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

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARpies who ever afterwards maintained towards eachother an attitude of estrangement and hostility. Inthe following year Jeroboam, king of Israel, abolishedthe worship of Jehovah and established thatof the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. The priestsand Levites and pious Israelites leave their possessionsin the kingdom of Israel and are incorporatedin the kingdom of Judah.The Temple retained its splendor only thirtythreeyears, for in the year 971 B. C., Shishak, theking of Egypt, made war upon the king of Judah,took Jerusalem and carried away the choicest treasures.From that time to the period of its final destructionthe history of the Temple is but a historyof alternate spoliations and repairs, of profanationsand idolatry and subsequent restorations to a purityof worship."& After the completion of the Temple, having finishedthat great work, and filled all Judea with templesand palaces and walled cities (II. Chron. xi. ;I.Kings ix. ) , having enriched and beautified Gezer,Baalah and Tadmor with the results of their genius,many of these "cunning workmen," or membersof the Fraternity of Architects, passed intoGreece, Rome, Spain, and other countries, wherevertheir services could be employed in the erectionof famous edifices for which the ancient worldis justly celebrated. # iftrAbout the year 721 B. C. the army of ShalmaneserIV., king of Assyria, invaded Samaria, thehome of the descendants of the ten revolted tribes,captured the city of Samaria, the capital, and