Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Aids to Study 623 Grand Lodgeof Mark Masters 624 Consecration of a New Lodge at Ormskirk 625 Consecration of a New at Lodge , Sevenoaks 626 'The Grand Orient of France and the Supreme Council 62 7 Lodgeof Emulation and its History 628 C RAFT M ASONRY : —

Metropolitan 62 S Provincial 629 H OYAI . ARCH : — Provincial G 30 Scotland G 30 M ARK M ASONRY : —

Provincial 631 K NIGHTS TEMPLAR : Provincial J 631 Scotland 031 IJnn CROSS OF CONSTANTINE : — Provincial ( 132

C ORRESPONDENCE : — The Secretaryship of thc Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 632 Bro . Perkins , Sheriff of London 632 Masonic Meetings for next week 632 Advertisements C > 2 i , 623 , (( 33 , 6 34 , 6 35 , 63 C

Aids To Study.

AIDS TO STUDY .

Bv . BRO . WILLIAM CARPENTER . XIV . It will have been noticed by those who have read what I have written , in outline , of Egypt , Assyria , and Babylon , that the Old Testament

writings have furnished much of the materials towards it . In point of fact , the continuous histories of those countries , and their relations to others , must be obtained from that source ,

although the recently discovered remains of the three , fit in with , or corroborate , these biblical annals . As Sir Isaac Newton , as I have already noted , avers , in his judgment * the Bible contains the only reliable or

authentic history of these early ages . There is , therefore , no doubt ofthe fact , that thc Hebrew history , and some parts of the Hebre w Prophets , are most precious documents . These

writings , however , do not purport to give us t he history of nations or empires , further than as they were connected with or had some special relation to the history ofthe chosen people . But so far '

at least , the sacred writings are to be regarded as most precious memoirs of the history of the ancient world . And this thing is to be noted , namely , that no discover ) ' has been made amongst the lonir buried monuments and ruins of

Egypt , Assyria , or Babylon , that offers a contradiction to the Hebrew Annals . On the contrary , they have been thereby abundantly verified ,

and , in some particulars , those discoveries are only to be full y understood by a reference to the facts and circumstances these annals record .

But the sacred writings go far beyond that which I have assigned to them , for there we find not only recorded history , but prophetic forewarnings , precise and detailed in their

particulars , of some of the great events which came to pass , hundreds of years subsequently . The downfall and destruction , and final extinction of Egypt , Assyria , and Babylon , are there distinctly and

impressively written upon the prophetic scroll 3 and we may read there , the state and condition of those countries at the present day . Let us glance at some of these striking proofs of the

Divine Prescience , and not less of the Divine Government of the world . First , look at Egypt . This was , at one time

the mi ghtiest kingdom in the ancient world - which is to be partly accounted for from its position . Situated mid-way between the continents o

Asia and Africa , it was the gale , as it were , through which all intercourse between those two countries was carried on . With the Mediterranean on one side , and the Red Sea on the other

it held easy communication with the southern peninsulas of Europe , and with the coasts of India ; and was , even in early times , the link to connect the west with the east . With a fer

tile soil and a salubrious climate , it was capable of supporting an immense population , which was supplied with the material wealth and comfort that are conducive to civilisation . Heretlotus

states the number of its towns at 20 , 000 j and in the Thebrais , the most southerly division , some of the towns were not only magnificent , but attained to the highest importance . Thebes

( the No Amnion ofthe . Bible ) was the metropolis of Upper Egypt , and the seat of the most magnificent temples and palaces . Coptos was thc entrepot of Indian commerce .

Egypt changed masters many times , and its history has been divided into four periods : ( 1 ) the Pharaonic down to 525 B . C ., and which included the monarchy , or monarchies of

the early kings , but about which there is much doubt and uncertainty ; and the Hyksos Kings , a nomadic horde of Canaaniles which expelled the former dynasty , made their capital , Memphis ( the

Xoph ofthe Bible ) , the Pantheon of Egypt , possessing temples of Isis , Proteus , Apis . Senapis , the sun , the Cabeiri ; and particularly of Pthah , or Hephaestus ; and the dynasties known as the

1 Sth to the 30 th , which , having expelled the Hyksos , or Shepherd Kings , carried their expeditions over the whole of western Asia , and southwards into Soudan , and amassed vast

treasures , which were expended on public works , including the rock temples of Aboo-simbel , as well as of Nepata , Tanis , Thebes , and Memphis . The twenty-fifth dynasty consisted of Ethiopians ,

always closely connected with Egypt , the second of whom was the . So , with whom Hoshea , King of Israel , made a treaty ( 2 Kings , xvii , 4 ) , in whose reign Egypt came into collision with

Assyria . Psammeintus , who came to the throne just as Cambyses was advancing on his country , was defeatedat Pelusium , and afterwards besieged and captured at Memphis ; and from that time

( B . I :. 525 ) Egypt formed an integral part ofthe Persian Empire . ( 2 ) The Persian era extended from tho year 521 ; to the year 3 . 3 2 B . C ., and numbers eight

kings , who were Satraps of the Persian empire . One of these reigned over the whole land , and his sarcophagus is preserved in the British Museum . ( 3 ) The Hellenic era was commenced with the

conquest of Egypt , by Alexander thc Great , n . c . 332 ; and on the dissolution ofthe Macedonian empire , it fell into the hands of Ptolemy Soter , the founder of the dynasty of the Lagidce , who

were engaged 111 frequent wars with the kings of Syria , and conquered Phoenicia and Cocle-Syria . Tlie disputes and insurrections that prevailed , opened the door for the interference of the

Romans , and the last of the Auletes was restored to his throne by Agabinius , proconsul of Syria . In 3 the reign of his successors , Ptolemy and

Cleopatra , the Alexandrian war arose , in which Caesar took tlie part of Cleopatra , and Ptolemy perished , A . D . 47 . Thenceforth , Cleopatra reigned , in conjunction with another brother ,

and her eventful lift was terminated by her own hand , in A . D . 30 , and the dynasty ofthe two Ptolemies ended . During this era , however , the ' internal

condition of Egypt was prosperous . Commerce was ; fostered , not only b y the foundation ol ' Alexandria , but subsequentl y by the opening of the Indian trade , through the Red Sea , by

Philadelphus 5 literature flourished greatly at Alexandria , where the Hebrew Scriptures were translated intoTrreek ; the old Egyptian edifices came in for a share of royal patronage , and many of

the temples were either restored or enlarged . ( 4 ) . The Roman era extended from is . c . 30 , to A . D . 5 40 , and for a long period the country enjoyed peace and prosperity . From 269 ,

howover , troublesome times set m , and in A . D . 6 40 it was conquered by Aniron , . the general of the Cali ph Omar ; and it has ever since been under the dominion ofthe Moslem stranger .

As Dr . Keith observes , the previous experience of 2000 years , during which Egypt had never been without a prince of its own , seemed to preclude the possibility of its subsequent

overthrow and slavery . It had often tyrannised over Judea , and the neighbouring nations ; and had more than once encouraged the Jews to rebel against the other two great

empires , and then deceived them in their reliance on its aid , and the Prophets again and again foretold its downfall , and declared that that country of

kings would be reduced to a condition in which it would never have a prince of its own , would be laid waste by the hands of strangers , and become thc basest of nations . Under the bold

image ol a lion and a crocodile , that had committed awful devastation among the nations , bur which had been taken and slain , the Prophet Ezekicl strikingly exhibits the prowess and

downfall of the monarch and kingdom of the Nile : " Thou art like a young lion of the nations , and as a sea-monster in the seas ; and thou didst break forth in thy rivers , and puddle the waters

with thy feet , and befoul thy rivers . Thus , saith the Lord Jehovah , " I will spread my net over thee , Mil the collection of many peoples * 3 and they shall draw thee up in my

net ; and I will dash thee on the ground , and cast thee headlong in the open field 5 and will make all the fowls of Heaven to settle upon thee 5 and I will satiate the wild beasts of the

whole earth with thee And in extinguishing thee , I will cover the Heavens and make the stars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun with a cloud , and the moon shall not give

her lig ht . All the shining lights of the Heavens I will clothe with darkness on thy account , and make it dark over thy land , "; , saith the Lord Jehovah ( Ezek . xxxii , 2 , 8 ) .

The boldness of the figures , and the terrible character of the symbols , vividly pourtray the utter overthrow of the government and kingdom , and the desolation that was to follow . Many

other prophecies , placed upon record when no such extraordinary change in the fortunes and condition of the country could have been imagined , might be quoted , as " J will lay the land waste , and all that is therein , by the kands of