George Washington's Bible

This afternoon, we saw George Washington's inaugural Bible.  It was awe inspiring to come face to face with this priceless artifact.  Washington's inauguration was unique in American history.  Many parallels exist between early American history and Old Testament Israel.  Some Bible Facts:

• This Bible was printed in 1767, at London, England by Mark Baskett, printer to the King.

• It contains 103 steel engravings of maps on Old Testament scenes by the English artist John Stuart.

• It is a King James version, complete with Apocrypha and elaborately supplemented with the historical, astronomical, and legal data of that period.

• The Bible was procured for St. John's Lodge by Jonathan Hampton who presented it to the lodge on becoming its Master in 1770.  St John's Lodge was founded in 1757, but it's property was destroyed in the great fire of lower Manhattan on March 8, 1770.

• The only people allowed to take an oath/declaration on the Bible are: The President of the United States, the Governor of the State of New York, the Grand Master of Masons in New York State, and the master-elect of St. John's Lodge.

• The Bible must be accompanied by three members of St. John's whenever the Bible travels.

• The Inaugural Bible weighs over 9 pounds and is over ten inches tall, over nine inches across and three inches deep.

Super neat.

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