Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

Freemasonry and Israelitism 179 General Grand Conclave of Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine 181 Presentation of Testimonial to Bro . J . Flynn , P . M . P . Z . 241 ; , Dublin 181

CORRESPONDENCE : Aids toStudy ,. 1 S 2 The Ancient and Accepted Rite 18 s Masonic Tidings—British , Colonial and Foreign j 8-j

Festival of Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 184 CRAFT MASONRY : — Metropolitan 186 Provincial ; 186 Instruction 187

RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE : — Metropolitan 187 ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED . RITE : — Gibraltar . 171 Consecration of the Birchall Loclsre of "Mark Masters ,

No . 143 , at Preston 18 c , Consecration of a Royal Arch Chapter at Watford ... 189 POETRY : — Brotherley Love , Relief , and Truth 18 9 Advertisements 177 , 178 , 190 , 191 , 192

Freemasonry And Israelitish;

FREEMASONRY AND ISRAELITISH ;

AN EPITOME OF BRO . CARPENTER ' ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT . BY "VV . E . N „ No . 7 C 6 . CConlimiedfrom Page 149 . J

No . VIL , July 8 th , 1 S 71— On the lirst deportation ofthe ten tribes by Tiglath Pileser , B . C . 739 , the people of Gilead , on the east of Jordan , were carried into Ashur , Halah , Habor , and Gozan .

The second deportation was by Shalmenezer , but his name does not appear in the biblical account of the siege of Samaria . Sir J . Newton , Major llennel , and other authorities consider that Halah

and Habor are the present Georgia and Circassia , east of the Black Sea , and Herodotus says the people of that country practised circumcision . The country of Gozan is said to be iu Upper

Media . Philo says the Jews were very numerous in thc East , under the Persians , and Josephus states that multitudes of the descendants of the ten tribes were in his time beyond the Euphrates .

In Isaiah mention is made of Sargon , King of Assyria . His existence was doubted until M , Botta discovered in 1845 , on the walls of a palace at Khorsabad , about ten miles from the site of

Nineveh , various tablets •and in the ruins , clay cylinders , on which are recorded Sargon ' s exp loits in Samaria . One of these inscriptions , evidently by Sargon himself , says " I besieged

and took Samaria and carried away 27 , 280 persons who dwelt in it . " . He subsequently took Ashdod , and thus had command of tlie maritime route to Egypt . Sargon , who is stated to have

sent into Samaria colonists from Babylon , Cutliah and Sepharvaim , died B . C . 7 ° 4 > and was succeeded by Sennacherib , who took all the fenced cities of Judah , in Hezekiah ' s time , but by thc

miraculous destruction of his army , was driven back to Nineveh . As regards the captive tribes between the Casp ian and Euxine , it was not theDivine will that they

should rest and settle down in the land of their captivity . They were to " wander from sea to sea . " They were to " run to and fro , " and to

be " as chaff before the wind , " and " as smoke out of the chimney . " They accordingly appear to have migrated to China , India , and other

Freemasonry And Israelitish;

countries , and even to North America . Customs and traditions seem to identify these people in these countries . Some of the people , who were sent to Media , returned to Judea , with Judah and

Benjamin , under Zerubbabcl ancl Ezra . The bulk of the Israelites remained together , but made their way westward along the north shore of the Black Sea , until they reached tho

Danube , Ibis is not a mere assumption ; as the prophecies of Jeremiah p lainly point northwards and westwards , as the direction of Israel ' s wanderings . ( See Jeremiah iii . 12 , xvi . 14 15

xxxi . 9 10 . ) All these texts agree with the position ancl wanderings of the captive tribes . The migration and settlements of a people may be traced by the monuments they leave behind

them , and the customs they carry with them . The Beni-Israel scattered over the country near Bombay profess to belong to the tribe of Reuben . Allatius considers that the inhabitants of Iberia

who practised circumcision , were of Israelitish descent . In the supposed track of Israel ' s migration are found monuments ( places of sepulture ) of Israelitish origin . The country north of

the region occupied by the Israelites , ancl now forming part of Russia , consists of vast plains , capable , when cultivated , of supporting multitudes . Dr . J . Clarke gives a description of the tumuli or

burying places near the sea of Azov . The Russian Archaeological Society has found in this region many Israelitish relics , such as epitaphs from tombs , dated " from the year of our exile , " no

doubt meaning the Assyrian captivity . Dr . Clarke describes the remains of a very large fortress , and the tumuli found in the vicinity . One was opened , ancl two chambers , constructed

in masonry , were discovered . In them was found a golden serpent with two heads , studded with rubies and other gems . Similar tombs are found near the Bosphorus . The Beni-Israel of

India have in their •secret chamber a silver serpent , before which they burn incense . The ten tribes were carried away from Canaan , before Iiezekiah destroyed Moses' brazen serpent , because " the Children of Israel burnt incense to

it . ' ( II . Kings , XVIH . 4 . ) The names of rivers along the shores of thc Euxine are of Israelitish origin , in memory of the Jordan * thus we have the Don , the Danez ,

the Danube , the Dnepler , the Dniester , Sec . No . V III . J uly 15 th , 1871 . —Israel pushing north and west , colonized lvoumania , Hungary , Poland , ancl Bohemia . Are the Getos found by Darius , B . C .

507 , or 215 years after the deportation of Israel by the Assyrians , identical with the Israelites ? As an evidence of this identity , we learn from Herodotus that these Getae believed in an immortal life , and

one supreme God . They deplored the loss of their sacred books , left to them , as they alleged , by Zamoxis ( Moses ) . We learn from Herodotus that the Getie were first found in Asia , east of

the Araxes , in the seventh ancl eighth centuries , B . C . Diodorus gives the same account of them ancl says that increasing in numbers , ancl extending their boundaries , they became a great nation ,

and subdued many people between the Caspian , and Lake Maeotis , and migrated westward . Strabo , Pliny , and Ptolemy , all speak of them , but

know nothing of their ori g in . Herodotus states that the Getae are sometimes called Scythians , who declared that their first king lived about 1000 years

Freemasonry And Israelitish;

before Darius ( 507 B . C . ) . This carries us back to the time of Moses , who in Dcut . xxxiii . 5 , is called " King in Jeshurun . " The authors above referred to , know very little about the Getaj , but

they all concur in finding them about the Araxes between the Caspian ancl Euxine , soon after the time when Israel was carried there ; and they describe them as afterwards becoming numerous

and pushing westward , as the ten tribes did . As regards the internal evidence ofthe identity of the Anglo-Saxon branch of the Getae , with the Israelites , there are but few remains of literature .

The oldest Anglo-Saxon composition is the Voluspa , a poem including a mixture of fact and fable , blending tradition of the creation with some traditions of Israel's history , the incursions

of the Huns from the north , and the ravages of the Romans . The English language is a mixture of many languages , ancient and modern , but the

heart of the language is Anglo-Saxon . Sharon Turner has found 247 Saxon words whicli are derived from the Hebrew or Arabic . The Saxon

names of persons are given after the Hebrew fashion , and all have some striking signification , The Saxons , or Goths , in their invasions , destroyed the ancient government ancl political

system of the Romans , but introduced systems which were superior . In Britain these efforts were most beneficial . The Saxon institutions insured the liberty of the people—they chose ten

representatives for tythings , or parishes , ten of whicli formed a " hundred . " By the "Mosaic institution the people were p laced under rulers of thousands , of

hundreds , of fifties , ancl of tens . The Saxon " county , " corresponded to the tribe in Israel . The Saxons also had the Israelitish division of the

da )* , whereas the other ancient eastern nations reckoned their day as we do ours now . The Saxons , in common with the Israelites , had their great festivals . Easter corresponding to the

Passover , Whitsuntide corresponding to Pentecost . The third was the Wittenageonot , or general gathering of all the males . So in Israel , all the males were to present themselves to the Lord three times

a year . The priesthood among the Saxons was confined to certain families , and descended from father to son , as in Israel , and the Saxon priests were supported by tythes or tenths , with the possession of certain lands .

No . IX , July 22 , 1871 . ' —The two proceeding papers refer to such general external and internal evidence as will identif y the ancient Geto , and their descendants , the Goths ,

Saxons , and Germans , with the Israelites . The evidence is furnished by the similarity of customs and institutions ; much weight is attached to the way marks of Israel ' s migration westward ; to be

found on the shores of the Black Sea and about the Danube . Two questions now arise—If the Getae are the ten tribes , how did the latter lose their nam * ¦ * , and why were they called the Getae ?

They most likely called themselves Get-e for some sufficient reason . In Hebrew , get means e wine press in which the grapes are trodden . Now in various texts in Isaiah , Hosea , auel Jeremiah ,

Israel is said to be "trodden as in a wine press . The people in the time of their distress and wandering may , iii penitence , have called themselves

" the down-troclclen ones . " Diodorus speaks of a Scythian people in the region of the Caucasus as the Massagetcc . Here we have Getae again ;