Blessed All-Father, All-Mother of the Suns, Planets, and heavenly bodies of the glorious universe, we desire to offer thanks of gratitude for Thy great wisdom in providing such a perfect and orderly system as the Solar System in which we dwell.

Blessed Angels, who live in perpetual Light, draw near and help us pay tribute to our Glorious Orb, the Sun.

Blessed Sun, without Thee we could not exist for a single instant. We adore, love and worship Thee. Thou art all Heat, Light and Energy to our splendid planet. With Thy glorious radiance we are sustained. Without Thee we could not be joyful. Thy vibrations thrili us with Life, Health, and Happiness. Through Thee we learn that "Life cannot die. Forms, Perish; but the great universal stream of vitality surges on, unspent and undiminished." Through Thee we learn the Mighty Power, Love and Wisdom of God. If Thou art so Great and Mighty, Blessed Sun, how Great and Mighty must be the Eternal God!

The beauty of life dwells in Thee! We love Thee! We adore Thee ! We worship Thee! Blessed Sun!

In Thy orderly flight through endless space as one of the Majestic Orbs of the Universe, we with our sister planets attend Thee with joy. Thy radiance helps us to realize our true relation with the Mighty One our Oneness. Surely God is everywhere. Magazine of Mystery.

The Zend-Avesta.

BY EDWARD VAUGHAN KENEALY.

Within the Sacred Book, by Heaven inspired.
And given to Zaratusht, the Holy Messenger
Of God to man in ages far remote,

Are lessons, prayers, truths, and laws divine,
Such as the Spirit of Light itself reveals
But to the Chosen Twelve who are the mouth
Of perfect wisdom to the sons of earth.
In the fair Orient was its advent bright;
It shone on man as shines the Morning Star ;
It called him from the idols, at whose shrines
Inpure he bowed his soul of majesty,
Adoring images, ignoring God.

It spake in words of thunder-flame, it flashed
In dazzling lightnings on his troubled mind,
And by its own supreme and sovereign presence
Proved its divinity and heavenly birth.
Mountain and forest, river, lake, and grove,
In those far distant days, had each their god,
Or tutelary goddess, at whose altar

The priests attended and the people bowed.
The planets, too, were worshipped, and the sun
And stars, and all the other visible features
Which indicate God's mighty handiwork.
And men knew nothing of the Supreme Father,
But lavished all religion upon symbols,

Sunshine, and fire, and beasts. Therefore, was sent
To Zatatusht this Volume of pure light,

That he might summon man from fraud to Truth,
And lead him from the mesh of priests to God.
And so it came to pass. Therefore, do thou
Who wouldst in wisdom garment thy clear soul,
And school it for the splendid after life
Which followeth this, as surely as the day
Succeeds the night, seek in this Sacred Book
The lessons that shall make the pure and wise.
Think not that to this narrow western world
The Father gave true knowledge of Himself,
And hid it from the East and Orient men,
But know that all true light proceedeth thence
Ex Oriente Lux; and that this Light

---

Is God's religion freely given to all;
For are not all mankind the Sons of God?
And feels He not as Father unto all?
Therefore, my brother, read, and for thyself
Judge if it be not a true Word of Truth;
And if thou find in it such speech sublime,
Such doctrine fragrant with the flowers of Heaven,
Such love celestial as the East hath found,
Bow down before it reverently, and believe
That God is not so partial and unjust
As to restrict the knowledge of Himself
To tribes or sects, but that He gives it freely
To all mankind, albeit in different ways.

The Bacchic Feast.

THE DREAM OF A REINCARNATIONIST.

BY ST. GEORGE BEST.

Oft in my dreams I think I see

some skies that I have seen before;

Some ocean, dashed eternally on some well-loved familiar shore.

Hard by some quaint and olden town, whose jostling crowds I seem to know; Who, clad in antique robe and gown,

I seem to be some priest revered,
Alike of men and women feared,

I lead them to a temple vast,
I almost think, in ages past

bestrew my pathway as they go.

with ivy garlands on my brow;
who seem to quail, to shrink, to bow.

whose sculptured walls and towering dome gave me a shelter and a home.

Some dim-remembered music shakes the vaulted roof above my head
A wild and rythmic chant awakes, in those who hear, a sense of dread.

I grasp the sacrificial bowl, the
It fires my brain, it lifts my soul

sparkling juice I seem to quaff;
I know not if I weep or laugh.

A thousand goblets gleam around the torch-lit temple's mystic shrine ; A thousand eager lips are drowned a moment in the holy wine.

With lofty faith I seem to do some priestly rite of sacrifice ;
A filmy cloud obstructs my view and screens me from the initiate's eye.

From some strange book methinks I read some doctrines I remember not;
I rend my purple gown, I plead in tongues our race has long forgot.

I feel again the music sway the columns of the ancient pile,
Just as my last note dies away adown the many-pillared isle.

STAR OF THE MAGI.

SAYINGS OF EMINENT PERSONS. Three correspondents ask for books containing the sayings maxims, aphorisms, and so on, of some of the eminent ones, ancient and modern. We submit a few culled from our shelves:

"Many Sayings." Polylogy. A Dual Line Version of some of his Paraphrases of Wisdom and Learning.

Pp. 288. London, 1842.

"Many Things in Few Words."

Those Who Think.

Lacon.

Two volumes.

Addressed to All

Revised edition,

By. Rev. C. C. Colton,
Pp. 502. New York, 1882. '

with Life of the author.

"Much in Little." Comprising history, governments, origins, items, manias, superstitions, speculations, curiosities; useful and entertaining. By C. Fletcher. Pp. 204. Boston, 1754.

"Sayings of the Grecian Sages." Collected by Babu Madhowdasji, and Indian Recluse. Edited by R. P. D. Pp. 86. Allahabad, 1886.

"Sayings of the Jewish Fathers." Comprising Pirque Aboth and Pereq R. Meir i n Hebrew and English, with notes; with specimen pages of the Mishnah "Jerushalmith" from which the text of Aboth was taken. By Charles Taylor. Pp. 200. Cambridge, 1877.

"Sayings of Labienus on the Life of Cæsar by Napoleon. III." By M. A. Rogeard. Translated by Madame O. Fournier. With explanatory notes. The Suppressed Critique on Julius Cæsar. Pp. 32' New York.

66

n. d.

Sayings Ascribed to Cur Lord by the Fathers; also, Primitive Writers." Incidents in the His Life narrated by them, not found in the Scriptures. By John Theodore Dodd." Pp. 112. Oxford and London, 1874.

66

Sayings of Our Lord." AOLA IHCOY. An Early Greek Papyrus. Translation and commentary by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt. Pp. 20. Pp. 20. London, 1897.

"Sayings of Publius Syrus." Choice Fragments. Translated from the Latin. Found in The Phenix," a collection of old and rare fragments, namely: The Morals of Confucius; The Oracles of Zoroaster; The Similitudes of Demophilus ; The Syings of the Seven Wise Men of Greece; and several other sapient compilations of the ancients. New York, 1835.

"Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone." A proverb tell a long story. By James Lendall Basford. Pp. 108. London, 1882. "Short Sayings of Great Men." With historical and explanatory notes. By Samuel Arthur Bent. Pp. 610. Third edition. Boston, 1882,

"Wisdom, Wit, and Whims." From Nearly a Hundred Distinguished Ancient Philosophers. By Rev. Joseph Banvard. Pp. 407. New York, 1855.

"Wit and Wisdom of E. Bulwer-Lytton." Compiled by C. L. Bonney. These apothegms, and extracts are selected from forty-four different works of Lord Lytton, extending from 1826 to 1875. Pp. 264. New York, 1875.

There are many other celections from authors, in separate volumes, such as these: "Beauties of Homer," selected from the Iliad, by William Holwell, F. A. S. Pp. 268. Oxford, 1765. "Beauties of Sheridan," selected from his poems, dramas, and his speeches, by Alfred Howard. Pp. 212. Boston, 1831. "Selections from Buddha." Max Müller. Pp. 52. Boston, 1886.

THREE THOUSANDTH MEETING. Hillsborough Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F., Manchester, N. H., was instituted Thursday evening, December 21, 1843. The Lodge at that meeting selected Monday evening as its regular weekly meeting, and its first regular Monday evening meeting fell on Christmas, December 25, 1843, and the Lodge has held its Monday evening meetings regularly since.

The 1000th regular meeting was held February 9, 1863, but not celebrated.

The 2000th regular meeting was held April 10, 1882. The Lodge by error celebrated April 17, 1882, as the 2000th.

The 3000th regular meeting was held June 10, 1901. The Lodge, again in error, celebrated June 17, 1901, as the 3000th, because they counted 1000 meetings from April 17, 1882.

2

In 1843, there were two meetings, Dec. 21 and 25, From 1844 to 1900, inclusive, 57 years X 52 Mondays, 2964

{ 49, 60, 72y's, hende ou more

J 1844, 49, 55, 60, '66, '72, '77, '83, '88, '94, and 1900 were years with 53 Mondays, hence 11 more meetings

1901, January 7 to June 10, inclusive, 23 Mondays,

Hence, June 10, 1901, was the 3000th meeting.

II

23

3000