Papers On The Great Pyramid.

early Masons were to leave no record of their secrets , and how , having finished their work , they appear to have been separated in the earth . Thus it is only by the survival of fragmentary traditions and by the guidance of the volume of the Sacred Law that we are able to see dimly into the darkness of the Past . Li shape , in place , in date , we have seen a marvellous agreement with Masonic tradition , —tradition which , like all other , must have had its rise in matters of fact . Events originate traditionsthough tradition oftenin course of time , so misplaces

, , and transforms the memory that it becomes useless . But what is the use of Masonry if it does not preserve a true tradition ? Can we not picture to ourselves how valueless it would be . The life-blood woidd be drained from the ritual . It would become a mere form , an empty show , a meaningless mummery . How then does this view of Masonry affect the rise and existence of the Order' ? Does it run counter to the views of the great Masonic writers who have found pleasure ancl honour in

the study of the history of the Craft . I think not . It the rather harmonises and blends theories which appear opposed mto one complete whole . There are who speak slightingly of what they term the exaggerated claims of Freemasonry , yet who is there , acquainted with history ancl not wilfully blinded by prejudice , who cannot conceive an unwritten memory of the Past being treasured through succeeding ages by men who told of the wonderful things that God did in their time ancl the old time before them' ?

To such a theory ol Masonry the Pyramid origin lends not only probability but absolute certainty . The connection of Speculative and Operative Masonry is placed on a satisfactory basis , ancl the latter proved to be the means of preserving the former , until the day is fully come when nothing shall be taught in secret that shall not be proclaimed publicly , and nothing hid that shall not be revealed . Little by little the darkness of the world has fled before the Li g ht , and the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man ceased to be a doctrine treasured in secret by the few who still

preserved a glimmering of the truth . In these days of wide-spread knowledge and multiplication of books there is a tendency to forget the times when the oral tradition formed the learning of the people . Nor could it be well otherwise when manuscripts were scarce and costly . Tet many of the older records are but written traditions more or less true . Some even would have it that the Scriptures themselves are but the traditions of a nationancl valuable only as

, such , and as containing clearer and more highly developed views of morality and philosophy . Traditions in truth they are , but their record is true , and the Sons of Light have ever jealously guarded them from corruption . We have seen how the master-builder of the Pyramid was guided in his work by the understanding of geometric truth , and thus sought to glorify God the Creator by

reference to His works as T . G . A . O . T . U ., and utterly refuted the idea of Chance being a factor iu the creation work by showing that the Universe itself was subject to certain established laws ancl bore evidence of preconceived plan and design . Thus it was not without reason that those instructed in the deep mysteries of the science which had ruled the proportions of this . early monument , should have attached a sacred import to the art of building , and hence the reason that the memory of the early work was handed on in connection with the Mason ' s craft .

" God in Nature , " the summation of the religion of the so-called Aryan races , does not , however , constitute a full revelation of the Divine Being . It lacks what is called the Semitic teaching of " God in History . " We know the early Egyptian faith centred on the great doctrines of the resurrection , and of future rewards ancl punishments . The Rev . E . B . Zincke calls this the Aryan faith , —an instinct which clings to the whole ' Aryan familyancl from the influence of which its members cannot escape . But

, even this is not enough , ancl though we were inclined to receive the teachings of the theory which classes all the great races of the earth under the term Aryan as entirel y distinct from the Semitic families , we could not as Masons accept ' a revelation which omitted to teach reverence and love for the Creator , not only as the Almighty Father , but also as the Supreme Director of the affairs of men ; which gave to its believers