The Pope And Freemasonry.

whom ne gave all the regions to the north of Himalaya , or the snowy mountains , which extend from sea to sea , and of Avhich Caucasus is a part ; to Sharma he allotted tlie countries to the south of those mountains ; but he cursed Charma ,

because Avhen the old monarch AA as accidentally inebriated with strong liquor made of fermented rice , Charma laughed ; and it ivas in consequence of his father ' s execration that he became a slave to . the slaves of his brothers . " It is more than

probable , hoAvever , that the seven Rishis were the seven persons who were preserved with Noah in the ark , ancl nofc the seven sons of Japhefc . If Mr . King , then , will trace back his Indian friends to theSV source , he may find a satisfactory reason

for the strange similarity of all his ancient symbols . The sacred rites instituted—if they did not previously exist—in all then- purity immediately after the deluge , were propagated in all directions at the dispersion . It is admitted by scholars who

have Avritten on the mysteries , that they must have had one common origin , and I knoiv of no other possible solution than the one I have given . It is certainly more reasonable than to suppose that their similarity all over the world , in the most

distant countries , was the result of a mere accident or of some extraordinary instinct . Mr . King commits himself to many strange mistakes in the maintenance of his theory that everything in the . shape of sj ^ mbolism came from India . " The Colleges of Essenes and Megabizee at Ephesns ,

the Orphics of Thrace , the Curetes of Crete are ( he says ) all merely branches of one antique and common religion , and that originally Asiatic . ' - True that they had a common origin , but not in the way he conjectures . "The seeds of the

Gnosis Avere originally of Indian growth , and carried westward by the influence of that vast Buddhist movement , which in the fifth century before our era , had overspread all the East from Thibet to Ceylon . " Similar principles Avere held

in countries which never heard of Buddhism , and had been held both by Buddhists and them in common for centuries before the time Mr . King speaks of . But the most extraordinary mistake he has made is in supposing- that the Essenes ,

who preserved the rites of Arhafc is UOAV called Masonry in all their purity , were "Buddhist monks in every particular , established on the shores of the Dead Sea . for thousands of ages before Pliny ^ s time . '" Ifc is true that Pliny ( lib . 15 ) mentions the fact of their having liA ^ ed there " for

thousands of ages , " but they were ho more Buddhists than Mr . King himself . Josephus is much more likely to knoAV who and what they were , and he says distinctly that they were " Jews by birth , " ( Wars , ii ., viii ., 2 ) . I have already quoted long

extracts from his Avritings to prove that the Essenes were Freemasons , My Masonic brethren will not be surprised to learn thafc Josephus says , " these men live the same kind of life as do those

Avhom the Greeks call Pythogoreans , ( Antiq . x ., 4 ) . But then the Essenes did not borrow from Pythagoras , but vice versa ; they Avere not Buddhists , bufc the latter ( being spurious Freemasons , and holding many things in common with genuine Masonry ) , had , of course , many points of resemblance Avith the Essenes . Even those who had

been initiated into the Elensiman mysteries had something corresponding to the " Masonic grip , - " as may be read in " Epiphanius . " The passage is a curious one , and shows that the writer knew nothing of the " grip , " but only guessed , as many

a modern has done since his time . "" In holding out the hand ( he says ) under pretence of saluting each other , they feel and tickle it in a particular manner underneath the palm , and so discover if the neAV comer belongs to the same sect . "

One portion of Mr . King ' s hallucinations I must leave to some abler brother to refute who may have got the requisite materials for the purpose . " It is curious ( he says ) to observe how the Freemasons have retained many of the Gnostic

figures and insignia . There Ave at once recognise the erect serpent , the hemispherical bowl , the inscribed columns , Solomon's seal , and the

suspended G is , in all likelihood , nothing more than the famous Delphic E ( or E ) misunderstood (!) St . John is their patron , whom the ancient mystics claimed as their especial Apostle . All these emblems may yet be seen publicly paraded , presided

over by the sun , moon , and planets , and combined in a fashion irresistibly reminding- one of a Basilidan diagram . " Mr . King may rest assured that whatever Freemasons may have in common with the old Gnostics and Basilidans , they had in

common with the ancient mysteries , which were flourishing to such an extent at the time when those sects took their rise that no person of any note Avas uninitiated . No doubt many of the initiated embraced Christianity , and , like the

Gnostics , endeavoured to combine their former " knowledge" with the new doctrines . This is quite sufficient to account for their symbols , and for