A Lexicon of Freemasonry - The Masonic Trowel

70 CAP-CAR
and his jewel is a level surmounted by a cock, the ;nblem of
courage .
CAPTIVITY . Solomon having erected and dedicated a tem .
ple to Jehovah, died in the year of the world 3029 . His dome,
nions did not long retain their integrity, for during the reign of
his son and successor, Rehoboam, ten of the tribes revolted
against his authority ; and thus the separate kingdoms of Judah
and Israel were established, the temple remaining in the possession
of the former . After a series of events unnecessary to be
narrated here, the city of Jerusalem was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar,
and after a year's siege, was surrendered at midnight, in
the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, to Nebuzaradan, the
captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guards . Nebuzaradan, having rifled
the temple of its sacred vessels and its two pillars at the entrance
of the porch, set it and the city on fire, on the tenth day of the
fifth month, corresponding to the latter part of July ; and conveyed
those of the people who had escaped the sword, as captives
to Babylon . Here they remained in servitude, until they were
released by Cyrus, king of Persia, who, in the first year of his
reign, published that famous decree which liberated the Hebrew
captives, and permitted them to rebuild ' 1 the city and house of
the Lord ."* Many interesting circumstances in relation to this
captivity, and its termination, are interspersed through some of
the higher degrees, such as the Royal Arch, the Red Cross
Knight, Knight of the East, and to parts of Jerusalem .
CARDINAL VIRTUES . These are Prudence, Fortitude,
Temperance, and Justice . They are dilated on in the first degree
; and the practice of them urged upon the candidate, by
certain striking s .7usions Prince of the ceremonies of initiation .
* Lightfoot says that the seventy years of the captivity began in the third
year of Jehoiakim and terminated in the first year of Cyrus, which he dates
Aano Mandi 3470 . Harmony of the Four Evang. Proleg. ~ vii .