The lnconnu James R. Phelps

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"Ever since the most ancient times Divine Wisdom has taught the same doctrine through the lips of the wise. Hermes Trismegistus, Confucius and Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus who became the Christ, Socrates, Saint Martin and Jacob Boehmen,Theophrastus Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, Shakespeare and Shoppenhauer, P. B. Randolph, M. D., James R. Phelps,M. D., Freeman B. Dowd, Dr. Edward H. Brown, and others.They have all taught the same truths, more or less complete,because they were all from the same school of philosophy; and each one of these teachers clothed the truths they had in a form best suiting his own understanding and best adapted to the comprehension of his disciples and the times in which they lived.*" *This is the Basic Fundamental Doctrine of the Rose Cross. "Ye are the temples of the living God." Consequently man must build in, and include within his being, all things.- 1920 The Philosophy of Fire By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D. pg.23

"foremost of the teachers of Metaphysics, stand such men as Dr. Paul Tyner, Dr. J. R. Phelps, Count St. Vincent, and other." 1910 The Rosicrucians Their Teachings pg.156

"James R. Phelps, Physician, Linguist, Musician, Hierophant of the Illuminati, Philosophic Initiate, Member of the Council of Three of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis, co-instructor and guide with Sorona, was born November 16, 1837. He first studied music and became a master organist; took up the study of philosophy and comparative religions, became master of many languages that his research might be thorough, and finally, became an Acolyte in the great inner sanctuary of the Fraternitas. He was accepted by the Hierophant Guinotti, who selected Dr. Main of the Quaker community of Canterbury, England, as his master and guide."-1948 The Book Of  Rosicruciæ Vol. 2 By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D Pg. 202

"Dr. James R. Phelps and Sorona belonged to the class of the Unknown, or lnconnu, though they were by no means inactive during the period of their lives after attaining Philosophic Initiation.
This also is true of Dr. Edward H. Brown, who became a Supreme Grand Master and Hierarch of Imperial Eulis."-1948 The Book Of  Rosicruciæ Vol. 2 By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.

"In 1871 Dr. Randolph selected Freeman B. Dowd to be his successor and after Randolph’s death in 1875, Mr. Dowd assumed his position as the second Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis for the Western World. Under Mr. Dowd, James R. Phelps, M.D. (member of the Council of Three and Grand Master, Illuminatæ Americanæ) and the initiate Sorona performed the majority of the instruction and training of the neophytes. Edward Brown was one of these acolytes and was instructed under the wise guidance of Sorona. Mr. Dowd quickly recognized Edward Brown’s innate abilities and spiritual qualities and selected him to succeed him. Due to age and infirmary, on April 12, 1907 Dowd resigned his position and on April 15, 1907 Edward Brown became the third Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis for the Western World with the title Supreme Grand Master, Temple of the Rosy Cross and Hierarch of Imperial Eulis. Mr. Brown held this position until his death in 1922.

During this same time period, Reuben Swinburne Clymer, M.D. was accepted as a neophyte under the authority of Freeman B. Dowd in 1899 at the age of 20. Under the wise guidance of James R. Phelps M.D. he quickly reached the first degree at the young age of 21 in 1890. Still under the Fraternal authority of Dowd, he was inducted into the office of Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis in 1905. He was then chosen as the Supreme Grand Master of the Aeth Priesthood in 1907.

During the time of Dowd, the Fraternity Rosae Crucis was composed of several different “sub” Orders and Societies all functioning in harmony with the ultimate authority of the Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis for the Western World. These included the Order of the Illuminati (Dr. Phelps was the Grand Master), Order of Melchizadek, Priesthood of Aeth, Ancient Order of the Magi, Sons of Isis and Osiris, Rosicrucian Brotherhood, Rosicrucian Order, Secret Schools, Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Elphantes, and Atlantis. During this same time period, “copy-cat” organizations began to arise without any connection to the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis but plagiarizing the names of these individual Orders and Societies. It was decided by the Brethren in both Europe, Central and South America and North America that an outer association was required to protect these already established legitimate bodies." - http://www.soul.org/component/content/article/45-histories/327-history-of-the-frc

"(R. Swinburne Clymer was) Exalted Grand Master Illuminatæ Americanæ, successor to Dr. Phelps; Supreme Grand Master of the Order, Temple, Brotherhood and Fraternity of the Rosicrucians (of the Western World)"-1948 The Book Of  Rosicruciæ Vol. 2 By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.Pg. 233

"With the passing of Dr. Brown, all authority of the Triple Order became vested in the present (1928) Supreme Grand Master, whose authority is of triple derivation or descension: Directly from Dr. P. B.Randolph, through his heir and associate, and through Dr. James R. Phelps, and equally directly from the Supreme Hierarch, Count Giounotti, the Master and Teacher of Marie Corelli, who conferred full authority of the International Illuminati upon Dr. Phelps (t); and, at present, the SEE and the House of SS. of the Triple Order is located at Beverly Hall, Quakertown, Pa., at which place, and in the reconstructed Temple of the Order, the Convocations are held twice each year" 1928 The Rosicrucians: What They Are, and What They Are Not BY R. Swinburne Clymer Pg. 8

"The Supreme Grand Lodge or Hierarchical organization of each country is separate and independent, and the officers of the Grand Lodge of one country have absolutely no authority in the government of that of another country. The one exception was that of Count Gouinotti, in his selection of Dr. James R. Phelps as head of the Rose Cross Illuminati and was authorized and legitimate due to the fact that the Illuminati had not been established in America prior to this act." 1928 The Rosicrucians: What They Are, and What They Are Not BY R. Swinburne Clymer Pg. 41

"Dr. Phelps, even more so than John Heaney, Street and others, was a true Inconnu. He firmly believed in the injunction, “Learn to know all things, yet thyself remain unknown,” and he believed in “living in the Light behind the Shadow,” seldom permitting his left hand to know what his right hand was doing." - 1948 The Book Of  Rosicruciæ Vol. 2 By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.

"He wrote but little, (His most important article is republished in The Rosicrucians; Their Teachings, Pg. 11, also The Philosophy of Fire Pg. 59 contains one of his articles) then only as an individual,"

Phelps did write a book entitled, "Astrological Birthday Book" in 1908. Lida Keck Wiggins in her book  Know Thy Neighbor; refereed to Phelps, as an eminent modern authority in Astronomy.

." devoting his time and energy to his music, his profession and to instructing and guiding those committed into his care. In a personal chat he told us during a rare interview with him, that he sought to follow Old Paul, who worked at tent-making, while writing and teaching some of his disciples his deepest philosophy; that his own master-teacher developed himself while toiling among his Shaker neighbors in Canterbury; that there is a well there drilled through solid rock, and as he hammered his drill he meditated and pondered; that St. John wrote the Apocalypse in a dark, dank dungeon, below the level of the Mediterranean sea, in the Island of Patmos; that Jacob Boehme worked at cobbling while writing his inspired works, and John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress in Bedford jail; ( Let those Neophytes who bewail restrictions, temporary misfortunes and environments, give these examples their careful and honest consideration, and question themselves whether they are not merely seeking excuses to justify their lack of accomplishments.) to keep firmly in mind the fact that slavery is only of the body; that vision is more clear, the horizon farther reaching, and the windows large for those who look beyond the mere self and its temporary restrictions.

After the passing of John Heaney, the “Door” first selected by Dowd when he took his seat as Supreme Grand Master, Dr. Phelps was inducted into that highly honorable position. Dr. Phelps himself was the first to question his own fitness, and a member of the Council was requested to relay these doubts to his sponsor, Count A. de Guinotti. The reply written by one of the European Council, is in the Archives of the Fraternitas.

"Among America’s greatest teachers of the Mystic Philosophers, stood Dr. James R. Phelps of Boston. Not because of his attainment in the realm of letters or his knowledge of the dead languages nor yet because of his mastery of the Ancient Wisdom, do we consider him great but for his absolute honesty, his sincerity and his ever readiness to lend the helping hand.In the letter which he invariably wrote to those who appealed to him for instruction and  training he informed the aspirant thus:

“My authority—and I dislike that word— goes back for years and was conferred by honored brothers [John Healy, P. B. Randolph and Freeman B. Dowd] now resting from their labors. For reasons of their own,"  When Dr. Phelps affiliated with the Ordre Illuminate of which Count A. de Guinotti (the Heliobas of Marie Corelli’s Romance of Two Worlds) was the Hierophant, Dr. Phelps questioned his fitness and ability to take any prominent position in its activities, but de Guinotti knew him better than he knew, himself and he was assigned to the care of the back door, to take charge of those who, fainting by the way, or discouraged by the apparent obstacles in the way, were given up in despair. We called him……….., or ‘the Keeper of the Back Door.’ He soon learned that there was but one door of The Temple, and that the entrance and exit were the same. Our Master said, ‘I am the door, by me if any man enter in he shall be safe, and go in and go out, and he shall find pasture.’(In the original.) ”

To gain even a faint knowledge of Dr. Phelps, it is necessary to be personal. When I was informed that I (Dr. R. S. Clymer) had been accepted as of the first degree, November 1899, I, like many others, was somewhat timid in my approach, and so wrote to Dr. Phelps. In reply I received a letter which I have always kept as one does a most precious jewel:

“. . . now, my dear Brother,—divest yourself of any idea that you may have that my position confers on me any superiority over you. That is the rock on which many a pseudo-teacher has gone to pieces. ‘Call no man your Master on earth, for One is your Master, The Christ, and all ye are brethren.’

“And with this preface, I bid you welcome to the Temple of the Rosy Cross, where everything that you can Will to make your own, is yours by right of heritage and adoption.

"This will indicate more clearly than any words of mine, the genius of this great teacher. He would allow no man to call him “Master” though he looked for respect and demanded it, as all men should. His students knew him as “teacher” or “guide.”Such was the calibre of the man through whose instrumentality I was guided and from whom I received my training and instructions concerning the Sublime Mysteries and the Soul and its potentialities.Dr. Phelps has travelled to the Land Beyond the Veil and my one prayer is, not that he rest in peace but that his Soul travel forward and onward in the search for greater knowledge and a more thorough understanding of the Divine Plan." 1925 The Son Of God The Mystical Teachings Of The Masters By R. Swinburne Clymer Forward

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its justice, and all these things shall be added unto you; That is the primary thing. To have the attention diverted from this spiritual energy which flows downward and outward from The Source of All Life, to the attainment of phenomenal control over Nature’s finer forces(The misleading and betraying promises so widely held out by openly self-proclaimed teachers of the mystic and occult, which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, belong to the curriculum of the Rosy Cross.), always ends in disappointment or disaster. The exercises which unInitiated Occult teachers set their students at, tend to open doors in the psychic plane, through which astral influences,—of which the student cannot understand the quality,—may enter and work havoc. The All-Wise Creator understood what He was doing when He closed up that plane of the mind and Soul,—or, in the words of Genesis 1:6-7, I translate literally:

“And said The Elohim, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be divided between waters to waters. And made The Elohim the expanse [dividing chasm], and divided between the waters which are from beneath to the expanse and between the waters that are from above to the expanse, and it was so, and called The Elohim to the expanse, Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, day second.

“Note here that God did not pronounce this work of the second day good, as He called the other days. The separation of the spiritual plane of the mind had become a necessity [“the earth, she became emptiness and voidness, and darkness became upon the face of the abyss”]. As a result of this divorcement of what should be,—and was, One,—man began to think and reason from externals, until the Divine Life and Energy working through him became more and more obscured and he began to doubt and deny the existence of God, and then in his need of something beyond and superior to himself, he made unto himself gods, in the likeness of himself [instead, as he should, rebuilding, i.e., REgenerating, himself in the likeness of God]. Think this over carefully, for, it is the key to the mystery of John’s wonderful assertion, which, in a way marks the reaction which resulted in The Incarnation,—the revelation of a God of Love, and a manifestation of The Way, The Truth, The Life, not as a personal Savior through material sacrifice, but as an immaculate, essential Christ.

“This is the basic foundation of the Rosy Cross,—the Divine Life within, out of which flows power and control of all created things. This life is Love in all its various manifestations, for the motto of the Rosy Cross is, Love lieth at the foundation.—I John IV.

“It comes now to me that I have written enough for this time. Ask freely all the explanations you desire. I would like to have you read The Romance of Two Worlds, and Ardath, by Marie Corelli. You will find helpful hints in these two books. Much of modern pretended occult literature is hysterical,—anything but restful.

“Take your own time to think out what I have written. Its application and relations to the things of this material life will probably be the subject of my next letter.

“Lovingly, Thy Brother,
[Initiate signature].”


Such was the guide and instructor selected by the Supreme Grand Master Dowd to be Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer’s guide and instructor. Dr. Phelps continued a member of the Council of Three and was faithful to his trust until his passing on March 16, 1912."-1948 The Book Of  Rosicruciæ Vol. 2 By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.

"When yet a lad, I (Clymer) was accepted as a Neophyte in that great Spiritual School known as the Rose Cross then presided over by Freeman B. Dowd as Grand Master. Dr, James R. Phelps
was chosen as my teacher, personally selected by the International Initiate and Rosicrucian, Count Quinotti." - 1935 The August Fraternity By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D. Pg, 2

"Freeman B, Dowd was selected by Dr. Randolph as his successor before either Mr. Lewis or I were born. In the early ‘90’s I enrolled under Mr, Dowd. As before stated, Dr. James R, Phelps, of Boston, was selected as my guide and instructor.* I continued under Dr. Phelp’s direction and instruction until called to Boston in 1902, at which time I first met Dr. Brown, who was later to become Grand Master of the Fraternity." - 1935 The August Fraternity By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D. Pg.29-30

"In 1904, at the suggestion of Dr. James R. Phelps, the MS (Manuscript of The Rosicrucians Their Teaching). was placed into the hands of Dr. Edward H. Brown for criticism. In 1905, the MS. was returned to me with Dr. Brown’s suggestions. It was rewritten and published in 1906 with the full approval of Freeman B. Dowd, Dr. James R, Phelps, Dr. Edward H. Brown and the International Council. " - 1935 The August Fraternity By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.Pg. 27

"The interior of (The Printing and Publishing Plant) the first floor is beautiful as well as practical. The partitions are of modern knotty pine wood. On the walls are paintings of famous individuals, who, in the past, rendered service not only to the Fraternity, but to humanity as a whole. These include George Washingtoil, George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Fra. Chevillon, Abraham Lincoln, General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Dr. Paschal Beverly Randolph, Dr. James R. Phelps, the Supreme Grand Master's former guide and instructor, and others not so well known outside the Fraternity." 1953 Pilgrimage to Beverly Hall By  R. Swinburne Clymer, M. D.

"To Her who must be Nameless, to Dr. James R. Phelps' my instructor and guide, and to Dr. Edward H. Brown, Hierarch of Eulia and Grand Master of the Temple, as also to the Brethren of the mighty Fraternity who hate shaped tho destiny of Empires and who know not the meaning of the word “fear.”—The Author" 1910 The Rosicrucians Their Teaching