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Article MORE HINTS TO MASONIC JOHANNITE EULOGISTS. Page 1 of 2 Article MORE HINTS TO MASONIC JOHANNITE EULOGISTS. Page 1 of 2 →
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More Hints To Masonic Johannite Eulogists.
MORE HINTS TO MASONIC JOHANNITE EULOGISTS .
Br BRO . JACOB NORTON . JUST as I was about mailing my " Hints to Johannito Eulogizors , " the 29 th of August number of the FREEMASON ' CintONiciiE reached me , and I was surprised to find therein four more columns of a paper filled with a further address on John the Baptist . At first I was under the
impression that it was auother contribution from our Rev . Bro . Murray , but I eventually discovered there was a second Richmond in the field , and this time it was Bro . Edward G . Billings , Grand Orator of the State of Louisiana , who was expounding his viems . Now , I confess that I have not studied the New
Testament in a Snnday school , and cannot therefore say that I have the whole of it "at my fingers * ends . " Thinking , therefore , that in my haste I might have underrated the
merits of the Baptist , I went to work and copied all the utterances ascribed to St . John the Baptist by each of the Evangelists , and herewith submit the extracts of the New Testament to the notice of the reader . From Matthew iii .
I gather the following utterances : •—Repent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at band . " " 0 , generation of vipers , who hath warned yon to flee from the wrath to come P Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance . And think not to say within yonrselres : We have Abraham to our
father : for I say nnto yon that God is able of these stones to raise np children nnto Abraham . And now also the axe ia laid nnto the root of the trees . Therefore every tree whioh bringoth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire . I indeed baptize yon
with water nnto repentance : bnt he that cometh after me is mightier than I , whose shoes I am nnworthy to bear : he shall baptize yon with the Holy Ghost , and with fire : Whose fan is in his hand , aad he will thoroughly purge his floor , and gather his wheat into tho garner , but he will bnrn np the chaff with unquenchable fire . "
To Jesus he said : —¦ " I have need to be baptized of Thee , and comesfc Thou to me P " The message which John the Baptist , when in prison , sent to Jesus , viz .: — " Art thon He that should come , or do we look for another ?" I find in Matthew xi . But strange to say , though this
inquiry about Jesus by John the Baptist is mentioned in another gospel , yet wo are left in the dark as to whether John was satisfied- with the evidence furnished by his disciples regarding the Messiahship of Jesus . I extract the following from the Gospel of Mark : —
" There cometh one mightier than I after tne , the latch of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down und unloose . I indeed baptize yon with water , but He shall baptize yon with tho Holy Ghost . " To Herod John said : — " It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother ' s wife " ( Mark i . ) Extracts from the Gospel of Luke : —
" 0 , generation of vipers , who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come P Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance , and begin not to say within yourselves : We have Abraham to oitr father : for I say nnto yon that God is able of those stones to raise up
children nnto Abraham . And now the axe is laid nnto the root of tbe trees j every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire . " " He that hath two coats , let him impart to him who hath none 3 and he chat hath meat let him do likewise . "
To the publicans he said : —• "Exact no more than what is appointed yon . " And to the soldiers he said : — " Do violence to no man , neither accuse cmy falsely ; and be content with your wageB . " " I indeed baptize yon with water ; but one mightier than I oometb . "
& c , & c . ( as quoted from Mark ) . The message of John to Jesus , and the answer thereto , is the same as quoted above from the Gospel of Matthew , which iB also unnecessary to repeat . ( Lnke iii . ) Extract from the Gospel of John ( Chapter i . ) : —
And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him , Who ait thou P And he confessed , I am not the Christ . And they aBked him .... Art thon Elias P And he saith , I am not . Art thou that prophet P ( what prophet ?) And he answered , no . And they said nnto him . . .
What sayest thon of thyself ? He said , I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness . Make straight the way of the Lord , as said the prophet Esaias . And they asked him . . . Why baptizest thou then , if thon be not that Christ , nor Elias , neither that prophet P
( who was " that prophet ? " ) John answered them . . . . 1 baptize with water , bat there stands one amongst you , whom ye know not . He it is who is coming after me , is preferred before me , whose shoe ' * latob I am not worthy to unloose . "
More Hints To Masonic Johannite Eulogists.
We see from the above , that the quotation from Isaiah about crying in the wilderness , which the author of the Book of Matthew seems to have inserted as a mere opinion of his own , is turned in the Gospel of John into one of the Baptist ' s utterances , which indioatea that the Baptist ' s
wanderings in the wilderness was designed to connect him with what Isaiah said ; but as no one informed us about the crying or utterances of John the Baptist in the wilderness , or what the oryiDg amounted to , I can of course give no opinion about it . The Gospel of St . John is silent about
the Baptist ' s imprisonment , or about the message said to have been sent by the Baptist to Jesus . Indeed , according to that author , John the Baptist had no doubt that Jesus was the " Lamb of God . " But here again , I am surprised :
for if John actually knew that Jesus was the "Lamb of God , " why did not John at once become the disciple of Jesus , or his follower ? Or , at least , why did he not seek further acquaintance with Jeaus ?
Having copied all the alleged utterances of John the Baptist , and pondered over them , too ; I hope that my Christian friends will excnse me for stating that I cannot see in them , or in any of them , anything so remarkable as to induce me to believe that the said utterances needed
special inspiration from the Holy Ghost , or from any other power from tho upper regions . And it is my opinion and belief that if John the Baptist had not appeared rigged up after the Elijah fashion he would have attracted no more notice than any of onr ordinary street preachers do to-day .
Again , I have no doubt ( as I said in my former paper ) , that the Baptist's object was to make the sinners repent ; or , in other words , to make them better men than they were . But I have also no doubt that a very largo majority of the then Pharisees , who were referred to in the New Testament
so contemptuously , though they did not parade through the streets and highways masqueraded in Elijah uniforms , were as truly and sincerely God-fearing and God-loving men , and as anxious to remove and obliterate injustice and
unrighteousness from the world as St . John the Baptist could possibly have been . In short , it is my firm belief that John the Baptist was no more inspired than any of the enthusiastic members of what is called " Salvation
Army , or any of the street preachers that may be hoard on Sunday in Whitechnpel Road , or in the London parks . As to the story of the author of the Gospel of Luke , about an angel appearing to Zacharias , announcing to him the birth of John the Baptist , & c , & o . Be it remembered
that Christians , as well as Jews of to-day , do not believe quite as much as their ance 3 toi" 3 believed two hundred years ago . For instance , as I atated in a former paper , though witchcraft is mentioned in the Bible , belief in witchcraft is now shelved , as a superstition of the past , and
I think what is called the " Mosaic coamogony , ' ia doomed ere long to be placed upon the same shelf . We have tens of thousands of Christians , known as " TJniversalists , " who , notwithstanding the acknowledgment of the existence of hell and devils in tho Bible , believe in the existence of
neither hell nor devil . Our Unitarians , who are veiy numerous , believe neither in the immaculate conception of Jesus , nor in his resurrection , nor in miracles , and I venturo to say that if the Rev . Bro . J . M . Savage , of Boston ( who is a Knight Templar , and a Scottish Rite 33 cleg . ) , was
asked if he believed in the marvellous story of the author of the Gospel of Luke , about Zachariah's talk with tho angel , & c , that his answer would be—No , not quite . The Rev . H . Graetz , in his " History of the Jews " ( recently reprinted in Philadelphia , from tho London
edition ) , says that the book , or scroll , fouud during tho reign of Josiah in the Temple , was merely the Book of Deuteronomy . The other four Books of the Pentateuch must , therefore , have been written after the reign of Josiah . The same author also states that the Book of Ruth was not
written before the days of Ezra , & v & it was written for a purpose . That the Book of Daniel was written during the Maccabean War , and that , too , was written for a purposo . As long ago as the fifth century , or before , it was written in the Talmud that an eminent Rabbi declared that " Job
never was , and never was created , " meaning that Job never existed . Here then , it appears , that the Books of Ruth , of Daniel and of Job , are fictitious . Rabbi Graetz further informs us that tho Jews imbibed
the notions originally from the Persians about the existenco of angels and devils , of a heaven and a hell , and of the dogma of resurrection . To the angels they gave Hebrew names , such as Michael , Gabriel , & c , and to the devil they gave tbe name of Satan . Paradise they called " Gnneden , "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
More Hints To Masonic Johannite Eulogists.
MORE HINTS TO MASONIC JOHANNITE EULOGISTS .
Br BRO . JACOB NORTON . JUST as I was about mailing my " Hints to Johannito Eulogizors , " the 29 th of August number of the FREEMASON ' CintONiciiE reached me , and I was surprised to find therein four more columns of a paper filled with a further address on John the Baptist . At first I was under the
impression that it was auother contribution from our Rev . Bro . Murray , but I eventually discovered there was a second Richmond in the field , and this time it was Bro . Edward G . Billings , Grand Orator of the State of Louisiana , who was expounding his viems . Now , I confess that I have not studied the New
Testament in a Snnday school , and cannot therefore say that I have the whole of it "at my fingers * ends . " Thinking , therefore , that in my haste I might have underrated the
merits of the Baptist , I went to work and copied all the utterances ascribed to St . John the Baptist by each of the Evangelists , and herewith submit the extracts of the New Testament to the notice of the reader . From Matthew iii .
I gather the following utterances : •—Repent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at band . " " 0 , generation of vipers , who hath warned yon to flee from the wrath to come P Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance . And think not to say within yonrselres : We have Abraham to our
father : for I say nnto yon that God is able of these stones to raise np children nnto Abraham . And now also the axe ia laid nnto the root of the trees . Therefore every tree whioh bringoth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire . I indeed baptize yon
with water nnto repentance : bnt he that cometh after me is mightier than I , whose shoes I am nnworthy to bear : he shall baptize yon with the Holy Ghost , and with fire : Whose fan is in his hand , aad he will thoroughly purge his floor , and gather his wheat into tho garner , but he will bnrn np the chaff with unquenchable fire . "
To Jesus he said : —¦ " I have need to be baptized of Thee , and comesfc Thou to me P " The message which John the Baptist , when in prison , sent to Jesus , viz .: — " Art thon He that should come , or do we look for another ?" I find in Matthew xi . But strange to say , though this
inquiry about Jesus by John the Baptist is mentioned in another gospel , yet wo are left in the dark as to whether John was satisfied- with the evidence furnished by his disciples regarding the Messiahship of Jesus . I extract the following from the Gospel of Mark : —
" There cometh one mightier than I after tne , the latch of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down und unloose . I indeed baptize yon with water , but He shall baptize yon with tho Holy Ghost . " To Herod John said : — " It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother ' s wife " ( Mark i . ) Extracts from the Gospel of Luke : —
" 0 , generation of vipers , who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come P Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance , and begin not to say within yourselves : We have Abraham to oitr father : for I say nnto yon that God is able of those stones to raise up
children nnto Abraham . And now the axe is laid nnto the root of tbe trees j every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire . " " He that hath two coats , let him impart to him who hath none 3 and he chat hath meat let him do likewise . "
To the publicans he said : —• "Exact no more than what is appointed yon . " And to the soldiers he said : — " Do violence to no man , neither accuse cmy falsely ; and be content with your wageB . " " I indeed baptize yon with water ; but one mightier than I oometb . "
& c , & c . ( as quoted from Mark ) . The message of John to Jesus , and the answer thereto , is the same as quoted above from the Gospel of Matthew , which iB also unnecessary to repeat . ( Lnke iii . ) Extract from the Gospel of John ( Chapter i . ) : —
And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him , Who ait thou P And he confessed , I am not the Christ . And they aBked him .... Art thon Elias P And he saith , I am not . Art thou that prophet P ( what prophet ?) And he answered , no . And they said nnto him . . .
What sayest thon of thyself ? He said , I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness . Make straight the way of the Lord , as said the prophet Esaias . And they asked him . . . Why baptizest thou then , if thon be not that Christ , nor Elias , neither that prophet P
( who was " that prophet ? " ) John answered them . . . . 1 baptize with water , bat there stands one amongst you , whom ye know not . He it is who is coming after me , is preferred before me , whose shoe ' * latob I am not worthy to unloose . "
More Hints To Masonic Johannite Eulogists.
We see from the above , that the quotation from Isaiah about crying in the wilderness , which the author of the Book of Matthew seems to have inserted as a mere opinion of his own , is turned in the Gospel of John into one of the Baptist ' s utterances , which indioatea that the Baptist ' s
wanderings in the wilderness was designed to connect him with what Isaiah said ; but as no one informed us about the crying or utterances of John the Baptist in the wilderness , or what the oryiDg amounted to , I can of course give no opinion about it . The Gospel of St . John is silent about
the Baptist ' s imprisonment , or about the message said to have been sent by the Baptist to Jesus . Indeed , according to that author , John the Baptist had no doubt that Jesus was the " Lamb of God . " But here again , I am surprised :
for if John actually knew that Jesus was the "Lamb of God , " why did not John at once become the disciple of Jesus , or his follower ? Or , at least , why did he not seek further acquaintance with Jeaus ?
Having copied all the alleged utterances of John the Baptist , and pondered over them , too ; I hope that my Christian friends will excnse me for stating that I cannot see in them , or in any of them , anything so remarkable as to induce me to believe that the said utterances needed
special inspiration from the Holy Ghost , or from any other power from tho upper regions . And it is my opinion and belief that if John the Baptist had not appeared rigged up after the Elijah fashion he would have attracted no more notice than any of onr ordinary street preachers do to-day .
Again , I have no doubt ( as I said in my former paper ) , that the Baptist's object was to make the sinners repent ; or , in other words , to make them better men than they were . But I have also no doubt that a very largo majority of the then Pharisees , who were referred to in the New Testament
so contemptuously , though they did not parade through the streets and highways masqueraded in Elijah uniforms , were as truly and sincerely God-fearing and God-loving men , and as anxious to remove and obliterate injustice and
unrighteousness from the world as St . John the Baptist could possibly have been . In short , it is my firm belief that John the Baptist was no more inspired than any of the enthusiastic members of what is called " Salvation
Army , or any of the street preachers that may be hoard on Sunday in Whitechnpel Road , or in the London parks . As to the story of the author of the Gospel of Luke , about an angel appearing to Zacharias , announcing to him the birth of John the Baptist , & c , & o . Be it remembered
that Christians , as well as Jews of to-day , do not believe quite as much as their ance 3 toi" 3 believed two hundred years ago . For instance , as I atated in a former paper , though witchcraft is mentioned in the Bible , belief in witchcraft is now shelved , as a superstition of the past , and
I think what is called the " Mosaic coamogony , ' ia doomed ere long to be placed upon the same shelf . We have tens of thousands of Christians , known as " TJniversalists , " who , notwithstanding the acknowledgment of the existence of hell and devils in tho Bible , believe in the existence of
neither hell nor devil . Our Unitarians , who are veiy numerous , believe neither in the immaculate conception of Jesus , nor in his resurrection , nor in miracles , and I venturo to say that if the Rev . Bro . J . M . Savage , of Boston ( who is a Knight Templar , and a Scottish Rite 33 cleg . ) , was
asked if he believed in the marvellous story of the author of the Gospel of Luke , about Zachariah's talk with tho angel , & c , that his answer would be—No , not quite . The Rev . H . Graetz , in his " History of the Jews " ( recently reprinted in Philadelphia , from tho London
edition ) , says that the book , or scroll , fouud during tho reign of Josiah in the Temple , was merely the Book of Deuteronomy . The other four Books of the Pentateuch must , therefore , have been written after the reign of Josiah . The same author also states that the Book of Ruth was not
written before the days of Ezra , & v & it was written for a purpose . That the Book of Daniel was written during the Maccabean War , and that , too , was written for a purposo . As long ago as the fifth century , or before , it was written in the Talmud that an eminent Rabbi declared that " Job
never was , and never was created , " meaning that Job never existed . Here then , it appears , that the Books of Ruth , of Daniel and of Job , are fictitious . Rabbi Graetz further informs us that tho Jews imbibed
the notions originally from the Persians about the existenco of angels and devils , of a heaven and a hell , and of the dogma of resurrection . To the angels they gave Hebrew names , such as Michael , Gabriel , & c , and to the devil they gave tbe name of Satan . Paradise they called " Gnneden , "