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To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

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NOTICE . The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is noiv \ os . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . III ., ditto ijs . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . United . States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 .- ' . per annum , payable in advance .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTH . FRIEND . —On Saturday , the ist inst ., at New Ferry Park , Cheshire , the wife of Bro . Edward Friend , iS ° , P . M . 1013 and 1289 , of a son .

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AM communications for rim FREEMASON should be written legibly on one side of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current number , must be received not later than 10 o'clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , APRIL 15 , 18 71 .

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THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Moraines in time for the early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON is Twopence per week ; annua subscription , IOS . ( payable in advance ) . All communications , letters , & c , 10 be addressed to the EDITOR , J , 3 , and 4 , Little Uritain , K . C . The Kditor will pay careful attention to all MSS , entrusted to him but cannot undertake to return tlnMU unless accompanied by postage stamps .

Resurrection Of The Dead.

RESURRECTION of the DEAD .

TlIE relationship of life and death is a subject which has ever engaged the most profound researches of the human mind , although the fathomless abysses of being

present a problem at once so solemn and incomprehensible that the limited faculties of man might well be excused from seeking its possible solution ; yet , from the earliest

ages of the worlds history , by an impulse which must surely be Divine , successive generations have sought to lift the veil which separates life from death , and to

penetrate the awful secretsof the Hereafter . The ethical codes , forms of worship , and religious rites of antiquity are permeated

with the one supreme desire to know and to reveal more of man ' s future than the brief record of his mortal career . The

" longing after immortality , so beautifully described by Addison , was felt by millions in days gone by , even as it is felt now by

all endowed with the gift of reason . And nowhere in the chronicles of the past do wc find stronger proofs of this unquenchable thirst for knowledge than in those secret

Resurrection Of The Dead.

ceremonies which foreshadowed and typified greater mysteries . Even from a superficial acquaintance with the philosophy of the ancients this fact becomes apparent , and its importance will be readily conceded

by all who have studied the analogy between the symbolic teachings of Freemasonry at the present day and the carefully-shrouded and intentionally-obscure

doctrines unfolded to the neophytes of old . One of the principal dogmas—if not the very central one upon which all depended —was the belief in a resurrection of the

dead . Initiation into the Egyptian mysteries was so conducted as to illustrate this belief in a very forcible and impressive manner . Plutarch informs us that the candidate represented Osiris , a wise king of

Egypt , who , after accomplishing great good , was , according to the tradition , assassinated by his brother Typhon , who enclosed the

remains of his victim in a chest , which he cast into the river Nile . As soon as Isis , the wife of the unfortunate Osiris , heard of the death of her husband ,

" whom all the ancients had denominated the same god as the sun , when she learned that the genius of darkness had shut him up in a coffin , she commenced a search after his body . Uncertain of the route she ought to pursue ,

uneasy , agitated , her heart lacerated with grief , in mourning garb , she interrogates every one she meets . She is informed by some young children that the coffin which contains the body of her husband had been carried by the waters out to

sea and thence to Biblos , where it was stopped , and was now reposing upon a . plant , which had immediately put forth a superb stalk . The coffin was so enveloped as to bear the appearance of being but a part of it . The king of the

country , astonished at the beauty of the bush , had it cut , and made of it a column for his palace , without perceiving the coffin which had become incorporated with the trunk . Isis , actuated by a divine impulse , arrives at Biblos ; bathed in

tears , she seats herself near a fountain , where she remained overwhelmed with grief , speaking to no one until the arrival of some of the queen's women . She salutes them politely , and commences dressing their hair in such a manner as

to spread in it , as well as over their whole body , the odour of an exquisite perfume . The queen learning from her women what had happened , and perceiving the exquisite odour of the ambrosia , desired to know this stranger . She

invites Isis to her palace , attached her to her household , and placed her as nurse to her son . The goddess then made herself known , and demanded that the precious column should he given to her . She drew from it easily the body

of her husband by disengaging the coffin from the branches which covered it . These she found to he of light texture , which she perfumed with essences . She sent to the king and queen this envelope of strange boughs , which was

deposited at Biblos , in the temple of Isis . She then embarked and returned to Egypt , to Orus , her son , and deposited the body in a secluded place . Typhon , having gone that night to the ch ; ise , finds the coffin , recognizes the corpse ,

and cuts it mtofo . ' / rtee / i pieces , which he scattered here and there . The goddess seeing this , returned to collect these dispersed , fragments . Slie interred each part in the place where it was found . Of all the parts of the body of Osiris

those of propagation were the only ones Isis could could not find . She substituted for them the phallus , which was the image of them , and which was consecrated in the mysteries . This

is the precise Egyptian legend concerning Isis , which lias not been handed down to us without much mutilation , and which make part of a sacred poem upon Osiris , Isis , and Typhon , their enemy . "

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It is to be observed that this relation corresponds very closely with the Hindoo myth respecting the death of Ohrisna , with the Scandinavian legend which narrates the

death of Balder , and with the tradition of Mithras in the Persian mysteries . In fact all the descriptions of initiation into the mystic rites of the ancients now extant

closely resemble each other , and the doctrine of regeneration and resurrection from the sleep of death is exemplified more or less dramatically in each and all .

The perils encountered by those who sought admission into the greater sacerdotal mysteries were , it is well known , manifold and astounding . Death by water ,

death by fire , met them on the way ; but nothing could daunt the sincere aspirants , who pressed on to the fruition of their daring hope . The nature and character of

their trials may be gathered from an account in the " Encyclopedia Metropolitana , " recently extracted by our intelligent contributor , Bro . Forsyth , and published

in the pages of THE FREEMASON , and to those who thoroughly comprehend the scope and objects of the Masonic ceremonies , we need hardly point out that

Freemasonry teaches the same lofty truths , but in a manner more dignified and less painful to her votaries . The voice of Truth speaks through the silence and the

darkness , and the heart of the aspirant is hushed in reverence before the glorious revelation of immortality which is presented to his view . In words never to be

forgotten , the eventual triumph of life over death is foretold—when the desolate gloom of the grave shall be made brightness in the presence of the Lord of Light .

THE pleasing anticipations in which we indulged respecting the fraternal reception of the Grand Master of England by our American brethren have been fully realised .

On Monday last Lord de Grey and Ripon was entertained at New York by the Masonic Fraternity—a large and brilliant assemblage being collected to do honour to

our noble chief . In the name of the Freemasons of England , we tender our thanks to the American Craft for this signal proof

of their goodwill , and we trust that the same spirit of brotherhood may ever animate the two great sections of the Anglo-Saxon race .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

—?——Is a copy of Brown ' s " Master Key , " published in 1 S 09 , to be had ? Can any of your readers inform me ? P . M .

THE FIVE POINTS OK l'EU . OWSHlP . Can anything be said in favour of O . B . a brother to maintain and uphold the five points of fellowship before he knows what they are ? WILLIAM CAlU'ENTER .

ANCIENT MSS . AND " SPECULATIVE MASONRY . In performance of my promise I now submit the reply to my inquiry respecting the MS . transcribed by Bro . Cooke . My