Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar01000
the scripture denominates them , " The Magicians of Egypt . " In fact , they were a school of astrologers or witches . It is of this order that Jannes and Jambres belonged to , whom St . Paul alludes to as having withstood Moses , and whose characters , as given by St . Paul , are not
fitting examples for Masons to follow . Passing over that portion of the Jewish history known as the prophetical dispensation , and ably alluded to by our Bro . Carpenter , we will take a running look at what is known as the connection ,
namely the closing of the Book of Malachi , and the advent of our Lord in the flesh , or the angelic prologue , sung to the shepherds while watching their flocks by night . It appears that the Almighty did with Israel
As we with torches do ; Not light them for themselves ;" but for the nations of the earth , that through them the curse of idolatry should be removed . And the Almighty promised them many and
great advantages , on the condition that they , as a nation , should remain faithful to the mission which he had charged them with . Our Bro . Carpenter has given us a succinct account of their occasional apostacies , and their dire punishments as the result . He has quoted largely from
the prophet Isaiah , who flourished during the reigns of Uzziah , Joatham , Ahaz , and Hezekiah . Three of these were princes who possessed finabove the average amount of kingly virtues and patriotism , and who received the approbation of Jehovah , through His prophet , for their munificent
and beneficial actions while on the throne of David . Ahaz proved the most corrupt monarch that the house of David had as yet produced . He respected neither the law nor the prophets , nor even Jehovah himself ; but regarded nothing but his own depraved inclinations . His reign
was as hateful to the Jews as that of John in England ; but we do not judge the kings of England by the character of John and one or two others , nor should we judge the kings of Judah by the measure of Ahaz . The great desert has beauteous oases , and the Jewish
history has chapters which have been and still are the admiration of the world . They had been avenged of the Assyrians , who led them into captivity . The cause of their ' captivity was their proneness for the Assyrian gods , and Jehovah delivered them over to their bent , and they
became sadder and better men . The destruction of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Persian , gave the Jews new masters , and their return to Jerusalem . Daniel , Nehemiah , Ezra , and Haggai flourished during this time . The rule of the Persian was mild ,
and he greatly favoured the Jews . Isaiah ' s prophecy was shown to him where he is mentioned and addressed by name many years before his birth , as follows -. " I am Jehovah , and there is none else . I form the light , and I create darkness ; I make peace and create evil . I , Jehovah ,
do all this . " This declaration was directed against the doctrines of Zoroaster , which were taught in Persia by the magi . They taught the worship of two deities representing light and darkness , who were continually endeavounw / to
counteract each other ; but Jehovah declared that the Jews were His witnesses to bear the solemn record , " That before Him there was no God formed , neither should there be after Him , and that besides Him there was no Saviour .
_ After the fall of the Persian dynasty , occasioned by the battle of Issus and the death of Darius , the jews were at the mercy of Alexander the Great . Alexander was incensed against the Jews , not so much on account of their religion ( as there were some points in his
own which were similar to the Jews ) , as their refusing to pay him their tribute when he first invaded Syria . Accordingly , on his progress to Egypt , after the destruction of Tyre ( 332 n . c ) , he turned aside to Jerusalem . He was met by the High Priest , Jaddua , arrayed in his pontifical
robes , the priests in their usual habits , andbya number of citizens in white robes . Upon seeing the High Priest , Alexander made the first advance to salute and to worship the sacred name inscribed on the mitre , observing to those around him , " I adore not the High Priest , but the God whose priest he is " and added that
Ar01001
he had seen in . a dream such a person in such a dress assuring him of the conquest of the Persian empire . He promised that the Jews in Babylon and Media should enjoy their own customs and laws . By the death of Alexander the Jews lost a friend , and under his successors
they were subjected to a variety of oppressions and persecutions . Their country being placed between two powerful and opposing nationsthat of Syria on the north , and of Egypt southward—they were in a rather perilous position . Josephus says : "They resembled a ship tossed
by a hurricane , and buffeted on both sides by the waves , while they lay in the midst of a contending sea . " Under the Ptolemies the Jews had about three parts of a century of comparative tranquillity , being under the protection of the Egyptian throne ; but this peace brought them
into connection with the outlying Grecian nation , and notwithstanding the many bitter punishments they had endured for following after strange gods , the more opulent of the Jews studied the language , and copied the manners and customs of the Greeks , and made
themselves acquainted with the Greek philosophy . This departure from the simplicity of their original law , that Jehovah was one , and that they should serve no god but Him , ended in their being delivered over to those nations whose gods they served , with the attendant
persecutions and calamities . About n . c . 160 Atvtiochus , the fourth king of Syria , whom the Greeks surnamed Epiphanes ( illustrious ) , but whom the Jews called Epimanes ( a madman ) , subjected them to the most horrid cruelty . He murdered Eleazar , the High Priest , ! for refusing to
eat swine's flesh , and the noble Jewish matron and her seven sons , wlio had set the royal madman at defiance . These , and many others , died declaring their hope in the advent of a deliverer , who appeared in the person of Mattathias , of the Asamonean family , from whom they
afterwards took their name . He dying , left the cause and hope of Israel to his third and bravest son , whose youth and valour gave new life to the noble war . He raised his standard , and inscribed upon it a cabalistic word , formed by M . B . C . I ., the initial letters of the Hebrew " Mi
Chamoka Baalim , Jehovah , " "Who is like unto Thee among the Gods , O Jehovah ! " With the promotion of Judas Maccabeus to be die ruler of Judah , the rule of this family , which , after a reign of about 120 years , fell to the rule of Hyrcanus the 2 nd . The history of the Jewish people is now involved in the records of anarchy ,
plots , treasons , and petty intrigues with Pompey , Caesar , and the Roman nation , which ended in placing Herod the Idumean , afterwards called the Great , upon the Throne , who commenced his reign by cutting off the heads of the Asamonean party . Thus ended what is termed " The Connection . "
Our Bro . Carpenter writes very bitterly against Judah for their apostacy , profligacy , and enormous wickedness . Softly , softly , good Christian Brother , this is a point too tender for even tenderness to touch ; they have been wept over by eyes purer than our own , " too pure to behold iniquity , " but who said , "He that is without sin
cast the first stone . ' The names of David , Solomon , Jehosuphat , Hezekiah , and Josiah are names that shine out with equal splendour with our Henries and Edwards . We care not to be judged by our John , and Tudors , and Stuarts : judge not the kings of Israel by Aha / , and the like .
There is V 10 nation that so often passed through the furnace of affliction as the Jews , but still they have been the favoured people of God . They have had the most glorious mission committed to their charge that ever nation had—the unity of God and the immortality of the soul ,
the blessed hope of a glorious hereafter to the good and of condemnation of the obstinately wicked . They have been sometimes faitiiless to their trust , but they have been the sufferers for their wrong-doing , and to follow the charge of our
Divine Master , we must not throw a stone . And what is to be the future of the seed of Abraham ? Has the grand drama of the world ' s sacred history , in which the Jew has been made to appear as the leading character , to become
Ar01002
extinct , like the climax of a modern drama where the hero is got rid of , and all comes right again ? The facts of the past give no such shadows for the future . Is Judaism a theory of the past ? and if so , what was its last act ? Among the many sensational societies of the present day is
one " For the Conversion of the Jews . From what , or to what , are they to be converted ? Him you acknowledge as the founder of your faith was a Jew , and who said , " I am not come to abolish the law . " He chose . His twelve apostles from among the Jews . He never asked the Samaritan , whom He praised more than the Jew , to assist
Him , but said to the woman at the well , Ye know not what ye worship . " We know what we worship , for salvation is of the Jews . He greeted Nathaniel as " An Israelite indeed , in whom there was no guile . " Can we say as much in our day of Christians being without guile ?
Why , it is the current coin "by which Jew and Gentile pay to each other their debts ; and to which school of theological thought ( as it is called ) will you introduce him when you have got him ? and how will you teach him the difference between orthodoxy and heterodoxy ? St .
Paul , a Hebrew of the Hebrews and who boasted of being so , applauded Timothy for his persevering study of the law ; and what law could he have studied but the Hebrew law ? John was commissioned to denounce the Churchat Smyrna , not because they were Jews , but that they said
they were , and were not . And have all the prophecies connected with the promises to that nation been realized , or not ? If they have , when was the last accomplished ? EzekieVs vision has yet to be developed ; St . John's visions of the new Jerusalem have not yet come down from God out of heaven . When these and others shall be
accomplished , then will be realized on earth Isaiah ' s prediction , " That men shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruninghooks , nation shall not lift up sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any
more ; " " Thy sun shall no more go down , neither shall thy moon withdrawitself , for Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light , and the clays of thy mourning shall be ended . " This promise was made to the Jews , has it been as yet accomplished ? W . B . ( 743 ) .
Original Correspondence.
Original Correspondence .
I Thc Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed hy Correspondents .
ON THE CARNALITY OF FREEMASONRY .
lo tne Editor of the Freemason . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I read with a deep interest the letter of Bro . Buchan at page 377 , but am sorry to confess that I cannot understand what he defines Freemasonry to be . The chief characteristic he seems to sec in it is that it is carnal . By
this , young Masons ( as 1 am ) must , I suppose , imagine that our carnal passions ( which arc fleshly , sensual , unregenerate ( Rom . viii . ) , the natural state of man ; in fact , in the state symbolised among us by the rough ashler ) , are to be set forth and strengthened after wc enter the lodge . This ,
however , our worthy brother cannot mean . To me , Freemasonry , in its degrees , is detcrminatcly opposed to all , and every passion of the flesh ( a list of which Paul the Apostle has given for our instruction in Gal . v ., 19 ) are to be knocked off by our instruction in the principles of
Freemasonry—Brotherly Love , Relief and Truth ; nor arc we to rest until we have made ourselves , by the help of our Great Father , perfectly square and uprightthe perfect ashlar . Surely Freemasonry , while Its immediate work may be seen by man only on the earth , yet it points
us away from everything carnal , and directs our thoughts to Him whose wc are : bidding us work and live by rule , as T . G . A . O . T . U . ever has done . Religion proper is that which gives peace to man here and on to all eternity . And is Freemasonry unable to do this ? No , it is able ; and does do all to those who submit—by destroying every carnal
lust in their flesh—to its most simple , yet grand , teaching . It initiates its founder , who is not carnal , by not using force , as zealots among so-called rival religious sects do , to compel men to worship Him only in particular places set up by proud man . If the Fraternity is carnal in its teaching , how far docs this carnality extend ? and where is the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar01000
the scripture denominates them , " The Magicians of Egypt . " In fact , they were a school of astrologers or witches . It is of this order that Jannes and Jambres belonged to , whom St . Paul alludes to as having withstood Moses , and whose characters , as given by St . Paul , are not
fitting examples for Masons to follow . Passing over that portion of the Jewish history known as the prophetical dispensation , and ably alluded to by our Bro . Carpenter , we will take a running look at what is known as the connection ,
namely the closing of the Book of Malachi , and the advent of our Lord in the flesh , or the angelic prologue , sung to the shepherds while watching their flocks by night . It appears that the Almighty did with Israel
As we with torches do ; Not light them for themselves ;" but for the nations of the earth , that through them the curse of idolatry should be removed . And the Almighty promised them many and
great advantages , on the condition that they , as a nation , should remain faithful to the mission which he had charged them with . Our Bro . Carpenter has given us a succinct account of their occasional apostacies , and their dire punishments as the result . He has quoted largely from
the prophet Isaiah , who flourished during the reigns of Uzziah , Joatham , Ahaz , and Hezekiah . Three of these were princes who possessed finabove the average amount of kingly virtues and patriotism , and who received the approbation of Jehovah , through His prophet , for their munificent
and beneficial actions while on the throne of David . Ahaz proved the most corrupt monarch that the house of David had as yet produced . He respected neither the law nor the prophets , nor even Jehovah himself ; but regarded nothing but his own depraved inclinations . His reign
was as hateful to the Jews as that of John in England ; but we do not judge the kings of England by the character of John and one or two others , nor should we judge the kings of Judah by the measure of Ahaz . The great desert has beauteous oases , and the Jewish
history has chapters which have been and still are the admiration of the world . They had been avenged of the Assyrians , who led them into captivity . The cause of their ' captivity was their proneness for the Assyrian gods , and Jehovah delivered them over to their bent , and they
became sadder and better men . The destruction of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Persian , gave the Jews new masters , and their return to Jerusalem . Daniel , Nehemiah , Ezra , and Haggai flourished during this time . The rule of the Persian was mild ,
and he greatly favoured the Jews . Isaiah ' s prophecy was shown to him where he is mentioned and addressed by name many years before his birth , as follows -. " I am Jehovah , and there is none else . I form the light , and I create darkness ; I make peace and create evil . I , Jehovah ,
do all this . " This declaration was directed against the doctrines of Zoroaster , which were taught in Persia by the magi . They taught the worship of two deities representing light and darkness , who were continually endeavounw / to
counteract each other ; but Jehovah declared that the Jews were His witnesses to bear the solemn record , " That before Him there was no God formed , neither should there be after Him , and that besides Him there was no Saviour .
_ After the fall of the Persian dynasty , occasioned by the battle of Issus and the death of Darius , the jews were at the mercy of Alexander the Great . Alexander was incensed against the Jews , not so much on account of their religion ( as there were some points in his
own which were similar to the Jews ) , as their refusing to pay him their tribute when he first invaded Syria . Accordingly , on his progress to Egypt , after the destruction of Tyre ( 332 n . c ) , he turned aside to Jerusalem . He was met by the High Priest , Jaddua , arrayed in his pontifical
robes , the priests in their usual habits , andbya number of citizens in white robes . Upon seeing the High Priest , Alexander made the first advance to salute and to worship the sacred name inscribed on the mitre , observing to those around him , " I adore not the High Priest , but the God whose priest he is " and added that
Ar01001
he had seen in . a dream such a person in such a dress assuring him of the conquest of the Persian empire . He promised that the Jews in Babylon and Media should enjoy their own customs and laws . By the death of Alexander the Jews lost a friend , and under his successors
they were subjected to a variety of oppressions and persecutions . Their country being placed between two powerful and opposing nationsthat of Syria on the north , and of Egypt southward—they were in a rather perilous position . Josephus says : "They resembled a ship tossed
by a hurricane , and buffeted on both sides by the waves , while they lay in the midst of a contending sea . " Under the Ptolemies the Jews had about three parts of a century of comparative tranquillity , being under the protection of the Egyptian throne ; but this peace brought them
into connection with the outlying Grecian nation , and notwithstanding the many bitter punishments they had endured for following after strange gods , the more opulent of the Jews studied the language , and copied the manners and customs of the Greeks , and made
themselves acquainted with the Greek philosophy . This departure from the simplicity of their original law , that Jehovah was one , and that they should serve no god but Him , ended in their being delivered over to those nations whose gods they served , with the attendant
persecutions and calamities . About n . c . 160 Atvtiochus , the fourth king of Syria , whom the Greeks surnamed Epiphanes ( illustrious ) , but whom the Jews called Epimanes ( a madman ) , subjected them to the most horrid cruelty . He murdered Eleazar , the High Priest , ! for refusing to
eat swine's flesh , and the noble Jewish matron and her seven sons , wlio had set the royal madman at defiance . These , and many others , died declaring their hope in the advent of a deliverer , who appeared in the person of Mattathias , of the Asamonean family , from whom they
afterwards took their name . He dying , left the cause and hope of Israel to his third and bravest son , whose youth and valour gave new life to the noble war . He raised his standard , and inscribed upon it a cabalistic word , formed by M . B . C . I ., the initial letters of the Hebrew " Mi
Chamoka Baalim , Jehovah , " "Who is like unto Thee among the Gods , O Jehovah ! " With the promotion of Judas Maccabeus to be die ruler of Judah , the rule of this family , which , after a reign of about 120 years , fell to the rule of Hyrcanus the 2 nd . The history of the Jewish people is now involved in the records of anarchy ,
plots , treasons , and petty intrigues with Pompey , Caesar , and the Roman nation , which ended in placing Herod the Idumean , afterwards called the Great , upon the Throne , who commenced his reign by cutting off the heads of the Asamonean party . Thus ended what is termed " The Connection . "
Our Bro . Carpenter writes very bitterly against Judah for their apostacy , profligacy , and enormous wickedness . Softly , softly , good Christian Brother , this is a point too tender for even tenderness to touch ; they have been wept over by eyes purer than our own , " too pure to behold iniquity , " but who said , "He that is without sin
cast the first stone . ' The names of David , Solomon , Jehosuphat , Hezekiah , and Josiah are names that shine out with equal splendour with our Henries and Edwards . We care not to be judged by our John , and Tudors , and Stuarts : judge not the kings of Israel by Aha / , and the like .
There is V 10 nation that so often passed through the furnace of affliction as the Jews , but still they have been the favoured people of God . They have had the most glorious mission committed to their charge that ever nation had—the unity of God and the immortality of the soul ,
the blessed hope of a glorious hereafter to the good and of condemnation of the obstinately wicked . They have been sometimes faitiiless to their trust , but they have been the sufferers for their wrong-doing , and to follow the charge of our
Divine Master , we must not throw a stone . And what is to be the future of the seed of Abraham ? Has the grand drama of the world ' s sacred history , in which the Jew has been made to appear as the leading character , to become
Ar01002
extinct , like the climax of a modern drama where the hero is got rid of , and all comes right again ? The facts of the past give no such shadows for the future . Is Judaism a theory of the past ? and if so , what was its last act ? Among the many sensational societies of the present day is
one " For the Conversion of the Jews . From what , or to what , are they to be converted ? Him you acknowledge as the founder of your faith was a Jew , and who said , " I am not come to abolish the law . " He chose . His twelve apostles from among the Jews . He never asked the Samaritan , whom He praised more than the Jew , to assist
Him , but said to the woman at the well , Ye know not what ye worship . " We know what we worship , for salvation is of the Jews . He greeted Nathaniel as " An Israelite indeed , in whom there was no guile . " Can we say as much in our day of Christians being without guile ?
Why , it is the current coin "by which Jew and Gentile pay to each other their debts ; and to which school of theological thought ( as it is called ) will you introduce him when you have got him ? and how will you teach him the difference between orthodoxy and heterodoxy ? St .
Paul , a Hebrew of the Hebrews and who boasted of being so , applauded Timothy for his persevering study of the law ; and what law could he have studied but the Hebrew law ? John was commissioned to denounce the Churchat Smyrna , not because they were Jews , but that they said
they were , and were not . And have all the prophecies connected with the promises to that nation been realized , or not ? If they have , when was the last accomplished ? EzekieVs vision has yet to be developed ; St . John's visions of the new Jerusalem have not yet come down from God out of heaven . When these and others shall be
accomplished , then will be realized on earth Isaiah ' s prediction , " That men shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruninghooks , nation shall not lift up sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any
more ; " " Thy sun shall no more go down , neither shall thy moon withdrawitself , for Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light , and the clays of thy mourning shall be ended . " This promise was made to the Jews , has it been as yet accomplished ? W . B . ( 743 ) .
Original Correspondence.
Original Correspondence .
I Thc Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed hy Correspondents .
ON THE CARNALITY OF FREEMASONRY .
lo tne Editor of the Freemason . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I read with a deep interest the letter of Bro . Buchan at page 377 , but am sorry to confess that I cannot understand what he defines Freemasonry to be . The chief characteristic he seems to sec in it is that it is carnal . By
this , young Masons ( as 1 am ) must , I suppose , imagine that our carnal passions ( which arc fleshly , sensual , unregenerate ( Rom . viii . ) , the natural state of man ; in fact , in the state symbolised among us by the rough ashler ) , are to be set forth and strengthened after wc enter the lodge . This ,
however , our worthy brother cannot mean . To me , Freemasonry , in its degrees , is detcrminatcly opposed to all , and every passion of the flesh ( a list of which Paul the Apostle has given for our instruction in Gal . v ., 19 ) are to be knocked off by our instruction in the principles of
Freemasonry—Brotherly Love , Relief and Truth ; nor arc we to rest until we have made ourselves , by the help of our Great Father , perfectly square and uprightthe perfect ashlar . Surely Freemasonry , while Its immediate work may be seen by man only on the earth , yet it points
us away from everything carnal , and directs our thoughts to Him whose wc are : bidding us work and live by rule , as T . G . A . O . T . U . ever has done . Religion proper is that which gives peace to man here and on to all eternity . And is Freemasonry unable to do this ? No , it is able ; and does do all to those who submit—by destroying every carnal
lust in their flesh—to its most simple , yet grand , teaching . It initiates its founder , who is not carnal , by not using force , as zealots among so-called rival religious sects do , to compel men to worship Him only in particular places set up by proud man . If the Fraternity is carnal in its teaching , how far docs this carnality extend ? and where is the