Bishop Hopkins As A Mason.

BISHOP HOPKINS AS A MASON .

It is not probably very generally known to our readers that the late Bt . Eev . John H . Hopkins , LL . D ., the distinguished and learned Episcopal Bishop of Vermont , like the late bishops Gris-Avold , Banclall , and many others of the

leading prelates of the Episcopal Church in this country as well as in the older protestant countries of Europe , was , during life , a member of the Masonic Fraternity , and contributed of his large ability and influence , to the promotion

of its welfare and prosperity . It is indeed a significant and interesting tact in the history of Masonry , that from the earliest days of Christianity , it has found among the clergy of this denomination , a larger proportion of friends

and advocates , than among those of any other of the numerous religious sects into -which the primitive Church has been cut up and separated . This may perhaps be accounted for in some measure , by the striking similarity which the forms and ritualistic ceremonies of Masonry bear to a similar association which is known to have

existed among the Christian fathers in the early days of the Church . It has been claimed , with a reasonable show of authority , by many of our best and erudite Masonic scholars , that the first Christians and founders of the Church

were themselves Freemasons , — using the term in the sense in which it is applied to the Essenian . Associations of that period , and of which St . John is supposed to have been a member . That they had among them a " secret society "

bearinga strong resemblance to Masonry —if it were not actually Masonry in its ethical and higher form—is a fact well known to biblical scholars and readers of general history . Clement , the follow-laborer of St Paul and St . Peter

, tells us that persons initiated into this society , were required to be " irreproachable and well reported ; of a sound mind and body , having no blemish or defect , neither maimed nor mutilated ;" and Minucius Felix , who wrote a

learned and eloquent defence of the Christian religion , which Dr . Lardner thinks was published about A . D . 210 , also tells us that " the Christians know one another by secret signs , and love one another almost before they are

acquainted . " Tetullian , who wrote in the second century , after repelling the accusations brought against the society by the Gentiles , says "because they know little or nothing of our principles they despise and condemn them , and ¦

endeavour to blacken that virtue and goodness which are so conspicuous in us , with imagined vices and impunities ; whereas , it would be more just to judge of our secret actions by those that appear , than to condemn what is evidently good and praiseworthy upon suspicion of private faults . "

AVe have here a description of a £ ecret society among the early Christians , so remarkably striking in its analogies to the Masonic society of the present day , as to warrant a strong belief that they were , at the time referred to , oue

and the same ^ But however the fact may be , these analogies , even if the relation be denied , may perhaps , as before suggested , in some measure account for the greater degree of kindly feeling and sympathy with which the

clergy of the Episcopal Church , as compared with other evangelical denominations , have ever regarded the Masonic Society . There are of course exceptions , and we have no desire to conceal the fact that there are

Episcopalians , and some holding high official relations in that Church , who are opposed to Freemasonry on purely religious grounds ; but the number is comparatively small , and so greatly overbalanced by those who are friendly , as to restain them in any open manifestation of opposition to it .

Bishop Hopkins , the rubject of this notice , was born iti Dublin , Ireland , January 30 th , 1792 ,. and died at Eock Port , Vermont , January 9 th , 1868 . He came to America with his parents in 1800 , and having received a classical education , commenced the study of T 2