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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

under Egbert ( A . D . 827 ) , the sole descendant of those first conquerors of Britain . His grandson , the great Alfred , settled the kingdom upon a basis which has never been subverted , and developed those institutions

of which Englishmen are justly proud , and which they are gradually-spreading throughout the earth . The preponderating power of the aristocracy , which grew out of the feudal system , has , at various times , menaced

the monarchy , but the revolutions through which the country has passed have left the monarchy intact ; and with the short interregnum , during which the supreme power was exercised by Oliver Cromwell , the

institution has been sustained , and has ilourished , the throne being filled by the descendants of the Geta ;—Saxon , Norman ,

and German . No other people can point to such a line of kings ; and no man who finds a place on the page of history has given birth to such a line of sovereigns .

In the review I have taken of the migrations , conquests , and settlements of the Israelites , as represented in that great branch of the stem known asAnglo-Saxons , I have incidentally noticed their

instrumentality in conferring upon peoples who Avere previously fast bound in the chains of barbarism the blessings of religion and civilisation . It has , by dint of frequent iteration , become almost the fashion with

Englishmen to speak depreciatingly of England , and to compare her unfavourably with her former self . It would almost seem as if Englishmen had become ashamed of patriotism , and that it was heroic to

depreciate and degrade their country . But that is an hallucination that will have its crisis and die out . He who reviews the past of England , and justly estimates her present place and character in the world , will not hesitate to apostrophise her as

" Fair Amphitritc ofthe northern wave ! The hardy mother of tlie great and brave ! Thy strength tlioti ciost not wield to crush , oppress , Disturb a world , or make men's pleasures less .

Thou bid ' st injustice cease , and right be done , Hailing , as brothers , all beneath the sun : The oppres ' t afar ne ' er plead to thee in vain , The slave that plucks thy robe . lets fall his chain The exiled , wronged , whate ' er their sorrows be , Haste to thy side , and lind a friend in theo . "

She has been , as in God ' s providence she was destined to be , the standard cf the Lord to the nations , who were to be exalted in knowledge and in the fear of the Lord , through the presence and in association

with His people , lhcy were to be given as a covenant of the people ; to restore the earth and replenish the desolate places ( Isa . xlix . 8 ) . Tite same Providence which distributed the people , and settled the

boundaries of their habitations , at the dispersion of Babel , fixing and limiting their possessions so as to lav out a field , as it were , to

bc cultivated and made fruitful by the seed of Jacob , in the latter days , is too evidently accomplished to leave the high purposes of God a matter of doubt . It has been well

said , that " the events of history have the coherence and unity of a mora ! drama ;" and God , according to His ancient promises , has made the commerce , tlie political influence , the naval and military prowess ,

the language and literatim . ' , the civil liberty and the religious enlightenment of the Anglo-Saxons of these our islands , the means of leavening the work ] , impressing the progressive race of mankind with , holy

principles towards God , with the honourable desire , and the stedfnst resolution ol obtaining better governments than the old

despotisms , and a purer faith than the ancient supcrstitutions . So that the old political and religious absolutist ;!? , which

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

were founded upon the assumption , that states and churches should be established for the benefit of priests and rulers alone , should , instead , bc founded , established , and

preserved for the peace , happiness , and benefit of the ruled and rulers alike . As Emerson says , " England has inoculated all nations with her civilisations , intelligence , and tastes . "

When we look through the world , and notice the changes that are taking place , though accompanied by many troubles and much suffering , may we not hope that we arc approaching the time when every nation

shall regard itself as one political and religious society , honouring and encouraging each other to honour and worship the God of Israel , whose name shall be feared from the west , and His glorv from the rising of

the sun ( Isa . lix . 19 ) . Whatever brightness distinguishes the aspect of society at the present day , is almost wholly due to the principles which the Anglo-Saxons have carried abroad . Heathen virtue received its

broadest expansion in the exercise of patriotism , not always free from personal bigotry and pride ; but philanthropy is the nobler product of a more catholic and holy faith . " The dark places of the earth are

full of the habitations of cruelty , " but the light of The Truth has humanized and expanded the affections , and revealed more clearly the mutual brotherhood of mankind . There is much corruption and misery still

m the world , but the world is much better than it was . Bad as war is , it is not the frightful thing it was . The world is not now owned by a few despots as uncontrolled and as cruel as were the monarchs of

ancient times . Formerly , the great mass of every nation was in a state of bondage , far more oppressive and galling than that under which the negro has groaned in modern times , and when their slaves grew

too numerous they were massacred by thousands . Wc feel that there is something in the very air which makes these things now impossible . We call it public opinion , for lack - of knowing what it is . It

is easy to give it a name ; but what has given this public opinion its power , and how has this public , opinion been formed ? Was there no public opinion in those old times ? Whv is the tyrant much more

susceptible now than then ? Why is he so much more powerless for evil ? The Greeks were educated men , yet they murdered their Helots without mercy . The Romans were famed for their manliness and

spirit of justice , yet 80 , 000 01 them could assemble in the amphitheatre , to see . and exult over , men and women being thrown to the lions . It is the spirit which the Amdo-Saxons have been the means of t \\ f-

fu ^ iivj ; which ra i-iing and liberating the nations—nothing else has ever had the •power , i . et it be observed , too , that there can scarcely be said to lie any living" power outside of Christendom . The aboriginal

races of America , Australia , arid . Polynesia , if they do not become absorbed , as few oi " them do , die out . Of Asia , the seat ofthe great ancient empires , and the oracles of civilisation an intelligent observer thus

wrote in 1861 , and it is more forcibly true now : "The vast Asiatic monarchies do not merely yield to an external pressure ; they are all , simultaneous ')' , rotting clown . The Sultan with difficulty holds together the

shattered fragments of his empire . His a .-r . iy is weal :, I -, is finances are dependent upon loans from Pari .-: and London , his cities are universally decaying . In India ,

trie only vitality left is that of Europeans . The educated Hindoos , whatever the ' u merits , have' Jost alll their originality

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

Indeed , if our experience in Hindostan is to be our guide , the vital force of the Asiatic is extinct . For two whole years ( during the great mutiny ) the people of Upper India were practically free . All

India , thus fairly brought , to the test , did not produce one statesman , one organizer , one leader , with more than the capacity of a bandit . The race who organised the system of castes placidly mimicked the

conqueror ' s notions of civil order . The King of Burma . li lives on small monopolies of produce , and his empire is maintained only because its profitable provinces are in English hands . The empire of

Cochin-China is too weak to drive 150 sickly Frenchmen from the gates of its capital . Russia takes slices from Turkey at her own convenience . An English remonstrance sends the Shereef of Mecca into exile . The

action of Persia is regulated from St . Petersburg !! . The King of Siam speaks English , and releases Europeans from the operations of his laws . Malaga is a tributary of a London bonding-warehouse . The

islands of the Archipelago arc ruled by princes who succeed or fail , as they please or displease the Dutch . In China , the Emperor of one-third of the human race has had his capital entered , his palace

burned , and absolute submission extorted from him , by an Anglo-Saxon army , half as large as his own body-guard . Japan , the last of these Eastern peoples , is succumbing to the power of these nations . " What

is the marvellous phenomena which passes before our eyes ? It is a phenomena to which history shows us no parallel . It is evident that among the Christian nations , bv some means , and for some reason , there

has appeared an energy hitherto unknown among men . There is a power which is breaking every yoke , of body and of mind , and setting all captives free . And this , because , first of all , it sets thought

freeor , rather , it creates tnought , by which man releases and engages in his service

agencies that have slept in the cavern of nature during all past ages . This Divine influence , in the countries into which it has been introduced , has created for us modes

of thought and principles of action from which no man can escape . Its effects have been accumulating for ages , and in many ways . The influence penetrates into every family , every society , every institution , and

every government . It influences and directs evcy educational effort , and becomes , recognised and unrecognised , as universal in its operations as the air we breathe . All literature , even language itself , becomes

impregnated with it . ]' c becomes part of our mental nature , and thence it builds up organs in the brain itself , so as to fix its foundations in the corporeal structures of

men . Its claims continually become more urgent . It quickens intellect and the moral nature . It continually becomes E ' ss possible to resist it without visibl y sinkinf to

ruin by its rejection . Even bad men arc obliged to pay deference to its righteous principles , while labouring to depreciate and destroy the medium through which thev

come . Before this power , old corporations , old religions , and old systems stand paralysed . Among the Anglo-Saxon nations , alone , has tins new power appeared , and the rest are withering away , like the trees

of a forest in the breath , of a conflagration . It is but stating a simple fact to say that they " sit in darkness "—it is as though an

infernal power had enarmed them into a living death . They wait , benumbed and torpid , some change which no one foresees which may awaken them to new life , or utterly destroy them .

“The Freemason: 1871-09-02, Page 4” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 19 Oct. 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fvl/issues/fvl_02091871/page/4/.
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FREDERICK the GREAT as a MASON Article 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS. Article 3
FREEMASONRY & ISRAELITISM. Article 3
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS OF GRAND LODGE OF IRELAND. Article 5
COMMITTEES OF TASTE. Article 6
ABERDEEN RECORDS.—No III. Article 6
GRAND LODGE. Article 7
Reports of Masonic Meetings. Article 7
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BUSINESS to be TRANSACTED IN GRAND LODGE. Article 8
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. Article 9
Multum in Parbo, or Masonic Notes and Queries. Article 9
Obituary. Article 10
BRO. WILLIAM ANDERSON, Article 10
Original Correspondence. Article 11
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Article 12
LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF A NEW SCHOOL AT WORMHILL. Article 13
Poetry. Article 13
THE PLAIN OF PHILISTIA. Article 13
METROPOLITAN MASONIC MEETINGS Article 14
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

under Egbert ( A . D . 827 ) , the sole descendant of those first conquerors of Britain . His grandson , the great Alfred , settled the kingdom upon a basis which has never been subverted , and developed those institutions

of which Englishmen are justly proud , and which they are gradually-spreading throughout the earth . The preponderating power of the aristocracy , which grew out of the feudal system , has , at various times , menaced

the monarchy , but the revolutions through which the country has passed have left the monarchy intact ; and with the short interregnum , during which the supreme power was exercised by Oliver Cromwell , the

institution has been sustained , and has ilourished , the throne being filled by the descendants of the Geta ;—Saxon , Norman ,

and German . No other people can point to such a line of kings ; and no man who finds a place on the page of history has given birth to such a line of sovereigns .

In the review I have taken of the migrations , conquests , and settlements of the Israelites , as represented in that great branch of the stem known asAnglo-Saxons , I have incidentally noticed their

instrumentality in conferring upon peoples who Avere previously fast bound in the chains of barbarism the blessings of religion and civilisation . It has , by dint of frequent iteration , become almost the fashion with

Englishmen to speak depreciatingly of England , and to compare her unfavourably with her former self . It would almost seem as if Englishmen had become ashamed of patriotism , and that it was heroic to

depreciate and degrade their country . But that is an hallucination that will have its crisis and die out . He who reviews the past of England , and justly estimates her present place and character in the world , will not hesitate to apostrophise her as

" Fair Amphitritc ofthe northern wave ! The hardy mother of tlie great and brave ! Thy strength tlioti ciost not wield to crush , oppress , Disturb a world , or make men's pleasures less .

Thou bid ' st injustice cease , and right be done , Hailing , as brothers , all beneath the sun : The oppres ' t afar ne ' er plead to thee in vain , The slave that plucks thy robe . lets fall his chain The exiled , wronged , whate ' er their sorrows be , Haste to thy side , and lind a friend in theo . "

She has been , as in God ' s providence she was destined to be , the standard cf the Lord to the nations , who were to be exalted in knowledge and in the fear of the Lord , through the presence and in association

with His people , lhcy were to be given as a covenant of the people ; to restore the earth and replenish the desolate places ( Isa . xlix . 8 ) . Tite same Providence which distributed the people , and settled the

boundaries of their habitations , at the dispersion of Babel , fixing and limiting their possessions so as to lav out a field , as it were , to

bc cultivated and made fruitful by the seed of Jacob , in the latter days , is too evidently accomplished to leave the high purposes of God a matter of doubt . It has been well

said , that " the events of history have the coherence and unity of a mora ! drama ;" and God , according to His ancient promises , has made the commerce , tlie political influence , the naval and military prowess ,

the language and literatim . ' , the civil liberty and the religious enlightenment of the Anglo-Saxons of these our islands , the means of leavening the work ] , impressing the progressive race of mankind with , holy

principles towards God , with the honourable desire , and the stedfnst resolution ol obtaining better governments than the old

despotisms , and a purer faith than the ancient supcrstitutions . So that the old political and religious absolutist ;!? , which

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

were founded upon the assumption , that states and churches should be established for the benefit of priests and rulers alone , should , instead , bc founded , established , and

preserved for the peace , happiness , and benefit of the ruled and rulers alike . As Emerson says , " England has inoculated all nations with her civilisations , intelligence , and tastes . "

When we look through the world , and notice the changes that are taking place , though accompanied by many troubles and much suffering , may we not hope that we arc approaching the time when every nation

shall regard itself as one political and religious society , honouring and encouraging each other to honour and worship the God of Israel , whose name shall be feared from the west , and His glorv from the rising of

the sun ( Isa . lix . 19 ) . Whatever brightness distinguishes the aspect of society at the present day , is almost wholly due to the principles which the Anglo-Saxons have carried abroad . Heathen virtue received its

broadest expansion in the exercise of patriotism , not always free from personal bigotry and pride ; but philanthropy is the nobler product of a more catholic and holy faith . " The dark places of the earth are

full of the habitations of cruelty , " but the light of The Truth has humanized and expanded the affections , and revealed more clearly the mutual brotherhood of mankind . There is much corruption and misery still

m the world , but the world is much better than it was . Bad as war is , it is not the frightful thing it was . The world is not now owned by a few despots as uncontrolled and as cruel as were the monarchs of

ancient times . Formerly , the great mass of every nation was in a state of bondage , far more oppressive and galling than that under which the negro has groaned in modern times , and when their slaves grew

too numerous they were massacred by thousands . Wc feel that there is something in the very air which makes these things now impossible . We call it public opinion , for lack - of knowing what it is . It

is easy to give it a name ; but what has given this public opinion its power , and how has this public , opinion been formed ? Was there no public opinion in those old times ? Whv is the tyrant much more

susceptible now than then ? Why is he so much more powerless for evil ? The Greeks were educated men , yet they murdered their Helots without mercy . The Romans were famed for their manliness and

spirit of justice , yet 80 , 000 01 them could assemble in the amphitheatre , to see . and exult over , men and women being thrown to the lions . It is the spirit which the Amdo-Saxons have been the means of t \\ f-

fu ^ iivj ; which ra i-iing and liberating the nations—nothing else has ever had the •power , i . et it be observed , too , that there can scarcely be said to lie any living" power outside of Christendom . The aboriginal

races of America , Australia , arid . Polynesia , if they do not become absorbed , as few oi " them do , die out . Of Asia , the seat ofthe great ancient empires , and the oracles of civilisation an intelligent observer thus

wrote in 1861 , and it is more forcibly true now : "The vast Asiatic monarchies do not merely yield to an external pressure ; they are all , simultaneous ')' , rotting clown . The Sultan with difficulty holds together the

shattered fragments of his empire . His a .-r . iy is weal :, I -, is finances are dependent upon loans from Pari .-: and London , his cities are universally decaying . In India ,

trie only vitality left is that of Europeans . The educated Hindoos , whatever the ' u merits , have' Jost alll their originality

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

Indeed , if our experience in Hindostan is to be our guide , the vital force of the Asiatic is extinct . For two whole years ( during the great mutiny ) the people of Upper India were practically free . All

India , thus fairly brought , to the test , did not produce one statesman , one organizer , one leader , with more than the capacity of a bandit . The race who organised the system of castes placidly mimicked the

conqueror ' s notions of civil order . The King of Burma . li lives on small monopolies of produce , and his empire is maintained only because its profitable provinces are in English hands . The empire of

Cochin-China is too weak to drive 150 sickly Frenchmen from the gates of its capital . Russia takes slices from Turkey at her own convenience . An English remonstrance sends the Shereef of Mecca into exile . The

action of Persia is regulated from St . Petersburg !! . The King of Siam speaks English , and releases Europeans from the operations of his laws . Malaga is a tributary of a London bonding-warehouse . The

islands of the Archipelago arc ruled by princes who succeed or fail , as they please or displease the Dutch . In China , the Emperor of one-third of the human race has had his capital entered , his palace

burned , and absolute submission extorted from him , by an Anglo-Saxon army , half as large as his own body-guard . Japan , the last of these Eastern peoples , is succumbing to the power of these nations . " What

is the marvellous phenomena which passes before our eyes ? It is a phenomena to which history shows us no parallel . It is evident that among the Christian nations , bv some means , and for some reason , there

has appeared an energy hitherto unknown among men . There is a power which is breaking every yoke , of body and of mind , and setting all captives free . And this , because , first of all , it sets thought

freeor , rather , it creates tnought , by which man releases and engages in his service

agencies that have slept in the cavern of nature during all past ages . This Divine influence , in the countries into which it has been introduced , has created for us modes

of thought and principles of action from which no man can escape . Its effects have been accumulating for ages , and in many ways . The influence penetrates into every family , every society , every institution , and

every government . It influences and directs evcy educational effort , and becomes , recognised and unrecognised , as universal in its operations as the air we breathe . All literature , even language itself , becomes

impregnated with it . ]' c becomes part of our mental nature , and thence it builds up organs in the brain itself , so as to fix its foundations in the corporeal structures of

men . Its claims continually become more urgent . It quickens intellect and the moral nature . It continually becomes E ' ss possible to resist it without visibl y sinkinf to

ruin by its rejection . Even bad men arc obliged to pay deference to its righteous principles , while labouring to depreciate and destroy the medium through which thev

come . Before this power , old corporations , old religions , and old systems stand paralysed . Among the Anglo-Saxon nations , alone , has tins new power appeared , and the rest are withering away , like the trees

of a forest in the breath , of a conflagration . It is but stating a simple fact to say that they " sit in darkness "—it is as though an

infernal power had enarmed them into a living death . They wait , benumbed and torpid , some change which no one foresees which may awaken them to new life , or utterly destroy them .

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