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Article THE GREAT PYRAMID AND FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 Article THE GREAT PYRAMID AND FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 →
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The Great Pyramid And Freemasonry.
THE GREAT PYRAMID AND FREEMASONRY .
\\]~ & have before now raised our feeble protest against VV the far too common practice which some people delight in of associating with Freemasonry all tho most illustrious men that have ever lived and the grandest , the most imposing , and the most beautiful of the thousands on thousands of edifices which have in different ages been erected
by the skill and ingenuity of man . It is to this extreme audacity of association or appropriation that our fraternity is indebted for most of the ridicule with which it is surrounded . How is it possible for a brother to preserve even the outward semblance of gravity when he is constantly being
told of Grand Masters Noah , Abraham , Solomon , St . John , of mythical Sfc . John Lodges afc Jerusalem , which never existed , of the attempted erection of the Tower of Babel as marking an epoch in the history of the Craft ? There is quite enough of what is interesting and instructive in
Freemasonry without importing into its history an almost countless array of the most nonsensical myths . There is no country and hardly a human institution of olden time which has not a mythical period in its history , which is
very amusing to read , and which ifc almost amounts to high treason to call in question . Many of these wonderful stories when they came to be analysed by a master mind , are shown to nave had their origin in very ordinary occurrences , while others never could have rested even on the flimsiest
basis . But though the educated Mason is quite willing to allow this in the history of his own country , or in those of other countries , ancient and modern , it never strikes him that the myths of Freemasonry come under the same category of entertaining but utterly untrustworthy stories .
He rejects disdainfully what is ridiculous in the history of his own country , yet blindly accepts what is equally ridiculous in that of his own Craft . We cannot bring ourselves to regard this contrast with anything like a reasonable degree of patience .
In an article we published some weeks since on " Sermonising in Freemasonry , " we laughed at the idea that Adam , Noah , the Patriarchs generally , King Solomon , Euclid , Pythagoras , St . Alban , and a host of other major or minor celebrities should be set down as Grand Masters
of Freemasonry , and that every edifice which has graced or disgraced this mundane sphere of ours , from the Tower of Babel to the Royal Albert Hall at South Kensington , has been the work of the Mason Craft in their
speculative rather than their operative capacity . We regret this all the more because we are well satisfied there is no human institution which can honestly lay claim to a more respectable antiquity than this Freemasonry of ours . In a certain sense ifc is co-existent with the human race .
Its germs were implanted in the mind of man when the Creator fashioned him . after His own image , and even in the darkest epochs of the world ' s history those germs have never been wholly eradicated . Is not Freemasonry a system of morality , and can we imagine the Great Architect
omitting to inspire His grandest creation with the ability to distinguish between right and wrong , which after all is the quintessence of morality ? And as man gradually became more civilised , so this power of distinction became stronger . The various philosophies
which have been taught in different countries and ages are merely moralities more or less complete and elaborate , some of them being simplicity itself , while others were veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbols . Nor is it difficult to elucidate this truth by tracing the history of
our Craft through the various stages of its existence from its purely speculative phase of the present day back to the philosophies of Rome , Greece , Egypt , India . That is to say , the great truths of science and their practical application to morals will be found at the bottom of all the
various systems of philosophy which have ever been promulgated . In what are known as the dark ages these scientific truths were carefully preserved by the architects , just as the monks were the connecting link between the
men of learning of ancient and modern times . But when we exceed this point and seriously claim to enrol the great men of all ages and countries as Grand Masters of the Craft , we as seriously imperil our claims upon the respect of the world . We sacrifice the substance for the mere
shadow , and become justly entitled to the ridicule which is heaped upon us . Last week we transferred to our pagea from those of the
The Great Pyramid And Freemasonry.
North Star certain letters on the connection between the Great Pyramid and Freemasonry . Elsewhere in the present number will be found two more reproduced from the same journal , and bearing on the same subject . Now we readil y admit the intense interest which all true Masons must take
in whatsoever relates to this grand old structure , this monument which still testifies so magnificently to the civilization of ancient Egypt . We are prepared to accept the statement that it was not erected to serve as a sepulchre . We allow that it is quite possible to deduce certai n
important Masonic truths from the plan of its building , but our enthusiasm is not equal to accepting the dictum that "the Great Ppramid is the very womb and mother of pure Masonry , as re-instituted by the Grand Master Shem himself . " We agree with much that Bro . Cockburn-Muir says
as to the grave ignorance of the great bulk of the brethren of the " simplest elementary facts about the Great Pyramid . " Moreover it is amusing to read such smart sarcasms as that "ifc has become possible , " owing to sundry pre-explained reasons " for scientific charlatanry to
affirm the evolution of a man ( let alone a woman ) out of a marine ascidian ; " but even if it be the case that " it was Shem himself who designed , ordered , and conducted the construction of that , the first , and the only true , Pyramid , and who constrained Cheops to provide the material and
labour , " ifc does not , in our humble judgment , follow that the Pyramid in question is a Masonic structure in the sense in which we Masons use the word now a-days , or " that it is the very womb and mother of pure Masonry , as re-instituted by the Grand Master Shem himself . "
Again as " Kilwinning " remarks , there may be " certain Pyramid relations which all Masons will recognise as closely connected with pure Masonry . " Thus " the north-east socket-stone may declare itself the Master-stone by being as big as the other three together . " We all know afc which
corner to lay the foundation stone of a building . We accept the description of the same correspondent that " all the work of the interior begins N . E . and finishes in the Coffer Chamber S . W . The Coffer is at the West End of the Westernmost Chamber of the Pyramid . The altar of
the Tabernacle and Temple was West to the setting of the Sun of the old dispensation , implying the hope and faith of the great rising again of the Son of Righteousness . Every Master Mason must see what must have been the symbolic purport of the Coffer , and in ihe ] West , if he knows
any thing of Hiram . " Again it may well be , in the judgment of the same " Kilwinning " that " the dimensions and arrangements of the passages and chambers declare the three degrees in the plainest language . The low cramped entrance adit is the initiation to the first degree , namely , the Grand
Gallery nearly 30 feefc high . The short , low , cramped passage from tbe Gallery to tbe Ante-Chamber is the passing to the second degree , and the longer and more cramped passage to the Coffer Chamber is the raising to the third degree . " This reads well , as does the
statement that , " in the Temple ( the geometric and numerical system of which and that of the Tabernacle is identical with that of the Pyramid , which , ifc could not be , were the latter a false and spurious thing ) the nethermost chamber was five cubits , and the third seven . " Moreover ,
" the Pyramid has five corners , five points . ' But what then ? and how are we justified in concluding that it waa constructed by " the Shemitic Grand Lodge , " and when being so constructed was " tyled , " so that no " Egyptian or Cowan " was enabled to see its interior .
In the first of the two letters we publish to-day , Bro . Cockburn-Muir writes that " Manetho , the Mendesian , was an Egyptian priest , initiated , therefore , into all the traditions . Through him we learn that the Great Pyramid was built under the influence of a foreign intruder , who
obtained such influence over the King Cheops ( Khufu ) , as to persuade him to ' disestablish' the Gods which the priesthood had invented . " At a subsequent period " this foreign prince retired with his people—a numerous tribeto Palestine , where he founded the city afterwards called
Jerusalem—that is , Salem . Now , the title , not the name , of the King of Salem was Malchi-Tsedek , which is , ' by interpretation , ' King of Righteousness . There was but one man who could assume that title , and combine with it the office of hierarch . That was Shem , the successor of
Noah , the Tsadik , the Righteous . In the time of Abraham there was but one prince greater than he , to whom he could pay tithe . That was Shem . " Later on we read that , " he who knows what manner of thing the Pyramid is , who knows the facts of it , and who knows how to read the book
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Great Pyramid And Freemasonry.
THE GREAT PYRAMID AND FREEMASONRY .
\\]~ & have before now raised our feeble protest against VV the far too common practice which some people delight in of associating with Freemasonry all tho most illustrious men that have ever lived and the grandest , the most imposing , and the most beautiful of the thousands on thousands of edifices which have in different ages been erected
by the skill and ingenuity of man . It is to this extreme audacity of association or appropriation that our fraternity is indebted for most of the ridicule with which it is surrounded . How is it possible for a brother to preserve even the outward semblance of gravity when he is constantly being
told of Grand Masters Noah , Abraham , Solomon , St . John , of mythical Sfc . John Lodges afc Jerusalem , which never existed , of the attempted erection of the Tower of Babel as marking an epoch in the history of the Craft ? There is quite enough of what is interesting and instructive in
Freemasonry without importing into its history an almost countless array of the most nonsensical myths . There is no country and hardly a human institution of olden time which has not a mythical period in its history , which is
very amusing to read , and which ifc almost amounts to high treason to call in question . Many of these wonderful stories when they came to be analysed by a master mind , are shown to nave had their origin in very ordinary occurrences , while others never could have rested even on the flimsiest
basis . But though the educated Mason is quite willing to allow this in the history of his own country , or in those of other countries , ancient and modern , it never strikes him that the myths of Freemasonry come under the same category of entertaining but utterly untrustworthy stories .
He rejects disdainfully what is ridiculous in the history of his own country , yet blindly accepts what is equally ridiculous in that of his own Craft . We cannot bring ourselves to regard this contrast with anything like a reasonable degree of patience .
In an article we published some weeks since on " Sermonising in Freemasonry , " we laughed at the idea that Adam , Noah , the Patriarchs generally , King Solomon , Euclid , Pythagoras , St . Alban , and a host of other major or minor celebrities should be set down as Grand Masters
of Freemasonry , and that every edifice which has graced or disgraced this mundane sphere of ours , from the Tower of Babel to the Royal Albert Hall at South Kensington , has been the work of the Mason Craft in their
speculative rather than their operative capacity . We regret this all the more because we are well satisfied there is no human institution which can honestly lay claim to a more respectable antiquity than this Freemasonry of ours . In a certain sense ifc is co-existent with the human race .
Its germs were implanted in the mind of man when the Creator fashioned him . after His own image , and even in the darkest epochs of the world ' s history those germs have never been wholly eradicated . Is not Freemasonry a system of morality , and can we imagine the Great Architect
omitting to inspire His grandest creation with the ability to distinguish between right and wrong , which after all is the quintessence of morality ? And as man gradually became more civilised , so this power of distinction became stronger . The various philosophies
which have been taught in different countries and ages are merely moralities more or less complete and elaborate , some of them being simplicity itself , while others were veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbols . Nor is it difficult to elucidate this truth by tracing the history of
our Craft through the various stages of its existence from its purely speculative phase of the present day back to the philosophies of Rome , Greece , Egypt , India . That is to say , the great truths of science and their practical application to morals will be found at the bottom of all the
various systems of philosophy which have ever been promulgated . In what are known as the dark ages these scientific truths were carefully preserved by the architects , just as the monks were the connecting link between the
men of learning of ancient and modern times . But when we exceed this point and seriously claim to enrol the great men of all ages and countries as Grand Masters of the Craft , we as seriously imperil our claims upon the respect of the world . We sacrifice the substance for the mere
shadow , and become justly entitled to the ridicule which is heaped upon us . Last week we transferred to our pagea from those of the
The Great Pyramid And Freemasonry.
North Star certain letters on the connection between the Great Pyramid and Freemasonry . Elsewhere in the present number will be found two more reproduced from the same journal , and bearing on the same subject . Now we readil y admit the intense interest which all true Masons must take
in whatsoever relates to this grand old structure , this monument which still testifies so magnificently to the civilization of ancient Egypt . We are prepared to accept the statement that it was not erected to serve as a sepulchre . We allow that it is quite possible to deduce certai n
important Masonic truths from the plan of its building , but our enthusiasm is not equal to accepting the dictum that "the Great Ppramid is the very womb and mother of pure Masonry , as re-instituted by the Grand Master Shem himself . " We agree with much that Bro . Cockburn-Muir says
as to the grave ignorance of the great bulk of the brethren of the " simplest elementary facts about the Great Pyramid . " Moreover it is amusing to read such smart sarcasms as that "ifc has become possible , " owing to sundry pre-explained reasons " for scientific charlatanry to
affirm the evolution of a man ( let alone a woman ) out of a marine ascidian ; " but even if it be the case that " it was Shem himself who designed , ordered , and conducted the construction of that , the first , and the only true , Pyramid , and who constrained Cheops to provide the material and
labour , " ifc does not , in our humble judgment , follow that the Pyramid in question is a Masonic structure in the sense in which we Masons use the word now a-days , or " that it is the very womb and mother of pure Masonry , as re-instituted by the Grand Master Shem himself . "
Again as " Kilwinning " remarks , there may be " certain Pyramid relations which all Masons will recognise as closely connected with pure Masonry . " Thus " the north-east socket-stone may declare itself the Master-stone by being as big as the other three together . " We all know afc which
corner to lay the foundation stone of a building . We accept the description of the same correspondent that " all the work of the interior begins N . E . and finishes in the Coffer Chamber S . W . The Coffer is at the West End of the Westernmost Chamber of the Pyramid . The altar of
the Tabernacle and Temple was West to the setting of the Sun of the old dispensation , implying the hope and faith of the great rising again of the Son of Righteousness . Every Master Mason must see what must have been the symbolic purport of the Coffer , and in ihe ] West , if he knows
any thing of Hiram . " Again it may well be , in the judgment of the same " Kilwinning " that " the dimensions and arrangements of the passages and chambers declare the three degrees in the plainest language . The low cramped entrance adit is the initiation to the first degree , namely , the Grand
Gallery nearly 30 feefc high . The short , low , cramped passage from tbe Gallery to tbe Ante-Chamber is the passing to the second degree , and the longer and more cramped passage to the Coffer Chamber is the raising to the third degree . " This reads well , as does the
statement that , " in the Temple ( the geometric and numerical system of which and that of the Tabernacle is identical with that of the Pyramid , which , ifc could not be , were the latter a false and spurious thing ) the nethermost chamber was five cubits , and the third seven . " Moreover ,
" the Pyramid has five corners , five points . ' But what then ? and how are we justified in concluding that it waa constructed by " the Shemitic Grand Lodge , " and when being so constructed was " tyled , " so that no " Egyptian or Cowan " was enabled to see its interior .
In the first of the two letters we publish to-day , Bro . Cockburn-Muir writes that " Manetho , the Mendesian , was an Egyptian priest , initiated , therefore , into all the traditions . Through him we learn that the Great Pyramid was built under the influence of a foreign intruder , who
obtained such influence over the King Cheops ( Khufu ) , as to persuade him to ' disestablish' the Gods which the priesthood had invented . " At a subsequent period " this foreign prince retired with his people—a numerous tribeto Palestine , where he founded the city afterwards called
Jerusalem—that is , Salem . Now , the title , not the name , of the King of Salem was Malchi-Tsedek , which is , ' by interpretation , ' King of Righteousness . There was but one man who could assume that title , and combine with it the office of hierarch . That was Shem , the successor of
Noah , the Tsadik , the Righteous . In the time of Abraham there was but one prince greater than he , to whom he could pay tithe . That was Shem . " Later on we read that , " he who knows what manner of thing the Pyramid is , who knows the facts of it , and who knows how to read the book