Papers On The Great Pyramid.

Iii order to render each paper as complete as possible in itself , Ave "will divide the subject under five heads , and , discussing first the building itself , will proceed to consider the times in which it was built ; AVIIO the builders Avere ; why they built it ; and what it teaches . Since one of the chief points which I Avish Masonic readers to impartially consider is the origin of the Craft at the building of the Great Pyramid , I may as well state here

that Avherever any matter concerning the Pyramid itself appears to me to bear upon Masonic tradition , I shall endeavour to support it by such authorities as are free from any suspicion of having then vieAvs influenced by Masonic teaching . Thus , should any Mason note anything in the theories of Professor Piazzi Smyth which may tend to explain certain difficult points in the ritual of the Craft , he may safely conclude that the connection is quite unintentional on his partfor that gentleman isas yet , far from

, , being prepossessed in favour of the Order . Where , too , find Prof . Smyth ' s theories vioAved from a Masonic standpoint , corroborated by so competent an authority as Mr . llichard A . Proctor , Ave shall , I assume , he proceeding hy steps sufficiently sure , if we Avalk at the same time by the light of that Sacred Volume Avhich shoidd ever be as a lamp to guide our feet .

That the building itself is Avorthy the attention of every true Mason Avill appear when we consider that of all the stately buildings Avhich the hand of Man , instructed and aided by Science , has reared upon the face of the earth , there is , ancl has been , none Avhich could equal , much less excel , that stupendous monument of Masonry , Avhich , after the lapse of more than four thousand years , still speaks to men of the mighty dead ivho have gone before , and extorts a wondering admiration of their labours .

But there is in the building something more than at first meets the eye ; something wMch tells of a purpose ancl design in its construction Avhich stamps it Avith a character purely its own . Mr . James Bonwick , in his recently published Pyramid Facts and Fancies , a hook from Avhich I shall frequently have occasion to quote , after impartially giving a general review of Pyramid theoriesancient and modernthus decides : —" There is something

, , in the pyramid ; and men who see what others cannot , would not see if derided for their second sight , may yet be proved to haA'e a vision true and clear . " Situated on the 30 th degree of latitude north , and about 31 ° longitude east of Greenwich , * the Great Pyramid stands , not only centrally Avith regard to the countries composing what is popularly termed the Old World , but also on the geographical centre of the land surface of the whole Avorld .

Standing , then , m this unique position , upon a four-square base whose sides are perfectl y oriented—that is , correspond exactly with the cardinal directions—it rises to a . point at that peculiar angle which gives as its result that the height is the radius of a circle AA'hose circumference is equal to that of the base . It thus presents , or rather , did present—though throughout these papers we shall consider the Avork in its perfect state , as Avhen the builders completed their labours—a perfect specimen of that peculiar style of architecture which has ahvays been regarded as emblematic of stabilityand this

, may he the import of its name in the Arabic tongue , Haram , Avhich is variously translated to signify an old structure , or a holy place . But this meaning is doubtful , as it is considered " very possible that the Egyptians might have written 'HRAM , Avithout any voAvel , after the aspirated consonant , "t To the figure of a pyramid as the typo of strength for endurance , or stability , the British Constitution is happily compared ; nor uideed is there other stle of monument Avhich could contest its claims in this

any y Aspect . Into its external structure two classes of limestone entered . For the squared but ^ finished structural masonry , the nummulitic limestone of the levelled rock upon which it is built was used ; but for the finished casing stones a more compact white milestone from the eastern side of the Nile was obtained . Into the levelled rock were