Some writers, even in recent times, more gifted for romance than for historical research, have seen in the Rosicrucian Society a secret confederacy of immense antiquity and of stupendous powers, consisting of the great initiates of all ages, supposed to be in possession of the arch secrets of alchemistic art. It is abundantly evident, however, that it was nothing of the sort. It is clear from an examination of the pamphlets already mentioned that they are animated by Lutheran ideals; and it is of interest to note that Luther’s seal contained both the cross and the rose--whence the term “Rosicrucian.” The generally accepted theory regards the pamphlets as a sort of elaborate hoax perpetrated by Valentine Andreä, a young and benevolent Lutheran divine; but more, however, than a mere hoax. As the late Mr. R. A. Vaughan wrote: “. . . this Andreä writes the _Discovery of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, a jeu-d’esprit_ with a serious purpose, just as an experiment to see whether something cannot be done by combined effort to remedy the defect and abuses--social, educational, and religious, so lamented by all good men. He thought there were many Andreäs scattered throughout Europe--how powerful would be their united systematic action! . . . He hoped that the few nobler minds whom he desired to organize would see through the veil of fiction in which he had invested his proposal; that he might communicate personally with some such, if they should appear; or that his book might lead them to form among themselves a practical philanthropic confederacy, answering to the serious purpose he had embodied in his fiction.”[63] His scheme was a failure, and on seeing its result, Andreä, not daring to reveal himself as the author of the pamphlets, did his best to put a stop to the folly by writing several works in criticism of the Society and its claims. Mr. A. E. Waite, however, whose work on the subject should be consulted for further information, rejects this theory, and suggests that the Rosicrucian Society was probably identical with the _Militia Crucifera Evangelica_, a secret society founded in Nuremburg by the Lutheran alchemist and mystic, Simon Studion.[64]
[63] ROBERT ALFRED VAUGHAN, B.A.: _Hours with the Mystics_ (7th edition, 1895), vol. ii. bk. 8, chap. ix. p. 134.