Grand Lodge Of Mark Master Masons.

FUND OF BENEVOLENCE . The Twenty-sixth Annual Festival was held at the Freemasons' Tavern on the t ith July , under the presidency of the R . W . Bro . Rt . Hon . the Earl of Yarborough , Provincial Grand Master for Lincolnshire , and the sum of £ 18 94 was announced as having been collected . _ _ The Board have elected on thc Educational Fund , without a poll , Richard Weldon Gee Gillmore ( Gibraltar ) .

The Board have to report the death , in July last , of an annuitant—Bro . Henry Miller ( Plymouth ) . The following cases have been relieved : A brother of Lodge No . 74 ... ... ... £ 10 o o A widow of a brother of Lodge No . 125 ... 10 o o A brother of Lodge No . 75 ... ... 10 o o A brother ol Lodge No . 311 ... ... 5 ° ° And the Board recommend to Grand Lodge— . £ 20 to the widow of a brother

of Lodge No . 354 . ( Signed ) R . LOVELAND LOVELAND , President . FRANK RICHARDSON , Vice-President . C . FITZGERALD M ATIER , G . Secretary .

Freemasonry And The Great Pyramid.

FREEMASONRY AND THE GREAT PYRAMID .

BY H . R . SHAW . ( Continued , from page 75 . J IV . —A FEW WORDS ox TRINITIES . Another symbol of Freemasonry very much apparently in vogue is that of the double triangle , so arranged as to form a six-pointed star—a symbol also

frequently found delineated in Christian Churches tocommemoratethe doctrine of the Holy Trinity , although the form is sometimes varied by interlacing the triangles , so that virtually a triple triangle is formed by the six straight lines of the figure . We do not , of course , pretend to say that Freemasonry adopts this figure as a symbol of any trinity , holy or otherwise . Our Masonic

friends must enlighten us upon this point if they will ; still from what has been allowed to transpire either in the pages of the books -now somewhat under review , or elsewhere , there can be no doubt that there is a decided tendency of the mysteries and virtues of ancient freemasonry to arrange themselves in the order of triplets or triads .

Thus , the certificate of membership in the order is publicly emblazoned with the figures of three classical columns ; but they stand apart from each other and have no apparent unity of purpose or even of design ; the Craft is arranged in three degrees or orders , as masters , craftsmen , and apprentices , but in this respect , nowise differing from the order observed in other

guilds and trade organisations whose mysteries are not necessarily ancient or secret . Several instances of the triad grouping of Masonic moral virtues may be gathered from Mr . Holland ' s book ; while Mr . Chapman assures us that Freemasons assign three several Masonic reasons for having their lodges situated as the Great

Pyramid is built with four truly oriented sides facing due north , south , east , and west . Still all . these triadsor triple groupings are by no means to be regarded as trinities , and our present object is , indeed , not to make any attempt to show that Masonry may inculcate the doctrine of trinity , but rather to prove that it makes use of the symbol elsewhere devoted to that

idea , and , further , that the symbol , and especially the idea , must originally have been enshrined within and derived from the Great Pyramid . And before leaving , this part of the subject it maybe interesting to note as a coincidence , if such it be , that our British-Israel Association have for some years adopted a badge , having on one face a representation in relief of this

same double triangle , avowedly commemorative of the Great Pyramid proportions , but said also by its designer to bj the traditional signet of King David , who , as we have shown in the Banner for 1 S 90 , obtained his pattern for the Lord ' s holy temple from this same Great Pyramid , and who was father to the wise king of Israel , who is claimed , we believe , by Freemasons to have been a very celebrated Grand Master in this Craft .

That the doctrine of the Holy Trinity may be found in the proportions of the Great Pyramid we shall hope conclusively to show , but we must first , perhaps , briefly state the doctrine which it is admitted is not to be found in its fully developed form in the Scriptures , although it is believed to be clearly revealed in its elements in the New Testament , and also to be indicated in

many of the statements aid revelations of the Old Testament . 1 his , luwever , we need not now discuss , since assuming all our present readers to be Christians , we cannot do better than refer to the elaborate statement to be found in the Athanasian creed , which asserts "that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity . " In this statement , which is repeated toward *

the end of thc disquisition , it will be perceived that the principal idea is tint of Unity—one God only ii to be worshipped , the three persons being quite a secondary , if not a subordinate consideration , notwithstanding that amongst themselves th : re is no subordination— " none is afore or after other , but the whole three persons are co-eternal toge her and co-equal . "

Now , in searching a building such as thc Great Pyramid for the symbol of this trinity , and bearing in mind that the structure has its origin in geometry , it will readily occur to the enquirer , that no better illustration could there be given than that of a triangle , and an equilateral triangle such as is constructed according to the formula prescribed by Euclid in his

celebrated first proposition in gcrmi * - * : ry . According to the geometers a triangle is generally defined as a figure of three sides , and its property of being three-angled is but in the subordinate position of . 1 necessiry consequence . This is obviously true , and forms , we consider , an admirable

exemplification of ihe Athanasian Trinity , which is not a collection of three gods but of one Godhead containing three persons ; thc triangle isa complete figure bounded by three rays from the infinite number contained within the circle , said rays being lines without breadth or substance , and terminating in points , having neither parts nor magnitude ; and it cannot be denied that

Freemasonry And The Great Pyramid.

just as the three persons are described as proceeding from the one invisible Godhead , so do the three angles of the equilateral triangle proceed from that figure being truly co-equal , co-existent , and co-eternal . As additional confirmation of the fact that it is the angles or fractions of the figure and not its sides or units that symbolise the three persons in _ trinity , it may be noted that the idea of a third person proceeding from the

other two is exactly expressed by angle in the construction of Euclid ' s triangle , where the apex or angle at C literally proceeds from the angles at the base A and B , while it cannot by any possibility b » averred that either of the sides proceeds from its fellows—the fact being , indeed , just the reverse . And we are somewhat supported in this view by Mr . Brangwin , who

observing that " each side of the Great Pyramid building is the expression of a trinity , one in three and three in one , " adds , "the base is nowhere without the lines leading to the headstone ; the headstone is an impossibility without the base . " But we by no means rest our argument for Great Pyramid Trinity symbols upon the form of its triangular faces .

It is said that tripartite divisions have had a special charm for philosophers of all ages ; our Latin-derived word tribe , according to the dictionary , originally signified a third part of the Roman people . P . Smyth informs us in " Life and Work , " that the ancient Egyptians divided their lunar month into three decades of days , and their year into three seasons viz .: Inundation , Growing , and Harvest ; while there can be no doubt of

the existence at the present day of tripartite subdivisions of unity , both genuine and travestied , which could only have been drawn from the Great Pyramid , or handed down to us from men who had been engaged upon that work . Some of these were set forth in the Banner for June 27 th , 188 3 where it was pointed out that our British shoe sizes or foot measures , differing entirely from the continental units , are accurately barleycorns , each

onethird of an inch , while there is a zero for infants' measures reaching to four inches , or one-third of a foot , which is itself one-third of a yard ; and another zero for adults' measures of S _ inches , or 25 barleycorns , which , of course , is equal to one-third of a sacred cubit ; these standard fractions of unity were then shown to be all derived , or easily derivable from the

Ante-Chamber of the Great Pyramid—the most striking amongst them being , of course , the barleycorn , or the fraction of the building ' s own prime unit inch derived from the earth's axis , and here represented both b y indication and also by direct measure of the height of a remarkable floor-stone above its fellows .

This example of the Great Pyramid barleycorn might well be held to prove its builder ' s recognition of the doctrine of a unity in trinity , but it is now to be added that the building has several other unit ' s subject to trinity , arid , at least , one of them a prime unit . We will say nothing of the unit yard and unit cubit , because it may be objected that they each form an aggregation ° f u * 1 ' inches ; except that they are found conjoined in the

Grand Gallery , in company with another single yard to form the measure of the remarkable Step , and that Mr . Brangwin finds this special combination occuring alio in the niche in the Queen ' s Chamber , and again in the lowest passage , or three times in all . There is , probably , a large unit of 100 inches , which would divide the perimeter of the building ' s base into the

number of days contained in the solar year , and this quasi-unit is found represented by its one-third fraction approximately in the Messianic Well symbol 33 ( 1 inches from the beginning of the Grand Gallery , and more accurately at the other end of the Gallery , where the ramp joint meets the surface of the Step at 333 inches from the south wall , and probably also it is expressed in the height of the flying exit from the Gallery , 33 inches , roughly .

But , again , tkere is a prime unit which may be termed the astronomical unit of 103 033 inches , forming Mr . Simpson ' s celebrated radius line , or half-breadth , wilh which he so marvellously sums the squares of the King ' s Chamber , and also found in two places , " set squarely" together in the Ante-Chamber . This dimension , it may be remembered , forms the side of a square equal in area with a circle having a circumference of 365-24 inchss , and for of its

proofs peculiar power as a prime unit of the building ' s proportions , readers must be referred to the writings already mentioned . What we now require to point out is that this unit has its tripartite fraction given in the building as the depth of the Coffer , 34 * 34 inches , a quantity , which , strange to say , is found doubled , or as two-thirds of unity , in the portion of the Grand Gallery floor-line concealed under the Step i 88 r 6—1813 = **** <* S <> inches . ¦ *

Another unit or quasi-unit of the building has its tripartite fraction , viz , the length of the Ante-Chamber 116-26 inches , which is equal in inches for days , to the diameter of the solar year circle of 3 ( 15 * 24 days , * and the required fraction is found in the breadth of the Coffer ' s base , 38 * 75- * , inches ; this last fraction being , according to Mr . Simpson , additionally noteworthy from an astronomical point of view , as the natural tangent of the angle formed by the Pyramid pole star ' s upper culmination , where the circle is represented by a circumference of 365 24 inches .

We have already suggested that false or travestied tripartite fractions of unity may have been drawn from the Great Pyramid by som ; of the uninitiated native workmen , and a sample of this proceeding is to be found m the Russian foot of 1375 inches , which forms one-third of what must have been the breadth of the movable outer door stone , allowing an eiehthof an

inch play on either side within an opening of 41 * 5 inches , or the undilap idated breadth of the passage way ; and it may be repeated as a remarkable fact 1 hit this irregular fraction is found multi plied by ten within the Antechamber , whose southern wall is built of ten Russian fett in granite , out is surmounted by one English foot in limestone , viz .: the hei ght is n 7 ' 4 '*' - 12-149 * 4 Pyramid inches .

•Space fails to give further illustrations of the indication of trinities , and even the-Holy Trinity within the Great Pyramid ' s proportions , as for insUtice , the Pythagoras triangle , really discovered b y Mr . Simpson in the King ' s Chamber , but so admirably portrayed by a writer in the first number of the International Standard , 1883 , as giving the spirit-line proceeding from the other two , which are not spirit-lints . We shall now await with interest any informal ion our Masonic friends may feel at liberty to give us as to what kind of trinity , if any , they commemorate in their triangles , — ''' '"' Banner .