Gems Prom Bro. Lawrence Sterne.

—how many caravanseras of rest—ivliat powers and faculties He has given us for taking it—what apt objects He has placed in our way to entertain us some of which He has made so fair , so exquisitely fitted for this end , that they have power

over us for a time to charm away the sense of pain , to cheer up the dejected heart under poverty and sickness , and make it go and remember its miseries no more . "

After showing what is the real meaning of the the passage , Sterne proceeds thus to contrastwhich he does most graphically — the dangers of the house of feasting , and the blessed effects which are frequently produced by a visit to the

house of mourning : — ** When the gay and smiling aspect of things has begun to leave the passages of a man ' s heart thus thoughtlessly unguarded , when kind and caressing looks of every object without , that can

flatter his senses , have conspired ivith the enemy within , to betray him , and put him off his defence —when music likewise has lent her aid , and tried her power upon his passions—when the voice of singing men , and the voice of singing ivomen ivith

the sound of the viol and the lute have broke in upon his soul , and iu some tender notes have touched the secret springs of rapture—that moment let us dissect and look into his heart—see IIOAV vain ! IIOAV weak ! IIOAV empty a thing it is ! Look throuo-h its several recesses—those pure mansions

formed for the reception of innocence and virtuesad spectacle ! Behold the fair inhabitants noiv dispossessed—turned out of their sacred dwellings , to make room—for what ? at the best for levity and indiscretion—perhaps for folly—it may be for

more impure guests , ivhich possibly-in so general a riot of the mind and senses may take occasion to enter unsuspected at the same time . " But " take notice , to what a serious and devout frame of mind every man is reduced , the moment

he enters this gate of affliction . The busy and fluttering spirit , which in the house of mirth ivere wont to transport him from one diverting object to another—see IIOAV are they fallen ! how peaceabl y they are laid ! in this gloomy mansion full of

shades and uncomfortable damps to seize the soul —see , the light and easy heart , ivhich never kneiv what it AA'as to think before , how pensive'it is noiv , how susceptible , IIOAV full of relig ions impressions , how deeply it is smitten with sense and ivith a love of virtue . Could we , in this crisis , whilst this empire of reason and religion lasts , and the heart

Gems Prom Bro. Lawrence Sterne.

is thus exercised ivith wisdom and busied with heavenly contemplation—could Ave see it naked as it is—stripped of its passions , unspotted by the world , and regardless of its pleasures , ive might then safely rest our cause , upon this singl . eevidence ,

and appeal to the most sensual , Avhether Solomon has not made a just determination here , in favour of the house of mourning ?—not for its o \ 7 n sake , but as it is fruitful in virtue , and becomes the occasion of so much good . Without this end , sorrow

I oivn , has no use but to shorten a man ' s days —• nor can gravity , ivith all its studied solemnity of look and carriage , serve any end but to make one half of the ivorld merry , and impose upon the other . " ( To be continued . )

Bro. Goethe's Profession Of Faith.

BRO . GOETHE'S PROFESSION OF FAITH .

The religious opinions of the greatest German author of the last century have been frequently quoted by the advocates of rationalism or " positivism" as evidence tending to support their views , and brought forward for the purpose of securing

the dereliction of the ideas of divinity and revelation in the doctrines and practices of Freemasonry . In these endeavours the adherents of positivism have , hoivever , lost sight of the important fact that those writings of the German poet that are

most deeply tainted with the negation of revealed religion , ivere , one and all , produced prior to his initiation into Freemasonry . It is to be borne in mind that at the time Avhen Goethe joined the Craft ( 1781 ) , the aspirations of the French encyclopaedists , tending to decompose and demolish

the foundation on ivhich political and religious society rested in those days , ivere shared in by the educated classes all over Europe , and very feiv men of note escaped the contamination of the extravagant ideas of the Voltaires , Holbachs , and

Helvetius . Goethe also adhered to the opinions of the French philosophers for a time , but very soon laid them aside , and had abandoned them entirely when , he wrote " Tasso , " in which he makes his hero say very plainly , "Man

ivas not born to be free . " But even those views propounded in his earlier works Avill not generally be found wholly incompatible Avith the fundamental doctrines of the Craft , as laid doivn in the " Book of Constitutions . " A specimen taken from " Faust , " ivhich may be said to contain Goethe ' s profession