Consecration Of The Chertsey Abbey Chapter, No. 2120.

ceremony , were now re-admitted , and thc following officers were appointed and invested ; Comp . 1 * 1 . | . Bidwell , S . E . ; G . B . Smallpiece , S . N . ; F .. T . Madeley , Treas . ; XX ' . H . Gardener , P . S . ; and J . Webb , ist A . S . On the proposition of the M . E . Z ., a very hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the companions who had assisted in the conscctation ceremony ,

and they were then unanimously elected honorary members of thc chapter , a compliment which was accepted by Comp . thc Rev . J . Studholme Brownrigg on behalf of his colleagues and himself . Two joining members ancl six candidates for exaltation having been proposed , the chapter was closed . '

An exccllpnt banquet then took place , followed by the usual toasts : " The Queen and Royal Arch Masonry ; " " The Most Excellent Grand Z ., H . R . H . the Prince of Wales ; " " The M . E . Pro Grand '/ .., the Karl of Lathom ; thc Grand H ., the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe ; the Grand J ., W . W . Beach , M . P . ; and the rest of the Grand Officers , Present and Past . "

Comp . the Rev . J . STI'BHOI . MK BROWNRIGG , Grand Supt ., Bucks , in response , said it gave him great pleasure to be present to assist in the consecration of the Chertsey Abbey Chapter , he also was pleased that he had the privilege of installing the Grand Supt ., Comp . Col . G . Noel Money , as first M . E . Z ., and hoped that on some future occasion he should be present to see the working of the chapter .

'lhe next toast was " lhe Grand Superintendent of Surrey , Col . G . Noel Money , C . B ,, " to which the GRAND SUPERINTENDENT responded . "The Prov . Grand H ., Comp . Frederick West ; the Prov . Grand J ., Comp . Major Bowles ; and thc rest of the Prov . Grand Officers , Present and Past , " having been proposed , Comp . MAJOR BOWLES responded in suitable

terms . "The Consecrating and Installing Principals" was then given , and responded to by Comp . FRANK RICHARDSON . Comps . C . T . TYLER and H . C . LEIGH BENNETT responded to thc toast

of " lhe Principals . " Comp . C . PULMAN responded to the foast of "The Visitors . " " The Officers of the Chapter " having been responded to b y Comps . BIDWELL , WEBB and MADELEY ; the Janitor ' s toast closed the proceedings . The banquet was served by Comp . G . J . Mason , Janitor .

Freemasonry And The Great Pyramid.

FREEMASONRY AND THE GREAT PYRAMID .

BY H . R . SHAW . The following Article appears in the New Year ' s Number of The C-mner , and , in the belief lhat it will prove interesting to many of our readers , we transfer it , with the permission of the writer , to our columns .

I . —I X T RODUCTOR Y . The connection between the Great Pyramid of Jeezeh , in Egypt , and what may be termed the science of Anglo-Israel ism , is tolerably well known to thc readers of the Banner ; but , for the benefit of those readers of this New Year ' s number to whom the subject may by any possibility be entirel y new , it must be briefl y staled that , whereas we hold that in the written word of God , commonly called the Holy Bible , may be found a true and complete

account , historical and prophetic , of thc- setting apart by God Almighty of a peculiar and chosen people to perform His honourable work and extend His kingdom upon earth , so we believe that in the building of the Great Pyramid —in , but , like the Israelites , not of Egypt—we have a stone record of the same subjects of history and prophecy , and that both these records alike point unmistakably to us British or English-speaking peoples as being the veritable Israelitish seed to whom the ancient promises of God werc made , to the exclusion nationally of all other peoples .

I here is this difference , however , to be noted between the two volumes the written Word tells in plain literary language all about thc genesis and past and future history of this chosen race ; how they have been raised , have fallen , have sinned , and have repented or shall repent , have been divided , cast out , dispersed , but shall be restored to favour , re-discovered , united , and brought home to the land of their inheritance , and Irom thence in peace shall

rule the world under their Messiah , the Lord Jesus Christ ; while the stone book , although telling practicall y the same story , tells it without any letter of written language whatsoever , and tells it , moreover , to nobody except he have a Hebrew mind , or at least thc Hebrew God of Israel in his mind , and the inch-dividing measuring rod of Great Britain in his hand . How these inches of the Pyramid , which are inches derived from the earth ' s axis of

rotation , and differ only microscopically from our modern British inches , do give the key for reading off in the building the main historical and prophetical facts of Israel ' s career , as well as the elucidation of many marvellous facts of cosmic science , is well known to readers of past volumes of the Banner , or may be found described in detail in the pages of Pinzzi Smyth ' s " Our Inheritance , " and smaller treatises founded thereon , including " the present writer ' s " Egyptian Enigma . "

More recently , however , it has been sought to show that there is an inseparable connection between the principles of ancient Freemasonry and the building of the Great Pyramid ; and , considering the widespread influence which has of late years undoubtedly been acquired by this Fraternity , which has long boasted the future King of England as head of its English branches it would be manifestly of great importance to Anglo-Israelites (' nothing

short , we conceive , of demonstrating the identity of thc two sciences ) if it could be reasonably proved that ( here does exi < -t any close connrclion between Freemasonry and the Great Pyramid . But this is exactly what we fail to gather from the several treatises issued within the last io yc ** rs by Anglo-Israclite Pyramid students who claim lo be Freemasons , and whose works have been reviewed in the Banner with but little general enlightenment , we

fear , fhe several writers , four in number , fettered no dnnbt by their obligations of secrecy , succeed in presenting the outer world with very much Great Pyramid and very little Freemasonry ; nevertheless , a candid examination of what ihey have given us , joined with thc further information noted from other sources , induces us lo express the opinion , which we shall ask our present readers to .-. hare with us , that very probably the Greal

Pyramid and Freemasonry did originate together , and have much in common . Taking our four authors in the order of the coming to hand of their treatises , we find Mr . R . A . Brangwin a little hard upon both the Pyramid and the Freemasons ; for he declares lhat he will not believe the former if lhe latter cannot declare lhat Melchizcdek was the builder . Although this serious threat was uttered quile io years ago , we have not yet mcl wilh any

Freemasonry And The Great Pyramid.

such declaration as would satisf y Mr . Brangwin , so that we fear the Py . amid science has lost one adherent . Notwithstanding that hc also deprecates examination , lor purposes of comparison of the symbols and signs of Freemasonry with those of the Pyramid , we shall presentl y have to make some attempt in this direct ion , feeling sure of getting important results therefrom . Our next author is Mr . lohn Chapman , P . P . G . D . in Freemasonry , whose

pamphlet has the advantage of an introduction by Mr . W . J . Hughan , a still more exalted dignitary in the Craft , we believe ; and no doubt Mr . Chapman ' s Pyramid research deserves all the praise expressed by his introducer , as well as the favourable criticism passed by Piazzi Smith ; but there is , however , remarkably little Freemasonry to be gleaned therefrom by the uninitiated , although onc sentence may be found worthy of quotation , in which Mr .

Chapman says : " Both parts of the subject are alike illustrated by symbol ; and , while wc recognise in Freemasonry a peculiar system of morality , veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbol , wc also regard the Great Pyramid as a standard of cosmic and ethical truths delineated by the same characteristic . " The importance of this statement will be perceived when we come later on to point out how not only do both parts of Mr . Chapman ' s subject use symbols in their teaching , but both use the same symbols .

1 he chief contribution of Mr . W . C . Langley to our discussion is derived from thc obligation of secrecy known to be imposed upon all Freemasons , coupled with the undoubted secrecy originally imposed upon all the important parts of the Great Pyramid . He considers with much force of reason that the architect ' s only remedy against the premature disclosure of the secret of the

building ' s upper chambers was to place every one of the workmen under a binding oath not to disclose it , and an oath of no ordinary kind either , and he presumably , therefore , expects to find at the present day some record of these men and their building ; but he does not say whether he or his brethren hold this Great Pyramid knowledge now under oath or at all .

Mr . Thos . Holland ' s book consists of a number of Great Pyramid lectures delivered to his lodge of Freemasonry , and he takes us all over ' the Great Pyramid and much of the Anglo-Israel ground of discussion , and we must take occasion to refer in another paper to some of his items of information , since he comes to the remarkable conclusion that Freemasonry is quite an Israelitish thing , as well it may be , since it is founded , as he says , upon the volume of the Sacred Law or Hol y Bible . He informs us also that geometry ,

as the first and noblest of sciences , is the basis on which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected , because by it the architect is enabled to form his plans ; if this be true of Freemasonry , it is undoubtedly correct as regards the Great Pyramid , and will go far to explain the identity of their several symbols , when we shall presently come to examine them , and may probably lead us to the same conclusion to which Mr . Holland has arrived , that , if Freemasons did not build the Pyramid , the Pyramid built Freemasonry .

And now , leaving our Anglo-Israelite Freemasons for a time , we will conclude this introductorj' paper by producing an item of information which should be equall y interesting to the Masonic as to the general reader , since it goes far to support the conclusion that the Great Pyramid is really the depositor ) ' , at any rate , of some English Freemasonry . It must be premised , however , that in reading off what is known to Pyramid students as the floor

line of history and prophecy by means of our inch-chronology , we accept the principle that the Grand Gallery floor signifies the progress of Ten-tribed Israel during the Christian dispensation between A . D . I and a date yet future . We claim that during this term the tribes lose their identity in thc British nation and people , and we find by the Great Pyramid that at thc 1813 th inch of the Grand Gallery ' s ascent , answering to

1 S 13 A . D ., there comes a crisis in the history of British-Israel , indicated by thc obstructing Step , 3 6 inches , or one British yard in height , which breaks the regular ascent , but continues the pathway upon a level for some rather indefinite distance beyond . The significance of this break in the pathway may be briefly explained in thc words of Mr . Chapman , one of our previously quoted authors , who says :

" In that year , A . D . 1 S 13 , the British Government passed an Act of Parliament brought forward b y Wilberforce , which opened the Gates of India for the Gospel , so that from that date is marked the great missionary enterprise of this country . Doubtless this was a great step towards the final termination of the Gospel dispensation ; but it would not be a very difficult matter to prove , in addition to this fact , that the national policy of Great Britain

was at this period being pi : ced on a higher platform , both in the sight of Heaven and the various nations of the world , thereby duplicating the testimony of this important step . " And if we can show that English Freemasonry was just at this time taking a step ( as it was ) to become elevated upon a higher and level platform of progress , we must be held to have proved the case for some considerable connection between the two subjects . Our information is derived from two issues of the Freemason

newspaper , of the dates respectively of April 22 nd and March 4 th , 1893 , the first-mentioned of which contains a literary critique signed by Mr . W . J . Hughan , in the course of which he remarks : "Of the old Grand Lodges , the parents of regular Freemasonry throughout the world , only two concern any lodge outside England . These are the original Grand Lodges formed in 1717 , and known later on as the ' Moderns' or ' Prince ' s Masons , ' and the

Grand Lodge started in 1751 as a rival organisation , and called 'Ancients ' or'Atholl Masons . ' In December , 1813 , these joined , and constituted the ' United Grand Lodge of England , ' which continues happily to this day . " This story is confirmed and related with further detail in the other issue of the newspaper , where , in the report of the annual meeting of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , Bro . Thos . Fenn , the president , is stated to have

said , inter aila : "At the Union of thc two rival Grand Lodges in 1813 , the method of working the ceremonies was found to differ materially , and it became necessary that a uniform system should be agreed to which would be acceptable to both parties to the Union , and which could , without sacrifice of principle , be universally adopted . In accordance , therefore , with a special provision in thc Articles of Union , a warrant was issued for the formation of thc Lodge of Reconciliation , to consist of an equal

number of so-called Modems ' and ' Ancients , ' under thc presidency of Bro . Rev . Dr . Samuel Hemming . The duty assigned to this lodge was to construct from the elements of both systems a ritual which should receive the sanction and authority of the United Gr . ind Lodge . Not one word of this ritual was permitted to be written ; but it is recorded that the lodge completed its labours in 1816 , and they were formally approved and decided upon by the Grand Lodge in the same year , since which time no alterations have been made in the ritual or constitution of English Freemasonry . "

From the foregoing condensation of Mr . Fenn ' s interesting speech , it becomes evident that Freemasonry , Christianity , and British-Israel policy , each look a gr . at step upwards and onwaids during the same year 1813 A . D ., and precisely as indicated by thc Great Yard Step , which abruptly marks the 1 S 131 I 1 inch of the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid .