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ARSIS OF ANDKEAS.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CASE OF JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS.
MOST existing theories as to the authorship of the Rosi-
crucian manifestoes are founded upon plausible assumptions
or ingenious conclusions drawn from the doubtful materials
of merely alleged facts. Each investigator has approached
the subject with an ambitious determination to solve the
problem connected with the mysterious Order, but,
in the
absence of adequate materials, has evolved a new hypothesis,
where the supposititious has transfigured what is certain for
the satisfaction of individual bias. As a simple historian
working in the cause of truth, it is neither my inclination
nor my duty to contrive a fresh theory, but rather to state
the facts which are in conflict with all theories, and to draw
no conclusion unwarranted by the direct evidence in hand.
The Rosicrucian theorists may be broadly divided into
three bands I. Those who believe that the history of
Christian Rosencreutz is true in fact, and that the society
originated in the manner recounted in the " Fama Frater-
nitatis." II. Those who regard both the society and its
founder as purely mythical, and consider with Liebnitz,
" que tout ce que Von a dit des Freres de la Croix de la fiose,
est une pure invention de quelque personne ingenieuse." III.
Those who, without accepting the historical truth of the story