Freemasonry & Israelitism.

Hosea , " The ten tribes inhabit , at this day , the cities and mountains of theMedes . " But it is not only in the Book of Kings , and in Josephus and Jerome , that we thus read of the deportation of the ten tribes , as

of the deportation of the whole kingdom . Jeremiah thus describes the desolating character of the predicted judgment that was coming upon Judah : "And I will cast you out of my sight , as I have cast out all

your brethren ; even the whole seed of Ephraini" ( Jer . vii . 15 ) . I might refer to other passages in the historical books , in confirmation of the total extinction of the nation , by the deportation of the people ,

but it is not necessary to do so . Ihe passages I have quoted are so free from ambiguity , and seem so plainly to set forth the total deportation of Israel , that no one who takes his stand on the Bible , and gives to

language its proper force and meaning , can resist , as it appears to me , the conclusion I have suggested . The difficulty which presents itself in the way of this theory is

" the transportation of such an immense body of people , with all their impedimenta , a distance of from 800 to 1000 miles . " But what shall be said of the invasions of

Egypt by Cambyses and Xerxes ? I cannot help thinking , however , that the numbers of Israel assumed to have been carried away at the final overthrow of the kingdom have been greatly over-estimated .

A reference is made to the number of men slain , and of women and children taken captive , by Pekah , king of Israel , in a war with Ahaz , king of Judah , only a few years before the captivity . But that furnishes no

reliable data , I think , for estimating the numerical strength of the kingdom of Israel . When we call to mind the facts , that for the

long space of 200 years , or more , thc kingdom had been incessantly involved in internal and external feuds and wars , in some of which famine added numerous victims

to those of tne sword , Samaria having been once reduced to so dire a condition that women were , as in the subsequent siege of Jerusalem , reduced to the almost inconceivable condition of eating their own

children ; and that it had been , during all that time , in a condition of growing degeneracy , the people becoming more and more effeminate ; and not only thus , therefore , reduced in number by wars , insurrections

and deterioration of character , but by the sacrificing of their young children , which they evidently did , in large numbers , in their idolatrous rites , wc can hardly avoid thc conclusion , that the number of the slain

and captives of Judah which are stated to have fallen and been led away by Pekah , requires some correction . Nor is this a solitary instance in which such correction seems called for . There arc several passages

111 which errors in numbers present themselves in our present text . Thus , 50 , 070 persons are said to have been smitten by thc Lord in the small town of Bcthshemesh ( 1 Sam . vii . 19 ) , because they hacl profanely

looked into the ark of the Lord ; a thing , one might say , impossible to have been done by so large a number , in so short a space of time , even if they were to bc found in the place . In the book of Judges ( xii . 6 ) wc

i * ead , that 42 , 000 men of Ephraim were slain by thc Gilcadites ; and ( 1 Sam . xiii . 5 . ) that the Philistines had 30 , 000 chariots of War ; and so , in this narrative of the wars between Israel ancl Judah , Pekah is said to

have slain , in one day , 120 , 000 valiant men of Judah , and to have taken prisoners 200 , 000 Women and children ( 2 Chron . xxviii . 6-8 ) . Surely , we need not hesitate to say that each of these several numbers is incredible , as are others that might be referred to . But

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

this is only what might be expected , if the Hebrew numerals were employed , the similarity of some of them being so great that nothing is more likely than that transcribers should , occasionally , have fallen into error ,

by substituting one for another . But the fact is , that we do not know what mode of notation was employed by the Israelites , or other Oriental peoples . Nothing , in truth , is more perplexing than this question of

numbers , in both sacred and profane history . In my large edition of Calmet ' s Dictionary , I have dealt with the subject at some length , availing myself of the very ingenious investigations and conjectures of Charles Taylor

as advanced and elaborately illustrated in his " Fragments . " But whatever the numbers of Israel in the time of Ahaz were , it appears to me almost beyond reasonable doubt that they were comparatively few in

the reign of Hoshea , when Samaria was taken , and the remainder of the people carried away . Tlie country had been so far over-run and desolated by Pul and Tiglath-Pilezer , and so much further depopulated

by internal wars and the calamities attendant upon such occurrences—a considerable portion of the people , too , having been already transported to Assyria , while many others probably took refuge in the cities of

Judah , and many more had taken their departure for more distant places—that , when , in the first year of the good Hezekiah ' s reign , he had made preparations for celebrating a great passover , and sent

invitations to the Israelites to unite with Judah and Benjamin in the solemn festival , he did so in these words : "Turn again unto the Lord , and He will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hands of

the kings of Assyria" ( 2 Chronicles xxx . 6 ) . This , be it remembered , was before the final invasion of the land by Shalmanesci ; so that the " remnant" consisted of those who had survived the desolating

invasions of Pul and Tiglath-Pilezer , and other subsequent and unrecorded inroads . And it was this very " remnant" which , before the lapse of many years , was to' be

slain or carried captive by thc army which finally captured the kingdom of Samaria . Now , if before the invasion of Shalmanezer , and in thc first year of Hezekiah , the Israelites who had survived thc desolations and

captivities of Pul and Tiglath-Pilezer were regarded as a " remnant" only , thc scattered few who , in the sixth year of Hezekiah , survived the capture of Samaria , and the final overthrow of the kingdom of the ten

tribes , and who still remained in the land , were only the scanty remnant of that " remnant . " Precisely the same conclusion is to bc drawn from thc fact of heathen colonists having been sent into Samaria , by thc

Assyrians , instead of the children of Israel ( 2 Kings xvii . 24 ) , nor less from the fact , that , even after these foreigners were sent to colonise the land , it was so scantily peopled that wild beasts multiplied and slew many of them ( 2 Kings xvii . 25 ) .

But although I thus think that the number of people whom Shalmaneser found in Israel , at thc time he laid siege to Samaria —or , rather , whom Sargon , who appears to have finally taken it , found there—was not

so great as to have presented any insuperable difficulty in the carrying of them to Media , I do not , as I have already intimated , reject our anonymous Brother ' s conjecture , that , in addition to such of Israel

as remained in Judah on going up to celebrate Hezekiah ' s passover , and those who took refuge there on the approach of the army of Shalmaneser , others escaped by means of the ships of the Phoenicians , that people being involved in one common

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

ruin with the Israelites . Some of these , probably , as the Rev . F . Glover , conjectures , reached Ireland , and there settled down , giving birth to some of the ancient kings of that country . The whole subject is full

of interest , and it may be hoped that the . desire now being manifested to elucidate it will bring to light such facts as may place

beyond all reasonable doubt our Israelitish origin . I await , with pleasurable anticipation , the further communications of our Brother , as a valuable contribution towards it .

The Philosophy Of Freemasonry.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY .

CHAPTER FIRST .

LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITY . ( Continued front page 68 o 1 () Fraternity appeals at once to the sympathies of man . All men , as children of

the dust , are brothers ; brothers , whether born in the purple or hodden grey , subjects of the same ills that flesh is heir to , victims to the same vicissitudes of fortune . Disease

spares not the noble in his castle ; passes not the peasant in his humble cot . Nature confers her gifts to no particular section of society . Her brightest children have

sprung from the ranks of the people . In fact , all great leaders of the world , all initiators of new thoughts , have no noble origin to boast of . When flatterers thought ,

by a pretended noble pedigree , to win . the favour of the great Napoleon , he simply laughed at their folly , and while honours were conferred on the whilome

almostforgotten holy Napoleon , he remarked that the order of things had been reversed , and that thc sinner had benefited the saint . Watt , Newton , and Stephenson were of the

people . Nelson was no noble . Tell could boast of no blazoning . Among the ancient nations we find the same law in force . Mahomet founded a new religion by the

sole power of his native genius , and empires were called into existence by men whose origin was obscure and common-place . So despotic is nature , that we seldom see a

clever son succeed a clever father , and seldom that two of the same family rise to eminence . There are exceptions to this , as to every other rule ; but these exceptions

only prove it . The brotherhood of mankind lias been universally accepted , and societieshavebeen formed wherein the sacred

name has been consecrated , Even among the savage nations , brother is a word of honour bestowed upon the stranger , a symbol of a wide-spread relationship and of a

common origin . In Freemasonry , the word has a sacred and peculiar meaning . A participant in the mysteries is taken from thc profane ,

and becomes one of the elect . He becomes to us of a nearer and dearer tie . Our interests are bound up in his . His fortunes and misfortunes become ours . We mourn

with him in his sorrows , and rejoice with him in his joys . Our ears arc open to the voice of his supplications , our hearts melt at his tale of sorrow , and our hands open to