THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM

ITS AUTHENTICITY ESTABLISHED AS A DIVINE AND ANCIENT RECORD

WITH COPIOUS REFERENCES TO ANCIENT AND MODERN AUTHORITIES

BY ELDER GEO. REYNOLDS.

1879 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

CHAPTER VIII.

ABRAHAM AS A PYRAMID BUILDER.–PHILITION.–THE USES OF THE PYRAMIDS.–THE
COFFER A BAPTISMAL FONT.– SYMBOLISM IN BAPTISM FRO THE DEAD.–THE SACRED CUBIT.–“ONE
DAY TO A CUBIT.”–ALCYONE.–THE SUN’S DISTANCE.–PYRAMID REFERENCES TO ASTRONOMICAL
TRUTHS.–SUMMARY OF PYRAMID REFERENCES.

T’HE next task which we have assigned ourselves, is to show from the ancient
pyramid of Cheops that the true system of astronomy, as taught by God to Abraham,
was known to those who raised this mighty structure. To do this we desire to
draw attention and consider separately three points.

1st. The historical reasons we have for believing that Abraham superintended
the erection of this pyramid.

2d. The reasons why this vast structure was built, and the uses for which
it was designed.

3d. The direct evidences from the dimensions, form, etc., of the pyramid
of Cheops, that tend to prove that its builders were acquainted with the laws
that govern the starry worlds.

The Pharaoh, or king of Egypt, who is generally regarded as the builder of
the first pyramid, is known to secular history by the name of Cheops. To him
and his actions in closing the idolatrous temples of Egypt, we have referred
in a previous chapter, as well as to the statement of Herodotus, that the Egyptians
so detested his memory that they would not even mention his name. Hence he states,
“they commonly call the pyramids after Philition, (1 )
a shepherd, who at that time fed his flocks about the place.” Remarking upon
the above statement, Mr. Proctor, the celebrated astronomer, writes: “The mention
of the shepherd Philition, who fed his flocks about the place where the great
Pyramid was built, is a singular feature of Herodotus’ narrative. It reads like
some strange misinterpretation of the story related to him by the Egyptian priests.
It is obvious if the word Philition did not represent a people, but a person,
this person must have been very eminent and distinguished–a shepherd king–not
a mere shepherd. Rawlinson suggests that Philitis was probably a shepherd prince
from Palestine, perhaps of Philistine descent. Prof. Smyth comes to the conclusion
that some She-mite prince, ‘a contemporary of, but rather older than the patriarch
Abraham,’ visited Egypt at this time and obtained such influence over the mind
of Cheops as to persuade him to erect the pyramid. According to Smyth, the prince
was no other than Melchizedek, king of Salem, and the influence he exerted was
supernatural. * * * It seems tolerably clear that certain shepherd chiefs who
came into Egypt during Cheops’ reign were connected in some way with the designing
of the great pyramid. It is clear also that they were men of a different religion
from the Egyptians, and persauded Cheops to abandon the religion of his people.”

If Josephus be correct, Professor Smyth’s deductions regarding Melchizedek
are wrong, for the former says that the Egyptians were taught astronomy by Abraham;
without Melchizedek followed Abraham into Egypt instead of preceding him, which,
though possible, we have no account of in any of the sacred writings.

Mr. Proctor further writes: “In the first place, the history of the pyramids
shows that the erection of the first great pyramid was in all probability either
suggested to Cheops by wise men who visited Egypt from the east, or else some
important information conveyed to him by such visitors caused him to conceive
the idea of building the pyramid. In either case we may suppose, as the history
indeed suggests, that these learned men, whoever they may have been, remained
in Egypt to superintend the erection of the structure. * * * The astronomical
peculiarities which form so significant a portion of the great pyramid were
probably provided for entirely under the direction of the shepherd chiefs who
had exerted so strange an influence upon the mind of king Cheops. * * * It is
certain in any case that they (the shepherd chiefs) were opposed to idolatry;
and we have thus some means of inferring who they were or whence they came.
We know that one particular branch of one particular race in the east was characterized
by a most marked hatred of idolatry in all its forms. * * * And the Bible record
shows that members of this Chaldean family visited Egypt from time to time.
They were shepherds too, which accords with the account of Herodotus. * * *
But having formed the opinion on grounds sufficiently assured, that the strangers
who visited Egypt and superintended the building of the great pyramid were kinsmen
of the patriarch Abraham, it is not very difficult to decide what was the subject
respecting which they had such exact information. They or their parents had
come from the land of the Chaldeans, and they were doubtless learned in all
the wisdom of their Chaldean kinsmen. They were masters, in fact, of the astronomy
of their day, a science for which the Chaldeans had shown, from the earliest
ages, the most remarkable aptitude. * * * It is highly probable that the astronomical
knowledge of the Chaldeans in the days of Terah and Abraham was much more accurate
than that possessed by the Greeks in the time of Hipparchus.” Mr. Proctor ultimately
comes to the conclusion that “the stranger called Philition by Herodotus, may,
for aught that appears, have been Abraham himself.” It is a matter of secondary
moment, in this consideration, whether Abraham himself or some other divinely
inspired man, was the actual) architect of the great pyramid; it is sufficient
to know, which it itself testifies, that whoever that builder was, he was acquainted
with the same grand astronomical truths that the Book of Abraham states the
Lord revealed to that patriarch, and which, at the time Joseph Smith translated
the papyrus, were unknown to modern scientists.

Our next inquiries are, with regard to the causes or reasons that led to
the erection of the pyramids, and to the purposes for which they were used.

Various theories have been advanced on these points. Some have supposed that
these vast structures were associated with the religious rites of the ancient
Egyptians; others have suggested that they combined the purposes of tombs and
temples; again, that they were astronomical observatories; also that they had
primarily astrological import. It has also been argued that they were defences
against the sands of the great desert, or places of refuge during the excessive
overflows of the Nile; the idea has also been advanced that they were granaries,
somewhat after the manner of those erected under the direction of Joseph, the
Israelite. A very little reflection will manifest that some of the suggestions
are entirely untenable. Take for instance the notion that they were granaries.
If so, what a vast waste of material, how entirely does their structure and
form unsuit them for such a purpose. As wise a people as their builders must
have been would scarcely have constructed a mountain of masonry, with two or
three relatively small rooms therein, for such a purpose. There is some show
of reason for believing that some of them were tombs and temples combined, but
this will not hold good with regard to the pyramid of Cheops. Nothing found
therein has given the least ground-work for the supposition that it was used
for sepulchral purposes. In what is called the king’s chamber was found an empty
stone chest or coffer, without a lid; but in form, ornament and material it
is entirely different to the usual sarcophagus used by the ancient Egyptians
for the reception of the embalmed dead.

Two of the reasons advanced above, as applied to the pyramids of Cheops,
are worthy of our consideration.

1st. That it was an astronomical observatory.

2d. That it was associated with the religion of the ancient Egyptians.

The reasons for believing it to have been built as an observatory are cogent
and numerous. There can be no doubt that in many respects it was intended by
its builders to typify astronomical truths; evidence in proof of which will
be hereafter adduced. It has been suggested that the granite coffer found in
what is now called the king’s chamber (simply that it may have a distinctive
name) was filled, in whole or in part, as circumstances required, with water,
and that the face of the heavens was reflected therein, through the slanting
passages that pointed directly to the polar star. That this coffer was used
as a receptacle for water is highly probable, from the fact that a well tapping
the waters of the Nile is found in the pyramid. (2 )
In this inner chamber, surrounded by this vast mass of masonry, removed as far
as possible from the atmospheric and electric perturbations existing on the
earth’s surface, it is argued that using the water in the coffer as a mirror,
the most accurate observations could be taken that were then possible. This
idea we deem untenable, as it appears to us that the inclines and angles in
the passages would render such reflection next to impossible. According to certain
Arabian historians “there were placed in the great pyramid divers celestial
spheres and stars, and what they severally operate in their aspects, and the
perfumes which are to be used to them, and the books which treat of these matters.”

The evidences that it was an edifice erected for sacred purposes are not
so strong as those that can be brought forward in favor of its astronomical
uses. We incline to the opinion that it combined both purposes; but we are scarcely
willing to admit that if it was a temple, it was erected by a believer in the
faith that looked upon Osiris and associate deities as the true Gods. The style
of this vast structure and the temples erected by the followers of that faith
are the antipodes of each other. The perfect purity of the pyramid from every
idolatrous ornament and reference as well as of all attempts to glorify the
wealth, might or wisdom of its human builders, makes it differ entirely, generically
and radically from all ordinary Egyptian temples, pictured from top to bottom
with the praises of their false gods. Besides, it is asserted, as before shown
that the man who built this pyramid shut up the temples, a very inconsistent
act, if he were a worshiper at their shrines. We hold the opinion that if this
pyramid was used for religious purposes at all, it was in connection with the
doctrines taught by Abraham, and if the Lord permitted the patriarch to preach
to the Egyptians that principle of the Gospel known to us as baptism for the
dead, we can well imagine the use to which the coffer in the king’s chamber
was applied. Indeed, the idea that the coffer was a baptismal font has been
suggested by more than one Gentile writer, (3 )
but if it were used especially in the ordinances for the salvation of those
who had passed from this sphere of action the symbolism would be almost perfect;
for we have here a font enshrined in the heart of an artificial mountain, that
could be reached only through a straight, stony gate and by a long, narrow and
mysterious passage. How accurately these typify the valley of the shadow of
death, and the grave, and how perfect the imagery of going into the heart of
this solid mountain to act for those who had been laid away in the sepulchre.
There is one thing that greatly strengthens the idea that if its uses were religious,
they were Abrahamic. It is that this very coffer is of the exact capacity of
the ark of the covenant of Moses’ day, also that an originally marked oft portion
of the chamber in which the coffer stands is of the exact capacity of the brazen
sea, or baptismal font, in Solomon’s Temple. Surely there is something more
than a mere coincidence in this.

We next desire to draw attention to some of the important truths relating
to the earth and the heavens, revealed by God to Abraham (as stated in part
in his book), of which the generality of mankind of that and every succeeding
age have remained in ignorance, even to the day in which we live, but with which
the builders of the great pyramid were evidently acquainted. Amongst these and
kindred truths, as manifested in the construction of this vast artificial mountain,
we may mention the law of planetary and solar motion, the distance of the earth
from its centre–the sun, the exact size, shape and density of our terraquous
globe, the precise length of its solar orbit, as also the value of the sacred
cubit as the unit of measurement. Writing on this subject, in a recent number
of the Juvenile Instructor, Elder Joseph L. Barfoot (Beth) remarks: “There has
been a great deal of guess-work heretofore about the use of the great pyramid
at Geezah. The prevailing opinion was that it had been intended for a tomb for
one of the ancient kings of Egypt, Discoveries have recently been made which
have led to the inference that it had far more important uses, in fact that
it was an observatory, built upon mathematical principles, and designed to perpetuate,
through all succeeding time, a correct knowledge of the heavens and the earth.
* * * It is found that the measure by which the proportions of the great pyramid
were determined is an exact proportional to the axis of the earth itself. This
is a very important thing, for it is thus in harmony with natural standards
of measure, such as used by Deity. This pyramid standard measure is called the
sacred cubit, as it is found that the standard divinely recognized through Moses
was the same as that of the pyramid. The sacred cubit was the pyramid cubit.”

Now then, with this fact before our eyes, let us turn to the Book of Abraham.
The explanation of Fig. 1, of the circular disc, reads thus: “Kolob, signifying
the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First
in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement,
according to celestial time; which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit.
One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement
of this earth, which is-called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh.”

If we understand the above aright it means that with the Gods the unit of
the measurement of time is one of the days of Kolob, or one thousand of our
years, “which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit,” or, that as one
of Kolob’s days is the unit of celestial time, so the cubit is the unit of celestial
measurement, by which the size of the worlds are measured when the foundations
thereof are laid; by which the distances of the suns and planets are regulated,
and all the creations of the Holy Ones controlled. That this cubit, which was
the unit of measurement of holy things on this earth–the ark of the tabernacle,
the temple, etc., was also the unit of measurement when this earth was created,
is further proven by the following extract from Elder Barfoot’s writings: “The
sacred cubit is in length rather more than twenty-five (25.025) inches of English
measure. It is one ten-millionth part of the radius of the axis of the earth
at the poles;” that is, it is 10,000,000 sacred cubits from the centre of the
earth to either the north or south pole, or 20,000,000 through the earth from
pole to pole. Brother Barfoot continues: “No higher or more reliable standard
of extreme precision could be given to man than the measure of the polar radius,
for all other terrestrial and celestial things relating to the earth are in
proportion to this natural standard. So important are the discoveries made recently
by means of the sacred cubit that men are surprised to think that the uses of
the great pyramid have been so long concealed.” To this remark of our esteemed
brother we answer, the Lord had not turned the key; and here we pause for a
moment to ask, and ask of all the world, how could Joseph Smith have possibly
become acquainted with this great truth if God had not revealed it unto him.
This one truth alone of which all the world was ignorant, of itself, in its
revelation by him, proves him to have been a prophet of the Most High God.

We now turn to some of the peculiarities of the great pyramid, to which passing
reference has before been made, gleaning our information from the writings of
Petrie, Osborn, Smyth, Mackay, and others. We would observe, however, that our
space prevents us from giving any but the more prominent references.

1st. For parts cosmocally and symbolically significant, the metric standard
of the great pyramid is the sacred cubit, exactly one ten-millionth of the earth’s
polar radius, the only natural standard of both unique and extreme precision;
a standard of divine origination, primeval, and preserved in the least disturbed
line of Abraham’s family (the Arabs) to the present day. (Mr. Wm. Petrie.)

Does not this testimony almost word for word confirm the statements of the
Book of Abraham?

2d. The direction of the strait entrance passage, inclining at 26 20′ into
the north side of the pyramid, was such that at the reputed date of its establishment (4 )
this direction was that of the primeval pole star, then at its lower culmination,
while Alcyone (5 ) (the centre of, or governing
planet which controls our solar system) then near the celestial equator, was
at its upper culmination, or on the same meridian at midnight of the autumnal
equinox. This definite combination cannot recur for 25,898 years; it marked
the date of the pyramid, and of the year of the Pleiades,” a commencement of
a natural chronologic era, traditions of which have remained in most times and
countries, or to put it in another shape, “the meridian of the primeval pole
star became rigidly stationary on Alcyone at the date of the great pyramid,
after which it commenced to retrograde.”

3d. A thousand billion times the pyramid’s weight, carefully computed, is
the mass of the whole earth, namely, six thousand and fifty trillions of British
tons.

4th. The annual circuit of the earth–that is, one year, is represented by
the length of the base circuit of the pyramid, and each day of twenty-four hours
by four cubits. Or each day of our year is represented by one cubit on each
of the four sides of the pyramid, each side representing in its whole length
one year of this earth. Or one day to a cubit as stated in the Book of Abraham.
Can any one explain to us why this pyramid were so built that one cubit should
represent one day exactly, if Abraham did not teach this to them? and if he
did, then we have called the pyramids to bear witness to the truth of his book,
which they most assuredly do, and at the same time to the truth of its translation
by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Napoleon Bonaparte, when he gathered his armies
in Egypt, pointing to the pyramids, told his legions that forty centuries looked
down upon them. We have also called these mighty monuments of the past to bear
record to the unity of revealed truth. Admit the above to be facts, and how
is it possible to deny that Joseph Smith received his wisdom from a divine source,
and consequently was a prophet of God.

Mr. Mackay, writing (1870) on facts in astronomy, states that the great pyramid
has been “investigated and explored as no other monument, ancient and modern,
ever was; and the indefatigable explorers have been rewarded with an abundant
harvest of the most brilliant discoveries. One of these, discovered by Mr. Petrie,
is the clear indication that the architect of this pyramid knew the mean distance
of the sun from the earth with an exactitude to which modern science never approached
till within the last seven years. * * * The best lineal and angular measurements
have been combined by W. Petrie, who shows therefrom that the original height
of the great pyramid, from the pavement to its base, was 486.25 British feet;
this multiplied by the ninth power of ten–i.e., 1,000,000,000 gives a result
of 92,093,000 British miles, for the mean distance of the sun. The latest collective
result of science reckons the probable truth to be between 91,970,000, and 92,150,000;
while the great pyramid gives 92,093,000 miles, (6 )
being completely within these minimum uncertainties of science.” This, by other
references, has been proven to have been no accident, but intended by the builders,
as it constitutes but a small part of the evidence discovered in this direction.

Here, then, we have evidence that the ancient Egyptians had a knowledge of
the true distance from the sun. That they obtained this knowledge only by divine
light is evidenced by the abortive attempts of other ancient investigators to
determine this question. For instance, in the days of Herodotus, (B. C. 500,)
it was thought that the sun was distant only some eight or ten miles; fifty
years later it was estimated by Anaxagoras at 1800; 150 years later, 5,300,000
was the computed distance; 1900 years later, Kepler calculated the distance
at 26,400,000 miles; in A. D. 1750 the supposed distance was increased to 81,650,000,
and so, from the dawn of creation until now, uninspired men have been groping
after this truth, and even to-day they are not entirely satisfied that the exact
measurement has been obtained.

It is unnecessary, for our present purpose, to enter into all the details
of the varied geometrical, metrical, mechanical, geographical, astronomical
and cosmical references found in the great pyramid, all of which, it is vigorously
asserted, have been tested and proven correct by the very best scientific ability;
nor will space permit us to follow a rapidly-increasing class of writers who
find in its lines, angles and markings a prophetic history of the world; but
we should scarcely feel satisfied if we did not summarize a few of its leading
characteristics. “We find,” (7 ) to use the
language of Dr. J. A. Seiss, of Philadelphia,” a perfect geometric figure, so
framed that the four sides of its base bear the same proportion to its vertical
height as the circumference of a circle to its radius; that each of its base
lines measures the even ten-millionth part of the semi-axis of the earth just
as many times as there are days in the year; that its height multiplied by the
ninth power of ten gives the mean distance between the earth and its great centre
of light; that its unit of length is the even five hundredth millionth part
of the polar diameter of the globe we inhabit; that its two diagonals of base
measure in inches the precise number of years in the great processional cycle;
that its bulk of masonry is an even proportion of the weight of the earth itself,
and that its setting and shaping are squared and oriented (8 )
with microscopic accuracy.” Regarding the coffer in the king’s chamber he continues:
“We perceive in it a most accurately-shaped standard of measures and proportions,
its sides and bottom cubically identical with its internal space, the length
of its two sides to its height as a circle to its diameter, its exterior volume
just twice the dimension of its bottom, and its whole measure just the fiftieth
part of the chamber in which it was put when the edifice was built,” for it
could not have been gotten into the chamber after the building was finished,
by reason of the size and angles of the entrance passages. Now, then, let us
add to these facts a statement by the same author, and we think our position
regarding the veracity of the portion of the Book of Abraham we have lastly
been commenting upon is amply vindicated. “Everywhere do we encounter the traditions
of Abraham’s skill in the knowledge of the heavens, how he argued from his observation
of the heavenly orbs, and how he occupied himself in Egypt teaching the priests
of Heliopolis in the lore of the skies. Doubtless this was not the naked science
of astronomy as the schools conceive of it, but as respected the theological
and Messianic truths symbolized in these celestial hieroglyphics, in which,
as in the more literal promises, he rejoiced to see Christ’s day, and saw it
and was glad. (John, viii, 56.)” Which testimony of the Savior’s is in direct
accord with the statements of the Book of Abraham; nor need we be surprised
thereat, when revelation, ancient and modern, states that Enoch, and indeed
other antediluvian patriarchs, saw not only “Christ’s day,” but the world’s
history, even to the winding up scene.

Admitting that the shape of the pyramid, in connection with its other references,
has a prophetic import, it becomes a remarkable fact that this stupendous four-sided
monument, in this particular phase of its construction, typifies the number
of days, according to the reckoning of the Lord and of Kolob, between the fall
of man and the incarnation of our Savior (4000 years), and the time between
the date of its own construction and the organization of the Church of Jesus
Christ in the last days (also 4000 years), Two of the most important events
then in the future of the world’s history, and known in the economy of God,
the first as the ushering in of “the dispensation of the fulness of time,” the
second as the ushering in of “the dispensation of the fulness of times.”

(1 ) It is worthy of note that the root
of the name Philition or Philitis signifies a lover of truth, a most appropriate
name for Abraham.

(2 ) The assertion that this well connected
with the Nile, is denied by Prof. Smyth and other explorers.

(3 ) Bryant, Faber, Goodsir and others.

(4 ) B. C. 2170, or exactly 4000 years before
1830, the date of the organization of the Church of Jesus Cfhrist in this dispensation.

(5 ) “The Pleiades are the seven stars,
called cemah, which means an axle, that on or around which something turns.
Now, a few years ago, Prof. Madler, the German astronomer, was awarded a gold
medal by the scientific societies of Europe. And why? Because he was the first
to advance the hypothesis of the existence of a central body in the stellar
universe, about which all in our system revolved. He fixed, as that preponderating
mass, upon the Pleiades, and upon the brightest star in the group, namely, Alcyone,
as the very centre. Yet from Job we learn this scientific fact, and Prof. Madler
had no special claim for such a discovery, nor had he any right to such a medal,
unless he was a lineal descendant and heir of Job.”–Dr. Wild, of New York.

(6 ) The most recent scientific estimate
of the sun’s distance from the earth actually places it within 270 miles of
the exact pyramid figures.

(7 ) Miracle in Stone.

(8 ) Oriented–situated with respect to
the four cardinal points.