The Essenes Or Essenians.

2 . They followed the system of Zeno aa to the immortality and spirituality of the soul . According to Philo and Josephus , they looked upon the most subtle part of the ether as the substance of the soul . They held that that part of the ether which was attracted into matter by the

secret operations of nature was then enclosed as in a prison ; and that the dissolution of the constituent atoms which formed such prison , setting free that portion of the ether which was the soul , it returned to heaven and rejoiced in its innocent liberty once more . 3 . The moral code of the Essenians was that of the

Stoics . They believed that everything which gratified the senses and gave full scope to the passions was a restraint on the soul , causing it to suffer , and increasing its servile condition . Moreover the Essenians of Palestine recognised the doctrine of rewards for the good and punishments for

the evil . After the dissolution of the body , the soul reassuming its original nature , those of good people would necessarily betake themselves to heaven , the abode of happiness , where was neither rain nor snow , nor excessive heat , while those of the wicked would be hurled into a dark

abyss , exposed to all the hardships of eternal winters , to all its inconveniences , and to troubles never compensated by a single interval of pleasure . This view became afterwards general , and was adopted by all the sections of the Essenians .

4 . Besides morality , the Essenes studied the science of medicine , and especially the investigation of such remedies as would tend to soothe the effervescence of the blood , for this they looked upon as an obstacle to perfection . Such

inquiries led them , doubtless , to make some grand discoveries , for , according to M . Pluquet , they had discovered p lants and stones which possessed certain rare properties . 5 They divided the HolScritures into two partsthe

. y p : body and the spirit . The former was the literal signification ; the latter the soul , the life ; in fact , the truth , hidden beneath the envelope of the former . Philo represents them as philosophers , and he states that they possessed writings of their ancient leaders which were monuments of their

allegorical knowledge . ****** It seems certain , from our knowledge of the Egyptian priests and the Essenes , that the latter were only the con - tinuators of that ancient caste which dispersed itself at

the period of those troubles and dissensions which turned Egyp t into one scene of anarchy , of which the Romans profited so far as to convert it into one of their provinces . It is reasonable to conclude that the founders of the

Essenian societies were Egyptian priests . What proves this very clearly is that , on the one hand , we know not what became of these after the overthrow of the throne of Ptolemies and the invasion of the country , while , on the other hand , the societies of the Essenians which appeared

at that time present almost the same character as did the priestly caste of Egypt . Indeed , we find among the Essenians the mysterious initiation , the oath of prudence , and the evidences of the Egyptian priests , the same love of the sciences , the same philosophy ; everything , in fact ,

establishes a perfect resemblance . We may thus affirm , from proofs so intimate , that the confederacy of philosophers , known by the name of initiates or priests of ancient Egypt , reappeared and continued its system in the societies of the Essenes after those later

wanderings which followed its dissolution and the dispersion of its members . According to this view , which is but the result of those which naturally arise in pondering over the history of ancient Egypt , of its priestly caste , and of the Essenes , we can only come to a conclusion favourable to the view we have just expressed .

An Emergent Mason.

AN EMERGENT MASON .

SOME years ago , no matter how many , I was a resident in one of the little mining towns of California . One day there appeared among us a young man , whose flashed cheek and nervous movements told tlie experienced eye that he had come too late in search of health . Deeply cultured , skilled in the arts and sciences , and master of literature , he was yet without business education , and had

no longer the physical strength for manual labour . In that com . munity there was nothing to do whereby he could earn his bread . Wearily and more wearily he walked the streets for a few days , and then failed to re-appear . I divined the cause , and went myself in

search of him . In a narrow , dark , and gloomy garret , where his necessities had compelled him to retire , I found him , too weak already to wait upon himself , but watching with patient serenity for the outgoing of the tide , which was ebbing now with terrible and

An Emergent Mason.

accelerating speed . At first he was reticent and distrustful . But a few moments satisfied him that something better than curiosity merely had brought me there , and then he told the story of his life . It was tho tale yon have often heard before , of a widowed mother and an only son , of days of toil and nights of study , of straggle with poverty and broken health , and how at last , with little left of strength

or endurance , but rich in manly resolution , he had come ont here in the double hope of regaining health and rearing a happier home for the mother who had borne and tended him . And then for the first time , and with evident reluctance , as if he feared I wonld regard tho disclosure as setting up some claim upon my purse , he told me that on the eve of his departure from the East he had been made a Mason .

I suppose , " he said , " that I am what yon call an emergent Mason . But I don't know as I ought to be blamed much for it . I always wanted to be a Mason . But I was never able until that night . I shouldn't have been able then , but a friend gave me the money . I wonder , " he added inquiringly , after a pause , " if I can be buried by tho Masons ?"

By this time I was too full of something besides censure to think that the boy could he blamed for anything j and I presume I told him so . But be that as it may , there was a hasty change in that apartment . We did not leave him long with his cheerless and uncomfortable surroundings . Gently and tenderly as ever young mother lifted and

pressed her first-born to her heart , we lifted him up and bore him away from the gloom and desolation of his garret . Tho hand of death was indeed already upon him , and we could not unloose its inexorable grip . But we could at least cheer and solace his descent to the tomb . Wo could open the shutters and let God's genial sunshine in to gild with mellow radiance his few remaining days . We

could stand by his bedside and anticipate and minister to every want . We could receive his benedictions and his thanks , and that last look of ineffable gratitude , which transformed his face to heavenly beauty , when his lips could no longer utter what was in his heart . And when tho struggle was over , with reverent steps and slow , we bore the stranger Brother away to his resting-place , and dropped

upon his coffin with fraternal regard the grateful evergreen—emblem of eternal life and love . And then it seemed to me that I too was translated . I seemed to stand for a moment far away across the continent . Adown the sloping mead I saw the humble home he had described to me , and by its porch at eventide the aged mother gazing towards the setting sun ,

where faint and fainter fell his last receding steps , as if she deemed the very longing of her heart might call her boy back again ! And I said , " Strengthen thy heart now , 0 bereaved and desolate one ! Thy boy indeed is dead . But though a stranger in that distant land , ho found kind friends , whose hearts were faithful to him as a mother ' s !"

How many times the sun has risen and set since then P The days have gathered into months , and months have ripened into nearly a score of years ! But morn and evening still , on bended knee , one grateful heart sends up the fervent prayer , " Bless , 0 God ! bless that noble Brotherhood !" My brethren , I never rose to respond on an occasion like this that

I did not feel compelled to apologize for the seriousness which is sure to pervade my utterances . But after all , it is just such experiences as I have related which , above all earthly things , endear our Masonry to onr hearts ; and perhaps there is no harm in tempering your festivities with something of time and toil in your service . It is because of just such experiences that there haslbeen no weariness and

no surfeiting in those labours ; and it is from just such experiences that Freemasonry takos deeper hold of mo each day of my life , and that in my heart I kneel at its altars now with the devotion of an Eastern idolater ! You , my Brethren of California Lodge , are here to-night to commemorate a quarter of a century of existence . Twenty-five years is

a large proportion of the span alloted to you as individuals . But in the life of a society which is destined to be perpetual , it is nothing , yet when you reflect that in every day and every hour of those years , you have healed the wounds , dried up the tears , and banished tho afflictions of some unfortunate Brother—in that reflection yon find abundant reason for the joy and pride yon experience on this

anniversary . You can have no nobler ambition than the ambition to deserve in tho future the reputation which you have enjoyed in tho past ! Our ancient Craft ! Mr . President , I give you back the noblo sentiment with which you saluted me . " May its noble principles be preserved unimpared until tho last syllable of recorded time . "

Child of the gods—eternal spirit—thou radiant orb in virtue's constellation—shine on , shine on in beauty evor!—P . G . M . Pratt , of California .

Wo teach men to think of God . Who can think of God without thinking of himself as one of the humblest of his creatures , totally dependent upon Him , and without His protection aud aid totally unfit for the society of the wise and the good ? We do not tolerate presumption or blasphemy against the God that made us . We esteem Him as the chief good , and every one who enters onr mystic

temple is carefully instructed in his duty to God , as well as to his neighbour and himself . We undertake to rely on divine revelation as our guide , consequently no atheist can be made a Mason . If we discharge our duty to the Institution , and are true to ourselves , no irreligious libertine can gain admittance . Tbe foundations , then , of the Masonic Order , are laid broad and deep . If the Brotherhood

are true to themselves , no shocks of political changes or fanaticism of any sort can destroy it . Temples reared with hands may be razed to the ground by the rude shocks of war , and by barbarous force ; but tho progress of our mystic temple is onward and upward , and millions yet unborn are to bo blessed by its benign teachings . —Masonic Jewel .