Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

Freemasonry and Isntelitism 211 Bro . Lcssing on Freemasonry 212 Masonic Notes and Queries 214 COHHESPON-DENCE : — Masonic Balls in

Qualification for the Mark Chair 215 OBITUARY : Bro . John Staples Keddell 215 Grand Lodge of Scotland and Reform 216

Installation of Sir . F . M . Williams , Bart , Al . P . 217 CRAFT MASONRY : — Metropolitan 218 Provincial 219 Rov . M . A RCH : —

Provincial 210 MARK MASONRY : — Metropolitan 220 Provincial 220

Provincial Grand Lodge of Leicester and Rutland 220 SCOTLAND : — Glasgow- 220 Hawick 220 P OETRY : —

Everywhere a Home 221 Masonic Meetings for next week 221 Advertisements 209 . 210 , 222 . 223 , 224

Freemasonry And Israelitism.

FREEMASONRY AND ISRAELITISM .

AN- EPITOME OF BRO . CARPENTER ' ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT . Bv W . E . N ., No . 7 66 . CCtmlinuetl J ' rum Pntrc 180 J

No . XII . Aug 12 th , 1871 . —Abraham and his seed Avere chosen of God to be the reci pients and . promulgators of Divine truth , so that in the midst of universal idolatry they should worship one

Almighty just and merciful Being . This same seed has been employed by Divine Providence in effecting thc same object , when in after times all mankind ( not excepting the most advanced

and civilised nations ) had become idolaters . Thc chosen seed were again to become a light shining in darkness . God moreover said ( Isa . xlix . 22 , ) " I will lift my hand to the Gentiles , they shall

bring thy ( Israel ) sons in th y arms , " " and kings shall be thy nursing fathers , and queens thy nursing mothers , " & c . ( chap , lx ., I ,. ) "The Gentiles shall see thy glory , and thou shalt be

called by a nenv name , " ( chap . lxii ., 2 . ) The mission of this wonderfully preserved and chosen people was to " prepare the way of the people , cast up the highways , gather out the stones , and

lift up a standard . " Israel had cast off their allegiance and been joined to idols , but when , by the valour of their arms , they made their way westward , and settled down in the island the }'

abandoned their idols , and gave themselves to God , but under another covenant , that is , they became Christianized . The intimations that this should happen , are : —

I . The Israelites were not to continue under the 1 aw , they were to be divorced from it Judah still remains under the law ; not so Israel . But thejLord declared that although Israel , as a people , had been

unfaithful , he would not forsake them utterly , but Avould be faithful to the promises g-iven to the fathers . A great Avork was to be done b y Israel , to which end they were so to multiply that ,

"More are thc children of the desolate ( or d ivorced Israel ) than the children of the married Avife " ( Judah ) . ( Isa . liv , 1 . )

11 . Ihe Law , or the Mosaic covenant , was not t o be perpetual , but only of a tempo rary character , and introductory of the Messiah . Peculiar revelations and required obligations were made to

Freemasonry And Israelitism.

Noah , Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , and the Israelites , but these institutions did not contain the elements of an universal religion . The chosen seed of Abraham were formed into a distinct nation ,

idolatry was forbidden , and God himself Avas King . The Mosaic law was the national law . All its commandments , including the decalogue , Avcre civil laws . The intimations wc find ofthe

bringing in of the remote nations to the Israelitish church , would suffice to show that the forms and ceremonies prescribed by the law could not be meant for a perpetual obligation . Another

covenant was to supersede the Mosaic one , and " the latter days " are often alluded to as those in which all mankind should be brought to the

knowledge of the true God , and form one universal church , in which Isarel should form a prominent place . From the intimations in the Old Testament , as well as from the peculiar nature of

the Mosaic dispensation itself , it was avowedly unadapted for any other than the people of which Jerusalem was the centre and seat of Divine worship : it was therefore only designed for those

who dwelt within reach of the Holy City . Although Moses was thus to be superseded , Israel was not to remain without a lawgiver , for God said to Moses ( Deut . xviii ., 15 , 19 , ) " I will

raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee , " kc . Thc Jews consider these words refer to a succession of prophets , although the word nch ' ia ( prophet , is in the singular number . Now

this prophet Avas to be a lawgiver as Moses was , but none of the prophets were lawgivers ; it must therefore refer to one person , and that Avas the

Messiah . He was to give a law , a more excellent law than that of Moses , and a better covenant : and God was to make a new covenant with the

House of Israel . III . Though the Israelites Avere to be divorced from the law and its ceremonial , they Avere to be married to another . Jeremiah ( iii ., 12 ,

14 , ) exhorts Israel to return to God , and promises to bring them to Zion ; but before that can take place Israel must seek the Lord their God , and David their king . Here are two things , ( 1 )

Israel must abandon idolatry , aud ( 2 ) seek David their king . This can only refer to David ' s successor , the Messiah , the spiritual King of Israel . All ' this is to take place in the latter

days , and therefore not under the Mosaic dispensation . All nations , including Judah , are to be brought to the true God , through the instrumentality of Israel . In accordance with all this ,

we find that when the Anglo-Saxons were established as rulers in their islands , they were converted to the Christian faith , and have since been preaching it to all nations . In Ezekiel , xxxvii .

19-28 , Ave read " I will take the children ol Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone , and will gather them on every side , and bring them into their own land , and I will make

them one nation ; and one king shall be king to them all , and they shall no more be two nations , neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more , " & c .

No . XIII . August 19 th , 187 1 . —The more we look into the scriptures the more clearl y we perceive the distinction between the kingdoms for

Judah and Israel . The prophets did not always understand the prophecies they uttered , under divine inspiration , nor was it necessary that they

Freemasonry And Israelitism.

should . If the precise meaning of some of the prophecies had been known before fulfilment , man might probabl y have interfered to prevent their fulfilment , or to bring it about in other

ways than those designed by God . In the blessings which Jacob pronounced on his children , and two of his grandchildren , he refers to the past , and foretells something of the future . He was .

perhaps unable to attach any precise meaning to some of his utterances , but God , who inspired him , foresaw and made all sure . Jacob pronounced a special blessing on Ephraim and

Mannaseh , giving to Ephraim the blessing which AV . IS the birthri ght of Mannaseh ; he also adopted them both , so that they became equal with his own sons ; hence they became heads of tribes ,

and their children shared equally with the other tribes in the division of the land by Joshua . The birthright belonged to Reuben but it was taken from him , and divided among three of his

brethren , the priesthood was given to Levi , the kingship to Judah , and the double _ portion or grea increase to Joseph , or rather to Ephraim , the holder of his birthright . This was partly

fulfilled even before the tribes took possession of their inheritance , as Joshua tells Ephraim they have become a great people . It was more largely fulfilled afterwards , and it is being fulfilled now ,

when their descendants arc sending forth branches into every part of the Avorld , as was foretold b y Jacob ( see Gen . xlix . 22-26 ) . Land and sea were to be possessed by the descendants of

Joseph . Manasseh , as well as Ephraim , was to become a great people , and among the tribes , these children of Joseph were distinguished by

their numbers and strength , and it was the struggle for pre-eminence on the part of Ephraim , which led to the schism of the tribes and the

establishment ofthe two kingdoms Ephraim was so powerful as to give his name to the seceding ten tribes , Ep hraim being often used to denote Israel . The extraordinary number of

Jacob ' s descendants was in conformity to thc promises made to Abraham , who was told by God that his seed should be as the stars of heaven , and as the sand on the sea-shore . This

promise was repeated to Israel , and confirmed to Jacob in his vision at Bethel , when God said to him ( Gen . xxviii , 12-15 ) . "Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth , and thou shall spread about

to the east and to the west and to the north and south . " These promises were not fulfilled while the Children of Israel remained in Canaan . Israel obtained possession of the Promised Land ,

but the larger promises were not fulfilled while the twelve tribes remained one people , and they have never been fulfilled , and never will be , in the history ofthe Jews , for although this people are

widely spread over the earth , they do not materially increase in numbers . We can only estimate their numbers approximately , and according to various authorities they are set down at from

four millions to nearly seven millions . Interpret the promises as we may , the numbers should be incomparably greater than this , when we recollect that the Israelites were to be the fathers of

nations , and kingdoms , and peoples , in every part of the globe . Where are we to look for the fulfilment of such prophecies , except in leference to thc Anglo-Saxon race , and their kindred , the Getre , the ten tribes ; who were to become the most