Freemasonry And Israelitism. Xxviii.

in a very poor and troubled condition . After the departure , probably by death , of Ezra , and the termination of Nehemiah ' s first mission , which had endured for twelve years , great disorders

crept in ; so that on his return , he found much to deplore . The detention of the tithes , defective offerings , and heathen marriages had become general . There was incieasing bitterness

between the Jews and the Samaritans , who had builtarival temple on Mount Gerizim ; there was a growing alienation between the Jews who had returned from captivity , and those who had

remained in the land , and whom the former treated with derision and contempt ; and there were the evils to which they were all exposed , by the frequent invasion of the armies of the Macedonians ,

Syrians , Egyptians , & c , —all forming a combination of circumstances which depressed the nation , and gave rise to many social and moral evils . They passed under the dominion of the

great foreign states ; and although their independence was partly achieved by the valour of the Maccabees , who united in their own persons the office of high priest and king , and the Idumean

Herod , whohad married into the Maccabean family , occupied the throne at the time of Christ ' s birth ; his power was limited , and a few years after his death the dissensions among his sons , and the

commotions arising therefrom , brought the partially-restored , but dilapidated kingdom to an end , and it was annexed , as a Province , to the great Roman Empire .

The promised Shiloh , or he whose right the sceptre was ( Gen . xlix , 10 ) , had come , and when a sufficient time had been given to publish his gospel throughout the cities of Israel , and

from the chosen , but now condemned , city of God ' s prescribed ceremonial worship , to send it forth into all nations , then came the end , and the children of Judah were scattered throughout

the nations ot the earth . The Children of Israel were to " abide many days without a king , and without a prince , and without a sacrifice , '' ( Hosea iii . 4 ) . But though

" lost " to their own name and country—cast out , trodden down , and called by another namea monarchy was still dear to their hearts , and was the subject of their constant aspirations .

Ihey were not satisfied , as some of the northern "barbarians" were , with leaders to command in the time of war—they must have kings to lead and srovern them . As soon as

circumstances favoured it , Alaric was proclaimed king , upon the shields of his soldiers . We know little of their history , for some centuries afterwards , except as tlie conquering race of the western

world , but we know that the Saxon branch brought with them into Britain , that monarchical institution in which the supreme power is limited by the subjects themselves , b y due course of law . It is

no despotic power which the Anglo-Saxon sovereign wields . At his coronation , he swears to rule in accordance with the statutes of parliament and the laws and customs of the realm ; to

maintain right and justice ; and to uphold ' the Established Church . Once since the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon monarch y it has been

set aside ; but" this , so far from having been legally recognised , has been erased from the national records , and the Monarchy survives , surrounded by republican institutions . The

Freemasonry And Israelitism. Xxviii.

Lia-Phail , or Stone of Destiny , or Jacob s Pillow , which is part of the Coronation Throne , in Westminster Abbey , has attached to it an old Celtic rune , which still exercises its influence over main-

minds" Unless the Fates are faithless grown , And Prophet ' s voice be vain , Where ' er is found this Sacred Stone The Wanderers' race shall reign . "

Whether , as the Rev . F . R . A . Glover ( "England the remnant of Judah , and the Israel of Ephraim '') believes , and seeks , by a large collection of facts and traditions , and much plausible reasoning , to

prove , the ancient stone which was used on the Hill of Tara . atthe inauguration of Eocaid , the king pentarch of Ulster , about seven centuries before the Christian era , carried thence to Scotland by

Fergus 1 ., who , with the succeeding Scottish kings , was crowned on it , until , about A . D . 300 , when Edward I . brought it here with the rest of the royal regalia , and on which , from the time of

James I ., all our monarchs have been crowned , be the veritable Jacob's pillow ; and whether England is , in her royal family , of the stem of Jesse , descended from Eocaid , by one of the

seed royal of David , ( one of " the king ' s daughters , " who accompanied Jeremiah when he escaped from Judea ) , and is , therefore , as the hereditary holder of the perpetual

sceptre , and the inheritor of the standard of Judah ( the lion ) the fostered remnant of Judah ; while the Angle-land , is , in her origin and descent , the reality of Joseph in her own position :

and the Ep hraim of Jacob or the Israel of E phraim , in that of her colonies , I do not pretend to determine . To Mr . Glover , we are greatly indebted for the research and labour he has brought

to bear on the investigation of this question . If his theory be well-founded , he has opened up a subject , not onl y full of interest and importance in itself , but one in which is

exhibited a most impressive view of the wonderful workings of God ' s providence , for the fulfilment of his gracious purposes through Israel , and of the many predictions relating

to both her and her sister , Judah ; for , as he observes , "in this combination of the two families ( Jerem . xxxiii . 24 ) has commenced the fulfilment of the prophecy which foretells the union of these

two elements of the world ' s approaching future ( Isa . xi . 13 ); the prediction that Judah shall not vex Ephraim , nor Ephraim envy Judah—by which combination , also , England is qualified to be Standard-Bearer of all Israel—and that herein is

involved the responsibility of action which is clearl y pointed out as the privilege of the Israel of blessing in Isaiah xix : —that pleasant instrument of a happy future to Egypt ( the Mohammedan ) God ' s

people , and Assyria ( the Hindu and Buddhist ) the work of God ' s hand ; as the third ( Isa . xix . 24 ) of sanctification to the other two-thirds : and

the incipient development of the accomplished promises of God to Israel , his inheritance , viz , England : the now living reality and representative of Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . "

" MORE than a year ago one of my children was attacked with bronchitis , and , after a long illness , was given up by all physicians as ' past cure . ' •1 was then induced to try your Vegetable Pain Killer , and from the time I began the use of it the child rapidly got better , and it is now strong and healthy . — J WINSTANLEY , 10 , Whittle-st ., L'pool , i 86 g , —To P . 0 . & Son . "

Ernest And Falk.

ERNEST AND FALK .

CONVERSATIONS FOR FREEMASONS . BY BRO . GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING . T RANSLATED BY BRO . KENNETH R . H . MACKENZIE . F . S . A .,

KNOWN AS C RYPTONYMUS . CONVERSATION . —IV . FALK . Ernest ! Welcome ! Again I see you . My stay at the baths has long since closed .

ERNEST . And you are well ? I am pleased . FALK . What say yon : Never did I hear "I am pleased " pronounced more angrily . ERNEST . And I am angry , and little is wanting

not to make me angry with you . FALK . With me : ERNEST . You have misled me into a foolish act . Look here ! Give me your hand ! What

say you ? You shrug your shoulders ! That was the only thing yet wanting . FALK . Misled you ?

PJRXF . ST . May be without your own absolute desire . FALK . And yet should be in fault ?

ERNEST . The man of God tells the people of a land flowing with milk and honey 5 and should not the people long for it ? and should not the people murmur at the man of God when he leads

them into desert wildernesses , instead of this promised land ? FALK . Well , well ! The damage can scarcel y be so great . And I likewise see that you have

been labouring by the tombs of our ancestors . ERNEST . But they were not surrounded by flames , but smoke . FALK . Endure , then , till the smoke disperses ,

and the flame will enlighten and warm . ERNEST . The smoke will choke me , ere the flame enlightens me , ' and others will warm themselves , I well perceive , who are better able to

endure the smoke . FALK . YOU are not speaking of people who allow themselves willingly to be bitten by smoke , even if it be only the smoke of a strange and well furnished kitchen ?

ERNEST . Ihen you know them ? FALK . I have heard of them . ERNEST . All the greater reason that vbu should

not have led me on to this ice , and moreover , p icture things to me , the fallacy of which you knew too well .

FALK . Your annoyance renders you very unjust . I should not have spoken with you concerning F ' reemasonry without indicating in more than one way how useless it is that every honest

man should become a Freemason . How useless , do I say ?—even how dangerous ! ERNEST . That may be so , indeed .

FALK . Did I not say to you that the highest duties of Masonry may be fulfilled , without being called Freemason ?

ERNEST . In fact , I well remember it . But you know very well , when my fancy once outspreads its pinions—once begins its fli ghtwhether I can restrain it ; I do not blame you ,

except for holding out such a bait to it . FALK . Which you have soon become too tired to attain . Nor did you say a word to me of your intentions . ERNEST . Would you have dissuaded me ?