The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARand probably assisted Joseph at his trade, that ofcarpenter. Joseph is not mentioned again in theGospels, and is supposed to have died before Christentered on his public labors.When Jesus was about thirty years old,his kinsman, John, the son of Zacharias, beganto announce the near approach of the kingdomof God and to call his countrymen to preparefor itby a moral reformation, and by acceptingbaptism at his hands as a sign of the remissionof sin. Jesus appeared among thethrongs which gathered about John the Baptistat the Jordan, and insisted on being baptizedby him. After John had reluctantly administeredthe rite to one whom he feltby a kind of propheticinstinct, as it would seem, to be holier than himself,he was shown that Jesus was the Messiah, the Sonof God, and he announced him as such to thoseabout him.After his baptism a few of John's disciplesattached themselves to Jesus, and accompaniedhim to Galilee. He then went to Jerusalemand began his public ministry and announced himselfto the heads of the nation there as a messengerof Heaven, by expelling from the temple courtthose who had been allowed to carry on traffic init for the convenience of worshipers. One memberof the Sanhedrim,* Nicodemus,* became at thistime a secret adherent of the new prophet. Fora few months Jesus carried on a work in Judeasimilar to that in which John the Baptist was engaged,and seemed to be co-operating with the latterin the effort to bring about a national repentance.But as attempts were being made to create118