Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
This divination was performed by setting up two sticks , which , by means of a charm , determined the most fortunate destination by the direction in which they fell * . There is another kind of Rabdomantia , by which the gods were consulted through the medium of an arrow ; ancl it is not decided which of these methods Nebuchadnezzar used
on the present occasion f . An arroAV Avas shot perpendicularly into the air , and by virtue of prayers and incantations , it Avas made to take a direction , when , at its greatest altitude , pointing out the quarter towards which the petitioner mig ht march his army with the greatest prospect of success . The lot determining that Judea should be the
first object of attack , Nebuchadnezzar marched through the land , took their fenced cities , ancl laid siege to Jerusalem , ancl took it in the eleventh year of Zedekiah ' s reign ; sleAv all the inhabitants that were not in possession of that famous Masonic Test mentioned by Ezekiel t , which proved them uncontaminated Avith the mysteries of idolatry . Zedekiah
Avas taken prisoner , his eyes were put out , ancl he Avas sent to Babylon , where he died in confinement . His relations , friends , ancl all who had participated in his crimes , received the punishment clue to their iniquities , and were slain Avith the sword . Nebuzaradan , the chief captain of Nebuchadnezzar ' s guard , to whom AA'as entrusted the charge of utterly
destroying Jerusalem , stripped it of every thing valuable , ancl set it on fire . The city and temple were consumed , the Avails ancl tOAvers rased to the ground , so that one stone was not left upon another . The principal inhabitants were either slain or carried into captivity , and the lower orders of the people Avere left in the open country to till certain
portions of the land , to cultivate the vine , ancl to perform other servile employments . But the greater part of these fled into Egypt the same year , contrary to the advice of Jeremiah , and there miserably perished ; thus completing the desolation of Judea , and the extermination of its inhabitants , conformably to the repeated threatenings of God by his prophets for the accumulated sins of the JeAvish nation .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
This divination was performed by setting up two sticks , which , by means of a charm , determined the most fortunate destination by the direction in which they fell * . There is another kind of Rabdomantia , by which the gods were consulted through the medium of an arrow ; ancl it is not decided which of these methods Nebuchadnezzar used
on the present occasion f . An arroAV Avas shot perpendicularly into the air , and by virtue of prayers and incantations , it Avas made to take a direction , when , at its greatest altitude , pointing out the quarter towards which the petitioner mig ht march his army with the greatest prospect of success . The lot determining that Judea should be the
first object of attack , Nebuchadnezzar marched through the land , took their fenced cities , ancl laid siege to Jerusalem , ancl took it in the eleventh year of Zedekiah ' s reign ; sleAv all the inhabitants that were not in possession of that famous Masonic Test mentioned by Ezekiel t , which proved them uncontaminated Avith the mysteries of idolatry . Zedekiah
Avas taken prisoner , his eyes were put out , ancl he Avas sent to Babylon , where he died in confinement . His relations , friends , ancl all who had participated in his crimes , received the punishment clue to their iniquities , and were slain Avith the sword . Nebuzaradan , the chief captain of Nebuchadnezzar ' s guard , to whom AA'as entrusted the charge of utterly
destroying Jerusalem , stripped it of every thing valuable , ancl set it on fire . The city and temple were consumed , the Avails ancl tOAvers rased to the ground , so that one stone was not left upon another . The principal inhabitants were either slain or carried into captivity , and the lower orders of the people Avere left in the open country to till certain
portions of the land , to cultivate the vine , ancl to perform other servile employments . But the greater part of these fled into Egypt the same year , contrary to the advice of Jeremiah , and there miserably perished ; thus completing the desolation of Judea , and the extermination of its inhabitants , conformably to the repeated threatenings of God by his prophets for the accumulated sins of the JeAvish nation .