THE GREEK LETTER SOCIETIES.-The Phi Beta Kappa ought not to be compared with the so-called Greek letter societies, as its purpose is entirely distinct. It was founded at William and Mary College, Virginia, in 1776, and each chapter is managed by its own graduates, notably the college faculty, and election is bestowed at the close of the four years' course as an honor upon a portion of the class, those having the highest college rank being alone eligible, while the Greek letter societies are organized by the undergraduates, who are the active members and in most of the colleges are elected from the four classes. These societies originated in Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and the late Isaac W. Jackson, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics in that college, was, while a student, the founder of the first one, the Kappa Alpha, in the autumn of 1825. It was followed by the Sigma Phi in March, 1827, and the Delta Phi in the autumn of 1827. A chapter of the Sigma Phi was established in Hamilton College in July, 1831, the year before the Alpha Delta Phi was fcunded. Prof. Thayer's statement that all the Greek-letter societies, except the Phi Beta Kappa, are imitators of the Alpha Delta Phi, and that the latter is older than all the others, is met by the fact that the Kappa Alpha is seven years older and the Sigma Phi and Delta Phi five years older, and even the Hamilton chapter of the Sigma Phi antedates it.-Member of a Greek Letter Society Since May, 1849.

THE SECRET OF SATAN. And so at last I saw Satan appear be fore me magnificent; fully formed.

Feet first, with shining limbs, he glanced down from above among the bushes,

And stood there erect, dark-skinned, with nostrils dilated with passion

(In the burning intolerable sunlight he stood, and I in the shade of the bushes)—

Fierce and scathing the effluence of his eyes, and scornful of dreams and dreamers, (he touched a rock hard by and it split with a sound like thunder).

Fierce the magnetic influence of his dusky flesh; his great foot, well formed, was planted firm in the sand with spreading toes.

"Come out' he said, with a taunt, "Art thou afraid to meet me?" And I answered not, but sprang upon him and smote him.

And he smote me a thousand times, and brashed and scorched and slew me as with hands of flame;

And I was glad, for my body lay there dead; and I sprang upon him again with another body;

And he turned upon me, and smote me a thousand times and slew that body;

And I was glad and sprang upon him again with another body;

And with another and another and again another;

And the bodies which I took on yielded before him, and were like cinctures of flame upon me, but I flung them aside;

And the pains which I endured in one body were powers which I wielded in the next; and I grew in strength, till at last I stood before him complete, with a body like his own and equal in might— exultant in pride and joy.

Then he ceased, and said, "I love thee."

And lo! his form changed, and he leaned backwards and drew me upon him,

And he bore me up into the air, and floated me over the topmost trees and the ocean, and round the curve of the earth and under the

moon

Till we stood again in Paradise.-Edward Carpenter, in Lucifer Vol. xiii., p. 272.

A WHIZGIG. What is a whizgig, a word I recently saw in a book?

OBSERVER.

Webster does not define a whizgig, but Augustus DeMorgan has a paragraph on a whizgig which we here give from his "Budget of Paradoxes." This item is the review of a book sent to DeMorgan:

"The Theory of the Whizgig Considered; inasmuch as it mechanically exemplifies the three working properties of nature, which are now set forth under the guise of this toy, for children of all ages." London, 1822.

The toy called the whizgig will be remembered by many. The writer is a follower of Jacob Behmen, William Law, Richard Clarke, and Eugenius Philalethes. Jacob Behmen first announced the three working properties of nature, which Newton stole, as described in the Gentlemen's Magazine, July, 1782, p. 329. These laws are illus. trated in the whizgig. There is the harsh astringent, attractive compression; the bitter compunction, repulsive expansion; and the stinging anguish, duplex motion. The author hints that he has written. other works, to which he gives no clue. I have heard that Behmen was pillaged by Newton, and Swedenborg by Laplace, and Pythagoras by Corpernicus,, and Epicurus by Dalton, &c. I do not think this mention will revive Behmen; but it may the whizgig, a very pretty toy, and philosophical withal, for few of those who used it could explain it.-DeMorgan's Budget of Paradoxes, p. 151.

"The night of the soul is the day of the spirit.' SOULS" BY ABER "Except a man be reborn he cannot see the kingdom of God."-JESUS

A MANUSCRIPT for Free MasonNS.—A member of the Abyssinian Mercantile Company discovered in Alexandria an ancient house formerly occupied by Grecian Friars, in whose oblivion-abandoned library was found an old pergament. A French literate, accidentally present, at once commenced deciphering it, but a missionary, in the ardor of fanatical orthodoxy, tried by all means to destroy the antique document. But the efforts of the Jesuit missionary do not seem to have been successful, as a copy of the Latin original was written, which copy, through the Free Masons, found its way to Germany. It has been proved, from the archæological discoveries made on the spot, that the house where the pergament was found was owned and occupied by the order of "Esseens." Further, that the document found was the only remains of literature from the once well-filled library of this scientific and religious order or brotherhood. The French literate who first perceived the importance and historical worth of the manuscript, tried hard to enrich the French Academy with the original, but owing to the intrigues of the Jesuit mission in Egypt, bent on destroying a document so detrimental to their doctrines. he was not successful, although it was preserved principally through the interference of influential Abyssinian merchants and Pythagorical societies, from whom the copy above spoken of came into the possession of the modern institution of Free Masons, and a Society in Germany now possesses the (without doubt) only copy in existence.

This work contains a lithograph likeness of Jesus Christ, which is the oldest known, having been found on a tomb in the catacombs.

TEN WAYS OF PAYING FORFEITS.-1. Say four flattering things to the person next you without using the letter 1.

2. Make a sentence of ten words, each beginning with the same letter.

3. Repeat the alphabet backward.

4. Give the names of six poets, or historians, generals, kings, or queens.

5. Kiss a box inside and outside without opening it. This is done by kissing it inside and outside the room. ̧

6.

Make two lines in rhyme.

7. Imitate, without a smile, any animal your companions may

name.

8. Be blindfolded, and then, of a dozen hands presented to you, decide which are right hands and which are left.

9. Write the name of your favorite on the air (with your forefinger.)

10. Conjugate the verb "to love," bowing at each clause to a different member of the company.

Jesus and the Talmud.

The Talmud, of course, does not say that Jesus, or Yeshu, as he is called in rabbinical literature, was the son of God, nor is it stated there that he himself said he was. According to the Talmudical record Jesus was the son of Mary, who was a friseuse, and married to one Pappus ben Judah. Not this Pappus, however, but another man by the name of Pandyra, was the father of Jesus. (Treatise Sanhedrim, 67a.)

Jesus is reported to have been in Egypt, where he secretly studied the mysterics of witchcraft. The magicians were very jealous of their mystical knowledge; but being aware of the difficulty of intrusting it to memory, they took the cnly precaution to prevent its exportation by having the clothes of every stranger who left the country searched for any notes he might have taken. Jesus, however, succeeded in taking with him some notes which he had put down, not on any writing material, but on the skin of his body. (Treatise Sabbath, 104b.) Jesus was the disciple of the Tannai Rabbi Joshua ben Perachia. This Rabbi is blamed for having inexorably repulsed his heretic pupil. He is, indeed, represented as having accelerated, if not caused, the ultimate apostacy of Jesus from Judaism by turning a deaf ear to his rueful supplications and entreaties for forgiveness (Treatise Sota. 47a.)

This is about all that is reported in the Talmud of the life of Jesus. except that he taught his disciples his own views on the Jewish civil law. (Treatise Abodah Zarah, 17a.) There are, however, some very interesting points in the report of his trial and the offences for which he suffered death.

His principal offence is reported to have been ridiculing the doctrines of the Jewish teachers. (Treatise Gittin, 57a.) But this offence, grave as it was considered to be, was punishable by heaven alone; it was not a crime the penalty of which could be inflicted by human hands. Accordingly, he was accused and condemned to death on the charge of having practiced witchcraft and led Israel astray.

The Jews, like the church in the days of her power, summarily disposed of heretics. But Jesus being well known to and befriended by the Governor of Palestine, they had to grant him a fair trial, so much so, indeed, that for the last forty days previous to his execution, it was made publicly known that he had forfeited his life to the law, and that all who could show cause why sentence should not be passed on him were invited to do so. No one, however, came to say any thing in his favor, and consequently he was crucified in Lud (Lydia?) (on Easter eve. Sanhedrim 43a.))

Of the disciples of Jesus six only are mentioned in the Talmud-

Matthai Naccai, Nezer, Boni, Todah, and Jacob of the village Siccania. Of these all except the last one are reported to have been executed together with their master, having made in vain a desperate effort to save their lives by the queer argument of a jeu de mots of their names with similar words in the Bible (Ibidem.) Jacob of Siccania, the disciple last mentioned, must have in some way or other escaped the fate of his colleagues at the time of their execution, and he seems to have afterward saved his life by a shrewd policy. He took care not to teach his master's religious ideas publicly, while on the other hand he seized every occasion of ostentatiously disseminating his innocent views on the Jewish civil law. (Treatise Zarah 17a.) He did not, however, escape suspicion; for when he once offered to cure a nephew of Rabbi Ishmael, who had been stung by a reptile, the Rabbi refused his services, preferring to let his relative die rather than have his life saved by the heretic, who might cure him by some improper means, or in the name of his master. (Ibidem 273.)

The crucified Jesus is mentioned in the Talmud only once. Titus, while in Palestine, is said to have conjured Jesus from the dead, and to have asked him which nation was esteemed highest in heaven. Jesus said Israel was. Titus then continued to ask, "Shall I wage war upon this people?" To this Jesus replied: "Seek their good and not their evil; touch them not, for whosoever toucheth them might as well touch the apple of his own eye!" (Treatise Gittin 57a.)

The discussion of the origin and authenticity of these Talmudical reports, interesting as it certainly must be, is a subject not suitable for a short article for a magazine; besides, it is too complicated a matter for the limited space allotted to these lines. I shall, therefore, confine myself to making a few remarks on the aforementioned dialogue between Titus and Jesus. This passage is evidently a fable. It bears the stamp of a later interpolation, and appears to me to have been suggested by a desire of forcing upon the Christian world the conviction that its own faith, out of policy as well as principle, disapproved of the persecution of Israel, and the strong figure put into the mouth of Jesus was intended to impress the inviolability of the Jewish nation upon the minds of her relentless oppressors.

WORDS OF JESUS-ADDITIONAL. In the Codex Bezæ, an ancient manuscript of the New Testament, supposed to belong to the sixth century, and preserved in the University Library at Cambridge, the following words are found in addition to Luke vi, 5.

"On the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he said to him: 'O man, if indeed thou knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed; but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed, and a transgressor of the law."— Jesus.