The Discovery of the Essene Gospel of Peace

That state of wonder and awe before the miracle of life, which burned so brilliantly in the Essene Brotherhood at the Dead Sea, and which faded out with the passing of the last Essene, St. Francis, was mine to kindle once more with the discovery of the Essene Gospel. It is a book of wonders, not only for the wisdom and guidance contained in its pages, but because it shines and glows with the lost spirit of ages past, when the distance between man and God was not so great and when all of nature sang with the voice of angels. The Essene Gospel is not the only manuscript of its kind in the Secret Archives of the Vatican. There were Gospels supposedly by Matthew, Barnabas, James, Peter and Thomas, used by the Manichaenans, together with the "Book of the Obstetrician," "The Essene Book of Genesis," "The Canto of Christ," "The Physiologist," written by Essene heretics" and attributed to Ambrose, the pamphlets of Tertullian and the manuscripts of Simon the Magician. All these manuscripts were condemned as apocryphal and "damned for eternity" along with their authors and followers.We must rediscover our place in the world-picture, our original role as the partner of the Creator helping to sow and harvest and make the earth once more a Garden. We must make our own discovery of the Essene Gospel. We must let St. Francis sing in our hearts.