St. John And Freemasonry.

parts , except their weapons for fears of thieves . There is iu every city where they live , one appointed to take care of strangers , and provide for them such necessaries and garments as they need . Many of this sect lived in the desert , some alone in tents or caves , subsisting upon the fruits aud such other things as were at hand ; devoting themselves to study , contemplation , acts of

piety , and training the young . " Standing aloof , as well from the society , as the pride , ostentation , aud hypocrisy ofthe Pharisees and Saducees ; declining attendance at the feasts and gatherings at Jerusalem , despising many of the unmeaning traditional ceremonies of the Elders , which made void the moral precepts of the lawand Avere onlfor outward show

, y ; and quietly attending to their OAVII concerns , this sect escaped the pointed denunciations of the Saviour , against Scribes , Pharisees , Hypocrites , & c . There is no evidence that John was ever at Jerusalem ; nor are the Essenes , are a sect , mentioned in any of the gospels . Several of the apostles were of this sect . Some were disciples of John before being called by the Saviour , and

unmistakeable marks of their tenets and customs , may be seen , not only among the apostles , while their master Avas upon earth , but also in the early church , Avhich they founded . The Essenes were a secret society—the Free Masons of that nation , as were the Pythagorians in Greece and other nations were they existed . These different names of branches of our Order , Avere probably assumed or

given in like manner as Lutheran , Baptist , Methodist , & c , have been adopted or given to diSerent branches of the Christian church . Says Josephus— - "The Essenes hold their meetings in secret , in an apartment of their OAVU , into which it is not permitted to any one of another sect to enter . " Before any one is admitted into their society , " he is obliged to take tremendous oaths , that in the first place he will exercise piety towards God , and observe justice towards men ; do no harm to any one , either of his own accord , or by the command of others ;

that he will ahvays hate the wicked , and be an assistant to the righteous ; that he will ever shoAV fidelity to all men , and especially to those in authority ; because no one obtains the government without God ' s assistance ; that if he be in authority he will at no time Avhatever abuse his authority , nor endeavour to outshine his subjects , either in his garments or any other finery ; that he

Avill be perpetually a lover of Truth , and reprove those that tell lies ; that he Avill keep his hand from theft , and his soul from , unlaivful gains ; that he Avill neither conceal anything from those of his OAVII sect , nor discover any of their doctrines to others . No ! not though any one should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life . Moreoverhe swears to communicate their doctrines to

, no one , any otherwise than as he received them himself ; that he will abstain from robbery , and will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect , and the names of their angels or messengers . " " These , " continues Josephus , " are tbe oaths by which they secure their jDroselytes to themselves . " They were abstemious in their diet , quietly partaking at their meals of " one loaf

and a single plate of one sort of food . " "When meeting in lodge or at their meals , which they regarded as a holy service , to be both begun ancl ended by praising God ; considering it unlawful to taste of the food before grace was said by their Master or Priest ; they Avore a Avhite garment , and at all times a girdle or Avhite leather apron . Thus John the Baptist , who bad not only been trained

and educated by this sect , but as our traditions inform us , was a Master or Priest in high authority among them , adhered through life to his plain aud substantial garb and diet . " He had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins , aud his meat was locusts and wild houey . " All historians agree that the Essenes were an ancient secret fraternity . Pliny , refers them to an antiquity as remote as the builning of the temple . Basnage , says they existed in all parts of the world , and admitted to

their secrets men of every religion and rank in life . Philo says , they adopted many of the mysteries of the Egyptian priests ; the magi of Persia , and the gymnosophists of India ; and although respected by all good men , for the earnestness of their conduct , and . the innocence of their order , they suffered severe persecutions from the Eomans , and that the order was abolished

about the middle of the fifth century . On the great day of atonement , the 10 th ofthe Jewish month of Tisri , or about the 30 th of September , St . John being about thirty years of age , commenced his public ministry in the wilderness of Judea , in the neighbourhood of the river Jordan , at or near the place where the Israelites crossed that streamin their first

, entrance into the Promised Land ; and where Joshua set up twelve stones of remembrance , that the locality might not be forgotten . Here , he was indeed a burning and shining light . " The voice of one crying in the wilderness , Prepare ye tbe way of the Lord ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God . " And although his ministry was short—not over fifteen months—his

burning eloquence roused the whole Jewish nation . " There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea , and all the region round about Jordan , and were baptised of him in Jordan , confessing their sins . " No man—not even the Saviour—in so short a time , ever made so great and perceptible an impression upon the public , by his preaching , as is recorded of John the Baptist .

The highest order of pulpit eloquence , was never acquired iu the cloister or college hall . Neither can it be learned from books alone . Living in towns and cities , enclosed Avithing Avails of brick or stone , chained to the wheel of a college routine of study , in man-made books , to be studied according to man-invented rules , the soitl of man becomes contracted , dwarfed , and withered ; though the mind may be expanded and informed . Continually surrounded by the works and monuments of human skill , reading and contemplating the efforts of

human investigation and human learning only , everything is as little as the human mind , as narroAV as human purpose , as imperfect as human work . Neither can that divine knowledge which a religious teacher should possess , be learned , or imbibed in the busy and bustling scenes of life ; amidst the noise of folly , the clamours of parties , the confusion of opinions , the struggle for

success or prominence , and the allurements of vice . Iu the charge at opening a lodge , we are , as Masons , reminded , " that ivisdom seeks the secret shade , and the lowly cell , designed for contemplation . There enthroned she sits , delivering her sacred oracles ; and there we are to seek her . " He who would obtain or increase the wisdom which cometh from above , must at least

occasionally retire from the world , " commune with his own heart , and be still . " The devout man , whose mind and soul are imbued with the truth and spirit of God's revelation , who not only believes in , but feels and realises all around him an ever present Deity , in Avhom he lives and moves and has his beingwill deliht to hold converse with nature in her

, g solitudes—alone with God . There untrameled by college rules or seminary customs , to study the Grand Architect of the Universe , aud learn His character in His works . To behold Him by day in the sun , as from His mid-day throne , with lavish munificence , he pours his golden rays of light and heat upon a thousand dependent Avorlds ; or , to vieAV him by night , as from those

thousand worlds He scatters their borrowed and softened light in silvery streams , to gladden and cheer the millions of his creation . To gaze upon the mountain that lifts its stately form , meeting the clouds that repose upon its summit , as of erst—the chariot of Jehovah —they hung upon Sinai ' s awful brow ; or , to look upon the soft and lovely valleys , that—rejoicing in Him who hath clothed them with verdure—lie in peaceful rest at its base . To contrast the loft pine that has stood for centuries , and defied a thousand storms , with the modest