Birmingham.
The Society of Rosicrucians, or Rosecroix (whom Collier calls a sect of
mountebanks), first started into existence in Germany in the seventeenth
century. They laid claim to the possession of divers secrets, among which
the philosopher's stone was the least. They never dared to appear publicly,
and styled themselves _The Invisible_. {108}
In 1622 they put forth the following advertisement:
"We, deputed by our College, the principal of the brethren of the
Rosicrucians, to make our visible and invisible abode in this city,
through the grace of the Most High; towards whom are turned the hearts
of the just: we teach without books or notes, and speak the languages
of the countries wherever we are, to draw men like ourselves from the
error of death."
The Illuminati of Spain were a branch of this sect. In 1615 one John
Bringeret printed a work in Germany containing two treatises, entitled _The
Manifesto and Confession of Faith of the Fraternity of the Rosicrucians in
Germany_.