Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Aids to Study ( 1 S 7 Bro . Hughan ' s Old Charges 688 Grand Lodgeof Quebec 680 , Bro . Pearson and the Mayoralty of Lherpool 690 The Canadian Masons andtheGrcat Fire at Chicago 6 91 Reviews 691

I louse Committees and their Rights 6 92 CRAFT MASONRY : — Metropolitan 692 Provinciat 6 94 India ' 6 94 MARK MASONRY : —

Metropolitan 6 94 Provincial 6 94 KNIGHTS TEMPLAR : — Provincial 6 95 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls dos

CORRESPONDENCE : — An old Masonic Print 6 9 6 Non-resident members of Lodges 6 9 6 Masonic Meetings for next week 6 97 Advertisements 68 : . , 686 , 6 97 , 698 , 6 99 , 700

SUPPLEMENT ( Eight Pages ) : — NOTES AND QUERIES : — Our Ancient Constitutions 701 Notes on the Orders ofthe Temple and Hospital ... 701 Secretaryship of the Girls' School 701 Grand Chapter ro 2

Imposing Masonic Ceremonial in Liverpool 704 Consecration of the Oxford University Rose Croix Chapter -05 Masonic llall for Dalkey 706 Grand Lodge of Scotland 706 Provincial Grand l . odge of Derbyshire 707 List of Hro . Little ' s Committee 7 C 8

Aids To Study.

AIDS TO STUDY .

By . BRO . WILLIAM CARPENTER . XV . Wonderful ; is were tlie rmcieiit predictions of the downfall of Egypt , as placed upon record at a time when such an event seemed to be amongst the most improbable of things , quite as

wonderful are the prophecies ofthe fate of Assyria and Babylon , promulgated about the same timeas those concerning Egypt , and when these great empires

were the most powerful and dominant of States , and were receiving homage and tribute from almost all other nations . There are writers who

aflirm that all these prophecies were written alter the events , and that it has been only by a pious fraud that they have been assigned to inspiration from Him who seeth the end from the beginning , and has made it a test of His omniscience as

against the pretensions of false gods , that He foretells things before they come to pass , as , also , that He directs or makes them subservient to His great purpose in the final happiness of the

human race , and in the manifestation of His own glory . But if it fell within the compass of probability that the overthrow of these great empires could have been foreseen by an astute politician ,

looking narrowly into the foundation on which they respectively stood , and the principles at work within them , as well as into the character of their external relations , how , 1 would ask these

wise critics , can they account for the predictions which pourtray the condition of the empires in all time to come ? We live in the year A . D . 1872 . Ezekiel prophecied of Egypt about 590 JI . C . —

that is about 2 , 500 years ago—that it should be laid waste and desolate , from tho tower of Syene even to the border of Ethiopia—that her cities should be laid v / a-le—that she should become a

base kingdom , even the basest of kingdoms—that she should no more have a piA . re of her own to sway the sceptre . How should all this have been foreseen , if even the overthrow of its great

power could have been r Its geographical position , its great resources , and its large civilised and ingenious population combined to render such fcveuis as those foretold , in the highest degree

improbable . Nevertheless , as we now see , they have all literally come to pass . The greater part of the country remains desolate and waste , her magnificent cities are no more , and the few of her ancient inhabitants who remain are the most

degraded or basest of the land , the slaves of the Moslem slaves who rule . In like manner , the prophecies relating to Assyria and Babylon have been literally fulfilled , though their present

condition could never have been foreseen by the most astute and penetrating politician or philosopher , looking through thc vista of 2 , 500 years . The man , who after due deliberation , and having a fair

knowledge of facts , can bring himself to believe they could have done so , must possess a strangely formed mind , or his predilections and prejudices must hold his judgment in a fearful state of thraldom .

But we have now to take a glance at the prophetic intimations upon record , touching thc destiny of ths once great empire of Assyria . •The . very slight sketch I have given of the

Assyrian empire is sufficient to show that it was one of great extent , and of mighty power . Its capital , Nineveh , was one of the wonders of the world . Strabo intimates that the city was much

larger than Baby lon . According to Diodorus , it was of an oblong shape , of more than 54 miles in circuit ; 1 , 500 towers , each 200 feet in height , crowned its walls , and rendered its defence so

strong that it was deemed impregnable . ihe walk themselves were 100 feet high , and so broad that three chariots might have been driven abreast upon them . The prophets have reference

to its magnificence and vaunted security , when they speak of it as " the famed place , " and " the stronghold" •and also as " the rejoicing city , that sat in security , with its silver and gold ,

its carved lintels and cedar-wood , its pleasant furniture , and its valiant men and chariots . " It would appear that the population of the famed city bore no proportion to its magnitude . In the

time of Jonah , about 860 H . < . ; ., there appears to have been six score thousand young children amongst the inhabitants . Suppose these to have been of the age of three vears and under , this

would give , according to the usual rate of calculation , about 600 , 000 souls for the entire population , which wc may increase to 700 , 000 , as the

number of those that " could not discern between their rig ht hand and their left hand " is said to have somewhat exceeded the number specified .

This leads to the conclusion , that the dwellings were far from being in that close proximity which is the rule in modern cities ; but that they were apart from each other , with , probably ,

ample and magnificent gardens attached ; which idea seems to be favoured by the present aspect of the site , in which the great mounds of Nimrod , Kouyujik , Karamles , and Khorsabad , represent

some principal centres . About 1 20 years after this , the prophet Isaiah writes of the Assyrian as boasting of his extensive conquests and wide possessions , and vaunting his princes as being

altogether king : ; ( Isaiah x . ) . Ihit the prophet declares that because of his pride and his arrogance , and the cruelties he had inflicted 011 other people , the Assyrian should , be punished , and the

glorv ofhis hig h looks be brought low ( verse 12 ) . But tire prophecies relating to Xine \ ch invA . e its utter am ! perpetual desolation ; not eA ie overthrow as a mighty empire , but its utter

extinction . Let us look at two or three of these Divine utterances of judgment r— " He will stretch out his hand against the north , and destroy Assyria : and will make Nineveh a desolation

and dry like a wilderness . Flocks shall lie down in the midst of her , and all the beasts of the nations , both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it : desolation

shall be in the thresholds ; for He shall uncover the cedar , work . This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly ; that said in her heart , I am , and there is none beside me : how is she become a

desolation , a place for beasts to lie down in . " ( Zeph . ii . 13 , 15 ) . This prophecy was uttered about the year 11 . c . 630 •and although the empire was at that time threatened b y both the Medes and

the Babylonians , it was still a mighty empire ; and was not conquered until some years afterwards , when Nabopolasser , the first ofthe eighth ( Chaldean ) dynasty of Berosus , acceded to the

throne , according to many eminent authorities , about B . C . 606 . The districts ofthe upper and middle Tigris , however , fell to the share of the Medes , Babylon being enlarged by a union with

Susiana , and that part of the Assyrian empire which lay along the west of the Euphrates . Assyria , after this conquest and division , seemed no more likel y to fulfil in her condition the terms of

Zephaniah ' s prophecy , above quoted , than she did when she was revelling in the might of her power and pride . Why , merely because she changed masters , should Nineveh become a desolation , a

place for beasts to he down in , for the cormorant and the bittern to lodge in the upper lintels of her magnificent dwellings ? But other prophets gave - utterance to the like judgments . Thus ,

Nahum , more than a hundred years before the fall of the empire , declared that "the bloody city full of lies and robbery , " " thc mistress of witchcrafts , that selleth nations through her

whoredoms , and families through her witchcrafts , should be stripped naked , that the kingdoms should see her shame , that abominable , filth should be cast upon her , that she should be made vile ,

and should be set as a gazing stock , so that all they who looked upon her should flee from her , and say ' *' Nineveh is laid waste" ( See Nahum i ., 8—10 , 14 : ii ., 6—10 ¦ iii ., , ]—8 15—19 ) .

But , unlikely as all this was , when the prophecies were uttered , and for many years afterwards it has come , to pass , and we , read in the present condition of thc country their literal

fulfilment . So long ago as the days of Herodotus , about 440 B . c , we learn from that historian that though the memory of the fame of Nineveh was living , no vestige was to be met with ofthe

once proud city . And Xenophon , who passed over its site , does not eren mention its name ; but speaks of only two cities which he describes

as tieserted , being Larissar and Mespila , con jecturally identified b y Mr . Layard with Nim roiid ancl Kouyimjik .

But , striking as the prophecies we have quoted are , and literally as they are fulfilled in the present condition of Assyria , they are not the most striking as to parA'ilarity , and the

incident of the taking of the great city . The prophot Nahum , whose book abounds with predie' .: * ns touching the fate of Nineveh , describes the e .-. act inerrns by which it should be brought about as well as the precise circumstances that should