The Society Of The Rose Croix.

The legend just mentioned concerning the origin of the Society of the Rose Croix , is to be found related in a little book , entitled " Fama Fraternitatis Rosas Crucis" ( Manifesto of the Society Fraternity of the Rose Cross ) , which was published in 1613 , or , according to others , in 1615 , at Frankf ort-on-the-0 d ei-.

The Rose Croix pretended that the first beginning of their fraternity mounted far higher . They created for themselves a theosophical affiliation which went back as far as the time of the King Hiram , the wise Solomon , and the fabulous Thaut . Nevertheless , a German " savant , " Semler , who laboured to -search out the antiquity of their sect , has found nothing conclusive on this question . In his " Recueil pour Servir a 1 'Historie des Rose Croix , " * Semler onltells that there

y us existed in the fourth century an association of Physicists ancl Alchemists , who directed their common science and efforts to the discovery of the " philosopher ' s stone . " The same author adds that , in 1591 , an Alchemist , Nicolai Bumaud , conceived the project of founding an Hermetic Society , ancl that to this end he traversed Germany and France . Subsequently it is stated in the " Echo respectable de 1 'Ordre reputable des Freres R . C ., " that in 1597 , an essay was made to institute a secret association of " theosophs , " who were to devote themselves to a profound study of the cabalistic sciences .

These facts require to be singularl y forced to enter into the archives of the Rose Croix , and to justif y their pretentions touching the antiquity of their origin . Besides an objection almost unanswerable against their antiquity results from the date of the appearance of their manifesto . The " Fama Fratei-nitatis , " this book , which serves them , so to say , as a gospelbeing produced in the world at the time with the fraternit

, same y itself , we have a ri ght to think that they both belong to the same epoch . The composition of this work is attributed to Valentin Andrese , a learned theologian , of Cawle , in the country of Wurtemberg . It is to the publication of this book that we must attribute the birth of the Society of the Rose Croix . J

In creating this philosophic association , Valentin Andreas had as an end the realisation of a prophecy contained in the works of Paracelsus . A fanatic partisan of the doctrines of this celebrated man , Andrea ? determined to carry out one of the words of his master Paracelsus ; in fact , had written michapter ei ght of his book on "metals" "God will permit a discovery to be made of the greatest importance , but which must remain hidden until the coming of Ehas , the Artist . Quod utilius . Deus patefieri sinet quod autem majons moment est , vulgo ad hue lates usque ad Elke artistce adventum , quando is venerit . "

In the first treatise of the same book , we read again , "And it is the truth . that there is nothing hidden which must not be discovered , and that is the reason why there will come after me a wonderful being , who does not yet live , who will reveal many things . Hoc item verum est , nihil est absconditum quod non sit retegenclum . Ideo , post me veniet enjus magnale nondum vivit qui multa revelabit . " These grand discoveries , whose revelation was promisedcould be lied

, app , considering the hermetic preoccupations of the epoch , to the secret of the transmutation of metals . It is thus , at any rate , the founder of the Society of the Rose Croix , Valentin Andrese , understood them , who says in his manifesto , " We promise more gold than the King of Spain obtains from the two ' indies , for Europe is enceinte , and will be confined of a robust infant . Plus auri pollicemur