Freemasonry And The Great Pyramid.

antagonism to all idea of wedge-like keystones and the whole principle of arch construction . In the first place , we are given to understand that , in accordance with the geometrical character of the proposed building , the entire 13 acres formjrg its foundation was carefully levelled ; whence it follows that the architect must have been aware of the curvature of the earth ' s surface , which dips

something like eight inches in a mile—an appreciable quantity , therefore , in the foundation of a building which measures laterally one-seventh of a mile , or diagonally one-fifth of a mile , across—a quantity fjr too great to be neg lected by the planner of a building intended to remain stable for full . j . 000 years , and which thus , when duly conforming to the laws of geometry , would stand not upon a fat , but upon a rounded surface ; and therefore

the sides of at least its casing stones could not , if they were truly vertical , be truly parallel any one with another ; neither could the stones be truly square , if properly fitting together with such fineness of joint as has been described by all competent critics , but must of necessity have been keyed or sli ghtly wedge-shaped , and having the top of the individual stone somewhat broader than the bottom .

This may seem a startling proposition to advance in respect of what has hitherto been deemed the mathematical perfection of the outer shape of the Great Pyramid , which is described as having nothing but truly straight lines and truly flat surfaces . Proof not being obtainable from the delapidated building itself , the next best proceeding will be to examine a loose casing stone wherever found ; and fortunately there is one such stone , which the

writer was a few years ago privileged to inspect as it reposed within the honoured protection of a glass case in the official residence of the Astronomer-Royal for Scotland . This is the casing stone tint was discovered by Mr . Waynman Dixon , C . E ., in the year 1872 , loose , and forming part of the hill of rubbish lying on the north side of the building ; it is not a very large one , but it is fairly well preserved , and is believed to be the largest one

that has ever been brought into scientific notice , the roughly stated dimensions being : height , 20 6 in . ; bottom depth , 36 7 in . ; top depth , 20-3 in . ; sloping height , 26-2 in . ; breadth , 25-5 in ( average ); this last dimension being so near to that of the sacred cubit of 25 in ., and which really occurs somewhere about six inches above the foot , as to lead Piazzi Smyth to conclude for the stone-squarer ' s intention to record the cubit in this manner .

Whatever may have been intended in this direction , there can be no doubt as to the fact of this particular stone being a keystone , and probably the finishing stone of one course , since it was shaped not only for keying downwards , but also for dovetailing forwards , and has all its sides , except the bevelled slope , very slightly hollowed—no doubt to receive extra cement . It seems , moreover , to have given the delapidators some trouble to get out ,

since it has suffered tremendous violence by falls or blows . There is . 1 full and interesting description of this stone contained in an appendix to the second edition of " Our Inheritance , " giving dimensions and other particulars which leave no doubt as to the justice of what is here advanced , viz ., the back is broader than the front , and the top of the face is broader than the bottom ,

which has been reduced from 26-2 in . to 24 ' 9 in ., or a difference of 1 * 3 in ., a quantity , we hasten to admit , far beyond the necessary amount of keying required in conforming to the curvature of the earth ' s surface , but none the less evidencing an intention of the builder to let us know that he full y appreciated everything requisite lo ensure the everlasting stability of the structure .

It may be proper to observe that the interior arrangements of the Great Pyramid orig inally provided for the insertion at crucial points of three (// rrm ' -keystones , or corner-stones . But , as has been shown in the series of papers in the Banner for 1890 , where it is pointed out that this building gives the pattern for the temple of Solomon , these were not in any sense keystones , but rather seals or veils ; the first being the movable casing stone ,

which in some way could be swung open to admit the visitor to the Descending Passage answering to the porch or outer court ; the second being the prismoidal-shaped stone which formed part of the roof of this same passage , and which fell from its position during the blasting operations of the Caliph Al Mamoun , disclosing the Ascending Passage leading to the Grand Gallery ,

symbolical of the temple sanctuary or holy place ; and the third being a portion of the flooring of this Grand Gallery of whose going nothing is recorded , but which must have consisted of one or more flat stone slabs supported upon five jcists , and which sealed or concealed the commencement of the level passage leading to the thus triply-veiled Queen ' s Chamber , answering to the temple oracle or holy of holies . —The Banner .

Cheap Masonry.

CHEAP MASONRY .

It is difficult to determine just what should be the pecuniary requirement for the conferring of the Degrees and Orders which appertain to the 'Masonic system . No exact money equivalent can be named . A sum that might properly be charged in one locality would be too much or too little in another section where different conditions prevail . Obviously the cost of

becoming a Mason , and of taking the various steps that mark its advancing ways , must vary a good deal according to local conditions , which ought to he considered in passing upon the question of fees ; but there are certain princi ples which everywhere should be recognised and have governing force .

The proposition may be laid down at the very outset that the fees for initiation , and for advancement through each and every grade , should be ample to provide for pleasant , well furnished , and carefully kept halls and other apartments , together with all the accessories essential to thc conferring

° f Degrees in an impressive and attractive manner . If too small a sum is charged there will need to be a restriction made in the work and ceremony , The instruction given will not be complete ; or it will lack the accessories of music and of such surroundings and ministries as are specially he pful to the work .

'f Freemasonry is to be dignified in its organic life provision must pe made for the conferring of Degrees on a liberal basis . If the best is'to be sought for there must be a generous expenditure to make the Work of the lodge attractive as well as instructive , while the social and estive side of the institution must likewise be recognised . The fees

Cheap Masonry.

must be kept sufficiently high to allow of these arrangements and provisions which seem every way desirable . It is said , indeed , that Freemasonry would live and flourish if shorn of all these aids and accessories ; and the argument is sometimes advanced that it would be just as well for the Fraternity if everything was made much plainer in ceremony and work , halls left u'tdecorated , music and other aids to the

exemplification of the ritual discarded , and banquets and festivals put on one side . The essentials of the Masonic system mi gir . be preserved uiichr such restrictions ; but it would be a barren and comparatively unattractive Freemasonry that would be thus expressed . The organisation would surely deteriorate under such a rule of procedure . A half century or more ago there were unauthorised assemblages of men who called themselves Masons ,

and who pretended to confer the Craft Degn-es on ignorant candidates , from whom a small fee was required . The work done was of the rudest character , and the Masons thus irregularly made could have no standing in the Craft . They might have been instructed in signs , grips , and words , but they were not taught the principles of Freemasonry , and not only on technical grounds ,

but for other reasons they were justly kept outside the lines of the legitimate and well-ordered Craft institution . It was cheap Masonry thus represented for a time in the unauthorised associations of anti-Masonic times , and even the pittance required for the conferring of Degrees under such conditions was more than they were worth .

The fees charged for Masonic initiation and advancement , while not made so exorbitant as to bar out deserving applicants of moderate means , ought to be fixed at a sufficiently high rate to furnish the means for a liberal expenditure in the ways already noted , and also to signify to the public that the institution holds its instructions and its membership to be of value according to the money standards of the world .

Just now our attention is called to the action taken by the Grand Chapter of Canada , at its recent convocation , in reducing the fees to be required by the subordinate chapters to the sum of ten dollars . This reduction seems to imply a cheapening of Freemasonry . Ten dollars is certainly too low a fee for the conferring of the Degrees of Capitular Masonry , whether in Canada or the United States . The result of fixing the rate at so Iowa figure can hardly

be otherwise than detrimental to the best interests of the Craft . The Toronto Freemason takes this view . It says : " Capitular Masonry at present enjoys a boom , consequent upon the recent reduction of fees . Chapters report from 10 to 30 applications for exaltation at each meeting , and this state of affairs is likely to continue until the novelty wears off . We are

opposed to cheap Masonry , and feel now firmly convinced that in a year or two Royal Arch Masonry will be looked upon by the Craft as a ' job lot . ' This is ' bargain day' in Capitular Masonry in Canada , and reducing the fees must ultimately result in the wiping out of the Capitular branch . The subordinate Degrees will be eliminated , and the Rjyal Arch incorporated with the M . M , Degree in the Blue system . "

It would not be altogether an evil , in the opinion of thc present writer , if the result hinted at in the closing sentence of tli 2 foregoing excerpt should be brought about . The Royal Arch Degree belorgs to the Blue system . It might well be incorporated therein ; but we do not believe in doing evil that good may come . The reduction of fees by the Grand Chapter of Canada , as loo \ e J at from our point of view , seems both an unwise and an inexpedient measure . —Freemasons' Repository .

ANTKJUITV OK FREEMASONRY . —This , indeed , is the "crux" of Masonic investigations and discussions . Even to-day we find it very difficult to speak clearly or write confidently on the subject . The earlier views of Masonic history are , to a great extent , abandoned , on account of their unscientific treatment and uncritical handling of history and chronology ; but there is a danger , as it seems to us , lest we should fall too much into the views of the pure realistic school . The truth , in our opinion , lies as mostly in a " via media " —may we not say always ?

Our present speculative system , in its modern development , is undoubtedly lineally and archreologically the successor of the Guild Fraternities of Operative Masons . But whence , it may be asked , did the Guilds obtain the Masonic legends ? Bro . Findel and a large and abie school contend that the system was , so to say , set up in the thirteenth century by the lodges , or " Bauhiitten , " of Steinmetzen and Operative Masons in Germany . But another bocy of students has always existed , and still exists , which would trace back the

Anglo-Saxon Guilds to Roman Guilds , and the Roman Guilds to Greece and the East , to Tyre and Jerusalem , and Egypt above all . And we are not inclined , we confess , to give up either the legend of the Temple , or even a connection with the ancient mysteries altogether . We believe , indeed , that the Masonic Guild system is one which to a certain extent became independent of all other initiatory or probationary systems , but not altogether ; and though it does exist self-made , so to say , by the natural course of things and the needful changes

of time , yet it does preserve in it traces of a quondam connection with the ancient mysteries , which for a long time retained many lingering evidences of prim .-eval truth . It is in this sense that we understand many of the high-flown claims and much ot the hyperbole of earlier Masonic writers . Believing , as they evidently did , that the mysteries preserved carefully the remnants of antediluvian teaching , of patriarchal wisdom , they have used languarge no doubt not historically defensible , and we fear we must say calculated to mislead . But accepting , as Bro . Dr .

Oliver did too , and his school generally , the theory that all rights of initiatory probation or occult teaching had a common origin , and that origin the mysteries , they have perhaps rather confounded the thing signified with the thing itself , and have demanded for Freemasonry proper , as a building sodality , actually , and historically too early a date , and ceitainly too many patrons . But as we believe that error lurks under either extreme of the sentimental or the realistic school , we prefer the more moderate

and not the less reasonable theory which regards Freemisonry as the product of mediaeval guilds , but those guilds the successors of earlier guilds , thus linking on Freemasonry through many centuries to the building societies of the old world . We repeat that we see no reason to take away from our universal Craft the ancient and striking legend of the Temple , for it is in itself a vary remarkable landmark in the great drifting desert of time , and is a very distinct and unvarying portion of our Masonic Legend . Dr . Oliver , indeed , seems to bin : that the

lemple theory is more or less derived from a Rosicrucian work termed " Naometria or Temple Measuring , " & c , 160 O . But we cannot agree with him , for this reason—that the Judaic history of Freem isonry is of very early date in the MS . Constitutions . We therefore leave the subject here . It is one on which Freemasons themselves will always differ , and it is not likely to be settled easily or soon . It is a subject , moreover , on which it is in vain for any one to

dogmatise , as so much may be said on both sidei that we can a . id must only agree to differ . We do not allude , as will be noted , to any knightly explanation , or to those which would connect Freemasonry with the " Discipliiu Arcani , " or even with Scandinavian mysteries , or , indeed , to any other of the marvellous suggestions which have cropped up from time to time , as we believe them to b- ' , especially on the simple ground of cause and effect , critically unteniblj and historically unsound . —Kcnning ' s Cyctojuedia of Freemasonry .