CHAPTER XXII.
THE ROSICRUCIANS OR THEOSOPHISTS.
This remarkable sect was founded upon the doctrines of Paracelsus,
during the latter part of the sixteenth, and the beginning of the
seventeenth centuries. The society was known by the name of the
Rosencrucians or Rosecrucians; and as it has not been without its
followers and propagators in different shapes, even to the present time,
we shall here present the reader with a concise account of the origin
and tenets of that fanatical sect.
The first intimation of the existence of this order we find announced to
the world in a book published in the German language, in the year 1614,
with the following title, "_The universal and general Reformation of the
world, together with an account of the famous fraternity of the
Rosencrucians_." The work contains an intimation, that the members of
the society had been secretly engaged for a century preceding, and that
they had come to the knowledge of many great and important secrets,
which, if communicated to the world, would promote the happiness of man.
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