Enoch in Masonry

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_Kishkumen
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Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

George George Oliver, The Antiquities of Freemasonry, 1823, p. 88-90 wrote:Enoch practiced Freemasonry, of which he was now installed Grand Master, with such effect, that God vouchsafed by immediate revelation, to communicate to him some peculiar mysteries, in token of his approbation. The most valuable of these, according to old traditions, was that the sacred name or word, which demands our utmost veneration; and enables man to reflect on the goodness of his Maker, with renewed sentiments of reverence and devotion.

The degeneracy of mankind increasing, Enoch exhorted them to turn from their unrighteous ways, and imitate the purity of their forefathers. He pressed upon them the nature of their obligations; he reiterated their duty to God and man; but the fascinations of pleasure had so intoxicated their senses, that the sober admonitions of reason and duty were little regarded. He therefore called a special assembly of Masons in whom he could confide; and in the presence of Adam, Seth, Jared his father and Methusaleh his son, he enumerated the accumulating wickedness of man, and the enormous evils which were desolating the earth; and implored their advice and assistance in stemming the torrent of impiety which threatened universal corruption. It was here Adam communicated that terrible prophecy, that all mankind, except a few just persons, should so far swerve from their allegiance to God, as to cause the destruction of all created things by water and fire.

From this information Enoch formed his plans for preserving the knowledge he had acquired, amidst the devastation necessarily attending the predicted calamity. The sacred mysteries committed to his charge occupied his first and most anxious solicitude. Being inspired by his Maker, and in commemoration of a wonderful vision on the holy mountain, in which these sublime secrets were revealed to him, he built a temple in the bowels of the earth, the entrance to which was through nine several porches, each supported by a pair of pillars, and curiously concealed from human observation. The perpendicular depth of this temple was eighty-one feet from the surface. Enoch, Jared, and Methusaleh were the three architects who constructed this subterranean edifice; but the two latter were not acquainted with the secret motives which influences Enoch in causing this cavern to be dug. The arches were formed in the bowels of a mountain, which was afterwards denominated Calvary in the land of Canaan; and the temple was dedicated to the living God.

He then made a plate of gold in the form of an equilateral triangle, each of whose sides was eighteen inches; which he enriched with precious stones, and encrusted it on a triangular agate of the same dimensions. On his plate he engraved ineffable characters he had seen in his vision; and alone, in silence and solitude, he descended through the nine portals into the temple, and placed this invaluable treasure upon a cubical pedestal of white marble.

When the temple was completed, Enoch made nine secret doors of stone, and placed them at the entrance of the portals, with an iron ring inserted in each for the facility of raising, in case any wise and good man of future ages should be led to explore the secret passages of this sepulchral vault. He then closed up the whole, that the secrets there deposited might remain in perfect security amidst the anticipated destruction of mankind; for the contents of this temple were not entrusted to any human being. Enoch paid occasional visits to the temple, for the purpose of offering up his prayers and thanksgivings in a peculiar manner to the God who had vouchsafed to him alone such distinguished favors.

As the world increased in wickedness, and the threatened destruction visibly approached nearer and nearer, Enoch, trembling for the fate of those useful arts and sciences which he had invented or improved, proceeded without delay to provide for their transmission to future ages: for the accomplishment of which, his knowledge of letters lent the greatest facility. Upon a high mountain, therefore, he erected two great pillars, one of marble, and another of brass, to preserve the true principles of science for the benefit of a future world; the former of which he conceived would withstand fire, and the latter water. On these he engraved the elements of the liberal sciences, including Masonry; and also a notification that he had concealed a valuable treasure in the bowels of the earth, which contained the essence and end of Masonry, and was consecrated to the only true and living God. Let him that hath wisdom find it!

Enoch perceiving that men did not reform from his repeated exhortations, instituted that form of excommunication known amongst the primitive Christians by the name of Maranatha, being derived from Maran, the Lord, and Ath, fire. After giving them a solemn warning of the dreadful punishments with awaited their obdurate iniquity, he resigned the government to his son Lamech; and on his fervent petition for death, it pleased God to translate him from the Lodge on earth to the Lodge above, where his piety was rewarded with everlasting glory.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

George Oliver, The Historical Landmarks and other evidences of Freemasonry, vol. 1: 1846, p. 59 wrote:The degeneracy of mankind had become so great, and their perversions of pure antediluvian Masonry so grievous, that, according to our traditions, Enoch feared the genuine secrets would be lost, and swallowed up in the predicted Deluge. To prevent which he hid the Grand Secret, engraved on a white oriental porphyry stone, in the bowels of the earth; and being apprehensive that the morality and science which had been embodied in Freemasonry with such care would be absorbed in the general destruction; to preserve the principles of the science, he built two pillars near the spot where they were concealed, with an inscription in hieroglyphics, importing that near it was a precious treasure which had been dedicated to God.


Ibid., p. 510 wrote:Enoch employed six days to construct the arches, and on the seventh, having deposited the secret treasure in the lowest arch, was translated into the abodes of the blessed.-Lecture of the 32nd degree


Enoch and the mysteries:

Ibid., p. 60 wrote:Bro. Rosenberg, in a communication to the Freemason’s Quarterly Review refers to the cabalistic book of Raziel. “Now the word Raziel,” he says, “if divided into two, (its component parts,) produces Razi-el, that is to say, the divine mysteries. Afterwards, when driven out of Paradise, he communicated them to his son Loth; Loth communicated them to Enoch; Enoch to Methusalem…


Abraham, student of the mysteries, visits the site of Enoch's temple with Isaac:

Ibid., p. 213 wrote:And when they [Abraham and Isaac] arrived at the summit of the mountain—when they stood together within sight of that awful spot where Enoch is said to have deposited the secret mysteries which had been entrusted to him, according to the divine command…


On Solomon and the subterranean temple of Enoch:

Ibid., 585-6 wrote:Whenever the Lodge of Perfection was holden, nine knights of the Ninth Arch tiled the nine arches which led to the sacred vault; the most ancient stood in the arch next to the antechamber of the vault, and so on in regular progression, the youngest taking his station in the first arch, which was near the apartment of Solomon. None were suffered to pass without giving the pass-words of the different arches…[Masons approach Solomon looking for access to the same honors and are refused.]Solomon mildly replied, that those whom he had advanced to the degree of Perfection, had wrought in the difficult and dangerous work of the ancient ruins, had penetrated the bowels of the earth, and brought from thence treasure to enrich and adorn the temple of God… [Men resolve to enter the chambers anyway.] The very next morning they removed the cubical stone, and descended into the cavern with a ladder of ropes, by the light of torches; but no sooner had they all arrived at the bottom than the whole nine arches fell in upon them. [Solomon sends men to investigate.] They carefully examined the spot, but found nothing except a few pieces of marble inscribed with heiroglyphics; by which Solomon discovered that these pieces of marble formed a part of one of the pillars of Enoch.


Ibid., 585-7 wrote:After unwearied toil, accident brought them to the identical spot, as we are informed by the voice of Masonic tradition, where Enoch had built his nine perpendicular arches; and to their great joy, at a considerable depth beneath the surface, they discovered the iron ring which that patriarch had appended to the horizontal door of stone that covered and concealed the upper-most arch or vault of his subterranean temple. This stone being removed, they descended into the vault, and found a similar opening into a second, and so on until they arrived at the ninth cavern, where at a depth of nearly one hundred feet from the surface they saw * * * *. The treasures were removed in a secure depository within the king’s private chapel, beneath the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, which was connected with the palace by a subterranean avenue of arches, supported by pillars; but the entrance was known to none but the king himself.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

The Revelations of a Square: Exhibiting a Graphic Display of Sayings and Doings of Eminent Free and Accepted Masons from the Revival in 1717 by Dr. Desagulters, to the Reunion in 1813 by their R.H. the Duke of Kent and Sussex

by George Oliver, D.D.
New York: Masonic Publishing and Manufacturing Co., 1866.

p. 69-71 wrote:Many of the continental fancies and innovations, extracted from the- Jewish Talmuds, and introduced into their surreptitious Masonry, were much talked of in our Lodges at this period ; and some of them were absolutely incorporated into our symbolical ritual, which was one reason why an authorized mode of working was considered by all genuine Masons to be essentially necessary. The rage for something new in England, as formerly in Athens, was not easily suppressed, and a knowledge of these traditions was deemed indispensable for every Brother who was ambitious of enjoying the reputation of being an adept in Masonry. One of these traditions you will like to hear, as it continued for a great length of time a cherished figment amongst us. It refers to the history of the Foundation Stone of Solomon's Temple, which was traced in the legend from Enoch through Noah, Abraham, and Solomon, to the apostate Emperor Julian by the following process. They described it as a double cube, every side, except the base on which it stood, being inscribed. The first face of the cube was said to have been engraved by Noah with an instrument of porphyry when the Ark was building ; the second, by Abraham, with the horn of the ram credat Judaeus! which was substituted for his son on Mount Moriah ! the third, with a porphyry tool by Moses; the fourth, by Joshua; and the fifth by Hiram Abiff, before it was deposited in its final bed at the north-east angle of the Temple. Having been placed by Enoch in the basement of his subterranean edifice, it was discovered by Noah, and used as an anchor to fix the Ark on Mount Ararat. Abraham took it thence to Mount Moriah, where it constituted the altar on which he offered Isaac. It formed the pillow of Jacob when he saw his celestial vision of the ladder, and accompanied him in all his wanderings. He bequeathed it to Joseph in Egypt, who directed it to be placed over his grave. Moses took it with him, at the great deliverance, into the wilderness of Arabia. He stood upon this remarkable stone when the Red Sea was divided, and when the Amalekites, were defeated ; knelt on it when the Tables of the Law were delivered on Mount Sinai; and finally commended it to the care of Joshua, who built his altar on it at Mount Ebal. It was deposited in the Sanctuary at Shilo, until the Temple was erected at Jerusalem, when Solomon directed it to be placed in the foundation as the chief corner-stone. Here it remained undisturbed either by Zerubabel or Herod, as it was destined to defeat the insane attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple, which it effected by destroying his workmen through the agency of fire.


Ibid, 262 wrote:'The next point,' Bro. Oliver replied, 'appertains to the Third Degree. The Temple of Solomon is represented as having two foundations, one beneath the other, in the form of an oblong square. The lower foundation is said to have been composed of compact rows of stones, in number 900 ; while the upper consisted of only twelve stones, to represent the tribes, which were placed in three rows, and were inlaid with upwards of nine hundred costly precious stones. It is further taught that, in order to perpetuate the infamy of the Tribe of Dan, which perpetrated the first apostasy, King Solomon commanded that the stone which appertained to that tribe should be defaced, and a certain cubical stone, which had formed the basis of Enoch's subterranean Temple, should be substituted for it, as it occupied a situation immediately beneath the centre of the Most Holy Place.'
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

Omni 1:20-22 wrote: 20 And it came to pass in the days of Mosiah, there was a large stone brought unto him with engravings on it; and he did interpret the engravings by the gift and power of God.

21 And they gave an account of one Coriantumr, and the slain of his people. And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons.

22 It also spake a few words concerning his fathers. And his first parents came out from the tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people; and the severity of the Lord fell upon them according to his judgments, which are just; and their bones lay scattered in the land northward.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Fence Sitter
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Fence Sitter »

Kiskumen,
Do you know of any studies on George Oliver's works? I am curious if he came up with some of these ideas on his own or how much of it was assembled from disparate sources like Josephus and such?

It also seems like Oliver was trying to do for Masonry what Joseph Smith was trying to do for Christianty, that is, give it some sort of ancient authenticity going back to the beginning of Biblical time frames.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

I don't, Fence Sitter. The books, however, are freely available through Google and other online sources.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

I should say that there were some excellent episodes of Mormon Expression on the topic of Mormonism and Masonry that drew upon George Oliver's work.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Uncle Dale
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Uncle Dale »

Some topics meriting further investigation:

1. The beginnings and initial spread of Royal Arch Freemasonry
in the Americas -- English colonies -- New England -- the first
members of the Cowdery family to join the Royal Arch, etc.

2. Reasons why Ethan Smith and Solomon Spalding opposed
Royal Arch Masonry -- a generation before the Morgan affair.
Did the Book of Mormon and JST opposition to secret societies
stem from the anti-Masonry of Morgan's era, or from the
earlier New England anti-Masonry?

3. The lost history of Masonic restorationist movements and
Christian Masonry of the early 1800s. Who professed that
Masonry originated with Adam and required restoration? Who
joined the anti-Masonic movement in order to purify the
Craft, rather than destroy it? Were the abductors of William
Morgan partisans of the County Lodge or the City Lodge, in
the mid-1820s split in New York State. Did Hyrum Smith
join a Palmyra "country lodge" group?

4. What was the early 1800s Masonic teaching regarding
Enoch and the origin of writing. What elements of Islamic
Doctrine regarding Enoch (Edris) and the seven One True
Religion dispensations were incorporated into Royal Arch
Masonry? What relationship did the prophetship of
Mohammed (7th and last head of a dispensation) have
with the prophethip of Joseph Smith (also 7th and last
prophet, following the demise of Christ's 6th dispensation)
and what elements if this tradition were taken up by
Royal Arch Masonry from the Knights Templar?

5. What Masonic lore and writings were available regarding
Bruce's discovery and translation of Ethopian Enoch,
before that text's 1822 publication? What Islamic lore
did Royal Arch Masonry incorporate regarding the Islamic
tradition of the Book of Enoch, as the world's oldest
scripture, following Enoch's invention of writing?

6. What did the American Masons of the early 1800s
teach, regarding John Dee, his writings on Enoch, seer
stones, Madoc in America, etc.? -- Did American Masons
quote "ibn Nephi" regarding the Book of Enoch and the
supposed correct way to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs?
(Do an Internet search on "ibn Nephi" and Enoch)...

UD
-- the discovery never seems to stop --
_Kishkumen
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Kishkumen »

These are marvelous questions, Uncle Dale. Each and every one of them. Would that I personally had time to pursue them at present.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
_Maksutov
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Re: Enoch in Masonry

Post by _Maksutov »

Oh great. Now you guys have me intrigued. I feel myself sliding toward yet another vortex of tantalizing historical mystery. I'm not yet finished with Spiritualism and its currents running through Mormonism, now I need to research Freemasonry more. I'm compulsively curious about this stuff. :lol:
"God" is the original deus ex machina. --Maksutov
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