A Lecture On The Antiquity Of Laying Corner Stones With Religious And Mystical Ceremonies.*

speaking of Thutmes III ., '' the king did more than all his' predecessors from the beginning , ancl had proved himself a complete master of the holy sciences . "

There is an inscription of this last king ou the Temple of Amon Ra . The date , according to I . Brugsch , is 1600 B . C ., which is about six centuries before King Solomon , which throws strong light on the ceremonial of the corner stone . I will observe that , as we understand it , Anion Ra , in one of his types , was the sun god , the centre of the then popular worship . The king was assumed to be his soncither in a spiritual or practical sense ; and " the

, divine one " who attends and participates with the king on this act of piety , is Anion Ra , himself invisible , though a real presence . The inscription has not been preserved entire ; there are places where the accidents in 3600 years of exposure to the elements have obliterated parts of the writing . I shall cite these parts which illustrate my subject . I . Brugsch 384—The king says : " I give the order to prepare the cord and

, pegs for the laying of the foundation stones in my presence . The advent of the clay of the new moon was fixed for the festival of the laying of the foundation stone of this memorial . " After a few now obliterated paragraphs the inscription proceeds : " The god Amnion went thither to celebrate his beautiful festival—he drew near—the cords ancl pegs were ready , then his holiness placed me before himtowards the memorial . And I began—then the

, holiness of this God went further , ancl the beautiful feast was celebrated to my lord . " Then I came forward , yes I , to complete the business of the laying of the foundation stone , because .... [ here occurs another obliteration ] .... He went out , ancl the work of the first stroke of the hammer for the laying of the foundation stone was to be performed . Then the holiness of this divine

one 'wished himself to give the first stroke of the hammer .... [ here another lacuna occurs ] .... " There was laid in the foundation stone a document with all the names of the great circle of the Gods of Thebes , the gods ancl goddesses , .... ancl all men rejoiced" —here the stone and the inscription break off . This inscription was found by Mariette Bey on the N . W . side of the Hol y of Holies of the Temple of Karnak , where it is still to be seen .

Notwithstanding the vast difference between the religion of that time and of this , the Mason who , as member of the Grand Loclge , has participated in the duties of dedication , must feel that he is ou familiar ground in reading these descriptions of the proceedings of the Craft thirty-six centuries ago . Does not also the conviction grow upon him that the mysticism which was attached to the Craft then is not without its parallel in the Craft now ? Will he not also be struck with the fact that there w as a speculative side to the

Craft at that time , which finds a noble expression in the spirit of the duties of Mentu Hotep , the chief architect , to promote the worship of God , the Supreme Architect of the Universe , to teach the Craft wisdom , and to protect the poor ? As I have more to say about Masonry in E gypt later on , I shall resume the consideration of corner stones in Assyria .

Since the fall of Babylon ancl Nineveh , centuries before the Christian era , a midnight darkness hung over the knowledge of their arts , until the excavations of Botfca and Layard and Smith exhumed their buried relics ; ancl the researches of Rawlinson and Lenormant , Smith ancl others translated the language of their public inscriptions ancl their public and private writing on cylinders . There also , as far back as sixteen or seventeen centuries before the christian era , the Masonic art flourished , temples and palaces of stone , with carved inscriptions and pictorial descriptions on the panels of alabaster or marble , indicated that the Freemason was at work here .