Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

. PAGES ROYAL ARK MASONRY 514 FREEMASONRY AND ISRAELITISM ... 515 & 516 FREEMASONRY AND J UDAISM 516 & 517

"ANTAGONISM" IN THE HIGH DEGREES 517 & 51 S REVIEWSThe Kingston Masonic Annual , 1871 518 THE

CRAFTProvincial 519 ROYAL ARCH — Metropolitan 519 MARK

MASONRYMetropolitan 519 MASONIC CRICKET MATCH 519 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 520 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 520 A MASONIC LITERARY INSTITUTE ... 520 & 521 MULTUM IN PARVO 521 THE GRAND LODGES OF CANADA AND Q UEBEC ... 521 TEA AND ITS PROPERTIES 521 ORIGINAL

CORRESPONDENCEBoys School Fete 522 Committee of Inquiry 522 The Mark Degree 522 & 523 Subordination in the Higher Degrees 523 The Abuse of Masonic Charity—Book

Canvassing 523 THE MARQUIS OF RIPON AT HOME 523 CONSECRATION OF A NEW LODGE AT WIMBLEDON 523 FOREIGN MASONIC

INTELLIGENCEDistrict Grand Lodge of Egypt 524 Cape of Good Hope 524 & 525 POETRYMasonic Songs to Popular Airs 525

The Wrestle 525 THE PLAIN OF PHILISTIA 525

SCOTLANDGlasgow 526 THEATRICAL 526 MASONIC MEETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 526 ADVERTISEMENTS 513 , 514 , 526 , 527 , & 52 S

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

FREEMASONRY & ISRAELITISM .

BY BRO . WILLIAM CARPENTER , P . M . & P . Z . 177 . XIII . The more closely we lookinto the Old

Testament scriptures , the more clearly shall we perceive the distinction that is made between

Judah and Israel ; that is , between the tribes which , in the course of time , constituted the kingdom of Judah and the tribes which constituted tlie kingdom of Irael .

It was not always that the prophets understood the prophecies which they uttered or wrote under tlie Divine afflatus . They were the oracles through which God spake ;

and though they sometimes inquired and searched diligently what or what manner of time the spirit which was in them did signify , they did not always attain the

knowledge which they sought . It was not necessary that they should . Indeed , there were reasons why they should not ; one of those reasons being , that , to have made

known the precise meaning of some of the prophecies before the time of their fulfilment , would have been to cause the interference or interposition of man , sometimes in . order

to prevent their fulfilment , and sometimes to bring the fulfilment about by other means and in other ways than those comporting with the Divine purpose ; and thus to have thwarted , so to speak , the orderly

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

working of God ' s providence , and in this way to have entailed evil upon the human race . With the Divine Being there is nothing future , as there is nothing past .

He sees the end from the beginning . With him there is one eternal NOW . It may be well to bear these suggestions in mind , in examining the prophetic Scriptures .

In the blessing which the dying Jacob pronounced upon his children and two of his grandchildren—the heads of the tribes which afterwards bore their names—there is a reference to something of the past in

relation to most of them , and there is a foretelling of something of the future . It may be that Jacob was unable to attacli any precise meaning to some of the words he uttered in the course of this Divine

blessing ; but He who inspired him foresaw all , and had ordered and made all sure . It will be remembered , that previous to the prophetic blessing on the collected family assembled around the dying patriarch , he

had pronounced a particular and special blessing on the two sons of Joseph , Ephraim and Manasseh , giving to Ephraim , the younger , the blessing which was the birthright of Manasseh , the elder , at the

same time adopting them both , so that they were to be as much accounted his sons as Reuben and Simeon , his own two eldest , were . Hence , they became patriarchs—heads of tribes ; and they were ,

accordingly , included in the prophetic blessing on the tribal stems , and their children shared equally with those of the other patriarchs in the division of the land by Joshua . Now , in this prophetic blessing the distinction I have referred to will be

clearly perceived by any one who reads it attentively . The birthright belonged to Reuben , but it was taken from him and distributed among three of his brethren ; the priesthood was given to Levi , the

kingship to Judah , and the double portiongreat increase—to Joseph ; that is , to Ephraim , for he was now the representative , and as the firstborn , of Joseph . And this double portion , or extraordinary increase

is clearly indicated in the amplitude of the possessions which Ephraim was to inherit : " Joseph is a fruitful bough , whose branches run over the wall" — that is , extend themselves far beyond the ordinary limits

—which was partly fulfilled even before the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh took possession of their inheritance , for Joshua ( xvii . 17 ) tells the sons of Joseph that they were a great people , and had great

power . But it was more largely fulfilled afterwards , as it is being fulfilled at the present time , when their descendants are sending forth branches into every part of the world , as it was said by the patriarch

they should do so : "Through the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob . through the name ofthe Shepherd , the . rock of Israel , even by the God of thy father , who shall help thee ; and by the Almighty , who shall bless thee ,

may the blessings of the heavens from above , the blessings lying in the deep beneath , the blessings of the breasts and of the womb , the blessings of thy father and thy mother ,

with the blessings of the eternal mountains unto the utmost bound of the everlasting h lis . rest on the head of Joseph , and the crown of the chief among his brethren " ( Gen . ? ilix . 22-26 ) . Such is the amplitude

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

of this blessing that it seems to have no bounds . It is to extend as far as " the everlasting hills . " Such , and nothing narrower , is to be the extent of his habitation ; and it was to comprise , in addition , the

blessings lying in " the deep beneath . " So that land and sea were to be possessed by the first-born of Joseph , " whose bow abode in strength , and the arms of whose hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty

God of Jacob . " Such , was the amplitude of the blessing , that the patriarch seemed as if unable to give an idea of it in few and plain words . He heaps metaphor on metaphor , raising a column of strength and

beauty which astonishes and delights the reader . The multiplicity of the descendants of these tribes had been previously alluded to , in the blessing which Jacob pronounced upon them when Joseph placed

his two sons before his father : " And he blessed Joseph and said , God , before whom my fathers , Abraham and Isaac , did walk ; the God which fed me all my life long unto this day ; the angel which ]

redeemed me from all evil , bless the lads and let my name be named on them , and the name of my fathers , Abraham and Isaac : and let them grow into a multitude , in the midst of the earth " ( Gen . xlviii . 15 ,

16 ) . The same thing is repeated in verse 19 : " He ( Manasseh ) , also , shall be a people , and he , also , shall be great ; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he ; and his seed shall become a multitude of

nations . " Amongst the tribes , as we have seen , these children of Joseph were distinguished for their numbers and their strength ; and it was the struggle for preeminence , on the part of Ephraim , which

led to the schism in the tribes , and the establishment of the two kingdoms , Ephraim being TO powerful as to give his name to the seceding ten tribes ; "Ephraim " being often used as synonymous with

" Israel . " But the extraordinary multiplication of the descendants of Jacob , as foretold in his paternal blessing , was in strict harmony with the many promises made to his ancestors , Abraham and Isaac . When

Abraham—looking at his accumulated wealth , and deploring , as Orientals are wont to deplore , the lack of children , complained that he had not a son of his own , so that the steward of his household would

become his heir—the Lord replied ( Gen . xv 4 . 5)— "This shall not be thine heir ; but he that shall come forth out of thy bowels shall be thine heir . And He brought him forth abroad , and said , Look now toward

heaven , and tell the stars , if thou be able to number them : and He said unto him , So shall thy seed be . " And in two subsequent promises he was assured that he should be exceedingly fruitful , the father

of many nations , and that kings should come out of him ; and it was again repeated , with additions , " I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore : and thy seed

shall possess the gate of his enemies : and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" ( Gen . xvii . 3-6 ; xxii . 16--18 ) . The promise was repeated to Isaac , with a reference to the original promise made to

his father : " And I will perform to thee what I swore to Abraham , thy father ; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven ; and will give to thy seed all these countries ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed "

( ch . xxvi . 2-4 ) . The promise was confirmed to Jacob , when in his vision , at Bethel , he saw the intercourse carried on between heaven and earth , " the angels of God ascending and descending ; " and th ;