Freemasonry & Israelitism
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TABLE OF CONTENTS of Darius was in the year 507 B.C., and, if Then, there is the promised glory of PAGE we go hack a thousand years from this Jerusalem : Israel and Judah have come FREEMASONRY AND ISRAELITISH 435 & 436 ROYAL MASONIC I NSTITUTION FOR BOYS— period, we are brought to that of the mis- out of the north country to Mount Zion, the Summer FSte 436 & 437 sion of Moses, who, in Deut. xxxiii. 5, is glory of which covers the earth— ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT I NSTITUTION .. 437 said to have been " King in Jeshurun (that "A hall stands brighter than the sun, PROV. GRAND LODGE OF CORNWALL 437, 43S, & 439 Covered in gold, in Gimle. IRST ISTRICT RAND ODGE OF when the heads of the people THE F D G L is Israel), There virtuous people will dwell, EWFOUNDLAND N 439 and the tribes of Israel were gathered ¦And for ages enjoy every good." MASONIC FESTIVITIES — " xviii. This I Picnic at Sunderland .. ... ... ... 439 together (see Gen. 13—27). No one, I think, can read this extra- THE FREEMASONS ' LIFE BOAT 439 take to be a most remarkable fact, which ordinary poem, extravagant as, upon the BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS 440 should not he lightly estimated. But to whole, it seems to be, without seeing evi- ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS ... 440 AMERICAN AND BRITISH MASONRY ... 440 & 441 proceed. 'The authors to whom I have dences of Israelitish traditions in it; and MULTUM IN PARVO 441 & 442 referred , evidently knew very little about the notion once entertained ; that the ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE 442 this people, but they all concur in finding people to whom it owes its origin obtained A BERDEEN R ECORDS 442 & 443 SCOTLAND— them about the Araxes—that is, between the knowledge of those traditions through The American Knights Templar in the Caspian and the Euxine—soon after the medium of Christianity is, at last, Glasgow 443 & 444 the time that Israel was carried thither, nhanrlnnprl Dundee OAA and they describe them as afterward s be- Kelso 444 I now invite attention to another subject LAYING THE FOUNDATION-STONE OF A MASONIC coming numerous, and pushing westward , connected with the Saxon literature. The HALL AT SWANSEA 445 as we have seen that the ten tribes did. I English language, as everybody knows, is THE CRAFT— do not know that any further information Provincial ... ... ... ... 445 a collection of words from many languages, MARK MASONRY 445 touching the Geta***, at this early period, is ancient and modern ; but there are very THE NATIONAL UNION FOR THE S UPPRESSION obtainable. I have noticed the testimonies few words in it that are recognised as being OF INTEMPERANCE 445 borne to their probity, chastity, hospitality, MASONIC M EETINGS FOR N EXT W EEK 446 drawn fro m Oriental languages or dialects. ADVERTISEMENTS 433, 434, 446, 447 & 44S and other moral qualities, showing that Anglo-Saxon, Greek, Latin, and French their religion and their morals distinguished words abound, as may be seen by running FREEMASONRY & ISRAELITISM. them from the other peoples or tribes in through the pages of any dictionary that their neighbourhood. I do not insist that gives the derivation of words. But though BY BRO. WILLIAM CARPENTER , P.M. & P.Z. 177. the historical incidents I have adverted to. thus compounded, our language is Anglo- VIII. striking as they are, are sufficient in them- Saxon at heart—its life-blood is Teutonic ; Having traced the progress of Israel selves to convince us of the identity of the all its other elements are adventitious, com- from the western borders of the Casp ian two peoples—the Goths and the Israelites pared with this. Take them away, and to the west of the Euxine, through tlie —but I think they furnish at least some the English remains, but take away the Ukraine aud Bessarabia, whence they evidence of that identity. Teutonic or Saxon, and the mere sweep- pushed on further north and west, colo- I now turn to the other class of evidence, ings of the granary are left. But what of nising parts of Roumainia, Transylvania, which I call internal, which helps us to the Saxon words ? Whence have they Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia, we are identify the Getas, or that branch of them come ? Undoubtedly, many of them from necessarily led again to think of the people known as Anglo-Saxons, with the Israelites, the Hebrew, Arabic, and other Semitic (Getaj) found on the south-western border or the lost ten tribes. What evidence of I tongues. Sharon Turner (Ang. Sax.vol. ii.) of the Euxine, when Darius invaded the this description have we in the literature, has collected no fewer than 247 Saxon country, B.C. 507 : that is, about 215 years usages, and institutions of the Anglo- words that are undoubtedly derived from after the tribes had been carried captive by Saxons ? The remains of early Anglo- the Hebrew and the Cognate Arabic, re- the Assyrians into the countries south- Saxon literature are very scant, nor have gretting that health and other adverse west of the Casp ian. And the question we any that date back to a time when this circumstances had not permitted him to forces itself upon us—where they the same people was in Asia or in the east of Europe. extend his investigations in this interesting people ? That is, were the Gelas identical Nor is it at all to be expected that wc field of enquiry. Had he done so, he with the Israelites ? In attempting to should. Their migrations and their almost would, no doubt, have found many more. answer this question , I shall briefly call continuous wars of defence and of aggres- That he should have found so many, is a attention to those external evidences of sion , down to a comparatively recent period very noticeable circumstance connected their identity which incidentally occur in in their history, rendered the cultivation of with our enquiry as to the origin of this the writings of the old historians ; and to literature almost impossible. When we people, and one that will help to prove those internal evidences which are to bc first meet witli them, therefore, they were as their affinity, or identity, with the Israel- found in the literature, usages, and institu- illiterate, apparentl y, as any of the bar- itish race ; for the Hebrew language is so tions ofthe people themselves. barous tribes who find a place in history. unlike any comparativel y modern language, Of the former class, is the description Wc might expect, however, to find pre- and seems so incapable of being melted which Herodotus, the father of history, served amongst them some of tlie traditions down into it, that its existence in the gives of the Geta? in his Mel pomene (par. of their fathers, for far as they had de- Anglo-Saxon is, at least, remarkable. xciii. iv.). They believed , he states, in an parted from the good old ways, forgetting Another very striking circumstance is, immortal life and in one Supreme God , into the law, and joining themselves to idols, as that the Saxon names of persons arc whose presence they should go after death. Ephraim , that is, Israel, is said to have obviously given after the Hebrew fashion. They deplored the loss of thc sacred books done, they could scarcel y havcfailed toretain They do not appear to have used sur- [Seeking the word of the Lord but not some remembrance of the older narratives names, although wc occasionall y find un finding it, Amos viii. 12?] which they said originall y recorded in their lost sacred appellation added to the original name. were left to them by Zamoxes—literall y, books. And it seems to have been with This was in conformity with the Israelitish that Moses. He describes them as having the special design of collecting some of custom. Sometimes the paternal person been first found in Asia, east ofthe Araxcs, these, that the oldest composition of theirs assumed the name of the first-born son , as in the seventh or eighth century B.C. known , namely, the Voluspa—the spae, or is still the custom in Syria and Arabia. Thus, Diodorus^ , in like manner, describes them as prophecy of Vola—was written. It is an Abu-Michael is the father of Michael ; possessing a narrow region on the Araxcs, extraordinary mixture of fact and fable, Om-Suleyman is the mother of Solomon. hut, by degrees, becoming more powerful blending traditions of the creation with, It is the same in Abu-Beker, Abu-Talcb, in numbers, and extending their boundaries, apparentl y, some of the earliest incidents &c. Our present custom of permanent till, at last, they raised themselves to be a in Israel's history, and of their being cast surnames in particular families was not great nation, subduing, iu the course of out into the north country—the descent established until after the Norman con- time, many peoples between thc Caspian upon them of the fierce barbarians of tlie quest. But the names given by the Saxons and Maeotis, and beyond the Tanais ; and north , thc Huns—the ravages of the Roman bear so striking a resemblance to the mode he then speaks of them as having taken a wolf, to which they were subjected— the of giving names by thc Israelites that I westerly direction. Strabo, Pliny, and renovation of their land ," in which virtuous must take permission to give a few of each. Ptolemy all speak of them as occupy ing the people shall dwell, and for ages enjoy every The following are Saxon :— same region, but they arc all silent as to good "—followed by the ravages of thc /Ethelrcd ..