ROSICRUCIANS is the name of a secret society whose existence became first known to the public in the 17th century, by means of several publications which have been attributed to John Valentine Andrea!, a German scholar, born at lierrenberg, in the duchy of M1r t...label-1g, in 1586, who, after studying at Tubingen, became a minister of the Lutheran chureh, and in course of time was made almoner of the Duke of NVIirtemberg and abbot of Adelberg. Andres died in 1054. Ile was a man of a mystical turn of mind, who had conceived the Idea of effecting a general reform of mankind. lie wrote many works, chiefly on mystic subjects. It is doubtful, however, whether those ;articular works which would estal dish Ids connection with the Rosicrucian Society arc really his. The following are the titles of three of his works :-1. ' Eleucidarius Major, fiber the Reformation der ganzen weiten Welt, F. C. R. SUB ihren chyminchen liochzeit,' 1617, in which there is a mixture of precepts of alchemy with maxima of ethic.. 2. ' Fame Fmtemitatie des lalichen Ordens dee Hawn kreuzes; Frankfort, 1617, in which there is a story of a certain Christian Itosenkreuz, a German noble of the 14th century, who, after travelling long in the East, returned to Germany, and there established a fraternity, or secret society, of a few adepts, under certain regu lations, living together in a building which he raised under the name of Sancti Spiritus, where he died, at 106 years of age. The place of his burial was kept a profound secret by the adepts, and the society renewed itself by the admission of successive new members in silence and obscurity, according to the last injunction of its founder, who directed the following inscription to be placed on a door of Sancti Spiritus :—" Post CXX. armee patebo." 3. Coniessio Fratcrnitatis
Ream Crucis ad Eruditos Europe; which is appended to the pre ceding, and in which it is stated that the order does not interfere with the religion or polity of states, but only seeks for the true philosophy ; that many absurd fables have been told of the fraternity, either by its enemies or by fantastic people. It states also that once a year the members are to meet at appointed places to converse together upon secret matters, and that new members are to be admitted to supply the place of those who are deceased, and to work for the common pur pose of the order, giving no clue however for discovering what that purpose was. In fact the secret, if secret there was, has been effectually kept to the present day. The Rosicrucians have not been heard of as a separate order for a century past ; but some have thought that they continued to exist under the name of the Illuminati, who were much talked of in Germany and France in the latter part of the 18th century ; and a connection has been supposed by some writers to exist between the Rosierucians and the Templars and Freemasons. The reader who wishes to investigate this obscure subject may consult F. Nicolai, 'On the Crimea ascribed to the Templar.. ;' Chr. Murr, ' On the True Origin of the Roaieruciana; 1803; and J. G. Bale, ' Ueber den Ursprung and die vomehmsten Schicksale der Orden der Rosenkreuzer trod Freyonaurer,' Gottingen, 1804.