Rarities at Leyden, in Holland, there were two of

these lamps, only partially destroyed.

A lamp still burning was found during the Papacy of Paul III., about 1540, in a tomb in

the Appian Way at Rome, supposed to be that of Tulliola, the daughter of Cicero. The

tomb was inscribed: "Tulliolae Filiae Meae;" she died B.C. 44; it had burned over 1550

years, and became extinguished as soon as exposed to the air; the whole body was in

perfect preservation, and was found floating in a vessel of oil. See "Pancirollus, Rerum

Memorabilium Deperditarum," vol. I., p. 115, Franciscus Maturantius, Hermolaus, and

Scardeonius.

Such a lamp is stated to have been found in 1401, in the reign of Hen. III., King of

Castile, not far from Rome, on the Tiber, in the stone tomb of Pallas, the Arcadian, son of

Evander, slain by "Turnus Rex Rotulorum" in the wars at the time of the building of

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