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244
HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
of Andreas had divested him of his boyish delusions.
Having proved the hollowness of their pretensions,
but still
bound by his pledge, he speaks of them henceforth as a
deception and a mockery, and attempts to replace them by
a practical Christian association without mysticism and
symbols, making no pretension to occult knowledge,
transcendant powers.
or to
This view is not altogether a new one, and undoubtedly
has its difficulties. It cannot account for the publication
of the " Nuptiae Chymicse" in 1616,
nor for the revision
which it apparently underwent at the very period when
Andreas was projecting the unalchemical Christian Frater-
nity ; but so far as it extends, it does not torture the facts
with which it professes to deal. I present it not in my
character as a historian, but simply as a hypothesis which
may be tolerated. To my own mind it is far from satisfac-
tory, and, from a careful consideration of all the available
materials,
I consider that no definite conclusion can be
arrived at. There is nothing in the internal character of
the " Fama " and " Confessio Fraternitatis " to shew that
they are a jest. On the other hand, they embody a fabulous
story. There is no proof that they did or did not emanate
from a secret
1
society. The popular argument that the
manifestoes were addressed to " the learned of Europe," but
authoritatively, declares in the year 1710 that one of the Rosicrucian
headquarters is at Nurenberg ; that is, at the very place
where the Militia Crucifera Evangdica originally met in 1586.
1 For the sake of perspicuity, and to avoid forestalling arguments,
I have spoken throughout of the Rosicrucians-as of a secret society.
In the universal uncertainty, this view is as good as another, but it
does not necessarily represent my personal opinion. By the term
"
Rosicrucian Fraternity " I simply mean to indicate the unknown
source of the " Fama " and " Confessio Fraternitatis."