The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freema Sonry.

straight ! " His disappointment , however , was of short duration ; his weary journey was compensated by a sight which must have thrilled his whole soul , and given his entire being a new rapture and a new purpose—a purpose to be maintained and adhered to , as in fact it was ,

throughout life . One day , while he was still waiting on the preaching ofthe Baptist , and still drinking in the lessons of inspiration from his lips , the presence of the Saviour was made known by the Baptist declaring that there was One present the latchet of whose shoes he was

unworthy to unloose •and the next day , when the secret could be no longer kept , when the time of perfect revelation had fully come , the finger of the Baptist pointed to the great object ofthe world ' s adoration , then passing before him , ¦ while his voice proclaimed— " Behold the Lamb

of God , which taketh away the sins of the world ! " Christ was , indeed , visibly presentpresent with a body like their own •with feelings , and sympathies , and loves like their own ; with a heart infinitely larger , kinder , more sympathetic , and more merciful than their own . It was a

revelation worth ten thousand journeys from Galilee to Judea , and it may readily be conceived that it was estimated , talked of , and rejoiced over accordingly . John saw his Saviour ; so did Andrew , another fisherman of Galilee , and Simon , his brother , afterwards better known

by the name of Peter , which Jesus gave to him ; so did a number of their companions in travel . They carried the news rejoicingly to their native town ; they disseminated it along the shores of Gennesaret ; they made it known wherever they had a voice to proclaim it , and in good time

they found the Messiah among them in their little town of Cana , where he turned water into wine ; on the bows of their fishing boats , resting calmly on that sea , which oft on stormy nights had threatened their lives , where he proclaimed Heaven's Message of mercy and peace to perishing souls on the shore ; in Capernaum and

Bethsaida , where the thoughtless , the regardless , and the unbelieving were warned by him to flee from the wrath to come ; and amidst storm and tempest on the sea , where , amid other interpositions of miraculous power , the wild winds ceased and the angry waves lulled themselves to rest at the command of their Sovereign King .

John and his brother James , with Andrew and Simon , became , in hearing and sight of all the marvellous manifestations of Divine power exhibited by the Saviour , earnest disciples—so earnest and so enthusiastic that the two former received from our Saviour himself the

highlyhonourable and very expressive title of " Boanerges , " or " Sons of Thunder . " " Follow me , " said Christ to both of them , " and I will make you fishers of men . " They needed no second call ; their faith was equal to the requirement . They trusted in a wisdom which they had

recognised to be superior to that of man ; they believed in a power which they had seen to be competent to still wind and wave , and to provide them with everything requisite in the way of food and clothing ; they were satisfied that they were in the hands of a loving , a kind , a

considerate , and a merciful Being , who would withhold from them nothing necessary for them either in the way of spiritual or temporal gifts . They cast aside their nets ; they walked out by faith , as Abraham did before them , and they had their reward It is not our purpose to

follow them over the highways and through the byeways of their earthly career , or to note down all the leading events and circumstances of their chequered lot . With John , and with John alone , we have at present to do , and to a few of his leading characteristics we shall confine ourselves .

It is abundantly evident from the Sacred Record that John was a peculiar favourite ofthe Sa < riour . He is said to have been the disciple whom Jesus loved—that is , whom He specially loved ; and there can be no manner of doubt

that there was very much loveable about him , in his own nature , in the genial spirits with which he was endowed , and in the superadded gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit , with which he appears to have been most liberally supplied . It seems to admit of no question that John , like the

The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freema Sonry.

Saviour himself , was the very personification of love . He breathes it out everywhere , and acts it out on every occasion , if we except the single instance in which , exasperated by the conduct of the Samaritans towards his Master , he would have called down fire from heaven to consume them .

He kept close to his Divine Head , as did Salome , his pious and devoted mother ; was warmed by His love , and reflected that love on all around him . He was present at nearly all the great miracles performed by Christ ; he was honoured by seeing his Saviour on the Mount of

Transfiguration , revealed in all the glory of his Godhead ; he was present to witness the restoration to life of Jairus's daughter and of the widow's son of Nain , and the raising of Lazarus from his apparently hopeless grave ; he was a leader in the triumphant procession into Jerusalem , when

the people cried , " Hosanna to the Son of David ! " and strewed their palm-leaves in the path of Him whom they hoped to see proclaimed as their Great Deliverer and King ; he leaned on the bosom of Christ at the paschal supper ; he was at His elbow in the Garden of Gethsemane

when He was betrayed and taken before the High Priests and Scribes ; he was able to get into the Hall of Annas when all the other disciples , save Peter , had forsaken their Lord ; he was probably the only one present at the crucifixion , even the valiant Peter himself having fled from the scene

and its dangers ; and , next to Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses , he was the earliest at the sepulchre to behold the stone rolled back , the grave-clothes in order in the new-made tomb , and to know that the risen and exalted Saviour had triumphed over death

and the grave ! More remarkable still , he was the trusty and loving friend to whom the Saviour , with his dying breath , committed his mother , Mary . The Scripture narrative on this interesting fact is most impressive , John himself being the writer : " Now there stood by the cross of

Jesus his mother and his mother's sister , Mary , the wife of Cleophas , and Mary Magdalene . When Jesus , therefore , saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved , he saith unto his mother , Woman , behold thy son ! Then

saith he to the disciple , Behold thy mother And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home . " He was thus highly honoured , and he was worthy of the honour ; he was thus nobly taught , and he learned how nobly to teach others .

Without entering too minutely into the teachings of John , we may confidently ask , who can fail to be deeply impressed with the length and breadth , and height and depth , of the tenderness and love which characterise them ? No apostle has displayed more , perhaps not one even so

much , of the deep compassion and profound sympathy and overflowing love which distinguished his Great Master . John ' s gospel is strikingly simple and sublime , and his epistles are a model of pure , refined , tender , and sublime doctrine and precept . John has kind and good

advice to give to everybody in every station and condition in life , and he gives it as a venerable father , who has studied human nature , knows its weaknesses and sins , and is entitled to be heard . His favourite form of address is , " My little children ! " he proceeds on the assumption that

" If we say we have no sin , we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us ; " while " if we confess our sins , " God " is faithful and just to forgive us our sins , and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ; " and he goes on to show that there is only one right way of serving God , and that is by

"keeping his commandments , " and this is His commandment , " That we should believe on the name of His Son , Jesus Christ , and love one another , as he gave us commandment . " What a glorious set of principles ancl doctrines are found

in the third chapterof John ' s firstEpistle , in which purity of thought and life are urged and commended with true apostolic fervour and zeal ! " Little children , " he says , " let no man deceive you ; he that doeth righteousness is righteous ;" "he that committed ! sin is of the devil . "

" Whoso hath this world ' s goods , and seeth his brother have need , and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him , how dwellcth the love of God in him ? " " My little children , let us not

The Relation Of St. John The Evangelist To Freema Sonry.

love in word , neither in tongue , but in deed and in truth . " Then in the fourth chapter of the same Epistle , see how he dwells on love to God and love to man as the whole sum and substance of the Gospel ! " Beloved , " he writes , " let us love another , for love is of God ; and every one

that loveth is born of God , and knoweth God ; he that loveth not , knoweth not God , for God is love . " " Beloved , if God so loved us , we ought also to love one another ! " " God is love , and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God ,

and God in him . " " If a man say , I love God , and hateth his brother , he is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God , whom he hath not seen ?" " This commandment have we from Him , that he who loveth God loveth his brother also . "

There are many similar embodiments of the great Christian idea of love in John ' s Epistles —indeed , as we have already said , the leading characteristic of John ' s life and teaching was love . He was full of love to God and man ; it was the ruling and reigning principle of his life

and- conduct , and it eminently distinguished his immediate disciples and followers . There is reason to believe that John spent the greater part of his long life in preaching to the Gentiles . He lived in the province of Judea till war broke out with the Romans ; he

proceeded to Asia Minor between the years 66 and 70 of the Christian era , residing in the then famous city of Ephesus . From thence , owing to the terrible persecutions to which the early Church was exposed in the time of Domitian , he was banished to Patmos , a small and desolate

island in the / Egean Sea . There he remained isolated from the world , holding converse , almost alone , with the Great Architect till the death of Domitian ancl the accession of Trajan to the throne , and there he wrote that wonderful book —the Book of Revelation—which , by symbols

and figures , reveals , it is believed , the state of the Church and world from the days of the apostles till the end of time . He returned again to Ephesus , proclaiming the simple truths of God in opposition to all the superstitions and idolatries of the age , and he continued in that city

till his death , which did not occur till he had reached the ripe old age of 100 years . It is related of him , and the relation would seem to be founded on fact , that , towards the close of his life , he was not able to discourse as fully as had been his wont ; that he bad to be carried to the

church , and that when there his sermon consisted of no more than this— " Little children , love one another . " His disciples having asked him why he always dwelt upon love , his answer was" Because it is the Lord ' s command , and if this be done it is sufficient . " It is also related by

ancient and eminent Masonic authority that , when John was in his 90 th year , Freemasonry , which had been a vigorous institution , had fallen very much into decay , many lodges having been entirely broken up , and only a few meeting in sufficient numbers to constitute their legality

and that at a general meeting of the Craft , held in Jerusalem , it was observed that the principal reason for the decline of Freemasonry was the want of a Grand Master to patronise it . The lodges therefore deputed seven of their most eminent members to wait upon St . John ,

requesting him to take the office of Grand Master . He returned for answer that , though well stricken in years , yet having been early in life initiated into Masonry , he would take upon himself the oflice . He thereby completed by his learning what the other St . John had completed by his

zeal , and thus drew what Freemasons term a line parallel . Ever since which Freemason lodges in all Christian countries have been dedicated both to St . John the Baptist and St . John the Evangelist . It is worth mentioning as a fact that , while there is evidence to show—or , at

least , to make it probable—that all the other apostles met violent deaths at thc hands of their persecutors , he alone passed naturally and peacefully into a quiet grave . God permitted him—He , the source of love , permitted His apostle of love—to fall , like a little child , gently to his last earthly sleep .

THERE are now two Masonic lodges in good work ing order at Salt Lake City , Utah Territory .