Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the posterity of Cain became exceedingly wicked, every one successively dying one after the other, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies; and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behaviour, in acting unjustly, and doing injury for gain.
Josephus
Antiquities of the Jews, A.D. 93
Ex. (Pressing his thumb as before): "What is this ?"Vis.: "The pass-grip of a Master Mason."
Ex.: "Has this a name?"
Vis.: "It has."
Ex.: "Will you give it to me ?"
Vis.: "I did not so receive it, neither will I so impart it."
Ex.: "How will you dispose of it?"
Vis.: "I will syllable it with you."
Ex.: "Syllable it and begin."
Vis.: "No, you begin."
Ex.: "You must begin."
Vis.: "Bal."
Ex.:. "Tu."
Vis.: "Cain."
Ex.: "Tubal."
Vis.: "Tubal-Cain."
From: "B"
Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 7:23 PM
Subject: Inappropriate and misleading use of word "two-bowl-can" in a TV sit-comI am a young brother from Toronto, Ontario. I need guidance and comfort of some kind. I need to know that I am not the only one who found this sad, cheap and incorrect. What happened is in my opinion untrue, misleading and harmful to the image of one of very few things in my life which I hold dear and think of something very pure.
Last week (Friday Dec 6th 2002) I watched re-runs of one of my favorite TV sit-coms: The NewsRadio on A&E channel. The show is easy to watch, doesn't require viewers to follow it religiously, characters are witty, plots simple... I like it (or should I say, I once did).
I was unpleasantly surprised by the plot of the episode which aired on Friday Dec 6th 2002 around 9:30am ET on A&E. The jest of the plot was: The owner of the radio station, Mr. James, purchased movie memorabilia form an unreliable source and wanted to sue since the merchandise turned out to be fake. As his legal council in Mr. James' case against the seller, who turns out to be a minor to make the matter funnier, appears the radio station's electrician--Joe. Why? Why would an electrician make a good legal council? Because Joe knows a certain secret and knows how to harness its power. Joe claims that all, or most, of judges are Masons and that there is a certain word which when spoken makes judges find in your favor, after which verdict judges must go off to a secret cave and paddle themselves with large paddles with letter "M" on them. At first Mr. James was skeptical and I had hoped that this would be the end of it, but when Mr. James insisted that Joe disclose the secret word, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear Joe speak out the word which many of us would find very familiar and which sounds a lot like: "true-bowl-cane". The show goes on, and we are laughing at the display of junk Mr. James had bought and is trying hard to present to a judge as evidence of con by the youngster, who is defending himself with calculations of a full fledged lawyer... The sentencing is upon us and the show is near its end and I am hoping that it will be objective and dismiss Joe's wild allegation and sure enough the judge is criticizing Mr. James for wasting courts time by listing all the evidence and having all this brought to court in the first place. And when the judge gives a mean look and asks Mr. James if he has anything else to add, Mr. James' "legal council", Joe, quickly leans over and whispers something to Mr. James who carries out loud: "TRUE-BOWL-CANE", to which to my surprise judge turns from disliking Mr. James to say that he finds in Mr. James' favor and convicts the boy to one year in juvenile detention. And while the boy is being dragged away by the court's clerk, and while Mr. James is shaking hands with Joe, while I am shaking my head in disgust, the judge is leaving the court room with a big red paddle with letter "M" inside a circle on its top.
Now, am I the only one who feels like asking why this was necessary?
Fraternally yours and just blowing some steam off,
B
Metropolitan Lodge No.542
Toronto, Ontario
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, A.D. 93
Such is the individual Tubal Cain that Freemasonry puts on a pedestal for all Masons to emulate.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Mathew, Chapter 23
Keystone Kraft Koncepts
(G.L.O.S.)
1. Adam and
Eve had two sons. The elder of them was named Cain, which name,
when it is interpreted, signifies a possession; the younger was
Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daughters. Now the
two brethren were pleased with different courses of life; for
Abel, the younger, was a lover of righteousness, and believing
that God was present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue,
and his employment was that of a shephard. But Cain was not only
very wicked in other respects, but was wholly intent upon
getting, and he first contrived to plough the ground. He slew his
brother on the occasion following: They had resolved to sacrifice
to God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his
husbandry; but Abel brought milk, and the first-fruits of his
flocks; but God was more delighted with the latter oblation when
he honoured with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he
was with what was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by
forcing the ground; whence it was that Cain was very angry that
Abel was preferred by God before him; and he slew his brother,
and hid his dead body, thinking to escape discovery. But God,
knowing what had been done, came to Cain, and asked him what was
become of his brother, because he had not seen him of many days,
whereas he used to observe them conversing together at other
times. But Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not what
answer to give God. At first he said that he was himself at a
loss about his brother's disappearance; but when he was provoked
by God, who pressed him vehemently, as resolving to know what the
matter was, he replied he was not his brothers guardian or
keeper, nor was he an observer of what he did. But in return, God
convicted Cain as having been the murderer of his brother; and
said, "I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not what is become of
a man whom thou thyself has destroyed." God therefore did not
inflict the punishment [of death] upon him, on account of his
offering sacrifice, and thereby making supplication to Him not to
be extreme in his wrath to him; but He made him accursed, and
threatened his posterity in the seventh generation. He also cast
him, together with his wife, out of that land. And when he was
afraid that in wandering about he should fall among wild beasts,
and by that means perish, God bid him not to entertain such a
melancholy suspicion, and to go over all the earth without fear
of what mischief he might suffer from wild beasts; and setting a
mark upon him that he might be known, he commanded him to
depart.