Masonic Notes And Queries.

hereafter , on their restoration . Some of the principal captives were advanced to offices of dignity and power in the royal palace , and were permitted to share in the councils of state . Their prophets , Daniel and Ezekial , with their associates , preserved among their couutryrnen the pure doctrines of their religion , and taught that belief in the Divine Being which

constituted the most important principle of Primitive Ereemasonry , in opposition to the spurious system practised by their idolatrous conquerors . "The people , " says Oliver , who adhered to the worship of God , ancl they were neither few nor insignificant , continued to meet in their schoolsor lod for the

, ges , undisturbed-practice of their system of ethical Ereemasonry , which they did not fail to propagate for their mutual consolation during this calamitous reverse of fortune , and for the benefit of their descendants *

The rabbinical writers inform us that duriug the captivity a fraternity was established , for the preservation of traditional knowledge , which was transmitted to a few initiates , and that on the restoration , Zerubbabel , Joshua , and Esdras carried all this secret instruction to Jerusalem , and there established a similar

fraternity . The principal seats of this institution were at Naharda , on the Euphrates , at Sora , and at Pompeditha . f Among the remarkable events that occurred during the captivity , we are to account the visit of Pythagoras to Babylon . This [ ancient philospher was , while in

Egypt , taken prisoner by Cambyses , during his invasion of that country , and " carried to Babylon , where he remained for twelve years . There he is said to have had frequent interviews with Ezekial , ancl to have derived from the instruction of the prophet much of that esoteric system of philosophy into which he afterwards indoctrinated his disciples . Jehoiachin , who had been the king of Judea before Zedekiah , and had been dethroned and carried as a

captive to Babylon , remained in prison for thirtyseven years , during the long reign of Nebuchadnezzar . But at the death of that monarch , his son and successor , Evilmerodach , restored the captive king to liberty , and promoted him to great honour in his palace . _ Evilmerodach , who was infamous for his vicesrei onltwo

, gned y years , when he was deposed and put to death by his own relations , and Neriglissar , his sister's husband , ascended the throne . 3 ehoiachiu is said to have died at the same time , or , as Prideaux conjectures , lie was , as the favourite of Evilmerodach , slain with him .

After the death of Jehoiachin , Salathiel or Shealtiel , his son , became the " head of the captivity , " or nominally tlie Jewish king . Neriglissar , or Niglissar , as he is calledby Josephus , reigned for forty years , ancl then was succeeded by his son Labosordacus . This monarch became by his

crimes hateful to the people , aud , after a short reign of only nine months , was slain by his own subjects . The royal line , whose throne had been usurped by Neriglissar , was then restored in the person of

Belshazzar , one of the descendants of Nebuchadnezzar . Belshazzar was an effeminate ancl licentious monarch , indulging in luxury and dissipation , while tlie reigns of government were entrusted to his mother , Nitocris . He was , therefore , but ill prepared by temper or ability to oppose the victorious arms of Cyrusthe King of Persiaand Dariusthe King of

, , , Media , who made war upon him . Consequently , after an inglorious reign of seventeen years , his power was wrested from him , the city of Babylon was taken by Cyrus , andthe Babylonian power was for ever annihiliated .

After the death of Shealtiel , the sovereignty of the Jews was transmitted to his son , ^ erubbabel , who thus became the head of the captivity , or nominal Prince of Judea . "While the line of the Jewish monarchs was thus preserved , during the captivity , in the house of David , the Jews were not less careful to maintain the due

succession of the high priesthood ; for Jehosadek , the son of Seraiah , was the high priest that was carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Baylon , and when he died , during the captivity , he was succeeded in his sacred office by his eldest son , Joshua . In the first year of the rei of C the

gn yrus cap tivity of the Jews was terminated . Cyrus , from his conversations with Daniel and the other Jewish captives of learning and piety , as well as from his perusal of their sacred books , more especially the prophecies of Isaiah , had become imbued with a knowledge of true religion , and hence had even publicly announced

to his subjects his belief in the God " which the nation of the Israelites worshipped . " He was consequently impressed with an earnest desire to fulfil the prophetic declarations , of which he was the subject , and to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem . Accordingly , he issued a proclamation , which we find in Ezra , as follows : — " Thus saith Cyrus , King of Persia , The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build him a house

at Jerusalem , which is m Judea . "Who is there among you of all his people ? His God be with him , and let liim go to Jerusalem , which is in Judea , and build the house of the Lord God of Israel ( he is the God ) , whieh is in Jerusalem . " "With the publication of this proclamation of Cyrus , what

commences may be called the second part of the Eoyal Arch degree . The whole space of time occupied in the captivity , ancl the events connected with that portion of the Jewish history , are not referred to in the ceremonies , but constitute , as we have already remarked , an interval like the period of time

supposed to pass iu a drama , between the falling of a curtain at the close of one act and its being raised at the commencement of the subsequent one . But now there are " glad tidings of great joy , " as given in this proclamation to the Jews . The captives are liberated —the exiles are permitted to return home . Leaving

the banks of the Euphrates , they direct their anxious steps over rough and rugged roads to that beloved mountain of the Lord , where their ancestors were so long wont to worship . The events connected with this restoration are of deep attraction to the Mason , since the history abounds in interesting and

instructive legends . But the importance of the subject demands that we should pursue the investigation in a separate lecture . ] ( To be continued . )