Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

372 JOPPA
JOSHUA
Lodge of Antiquity, of which William Preston
was a member, and of whom Jones was an intimate
friend, and one of his executors . Preston
had thoroughly instructed him in his
system, and after the death of that distinguished
Mason, he was the first to fill the appointment
of Prestonian lecturer . In 1797 he
published Masonic Miscellanies in Prose and
Poetry, which went through many editions,
the last being that of 1811 . In a graceful dedication
to Preston he acknowledges his indebtedness
to him for any insight that he may
have acquired into the nature and design of
Masonry . In 1816 he contributed the article
"Masonry or *reemasonry" to the Encyclopedia
Londinensis . In 1821 after the
death of Preston, he published an edition of the
Illustrations, with Additions and Corrections .
Bro . Matthew Cooke (London Freemasons'
Magazine, September, 1859) says of him :
"In the Masonic Craft, Bro . Jones was very
deeply versed . He was a man of genial sympathies,
and a great promoter of social gatherings."
John Britton the architect, who knew
him well, says of him (Autobiog ., p . 302), that
"he was a man of mild disposition, strict honesty,
great industry, and unblemished character
." In his latter days he was in embarrassed
circumstances, and derived pecuniary
aid from the Literary Fund. He died, on December
20, 1828, of dropsy, in King Street,
Holborn, London .
Joppa. A town of Palestine and the seaport
of Jerusalem, from which it is distant
about forty miles in a westerly direction . It
was here that the King of Tyre sent ships
laden with timber and marble to be forwarded
overland to Solomon for the construction of
the Temple . Its shore is exceedingly rough,
and much dreaded by navigators, who, on account
of its exposure, and the perpendicularity
of its banks, are compelled to be perpetually
on their guard . The following extract
from the narrative of the Baron Geramb, a
Trappist, who visited the Holy Land in 1842,
will be interesting to Mark Masters . "Yesterday
morning at daybreak, boats put off and
surrounded the vessel to take us to the town
(of Joppa), the access to which is difficult on
account of the numerous rocks that present to
view their bare flanks . The walls were covered
with spectators, attracted by curiosity . The
boats being much lower than the bridge, upon
which one is obliged to climb, and having no
ladder, the landing is not effected without danger.
More than once it has happened that passengers,
in springing out, have broken their
limbs ; and we might have met with the like
accident, if several persons had not hastened to
our assistance ." (Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and
Mount Sinai, vol . i., p. 27 .) The place is now
called Jaffa.
Joram . (Heb ., D11y, excelsus.) One of
three architects sent by Solomon to superintend
the cutting and preparing of timber .
Jordan. A river of Judea, on the banks of
which occurred the slaughter of the Ephraimites,
which is alluded to in the Second Degree .
Jordan, Charles Stephen . Secret coun-
selor of the King of Prussia, and Vice-President
of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin,
was born in the year 1700, and died in the
year 1745. In the year 1740, he founded
with the Baron von Bielfeld, the Lodge of
Three Globes at Berlin, of which he was Secretary
until the time of his death .
Jordan, Fords of the . The exact locality
of these fords (or "passages," as the Bible
terms them) cannot now be designated, but
most likely they were those nearly due east
of Seikoot, and opposite Mizpah . At these
fords, in summer time, the water is not more
than three or four feet deep, the bottom being
composed of a hard limestone rock . If, as
some think, the fords thirty miles higher up
are those referred to the same desexiption will
apply . At either place, the Jordan is about
eighty feet wide ; its banks encumbered by
a dense growth of tamarisks, cane, willows,
thorn bushes, and other low vegetation of the
shrubby and thorny sorts, which make it difficult
even to approach the margin of the
stream . The Arabs cross the river at the present
day, at stages of low water, at a number of
fords, from the one near the point where the
Jordan leaves the sea of Galilee, down to the
Pilgrims' Ford, six miles above the Dead Sea .
(Morris, Freemasonry in the Holy Land, p . 316 .)
Joseph II. This emperor of Germany,
who succeeded his mother Maria Theresa, at
one time encouraged the Masons in his dominions,
and, notwithstanding the efforts of the
priests to prevent it, issued a decree in 1785,
written, says Lenning, by his own hand,
which permitted the meetings of Lodges
under certain restrictions as to number . In
this decree he says :
"In return for their compliance with this
ordinance, the government accords to the
Freemasons welcome, protection, and liberty ;
leaving entirely to their own direction the control
of their members and their constitutions .
The government will not attempt to penetrate
into their mysteries .
"Following these directions, the Order of
Freemasons, in which body are comprised a
great number of worthy men who are wellknown
to me, may become useful to the
state ."
But the Austrian Masons did not enjoy this
tolerance long ; the Emperor at length yielded
to the counsels and the influence of the bigoted
priesthood, and in 1789 the ordinance was
rescinded, and the Lodges were forbidden to
congregate under the severest penalties .
Josephus, Flavlus . A Jewish author who
lived in the first century, and wrote in Greek,
among other works, a History of the Jews, to
which recourse has been had in some of the
high degrees, such as the Prince of Jerusalem
and Knight of the Red Cross, or Red Cross of
Babylon, for details in framing their rituals .
Joshaphat, Son of Ahilud . The name of
the Orator in the degree of Provost and Judge,
A . A. Scottish Rite .
Joshua. The high priest who, with Zerubbabel
the Prince of Judah, superintended
the rebuilding of the Temple after the Baby-