The Book of Abraham - Its Genuineness Established, Chapter XI

THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM—ITS GENUINENESS ESTABLISHED.

BY ELDER GEORGE REYNOLDS.

[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 148.]

CHAP. XI.

The Sacred Cubit. “One Day to a Cubit.” Alcyone——The Sun’s Distance. Pyramid References to Astronomical Truths.

In this chapter it is our 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 terraqueous 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 disk, 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 the 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, Osburn, 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?

2nd. 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[*] this direction was that of the primeval pole star, then at its lower culmination, while Alcyone (the centre of or governing planet, which controls our Bolar 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.”

3rd. 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 the pyramids 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,[†] 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 1,800; 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.