Papers On The Great Pyramid.

my mind in the study of this question , and led to the enquiries and results recentl y published in the pages of "The Mystery of the Bible Dates Solved by ihe Great Pyramid . " Into the particulars of that inquiry I need not here enter , but it resulted in proving the year 2170 B . C . to be the natal year of the patriarch Abraham , Avith the history of Avhose descendants the existence of the Pyramid and the Craft is so mysteriously connected . Here , then , let- Mr . Proctor seek the rise of that astrology with Avhich he is so certain the building of the Great Pyramid Avas in some way connected . For did it not

commemorate , by reference to the starry spheres , the wonderful history of tho " Chosen People " and of men through the three degrees of their progress to the early truth and light—the Patriarchal , the Mosaic , and the Christian ; the last dispensation giving again to the human race the blessed hope of eternal life by the resurrection of the God-man , to whose birth , life , sufferings , death ancl resurrection the most ineffable secrets of the old heathen mysteries had pointed , ancl kept alive tho hope of human redemption and reconciliation with the Father , even in countries Avhere the Avritten testimonies of the prophets never reached . *

Is there any tradition extant connecting the patriarch Shorn ivith the building of any monument ? Joseplnis has such a tradition connected AA'ith the descendants of Seth , AA'ho are said to have built tAvo monuments in the land of Siriad—Egypt , the land of Sirius , or the Dog Star—in order to preserve the knowledge they had attained from loss in the coming deluge . Some haA'e imagined that Josephus has misplaced this tradition , AA'hich belonged by right to post-diluvian times . A similar tradition is also to bo found among the ArabsAvho relate that the

, Pyramids Avere built by the orders of the anle-diluvian king Saurid , Avho being warned in a dream of tho approaching catastrophe , called together his counsellors to consult as to the best means of securing the most valuable of their treasures . " This , " says Mr . James Boivwick , " is a version of the story of Shem engraving the learning of the old Avorld upon two pillars—Jachin and Boaz , Pillars of Iierculos . "t

where is there , then , such a tradition surviving , or from Avhat is the Avriter quoting 1—for in another place he says of the Pyramid : — "All the symbols of the Craft are there , and Avere there , and in the land of Egypt , thousands of years before the masonic temple of Jerusalem Avas reared by Solomon . It is not wonderful , therefore , that Masonic Avritcrs , particularly Continental and American ones , should have been more draAvn to the Pyramid than to tho Jachin and Boaz of the King of Israel , associated , on Biblical authority , Avith the two great centres of ancient mysticism , Phoenicia and Egypt . " j .

I must leave to others deeper versed in Masonic lore , or of a more extended acquaintance ivith the traditions of the past , to unravel the mystery further . So far as 1 am able to judge , the Aveight of evidence refers the building of the Great Pyramid to the Shemitic races . Individually , I strongly . incline to connect the second ancl third pyramids of the group Avith the other two families of man , but confess that such an opinion is founded up in conjecture merely , supported , maybe , by the theory '

maintained by Mr . AgneAV and Mr . John James Wild , that the three pyramids stand in scientific relation to each other , and form parts of one grand harmonious whole . § It Avould not be strange Avere this eventually to prove to bo the case , and it is interesting to note , in connection with this theory , that Avhereas the first pyramid is remarkable for the luisdom which has directed its proportions , the solid superstructure of tho second gives strength as its chief characteristic , while the third , from its original

casing of polished granite , obtained the palm for beauty . But I am IIOAV only professedly dealing Avith the first and greatest of these monuments , and must next proceed lo establish from the wisdom it contains the reasons Avhich induced the builders to erect it . Alfreton , March 25 th , 1878 . ( To be Continued . )