Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

252 ESSENES
ETHICS
fully looking forward to death, as releasing
their immortal souls from the bonds of the
body, to be forever in a state of bliss with their
Creator,-have hardly found a parallel in the
history of mankind .
Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, gives,
on the authority of Pictet, of Basnage, and of
Philo, the following condensed recapitulation
of what has been said in the preceding pages of
the usages of the Essenes :
"When a candidate was proposed for admission,
the strictest scrutiny was made into
his character. If his life had hitherto been
exemplary, and if he appeared capable of
curbing his passions and regulating his conduct,
according to the virtuous, though austere
maxims of their order, he was presented,
at the expiration of his novitiate, with a white
garment, as an emblem of the regularity of his
conduct, and the purity of his heart. A solemn
oath was then administered to him, that
he would never divulge the mysteries of the
Order ; that he would make no innovations on
the doctrines of the society ; and that he would
continue in that honorable course of piety
and virtue which he had begun to pursue .
Like Freemasons, they instructed the yo ur~
member in the knowledge which they derived
from their ancestors . They admitted no
women into their order. They had particular
signs for recognizing each other, which have a
strong resemblance to those of Freemasons .
They had colleges or places of retirement
where they resorted to practise their rites and
settle the affairs of the society ; and, after the
performance of these duties, they assembled
in a large hall, where an entertainment was
provided for them by the president, or master
of the college, who alloted a certain quantity
of provisions to every individual . They abolished
all distinctions of rank ; and if preference
was ever given, it was given to piety,
liberality, and virtue . Treasurers were appointed
in every town, to supply the wants of
indigent strap rs ." (pp . 34, 35 .)
Lawrie thin that this remarkable coincidence
between the chief features of the Masonic
and Essenian fraternities can be accounted
for only by referring them to the same
origin ; and, to sustain this view, he attempts
to trace them to the Kasideans, or Assideans,
more properly the Chasidim, "an association
of architects who were connected with the
building of Solomon's Temple ." But, aside
from the consideration that there is no evidence
that the Chasidim were a body of architects-for
they were really a sect of Jewish
p
u 'tans, who held the Temple in especial
honor-we cannot conclude, from a mere
coincidence of doctrines and usages, that the
origin of the Essenes and the Freemasons is
identical . Such a course of reasoning would
place the Pythagoreans in the same category
: a theory that has been rejected by the
best modern critics .
The truth appears-to be that the Essenes,
the School of Pythagoras, and the Freemasons,
derive their similarity from that spirit of
brotherhood which has prevailed in all ages of
the civilized world, the inherent principles of
which, as the results of any fraternity,-all
the members of which are engaged in the same
pursuit and assenting to the same religious
creed,--are brotherly love, charity, and that
secrecy which gives them their exclusiveness .
And hence, between all fraternities, ancient
and modern, these "remarkable coincidences"
will be found .
Esther. The Third Degree of the American
Adoptive Rite of the Eastern Star . It is
also called "the wife's degree," and in its ceremonies
comprises the history of Esther the
wife and queen of Ahasuerus, King of Persia,
as related in the Book of Esther .
Eternal Life . The doctrine of eternal life
is taught in the Master's Degree, as it was in
the Ancient Mysteries of all nations. (See
Immortality of the Soul .)
Eternity. The ancient symbol of eternity
was a serpent in the form of a circle, the tail
being placed in the mouth. The simple circle,
the figure which has neither beginning nor
end, but returns continually into itself, was
also a symbol of eternity .
Ethanim or Tishri . The seventh sacred
month, or the first month of the Hebrew
civil year, commencing with the new moon in
September .
Ethics of Freemasonry . There is a Greek
word, fOos (ethos), which signifies custom
from which Aristotle derives another word
Joos, (8thos),l which means ethics ; because, as
he says, from the custom of doing good acts
arises the habit of moral virtue . Ethics, then,
is the science of morals teaching the theory
and practise of all that is good in relation to
God and to man, to the state and the individual
; it is, in short, to use the emphatic expression
of a German writer, "the science of
the good ." Ethics being thus engaged in the
inculcation of moral duties, there must be a
standard of these duties an authoritative
ground-principle on whic i they depend, a
doctrine that requires their performance,
making certain acts just those that ought to be
done, and which, therefore, are duties, and
that forbid the performance of others which
are, therefore, offenses . Ethics, then, as a
science, is divisible into several species, var~
ing in name and character, according to the
foundation on which it is built .
Thus we have the Ethics of Theology, which
is founded on that science which teaches the nature
and attributes of God ; and, as this forms
a part of all religious systems, every religion,
whether it be Christianity or Judaism, Brahmanism
or Buddhism, or any other form of
recognized worship, has within its bosom a
science of theological ethics which teaches,
according to the lights of that religion, the
duties which are incumbent on man from his
relations to a Supreme Being. And then we
have the Ethics of Christianity, which being
founded on the Scriptures, recognized by
Christians as the revealed will of God is
nothing other than theological ethics applied
to and limited by Christianity .
Then, again, we have the Ethics of Philoso-