Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Aids to Study 575 The Orders of the Temple and Hospital 575 Hints to a Masonic Student 577 Reviews 579

OBITUAnY !—Bro , R . W . Widdowson 579 Grand Mark Lodge 5 80 CRAFT MASONRY ; . — Provincial , , 5 S 1

ROYAL ARCH : — Provincial 5 S 1 MARK MASONRY : — Provincial 581 Presentation of the Lady Leigh Lifeboat 582

CORRESPONDENCE : — Masons at Public Meetings 515 Masonry in the Scots Greys 5 S 5 The Ballot for W . M S S ;

Scotland 5 S 5 Poetry 586 Masonic Tidings 5 86 Masonic Meetings for next week 5 S 6 Advertisements 573 , 574 , 3 87 , 588

Aids To Study.

AIDS TO STUDY .

Bv BRO . WM . CARPENTER , P . M . and P . Z ., 177 . XIII . The slight sketch of the history of Assyria , as it is to be gathered from the pages of sacred and profane history , given in preceding papers , may suggest to the young student , who has time and

opportunity , that in the history of the early eastern empires , as they have been presented by several modern writers , there is a vast fund of useful and interesting matter ; and that though

that history is , in many respects , imperfect and uncertain , it is sufficiently full , and minute to enable us to see something of God ' s providence in His dealinsr with nations , which He so

evidentl y uses as instruments in carrying on and developing His great and beneficent purposes towards the human race . One generation passes

away , and another follows ; the earlier preparing the way for the later , which inherits the results of such discoveries in art and science as have

been already made , and such means and appliances for pushing investigation still further , as enable men in successive ages to attain to higher grades of knowledge and civilisation than those

possessed in the twilight of history . As with men , so with nations , which are but aggregates of men , united together by some social compact , or held together by some despotic power . In

early times the latter was in most cases the governing power ; and as its foundation was necessarily narrow , and it had no hold on the

affection and respect of the ruled subjects , it was destined , sooner or latter , to be swept away , and give place to a state of things of an advanced and improved condition .

We have seen to what an extent the empire of Assyria dominated in the time of Esar-Haddon ; and have noticed Ezekiel ' s symbolical description of it , as a cedar in Lebanon , under

whose shadow all the nations of the earth were gathered . But its fall was certain . There was no organised administration , held together by the central power . It was even liable to a sudden

collapse . To quote Mr . Philip Smith , " Its conquests were mere raids , attended by slaughter , plunder , and the imposition of tribute ; and followed by no attempt to unite the conquered

Aids To Study.

provinces with the central power , or to gain the goodwill of the subject population . The empire had no internal cohesion ; and each

successive king had to master it anew b y his own exploits . The first attempt to lead a quiet life at home , would give the signal for a general revolt . From all that we can ffather of the

condition of Babylon , that kingdom stood up beside Assyria , ready to seize the abandoned empire ; or , at least , to resume its independence . " ( Ancient History of the East , p . 264 ) .

Babylon , though comparatively insignificant , during the growth of the new Assyrian empire , had its own monarchs , with whom the Assyrians frequently carried on war . The era

of Nabonassar , B . C . 77 , seems to mark a political change , but what it was is quite uncertain . One ot his successors , Mardoc-empadus , is , no doubt , the Merodach-baladan of Scripture , who sent ambassadors to Hezekiah . He was

expelled from his throne by Sargon , and a second time by Sennacherib , who appointed Belibus as his viceroy , from B . C . 702 , to B . C , 6 99 ; and afterwards , Assher-nadin , from B . C . 6 99 , to B . C .

6 93 . Esar-Haddon , the Assyrian monarch , assumed the crown of Baby lon himself , and held his court there , occasionally ; but he appears , in the latter part of his reign to have appointed a viceroy ,

Saosduchinus , ( from B . C . 66 j , to B . C . 647 ) who was succeeded by Ciniladanus , B . C . 6 47-625 . Nabopolassar was the last of these viceroys , or subject kings , and he aided Cyaxares in the

overthrow of Nineveh , and established himself on the throne of Babylon , which he occupied from B . C . 625 to B . C . 604 . The Babylonian territory under him consisted of the valley of the

Eup hrates as high as Carchemish , Syria , Phoenicia , Palestine , and probably a part of Egypt . He carried on war in conjunction with the Medes against the Lydians , and afterwards against the

Egyptians , who aided the Lydians . His son Nebuchadnezzar gave the Egyptian king Necho , a total defeat at Carchemish . Nebuchadnezzar , B . C . 604-561 , was equally distinguished for his

martial achievements and for the gigantic works which he executed in his country , and particularly at Babylon . He reduced Tyre , after a siege of thirteen years , sacked Jerusalem and carried

off its inhabitants , and invaded Egypt . There is little to record of his successors , Evil-merodach , Neriglissar , and Laborosoarchod . Nabonadius commenced his reign just as Cyrus was entering

upon his Lydian war ; he entered into alliance with Croesus , and fortiiied his own territories against the Medes . Cyrus commenced his invasion of Babylonia B . C . 540 , and having defeated

the enemy in the open field , he laid siege to Babylon , which was then under the care of Bil-sharuzun , the Belshazzar of ' the Bible ; and entering

by the dry bed of the Euphrates , he captured the city , and henceforth Babylonia formed a portion of the Persian empire ( Bevan ' s Ancient Geography , p . 215 ) ,

Thus fell these two great monarchies , to make way for the third , and their fall had been clearly and minutely depicted long before the events , by

the Hebrew prophets , whose countries had often been invaded and brought into subjection by them , by whom , also , Judah and Israel were ultimately , destroyed .

Notes On The " United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."

NOTES ON THE " UNITED ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL . "

A Lecture delivered before the Fratres of the Pru deuce Encampment of Masonic Kni ghts Tern plar , at Ipswich , on the 31 st July , 1872 .

BY EMRA HOLMES , 31 , Eminent Commander of the Encampment , Grand Provost of England , Provincial Grand Banner Bearer of the Royaf Order of Scotland , & c .

( Continued from page 5 62 . J Touching the Swedish system already alluded to , Findel , of course , attaches no value to the document which I have introduced to the notice of the readers of the Freemason .

But then it is difficult to discover to what part of our history he does attach any value . He says , for instance , in speaking of the Grand Lodge of Germany , * " The legend of the Order

of the Grand Lodge follows the error of most of the Masonic systems which arose about that period , from 17 . 35 to 1770 , viz ., that the origin of genuine Masonry is to be found not in England ,

but in Scotland , without taking into consideration that this hypothesis is disputed by the Grand Lodge of Scotland herself , and has no reliable authority upon which to rest , it is completely

refuted , as may be seen by anyone who will take the trouble to study the accredited history of Freemasonry in England and Scotland . " Here , however , I must join issue with Bro .

Findel , and state my belief that the attentive and unbiassed student will come to directl y opposite conclusions to our author , as it certainly must be admitted on all hands that the Scotch lodges

have charters , many of them of a date long anterior to anything in England . But then , in his work , Findel speaks of the Henry VII . MS ., copied by Locke from

Leland , as a spurious document ;—Mother Kilwinning and her claims are utterly repudiated ; the Hereditary Grand Mastership of the Rosslyn family is , in his eyes , a cunningly devised fable :

and Masons Marks are all . moonshine . He says ( an ori g inal idea , indeed , and worthy of the author ) " the so-called Masons Marks are not

thing but biting caricatures introduced into their ( the Masons' ) buildings , in which they intended to express the tyrrany of the Romish Church , and the immoral lives of the priests . "}

I now proceed to show the various sources from whence our modern Knights Templar are derived , the various channels through which the great stream of chivalry has flowed down to

modern times . These are the Swedish system of Templars already alluded to , and that of Zinnendorf and Baron Von Hunde , of whose Rite of Strict

Observance I shall have occasion to write , —the Scotch Templars , the English Immemorial En . campments , from wdience the American Order derives , and the Ordrc du Temple of France .

I am full y aware that the whole of these traditions anent the Templars have been repudiated by some sceptical brethren , who want historic proof for every statement brought forward in

support of the pretensions of the present Order of the Temple , and its claims to be considered a legitimate descendant of the orig inal Order . But I am also aware that the majority of the brethren who dispute the validity of our descent and the