TAKE the oblong square first (a Masonic term). The form of Lodges is oblong Square. The length thereof is as great as the breadth; the length, and the breadth, and the height thereof are equal. This was the Heaven of Atum based or founded on the four quarters of the Solstices, and the equinoxes which followed the making of Amenta.
This sign or form was first used to represent the Zodiac, and is found at Esne and Denderah, and may be considered, therefore, as the origin or oldest form of our lodge. (Plates may be seen in Brugsch.)
The Square
is also very clearly depicted, symbolically, in the Egyptian Ritual
and is plainly shown in "The Book of the Dead," with
three figures seated on it-two represented by the figure of Maat
or Mati-Truth, Justice, Law, etc., the third figure being Osiris,
seated on the Square in the Judgment Hall. The Egyptian name is
Neka.
This Square you find depicted in many of the ancient temples and in the Great Pyramid, as two seats, one for Osiris and one for Maat-it is the Masonic Square.
This is portrayed as the corner-stone of the building, and the foundation of Eternal Law in the Court of Divine Justice.
The figures here exhibited are taken from the Egyptian Hall of judgment or Righteousness--PAPYRUS OF ANI.
One of these is, as you see, the great judge Osiris) and his Judgment Seat is modelled on the Masonic Square. [289] [290] Much is made in Masonry of "Acting on the Square," and here is the foundation of the whole matter.
In the Egyptian Maat or Hall of judgment, sits Osiris judging the dead upon the square that is imaged by the Masonic Square, which was first employed in squaring the stones of the builders, [291] and next in squaring the conduct in the sphere of morals of the Masonic Brotherhood, which in Egypt was as old as the brotherhood of the seven Khemmu or the seven Masons who assisted Ptah in building the heavens on the Square, of which the ideograph, in hieroglyphic language, is the Mason's square.
Ptah, in Egyptian mythology, was the first great Architect of the Universe, which he built with seven assistants, the Heavens on the Square, previously it was in the form of a triangle, and the "Stone-Squarers" date from this time. Ptah was the very great God who came into being in the earliest time: "Father of fathers, Power of powers, Father of beginnings and Creator of the eggs of the Sun and Moon, Lord of Maat, King of the two lands ; who created his own image, who fashioned his own body, who hath established Maat throughout the two lands. Ptah it was who fashioned the new bodies in which the souls of the dead were to live in the underworld; he was the great artificer in metals and he was at once smelter and caster and sculptor, as well as the master architect and designer of everything which exists in the world and the universe-I-em-Hetep was Horus, brought on as the son of Ptah, the divine healer, the good physician, the healer of the bodies of mortals during this life, and through him the good spirits were brought and presented to his Father"-I. U. is the same, but another name for him. In Ptah is the commencement of the Fatherhood, all was Motherhood before.
Ura 
Kherp Hem, who
held the highest sacerdotal office in Egypt, as the High Priest
of Ptah at Memphis, is also spoken of as the Arch Craftsman 
"tes." He raised up the body as well as
the soul, and, in conjunction with 
Sem and 
Hen nutar (prophet) exalted
and anointed with oil. The Ritual says:- 
"I lustrate with
water in Tattu and with oil in Abydos, exalting him who is in
the heights" (in excelsis).
A great ceremony consisted in a grand procession round the walls of the Great Sanctuary of Ptah, conveying upon a sledge the "Bark" (or Ark) in which the coffin of the god was supposed to rest, and the mourners sang the song: "To the West" to help them on their way to the gate of fair entrance in Amenta.
[292] The "Coffined One" and the "Seven Glorious Ones" who followed the coffin of "their Lord," were brought on from the Stellar Mythos, and there the Coffined One" represented the Pole Star, and the Seven Glorious Ones, the stars of the Little Bear, constantly circling around the Pole. That it must have
(From photo by Emil Brugsch-Bay. Original found at Meir is now at Gizeh. The only boat which has preserved its original rigging. Dates from eleventh or twelfth Dynasty. The dead man is sitting in his cabin wrapped in his cloak.)
been the Little Bear and not the "Great Bear," may be assumed, because the former could always be seen and was always under observation, whereas the latter, at times, dipped so far down the horizon, that at certain periods it must have been lost to view to those in Egypt.
Sir L. Page Renouf, in his translation of "The Book of the Dead," is of opinion that the "Coffined One" and the "Seven
[293] Glorious Ones" who follow, represent the Pole Star and the Great Bear, but he evidently overlooked the fact that at times the Great Bear dropped below the horizon in Egypt and could not be seen, yet the "Seven Glorious Ones" always remained visible. Hence our opinion that it was the Little Bear-Ursa Minor (Ritual, chap. lxxii.), "The 7 Stars which never set."
In the depiction of these seven that we
find in Central America the form of the seven stars would apply
equally to 
either but certainly not to
the Southern Cross, as the German translators have assigned them,
and whose decipherment of the same we cannot agree with.
The first"boat" or ark is called Maatit, and the second is called Sektit in the Egyptian language.
The Sektit or the Seher boat or Hennu boat (1) was not made in the form of an ordinary boat, but one end of it was very much higher than the other and was made in the shape of the head of a gazelle. The centre of the boat was occupied by a carefully closed coffer, which was surmounted by a hawk with protruding wings stretched out over the top of it. This coffer contained the body of the dead Osiris, and it rested upon a framework or sledge which was provided with runners. The support of the sledge was made in the form of lotus flowers, which are well-known types of the dawn and renewal of life. Papyrus plants are emblems of the South-Lotus plants of the North. It was in this boat that the mummy form entered the Tuat, was drawn through, and, finally entering the tail of a large serpent, was drawn through its body and came forth as a new or regenerated soul at the Double Cave on the island in the lake. It is of great antiquity and predynastic.
As Egyptian, the ark and shrine of Ra-Harmakhu represented the double equinox in the two horizons. The double abode of Ra (in Solar Mythos), in the dual domain of light and shade-the same model was in Hebrew, which was to be erected equally in sun and shade-the open part to the rays of light was to be exactly
(1 The coloured plate represents the second or "The Sektit Boat." Reproduced from Dr. Bulge's "Gods of the Egyptians," by kind permission of Methuen & Co.)
[294] the same to balance the veil or shade of the covering, and not to have more sun than shade.
It was the custom of the Egyptians to represent heaven in miniature, as an ark of so many cubits, and inside, there was a shrine for the deity, and a figure of the God, within the Sanctuary, so that the sacred ark shrines of the Egyptians dated back to the earlier Stellar Mythos, and consisted of a boat and shrine, and the images of the god were placed within the shrine, and borne on the shoulders of the priests around the Temple, on certain festal days.
There was an ark of 7 cubits (Stellar), and one of 8 cubits (Lunar), and one of 4 cubits (Solar). The 4 cubits represented the four quarters of heaven; the one of 8 cubits, the octonary, and the one of 7 cubits, the Heptanomes.
The Ark of the Israelites was brought out of Egypt by Moses, and probably used by him as High Priest at On, and the two Cherubim, which were afterwards adopted, with wings (here shown), were prototypes of the Egyptian beetles.
The name of the beetle in Egyptian is Khepr,
and in the Hebrew the Mercy-Seat is the Caphoreth, 
rendered "the Cover of the Ark," that was
formed by two cherubs, which are Beetles in the Egyptian prototype.
The Beetleheaded Solar God was Khepr, and the two Beetles formed
the Caphoreth in the Egyptian Ark as the cover of the Mercy Seat.
The Beetle was Khepr, and the Beetle with Atum-lu was Khepr-Ra.
This identifies In with lahu as Khepr-Ra, who is a form of Atum
in the scarabaeus sign of the Zodiac : so that AtumIu is the sign
of the two Beetles.
Khepera is much older than Ra, because he is sometimes represented as a Hawk (the Spirit) issuing from a mummy. This would mean a type of Horus I, and, coming forth from the mummy as a spirit, would indicate and prove how old is their Eschatology. As the doctrines of Atum were in existence ages and ages before the Osirian, it will give one some idea how old these people were, and the advancement they had made and worked out in their religious beliefs at this very early period.
The first "Bark," or Ark, is that in which the soul proceeds on its journey from this sublunary abode. First, it travels from the East to the West until Ra sets in the West; then the soul has to disembark from this ship and has to enter, by a ladder of seven [295] steps, another Ark, the Sektit Boat, which takes the soul across the firmament after passing through Amenta, it travelled to the North, with Horus, the Sun-God, at the prow, "until the stars which set in Heaven are reached." This is called the "Land of Life." Hence the origin of the song: "To the West, to the West, to the Land of the Free." In chapter lv of the Ritual we read: "See thou Horus at the Look-out of the ship, and at his sides Thoth and Maat. All the gods are in exultation when they behold Ra coming in peace to give new life to the heart of Chu" - i.e. Horus the Son with Truth and justice bringing Chu, the newborn soul to Osiris (God) to be received by him and all the angels with joy and exultation into the Land of Life.
The song: "To the West, to the West, to the Land of the Free" was sung as a "Funeral Song" or "Dead March." It was sung at the obsequies of all the dead at burial, having their belief as before stated. As regards this having been written by Russell and referring to the United States, it could not be so. In Ireland there is a very old song to the same effect, probably handed down by tradition from the ancient Druids-Egyptian Priests. Russell may, and probably did, use part of this, but Maspero gives the whole translation from the hieroglyphics, which is sufficient proof of its origin and meaning. The Egyptian Lands of the West were not geographical, they were in Amenta, the nether world of the dead. The dead, on their way there, were called "Westerners."
Dr Le Plongeon, in his works on the Mayas, confounds Amenta "the Land of the West" of the Egyptians-which was celestial, with the terrestrial, and misunderstands Proclus and Plato, who were quoting the Egyptian High Priests. If he would read and understand the 110th chapter of the Ritual, he would see that it was "not geographical knowledge of the earth," but that which they had worked out in the heavens, and had nothing whatever to do with the land of the Mayas, whom they knew and called Haui-nibu (people beyond the seas).
He mixes Amenta with the Mayas as geographical, puts an exoteric rendering and does not understand the uranographic and esoteric representation.
[296] THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
The Ark of the Covenant, built and set up by Moses in the wilderness, according to the Sacred volume-and which has not been seen-is precisely similar in all measurements to the "Stone Chest" still to be seen in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid,
and which is undoubtedly the original, although the contents are gone. According to the Ritual it should have contained the "Coffined One," and we know that miniatures of this used to be carried around the Egyptian temples at Memphis on stated occasions during their religious rites.
THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
The "Ark of the Covenant," showing the bars on the side, according to I Kings viii. 8. The Cherubim above on the covering, each with two wings, without hands, and a cloud above between [297] the Cherubim, which seems to shine and to be, as it were, embraced by the wings of the Cherubim.
The Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon, and The Ark of the Covenant, showing the bars on the side, according to I Kings viii. 8. The Cherubim above on the covering, each with two wings without hands, and a cloud above between the Cherubim which seems to shine and to be, as it were, embraced by the wings of the Cherubim, and we give the origin and history of the Ark, as it may be interesting to those who belong to the Grand Council of Royal Select and Super-excellent Masters.
The Latin word Arca 
(Hebrew, Aran, Arca) signifies [298] properly a coffer, and this
is the true meaning of the Hebrew Aran, which Moses makes use
of to denote the coffer or chest wherein the Tables were deposited
upon which the words of the Covenant or the principal Commandments
of the Law were written. This Coffer was made of Shittim wood,
covered with plates or leaves of gold, being two cubits and a
half in length, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit and a half
high. Upon the top of it there was all round it a kind of gold
crown and two Cherubim were fastened to the cover. On the two
sides of this Coffer there were four rings of gold, two on each
side, through which staves were put, by the help whereof it was
carried as they marched through the wilderness. This was "the
Ark of the Covenant," a Chest or Coffer of great value, wherein
the two Tables of Stone were placed.
After the passage of the Jordan the Ark continued for some time at Gilgal. From thence it was removed to Shiloh. Here it was when the Israelites took it thence to carry it to their camp. They gave battle to the Philistines, and the Ark of the Lord fell into the enemy's hands. The Philistines, oppressed by the hand of God, which lay heavily upon them, sent back the Ark, and it was lodged at Kirjath-jearim. It was afterwards, in the reign of Saul, at Nob. David conveyed it from Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obededom, from thence to his palace at Zion; and last of all Solomon brought it into the temple which he had built at Jerusalem.
It remained in the temple, with all suitable respect, till the times of the last Kings of Judah, who gave themselves up to idolatry, and were so daring as to put their idols in the very Holy Place itself. The Priests, being unable to endure this profanation, took the Ark and carried it from place to place that so they might preserve it from the fury of these impious princes. Josiah commanded them to bring it back to the sanctuary, and forbade them to carry it, as they had hitherto done, into the country.
Some time before the captivity of Babylon, Jeremiah, foreseeing the calamities which would happen to his nation, and enlightened in a supernatural manner, removed the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant into a cave of that mountain which Moses ascended some little time before his death, and saw from thence the heritage of God. To this mountain Jeremiah went, and in a hollow cave of it concealed this sacred depositum. The [299] Priests who accompanied him intended to set a mark upon the place in order to remember it, but never were able afterwards to find it. The prophet reproved them for their curiosity, and declared that this place should continue unknown till the Lord should gather together once more His people that were dispersed, and should be reconciled to them. It is questioned, with good reason, whether the Ark was placed again in the temple after the return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon.
The Talmudists relate that Solomon, having learnt by revelation that the Assyrians would one day burn the temple lately built by him, and carry away all the rich materials which he had placed there, took care to have a private hole made underground where, in case of necessity, he might conceal the most precious ornaments and most sacred things belonging to the temple from the knowledge of any enemies. Josiah, having a foresight of the calamities which were upon the point of falling on the Hebrew nation, hid here the Ark of the Covenant, together with Aaron's Rod, the Pot of Manna, the High Priest's Pectoral, and the Holy Oil. But during the Babylonish captivity, the Priests having lost all knowledge of the place where these things had been concealed, they were never afterwards seen, and were not in the second temple.
Others affirm that Nebuchadnezzar conveyed the Ark to Babylon, and that it was among the rich vessels which were carried off by him from the temple. Some are of opinion that King Manasseh, having set up idols in the temple, took away the Ark, which was not settled there again during his reign. The author of the fourth book of Esdras represents the Jews lamenting that the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Chaldeans in the plunder of the temple. The Gerama of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon, both acknowledge that the Ark of the Covenant is one of the things which was wanting in the second temple after the return from the captivity of Babylon. The Jews flatter themselves that it will appear again with the Messiah who is expected by them. But Jeremiah, speaking of the time of the Messiah and the calling of the Gentiles to the faith, says that they shall neither talk nor think of the Ark, nor remember it any more. Esdras, Nehemiah, the Maccabees and Josephus never make any mention of the Ark in the second temple; and Josephus tells us expressly that when Jerusalem was taken by Titus the sanctuary was empty.
[300] St Epiphanius relates, without doubt from some ancient tradition of the Jews, that Jeremiah, foreseeing the approaching ruin of the temple, carried the Ark of the Covenant into a cave, and by his prayers prevailed that it might be sunk and swallowed up in the rock so that it never more might be seen. This done, he addressed himself to the Priests and Elders, who accompanied hint in the following words: "The Lord is ascended from Zion into Heaven, from whence he must one day descend with His celestial host : and it shall be a sign of His coming, when all nations shall adore the Cross. No one shall discover the Ark except Moses, the prophet of the Lord; and no priest nor prophet shall open the tables which are enclosed in it, except Aaron, the elect of God. But at the second resurrection the Ark shall be raised and come forth out of the rock, it shall be placed on Mount Sinai, and all the saints shall be assembled about it, waiting for the Lord's return, and endeavouring to defend themselves from the enemy who would take it. Jeremiah, at the same time, sealed the stone, writing with his own fingers the name of God upon the place, in like manner as if it had been cut with iron. From this moment a dark cloud was spread over the name of God and has kept it concealed to this very day, so that no one has been able to discover the place nor read this divine name. This cloud appears every night with great brightness over the cave, to show, as it were, that the glory of the Lord does not forsake His law. And the rock, before mentioned, lies between the two mountains where Moses and Aaron died."
Josephus, the son of Gorion, who had seen the books of the Maccabees, having first related that Jeremiah had concealed the Ark and the veils of Moses' Tabernacle, put these words into the mouth of Jeremiah, to the Priests who followed him and desired to know where those things were hidden: "The Lord hath sworn that no man should know this place, nor discover it, till the Prophet Isaiah and myself return to the world; then we will lodge the Ark again in the Sanctuary and under the Cherubim's wings." Lastly, the Rabbins agree in saying that the Ark no more was seen after the captivity of Babylon, and that the Foundation Stone, which they believed to be the centre of the Holy Mountain, was placed in the Sanctuary in its room. The Fathers and Christian Commentators agree generally with the Jews on this point, that the Ark was never found again after the Captivity.
[301] Besides the Tables of the Covenant, placed by Moses in the sacred Coffer, God appointed the blooming Rod of Aaron to be lodged there, and the Omer of Manna, which was gathered in the wilderness. Tertullian is of opinion that the twelve Stones, taken from the bottom of the Jordan when the Israelites passed this river dry-shod, were likewise placed there. The Mohammedans assure us that Moses' shoes, which he pulled off before the Burning Bush, were likewise preserved there; that besides these, Aaron's Pontifical tiara was kept there, and a piece of wood, called Alouah, which Moses made use of when he sweetened the waters of Mara. They also add that the Ark was given by God to Adam ready made, and that it passed from hand to hand, and from Patriarch to Patriarch down to Moses; that all the portraitures of the Patriarchs and Prophets were represented about the Ark; and that Shekinah, or the Majesty of God, rested upon it: that in times of war an impetuous wind rushed out of the Ark, which blew fiercely upon the enemies of Israel and entirely defeated them : and that for this reason they often carried the Ark of the Covenant at the head of their armies. There are some who believe that the Ark was brought to Ireland by Jeremiah and that it still lies buried there at Tara, but we must turn to the Mythology and Eschatology of Egypt to learn the true meaning of all this, and the solution of the question is the esoteric representation in the Ritual.
In 1877 William Simpson called attention to the Japanese Ark-shrines or mikoshi-which have many points of likeness to the Jewish Ark of the Covenant, and which was "carried on men's shoulders by means of staves." Mikoshi signifies the high or honourable seat of Temo-sama, or "Heaven's Lord."
The first lord of heaven in the Astronomical Mythology was the ruler of the Pole Star, whose high and honourable seat was at the Pole-Anup on his Mountain.
In some of these arks is the small figure of a deity, which is the representation of "Heaven's Lord." There were seven of the lords of the Pole Star altogether-one for each star in the cycle of precession in succession. Now there are seven of these arks preserved in the Temple of Hachiman at Kamakura, Japan. They are said by some to be state-norimans, but as these shrines are connected with the deified Mikado, they are mikoshis as well as norimans. "The mikoshis Themselves being eight," the eight seats or ark
[302] shrines answer to the Kami when the eighth one had been added to the seven, as overlord, but seven was the primary number in the Kami as of the Egyptian Akhemu, or Never-setting Ones. Israel is charged by Amos with having borne an ark shrine which was obviously the Tabernacle of a Star God, as Gods were once the Elohim (Amos v. 26).
The Heathen likewise had in their pagan rites little Chests or Cista, wherein they locked up their most sacred possessions. Apulius says that in certain profane processions made in Egypt, there was a person whose office it was to be Chest-bearer. He held a box, containing the richest things for their religious uses. Plutarch, in his book entitled "Of Osiris and Isis," tells us almost the same thing. Pausanias speaks of a Chest in which the Trojans locked up their mysteries, and that, being taken at the siege of Troy, it fell to Euripilus' share. The ancient Hetrurians had also Cistae among their sacred vessels. There was the same custom among the Greeks and Romans. These boxes often enclosed things of a lewd, profane, superstitious and ridiculous nature; whereas the Ark of God contained the most sacred and serious things in the world, such as the Table of God's Law, etc.
As among the Egyptians and Jews the Ark was a kind of portable temple, so among the Mexicans, the Cherokees and the Indians of Michoacan and Honduras, an Ark was held in the highest veneration, and was considered an object too sacred to be touched by any but the Priests. Amongst the Mandan Indians, in N. America, we find the image of the Ark preserved for generations, and religious ceremonies performed, similar to those in Egypt, connected with the same. In Mexico and Central America we find the Ark preserved in the most sacred part of the temple, and some of them in a most perfect state of preservation, viz at Copan and at Palenque in 1848 (see Stephen's travels).
The Osirian religion is at least 20 thousand years old, and may be 50 thousand for aught any Egyptologist knows to the contrary. This has been proved by the recent discoveries at Abydos, showing that the Osirian doctrines existed there in all their glory and perfection more than 15 thousand years ago, and before this the Egyptians had the doctrine of Atum, etc.; but the masonry of Ptah is infinitely earlier than that. Freemasonry may be said to have arisen at the time of the [303] "Stone-Squarers" -i.e. at the times they had "worked out" the "double horizon," and squared the heavens, which was done by Ptah, the Great Architect of the Universe.
The double horizon was formed by Shu when he lifted up the heavens, but was not squared.
Ptah was the builder who wrought in conjunction with Ma or Mati, the goddess of law, justice, truth, etc., and we mention this to show that Ma or Mati was also founded on the Masonic square.
We have no doubt that our saying, "to act on the squareMasonically" -is from the Egyptian: to act rightly, to act justly and truthfully, or according to Maat." Working with Ma or Maat donotes creation according to eternal laws or understanding rule.
The 
is the seat
of Osiris in the Judgment Hall, from which place all are judged
as to the past, and must be found perfect before they could proceed
further.
Symbolically, therefore, it shows that it was first emblematically the seat for judging right from wrong, so to speak; "to bring the material into perfect form, and to reject that which was not perfect," and to build on the square as a fourfold foundation is to build for ever. Paul speaks as a mason when he makes Christ "The Chief Corner Stone" in the Temple that is builded (Ep. ii. 20-22).
We must date the origin of our Ceremmonies in Freemasonry back to the time when the Egyptians had Perfected their Eschatology; in fact, it was and is their Eschatology, practised in a dramatic form, the more so to impress upon the I. and those of the various degrees, as they pass from the lower to the higher, to instil into their minds the whole of the doctrines of final things. These were the Priests and learned men only, who knew all things, and the common herd of mankind were never taught all the forms, ceremonies and doctrines. The Priests, who formed a distinct brotherhood amongst themselves, kept the knowledge and powers as a close secret, and only taught the common people as much or as little as they thought fit; but, although we date our ceremonies only as far back as this, we must go back thousands of years before to find the origin of most of the signs and symbols. Some of these date from the earliest Mythos, but more from the Stellar Mythology.
[304] These were brought on and used in their Eschatology, symbolically, as we have brought it on in the Christian doctrines in the same manner, therefore, the origin of the signs and symbols would be much older than the form of our ceremonies. We would impress again upon our readers that the word Freemasonry was not used then, but that Freemasonry, in all its degrees now, is the purest form that is in existence of the old Eschatology of ancient Egypt, and that the more one studies the records of the past, the greater proof there is that we differ very little, even in the form of our lodges and all pertaining thereto in each degree. The study of the ancient remains of the writings and temples, found in Central America and Yucatan, and other parts of the world, prove how universal this was, and how exact the copy; and because we find different names in different parts of the world, and different names in the same countries through the various ages of this earth's existence, even up to the present day, it was the same Great God from the beginning until now, the same attributes, and the same trinity in unity. Evolution and time have changed much as regards names, and various Priests have made innovations, but from the time of Horus I, the first man-god who lived and died and rose again as Amsu, it is all one and the same, however much the various cults have made innovations.
"The situation of the Lodge-due East and West" -proves that our Brotherhood was founded at the time of the Eschatology of the Ancient Egyptians, and not from the Stellar or Lunar Mythos, as it would then have been North and South; but, taking all the various degrees of the Brotherhood into consideration, it is astonishing how little has been obliterated from the Astronomical Mythology, not only in signs and symbols, but also, that part of the Ritual has been retained from the earliest date; and although we have "substituted words and explanations" for all our ceremonies, so much of it has no real meaning for those who are Students of Freemasonry, because we only repeat it like the poor Aboriginal Australians: "it has always been"; there can be no wonder, therefore, that many Brothers have looked for the true meaning and origin for years, without being satisfied that the present one is right, nor can they ever do so without returning to Old Egypt, for it is here only that the birthplace of the Brotherhood can be found. The legends which have been founded on the Astronomical Mythos, and Ritual of Egypt, will find their [305] explanation here only, and nowhere else. It is useless to try and continue an exoteric rendering in the place of the true esoteric representation; science and knowledge in the end will prevail, ignorance and false beliefs must give place to scientific truths.
ORIGIN OF THE TWENTY-FOUR-INCH GAUGE
The 24-inch-gauge or cubit is the hieroglyphic
and has the phonetic value
of Maat and indicated, primarily, "that which is straight,"
and was the name which was given to the instrument by which the
work of the handicraftsman of every kind was kept straight and
pleasured: metaphorically, a rule or law or canon by which the
lives of men and their actions were kept straight and governed,
belonged to the Egyptian word Maat. The Egyptians thus used the
word in a physical and moral sense as we do in all our ceremonies
connected with this instrument, as their naming it Maat clearly
proves, therefore, it is a very important instrument used by our
Brotherhood; much more so than the majority would at first conceive.
The British inch was the unit of linear measurement used at the
building of the Great Pyramid, or at least it is the nearest standard
in existence, as it has lost 1 one-thousandth part of itself,
after being carried from land to land through all these thousands
of years. There is, therefore, more in it than being an instrument
to "measure our work" and being "symbolical of
time." One inch is the time representation of the Great Year
prophetically. Five hundred millions of the Pyramid inch is the
length of the earth's Polar diameter.
Twenty-five inches give the length of the Sacred Cubit (5 X 5 = 25 angle of the Pyramid). The absolute length of the Sacred Cubit is the same used by the Israelites and spoken of in the volume of the Sacred Law as the one ordained by God, and was brought out of Egypt by Moses, who, being one of the High Priests of On, no doubt knew and understood all the mysteries and secrets of the Great Pyramid and sacred doctrines. It was different in length to that of the Greek, Roman, and later-day Egyptian cubit. Freemasons, perhaps unknown to themselves, have been the custodians of the secrets connected with it from the original, through ages of time, bringing on from its origin how much of the original secrets connected with it? ? ?
[306] Thus we see that the standard and unit of linear measurement, used at the building of the Great Pyramid, from which the British inch was derived in primeval days of purity and Eschatological worship, before the people fell away from their true doctrines, has been handed down by us pure and unsullied. The measurements of the Mayas were the same as the Egyptians in all particulars, reckoning by 5 and 20.
The great attempt of the French people to abolish alike the Christian religion and hereditary weights and measures of all nations, to replace the former by a worship of philosophy, and the latter by the Metre-French metre scheme depending, in a certain manner of their own, upon the magnitude of the earth, as well as the substitution of a week of seven days by an artificial period of ten days-is not very old nor yet an improvement upon the exactness in measurement of these ancient people; because, by assuming, as their unit and standard of length, the one ten-millionth of a "quadrant of the earth's surface" that took a curved line drawn on the earth's surface in the place of the straight axis of rotation it could not be so exact, and in fact is far inferior in measurement. The British hereditary inch, therefore, is much nearer and more exact to an integral earth measure. As long as one retains a power of geometry, so long will the diameter be thought of greater primary importance than the circumference of a circle, and when we come to a sphere in motion, the axis of its dynamical labour shall hold a vastly superior importance, especially when the earth's equator is not a true circle. Yet all this was taken into account and provided for by the builders of the Great Pyramid and the references for the grand unit-the ten-sevenths or tenmillionth part of the earth's Polar semi-axis-then adopted, is now shown to be the only sound and scientific one which the earth possesses. Through all these years the British inch has only lost 1 one-thousandth part of its length-and that we are aware of. Who shall say that this has not been caused by a Divine will ? you ask why-because, as years go on the interior of the earth cools down, earthquakes take place and the outer crust falls in and the circumference would lessen, and in time so would the earth's Polar semi-axis. If the Pyramid was built by Divine Inspiration, we may be sure that the Great Architect of the Universe has provided in some way-His way-to keep all correct, even to the smallest detail. For those who believe [307] in the Divine Inspiration, there is something for them to think about and ponder over before any change is made in our standard.
ORIGIN OF THE D.C.'s SYMBOL
The symbol of the dove on the white wands of the D.C.'s is very ancient, and dates back to Stellar Mythos. These white wands, surmounted by a bird, were the symbols carried by certain of their priests, certainly as far back as the time of the Temple of Pithom and probably much earlier, and are still used as they were thousands and thousands of years ago by the priests of Egypt, and those of the Central States of America, by the Yezidis around Mosul, who have carried them down, with all the ceremonies of their ancient religion, from generation to generation to the present day. The dove is a symbol of the soul. In the Stellar Mythos it was always the dove, because it was the representation of the soul of the mother-that was primary. It was the bird of soul, when the soul was first attributed to the female source, but when the Solar Mythos took the place of the Stellar we find from the Ritual, that the transformation from the mummy was made in Amenta, the deceased became "bird-headed" as a soul, and thus assumed the likeness of Ra, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a hawk, as it was in their later Eschatology, the sign of the soul that was considered to be male, the soul of God the Father-the Holy Spirit. There can be seen in Egyptian drawings, the soul portrayed in the process of issuing from the mummy in the shape of a dove instead of the usual hawk: both are emblems of the risen soul, but the dove was the earlier type of a soul derived from the mother. The hawk was the symbol of the Father and Son-i.e. of Ra and Horus, so that, wherever we find these symbols used, we know the origin of the date and meaning attached thereto. The divine Horus rises again in the form of a dove as well as in the shape of a hawk. "I am the dove! I am the dove!" exclaims the risen spirit as he soars up from Amenta Ritual, lxxxvi.1. Here the dove (of Hathor) is also the bird of Ra, and thus the dove becomes the bird of the Holy Spirit, female in the mother and male in the divine Horus, and finally in the Father. On the tomb of Rameses IX the dove appears in the place of the hawk, as a co-type of Horus at the prow of the Solar boat, which [308] shows how they made use of and brought the oldest symbols on. The Holy Spirit was always represented by a bird, which, in the Egyptian symbolisms, was the dove or hawk. We find also that two birds (symbolically) acted as "conductors." The Ritual says - "Ye two divine hawks upon your gables, who are giving attentive heed to the matter-ye who conduct the ship of Ra, advancing onwards from the highest place of the ark in heaven"; also it is said to Osiris: "Thy two sisters, Isis and Nepthys (represented by two birds), come to thee and they convey to thee the great extend(of the waters) in thy name of the great extender as the Lord of the Flood" -TETA, 274.
These allusions prove that there was "an ark" to which the two birds were attached as "conductors."
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