Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

He ( Schaf ) , they tell , was driven on a certain island of Germany ( in a boat ) without oars , quite an infant and asleep , a sheaf of corn being placed at his head , which , as in the language of the country it is called Schaf , was the reason of his being called so by the people of that district , by

whom he was received as a miracle . Being carefully nurtured when of a proper age , he governed in that town , which is now called Schleswig , but then was Haddebye : it formerly had the name of Old England , whence the Anglia came into Britain , and is placed betwixt the Goths and Saxons .

We will , however , resume our classic allusions . Theocritus says ( Idy ll , xxvi . ) that Pentheus was pulled to pieces by the female Bacchantes for prying into the sacred things which they took out of the cista to place on the altars ; and Catullus says that the rites of the cista were celebrated with the utmost secresy : —

" Pars obscura cavis celebrant orgia cestus . " The heathen always carried the cista on the shoulder , and the person who carried it was called Kistopherus , according to Suidas . This cista mistica , or somewhat equivalent , was

carried also in the ceremonies of Diana ; and therefore we find in another picture in the " Antiquities of Herculaneum " ( vol . i ., p . 6 7 ) , representing the sacrifice about to be made of Orestes and Pylades , at the altar of Diana Taurica , that

behind Iphigenia are two females , one of which is busy reaching the sacred symbols from the cista . That it was also borne in the rites of Ceres and Isis needs no further comment , when

we reflect that towards the decline of the Roman empire all these deities had been refined by the subtleties of their philosophers and the ingenuity of the priesthood to a conformity of attributes and power , and differed in little but in name .

The early Church seem to have used a reflex of heathen veneration towards tlie ark for its own purposes . Tertullian , de Baptismo ( cap . viii . ) , declares the " * ark a symbol of the Churchecclesiam arcam figuratam . It is , however , from

the time of St . Cyprian that the constant use of this symbol for tlie Church obtains , which almost all the Latin ecclesitical writers comply with , aid thence may arise the many instances we meet with it pictorially represented . Justin M .

in Dial . c . Iryphon . c . 138 , expressly declares Noah in the ark waiting the return of the dove with the olive branch as a figure of Christ . It would , however , be more difficult to account for a medal of the Emperor Severus , which on its

reverse contains an unmistakeable pictorial exhibition of the falling of the waters and of the ark , did we not know that tlie tradition of a great flood pervaded the early histories of most of the ancient nations . They were throughout adapted

to the feelings and fashions of each country , but the great lineaments of the relation are throughout identical . The tales of Cadmus , of Deucalion , and Pyrrha are familiar to all the readers

of Ovid ; but it may surprise some of ourreaders to find Mount Ararat mentioned by name in heathen writings as the spot on which the ark rested . In the Sibylline books , edit , of Gateius , lib . i ., p . 152 , are verses to the following effect

" Midst Phrygia's stony plains amottntain is placed , Lofty raised , and wide spread out , which Ararat ' s called ; Thence the Maryas springs : that powerful river ; And on the top of that high-rais'd hill stood the ark still , When the flood disappeared . "

We may therefore now enter on the subject of the medal we have mentioned , and confine ourselves to one specimen ; for though there exist nine similar types , yet so many have been pronounced forgeries , that we merely refer toone

formerly in the royal cabinet of France , and now possibly in the Imperial Museum at Paris , which was minutely criticised by the Abbe Barthelemy , at the request of Mr . Coombe , and pronounced genuine . The reverse , then , is in

two parts : in the first , two figures are enclosed in an ark or chest , sustained by stout posts at the corners , and well timbered throughout ; on the side are letters ; on the top is a dove ; in front , the same two figures which we see in the ark are represented as come out and

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

departing from their late receptacle ; hovering over them is a dove with a sprig in its bill . This medal , therefore , clearly implies a deliverance by a vessel from the dangers by water ; and , coupled with the other concordances , the plunder of the earliest heathen myths by a

perversion , to fit them to the futilities of heathen relations . It is supposed this medal was struck at Apamea , and on it we have an express treatise ( De NumoApamensiDeucalionei Diluvii typum exhibente , printed in Gronovius' Antig . Graaca ? , x . p . 678 ) : but as the ancient name of Apamea

was Kif 3 iary ] C , which we have already seen signified " ark , " this name may refer to some connection at their foundation with the ark , which we cannot now fathom . It is a somewhat cognate symbol and easy transition from the ark to a ship in full and easy sail , steering through the difficulties of events to the destined haven of bliss .

Representations under this type are also frequent ; and in verse we have lines from Venantrus Fortunatus , which are somewhat to the purpose , though in a most wretched style : — " Opto per hos fluctus animam tu , Christe , gubernas Arbore et antenna ; velificante crucis : At post emensos mundani gurgitis ajstus ,

In porlum vita nos tua dextra locet . " We have mentioned the richness of synonym and designation by which Christ was lauded in the Eastern World ; and the following examples deserve to be preserved for their fullness , as curiosities of literature . The first is attributed to the famous John of Damascus : —

" Spes , Vita , Salus , Ratio , Sapientia , Lumen , J udex , Porta , Gigas , Rex , Gemma , Propheta , Sacerdos , Messias , Sabaoth , Rabbi , Sponsus , Mediator , Virga , Columna , Manus , Petra , Filius

Emmanuel que , Vinea , Pastor , Ovis , Pax , Radix , Vitis , Oliva , Fons , Aries , Agnus , Vitulus , Leo , Propitiator , Verbum , Homo , Rete , Lapis , Domus , Omnia Christus Jesus . "

The second is that in which we have alread y found the epithet " Lucifer , " by Ennodius , bishop of Pa via ( 511 ) : — " Fons , Via , Dextra , Lapis , Leo , Lucifer , Agnus ,

Janu . i , Spes , Virtus , Verbum , Sapientia , Vales , Hostia , Virgultum , Pastor , Moses , Rete , Columbia , Flamma , Gigas , Aquila , Sponsus , Patientia , Virtus , Filius Excelstts , Domintts Deus , Omnia Christus . "

The third of these curious assemblages , which could scarcely be verified in any but the Latin tongue , is by a Spanish bishop , Orientius ( 516 ) : "Janua , Virga , Leo , Virtus , Sapientia , Verbum , Rex , Baculus , Princcps , Dux , Pctra , Pastor et Homo ,

Retia , Sol , Sponsus , Semen , Mons , Stella , Magister , Margarita , Dies , Agnus , Ovis , Vitulus , Thesaurus , Fons , Vita , Manus , Caput , Ignis , Aratrum ,

Flos , Lapis angulans , Dextra , Columna , Pucr , Mitis Adam , Digitus , Speculum , Vio , Botruo , Panis , Hostia , Lex , Ratio , Virgo , Piscis , Aquila , Justus , Progenies Regis , Rcgisque Sacerdos Nomina magna Deo : Major et ipse Deus . "

The biblical reader will at once discern that there is sacred authority for every epithet , and will find doubtless pleasure in the combination ; if the Church find in all suitable recollections ancl admonitions of piety , the Masonic inquirer will find in many much for study and contemplation the greater his experience in the Order .

ORIGIN OF PAVING FOR INITIATION . — The Athenians believed that he who was initiated and instructed in the Eleusinian mysteries would obtain Divine honours after death , and therefore all ran to be initiated . They seemed to think initiation as necessary as the Christians did

baptism . Their fondness for it became so great , that at such times as the public treasury was low , the magistrates would have recourse to tlie mysteries as a fund to supply the exigencies of state . " MORK than a year ago one of my children was attacked with bronchitis , and , after a long

illness , was given up by my physician as 'past aire . ' I was then induced to try your Vegetable Pain Killer , and from the time I began the use of it the child rapidly got better , and is now strong and healthy . — J WJNSTANLKV , 10 , Whittle-st ., L ' pool , fan . 1869 . —To P . D . & Son . "

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed Correspondents . "FREEMASONRY AND JUDAISM . "

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I have lived too long in the world , and have been too long engaged in public writing , to think that I can deal with any subject—historical , religious , political , or moral—without coming into collision

with the opinions of some one , however desirous of doing , so . But I am sorry , especially , to have incurred the censure of Bro . Buchan , for I greatly respect his acquirements and his capabilities . I cannot help thinking , however , that his feelings carried his judgment captive when

he took pen in hand to write what appeared on the above-named subject in last week ' s FREEMASON . He " can see no proper reason" why I " should so particularly object to Bro . ' W . B . ' s ' remarks , " because , " so far as he can judge , ' W . B . ' has just as good a right to enunciate

his views in our Masonic paper as has Bro . Carpenter his . " I do not deny that right , nor did I object to the exercise of it . What I objected , and still object , to , is the purely sectarian character of those views , and the unqualified way in which " W . B . " condemns the

opinions and convictions of all religious sects , excepting one . I object to this , not because it offends me , personally , but because it is in violation of that good understanding which we have in Masonry , not to attack , or condemn , or say anything offensive to , any brother ' s religious

opinions , whether he he , as Bro . Buchan says , " Christian or Jew , Trinitarian or Unitarian . " But Bro . Buchan avers that I am doing all I can to " support certain sectarian ideas in the columns of THE FREEMASON " while I " deny Bro . ' W . B . ' the right to do so . " Now , in a

perfectly fraternal way , I defy Bro . Buchan to afford a tittle of evidence of this averment . I defy any one to gather from what I have written whether I am Jew or Christian , Trinitarian or Unitarian . If Bro . Buchan means—and from some of his expressions , I infer that he does so

mean—that to assume the Bible to be what it purports to be , a Divine revelation , is sectarianism , then , I plead guilty . But , will he permit me to say , that there is a sectarianism as marked , and as acrid , outside of those who thus accept the Bible , as any that was ever found amongst

them . I should be sorry to promulgute sectarianism in THE FREEMASON , or anywhere else ; but it is surely as Masonic as it is unsectarian to treat the Bible as I am doing , seeing that we impress upon every initiate , that these " Sacred Writings are to rule and govern our faith . "

I do not allege that Bro . Buchan is promulgating " sectarianism , " in saying he believes that the latter portion of the xliv . and the xlv . chapters of Isaiah is " a song of thanksgiving , " and not a prophecy , although I know it to be a purely gratuitous theory , and without a tittle of evidence ,

adopted by those who deny all prophecy , „ and utterly at variance with the internal evidence afforded by the writer's language and style . Nor do I allege that he is promulgating " sectarian " views , in saying that he " doubts the solidity of my foundation "—that is , the Bible—although

there mig ht be more propriety in so saying than in saying that my treatment of the Bible as a " sure foundation , " is " sectarianism . " But let me say , in a word , that there is nothing in what I have written which does other than put the

Christian and the Jew , the Trinitarian and the Unitarian " upon a level ; " and that I appeal only to that authority which every Freemason professes to accept as the rule of his faith and conduct , whatever differences may exist as to its interpretation .

WILL . CARPENTER . "A MASONIC LITERARY INSTITUTE . ' '

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —The idea of founding , or of refounding , a Masonic Literary Institute , as expressed by you at page 520 , is worthy of the most serious attention . If pro-