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On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY . THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY .
BY THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D . D . P . G . M . FOR LINCOLNSHIRE . ( Continued from page 264 . ) THE Jews , during their captivity in Babylon , cultivated Masonry with great diligence , and kept up a regular communication with each other by means of Lodges which they chief
had established in that city ; and this was one of their sources of employment , as it constituted their only solace amidst the rigours of captivity in a strange land . The exterminating punishments inflicted on their nation for contempt of God and his prophets , appear to have effectually wearied them from the practice of idolatry . It is true that many of the learned Hebrews , in their rejection of idolatry , fell into the other extreme , and amidst the subtilties of philosophical disquisition , attempted to explain the
attributes of God , and the sublime truths of their religion from the deductions of unassisted reason . But they waited with patience for the moment of deliverance , and rejoiced to hear of the successes of Cyrus the Persian , knowing that he was the monarch destined , in the councils of heaven , to redeem them from captivityand restore to them the
domi-, nions of their father David ; for Isaiah had delivered a prediction , which was written in their hearts , and symbolically inculcated in their lodges , that Cyrus should perform the p leasure of the Lord ; and that he should say to Jerusalem , thou shalt be built , —and to the Temple , thy foundations
shall be laid . * This captivity was limited to seventy years , f as a punishment inflicted on the Jews for their neglect of the sabbatical year , as well as their multiplied idolatries . But the land actually lay desolate only fifty-two years ; for the computation of seventy commenced with the first captivity
years under King Jehoiakim ; after which the land was regularly cultivated for eig hteen years until the final captivity under Zedekiah , when it was forsaken by all its inhabitants . The non-observance of the sabbatical year began in the reign of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY . THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY .
BY THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D . D . P . G . M . FOR LINCOLNSHIRE . ( Continued from page 264 . ) THE Jews , during their captivity in Babylon , cultivated Masonry with great diligence , and kept up a regular communication with each other by means of Lodges which they chief
had established in that city ; and this was one of their sources of employment , as it constituted their only solace amidst the rigours of captivity in a strange land . The exterminating punishments inflicted on their nation for contempt of God and his prophets , appear to have effectually wearied them from the practice of idolatry . It is true that many of the learned Hebrews , in their rejection of idolatry , fell into the other extreme , and amidst the subtilties of philosophical disquisition , attempted to explain the
attributes of God , and the sublime truths of their religion from the deductions of unassisted reason . But they waited with patience for the moment of deliverance , and rejoiced to hear of the successes of Cyrus the Persian , knowing that he was the monarch destined , in the councils of heaven , to redeem them from captivityand restore to them the
domi-, nions of their father David ; for Isaiah had delivered a prediction , which was written in their hearts , and symbolically inculcated in their lodges , that Cyrus should perform the p leasure of the Lord ; and that he should say to Jerusalem , thou shalt be built , —and to the Temple , thy foundations
shall be laid . * This captivity was limited to seventy years , f as a punishment inflicted on the Jews for their neglect of the sabbatical year , as well as their multiplied idolatries . But the land actually lay desolate only fifty-two years ; for the computation of seventy commenced with the first captivity
years under King Jehoiakim ; after which the land was regularly cultivated for eig hteen years until the final captivity under Zedekiah , when it was forsaken by all its inhabitants . The non-observance of the sabbatical year began in the reign of