Papers On The Great Pyramid.

forth before I interest myself in this subject , for until the certainty of the dates is established even the history of the past is enveloped in a cloud , ancl we walk as men blindfolded . It cannot be for nothing that during the last thirty years the histories of E gypt , Babylon and Nineveh have been unfolded to our eyes , and the fetters of false traditions , which , because written , obtained credence as history , burst asunder . The clay cannot be

far distant when the systems of Bible dates now in use in our schools and colleges will be revised , and the biblical history , no longer distorted by false dates , stand forth as " apples of gold in pictures of silver . " If any woidd like to learn the effect of modern researches on the conventional system of chronology now in vogue , I can refer them to the writings of Mr . Bosanquet , F . R . A . S ., etc . in the Transactions of the Biblical Archaeological Society for 1874 and 1876

, where will be found many proofs which I was unable to adduce in my own work . I have to thank Colonel Gawler for calling my attention to Mr . Bosanqiiet ' s labours , for although his conclusions do not exactly agree with the Great Pyramid chronology , they come so near as to constitute a most important ancl ' unbiassed confirmation . I am alluding now , of course , to that period where proof is attainable from the concurrent histories of Assyria and Egypt . He lowers the dates throughout the monarchial period

of Israel ' s history , twenty-five years ; and if he falls into errors in the closing years of Judah's monarchy and the times of the destruction and re-building of the Temple , it is the result of the conflicting accoimts of that period ,, ancl no proof of the correctness of the present conventional dates . Indeed he does not hesitate to affirm , that while these dates are allowed to disfigure sacred history , it is in vain to attempt to find any confirmation of it in the monumental records of Egypt ancl Assyria . He says they tend to bring the

sacred writings into disrepute , and have already cast doubts on the Book of Daniel . Now the Pyramid chronology lowers the dates about thirty years dining the duration of the great Masonic temple of King Solomon , and ninety-nine at the completion of the re-building under Zerubbabel , at the same time that it makes the return from captivity coincide with the first year of XERXES . This is perfectly consistent with both sacred and profane history , ancl will also account for the existence of the tradition which made Josephus connect the great Persian monarch with a return of the Jews instead of the return , which he had already recorded as having occurred in the reign of Cxims the Mede , who was not ancl could not be the Cnnis ihe Persian of Chronicles ancl Ezra .

Having m another place gone into the subject in its historical bearings as fully as I am able , I do not intend saying more here on this point , but will conclude with " a few suggestions connected with the two reckonings as they appear to me to have been likel y to be affected by , or be the outcome of , oral tradition . We are so accustomed to reckon Ancient History according to the years before Christ , that we are bable to pass over lightly the earlier reckonings which must have been in

common use . Let it now be understood that I am claiming nothing for Freemasonry beyond the preservation b y its means of certain traditions which from time to time may from various causes have been in clanger of falling into oblivion , . or through the prevalence of other teaching have been abandoned as untenable . Such a view is neither preposterous nor founded on exaggerated ideas of Masonic teaching . We simply say that a traditional history must have lingered in the minds of menancl that in succeeding generations the

, more earnest and enbghtened men may have sought to preserve such particular truths as appeared to them important by means of a process of initiation of disciples who were sworn to be true to the trust given to them to hand on . Ancient History affords ample proof that such was indeed the case , and therefore it is not unreasonable to believe that Freemasonry in its modern form may have had its rise in such a necessity . Now the merest tyro in Masonic literature must be aware that whatever traditions

may linger in the Craft , they are pre-eminently of an Israelitish character , ancl although referring remotely to a previous connection with E gypt , are associated -with a great event in the national history of Israel . It therefore follows that the ori ginal retailers of the traditions must have been Israelites , for on no other ground can we account for the