THE WORTHIES OF FREEMASONRY.

THE MASONIC REVIEW - 1857

We propose under this title to present to our readers, in the
course of the succeeding numbers, a series of biographical
and historical sketches of some of those illustrious
characters whom the annals and traditions of Freemasonry
have connected with the institution as its founders or its
patrons. Seven of these particularly merit our attention, from
the important position they occupy in the lectures and
traditions of the craft. The names of these worthies are,
Enoch, the first inventor of pillars; Noah, the founder of the
Arkite rites; Solomon, the builder of the Temple; Hiram, the
widow's son; Zerubbabel, the restorer of the Temple; and St.
John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the two "lines
parallel" of Masonry.

The materials from which our narratives are to be derived
are sometimes scanty and sometimes copious, but never
uninteresting. But as written history does not reach, in all
cases, to those sass which are to engage our consideration,
we shall necessarily be compelled to borrow much from that
traditional lore with which Freemasonry abounds, but which,
scattered in recondite works, or locked up in the scarce
manuscripts of the ineffable degrees, are not within the
reach of every Mason. Hence, in placing them in the
possession of our readers, so far as we legitimately can, we
believe we will be offering them an acceptable service.

Of the nature of these traditions, of their claims to credence,
and of the use which we intend to make of them in the
course of these sketches, we cannot say more or better than
has already been said by one who has himself abundantly
borrowed from them.

"It is admitted," says Dr. Oliver, "that we are in possession of
numerous legends which are not found in holy writ; but being
of very ancient date, are entitled to consideration, although
their authenticity may be questioned, and their aid rejected. I
shall not, however, in any case, use their evidence as a
prima facie means of proving any doubtful proposition, but
merely in corroboration of an argument which might probably
be complete without their aid. Our system of typical or
legendary tradition adds to the dignity of the institution by its
general reference to sublime truths, which were considered
necessary to its existence or its consistency; although some
of the facts, how pure soever at their first promulgation, may
have been distorted and perverted by passing through a
multitude of hands in their transmission down the stream of
time, amidst the political fluctuations of the earth and the
downfall of mighty states and empires." (1)

With these preliminary remarks, we proceed to portray a
sketch of the first of the illustrious personages in our series
of the worthies of the craft.

ENOCH, THE INVENTOR OF PILLARS.

" _____him the Most High
(Rapt in a balmly cloud, with winged steeds),
Did as thou seest, receive to walk with God,
High in salvation, and the claims of bliss,
Exempt from death." PARADISE LOST.

Though the scriptures furnish but a meagre account of
Enoch, the traditions of Freemasonry closely connect him by
numerous circumstances with the early history of the
institution. All indeed that we learn from the book of Genesis
on the subject of his life, is that he was the seventh of the
patriarchs; the son of Jared, and the greatgrandfather of
Noah; that he was born in the year of the world 622; that his
life was one of eminent virtue - so much so, that he is
described as "walking with God;" and that in the year 987 his
earthly pilgrimage was terminated (as the commentators
generally suppose), not by death, but by a bodily translation
to heaven.

In the very commencement of our inquiries, we shall find
circumstances in the life of this great patriarch that shadow
forth, as it were, something of that mysticism with which the
traditions of Masonry have connected him. His name, in the
Hebrew language, Henoch, signifies to initiate and to
instruct, and seems intended to express the fact that he was,
as Oliver remarks, the first to give a decisive character to the
rites of initiation, and to add to the practice of divine worship
the study and application of human science. In confirmation
of this view, a writer in the Freemason's (quarterly Review
says, on this subject, that "It seems probable that Enoch
introduced the speculative principles into the Masonic creed,
and that he originated its exclusive character."

The years of his life may also be supposed to contain a
mystic meaning, for they amounted to 365, being exactly
equal to a solar revolution. In all the ancient rites of what has
been termed spurious Freemasonry, this number has
occupied a prominent place, because it was the
representative of the annual course of that luminary which,
as the great fructifier of the earth, was the peculiar object of
divine worship.

The immediate ancestors of Enoch had lived in the practice
of that piety which had been taught to them by their
ancestor, Seth, and occupied the region about Mount Moriah
as the scene of their agricultural and pastoral cares.

Of the early history of Enoch, we know nothing. It is,
however, probable that like the other descendants of the
pious Seth, he passed his pastoral life in the neighborhood
of Mount Moriah. From the other patriarchs he differed only
in this: that, enlightened by the divine knowledge which had
been imparted to him, he instructed his contemporaries in
the practice of those rites which have been called Primitive
Freemasonry, and in the study of those sciences with which
he had himself become acquainted.

The oriental writers abound in traditionary evidence of the
learning of the venerable patriarch. One tradition states that
he received from God the gift of wisdom and knowledge, and
that God sent him thirty volumes from heaven, filled with all
the secrets of the most mysterious sciences. The
Babylonians supposed him to have been intimately
acquainted with the nature of the stars, and they attribute to
him the invention of astrology. The Rabbins maintain that he
was taught by God and Adam how to sacrifice and how to
worship the Deity aright. The cabalistic book of Raziel says,
that he received the divine mysteries from Adam, through
the direct line of the preceding patriarchs.

The Greek Christians supposed him to have been identical
with the first Egyptian Hermes, who dwelt at Sais; they say
he was the first to give instruction on the celestial bodies;
that he foretold the deluge that was to overwhelm his
descendants; and that he built the pyramids, (2) engraving
thereon figures of artificial instruments and the elements of
the sciences, fearing lest the memory of man should perish
in that general destruction. Eupolemus, a Grecian writer,
makes him the same as Atlas, and attributes to him, as the
pagans did to that deity, the invention of astronomy.

Dr. Wait, in his Oriental Antiquities, quotes a passage from
Bar Hebraeus, a Jewish writer, which asserts that Enoch
was the first who invented books and writing; that he taught
men the art of building cities; that he discovered the
knowledge of the zodiac and the course of the planets; and,
that he inculcated the worship of God, by fasting, prayer,
alms, votive offerings, and tythes. Bar Hebraeus adds, that
he also appointed festivals for sacrifices to the sun, at the
periods when that luminary entered each of the zodiacal
signs; but this statement, which would make him the author
of idolatry, is entirely inconsistent with all that we know of his
character, from both history and tradition, and arose, as
Oliver supposes, most probably from a blending of the
characters of Enos and Enoch.

In the study of the sciences, in teaching them to his children
and his contemporaries, and in instituting the rights of
primitive Freemasonry, Enoch passed the years of his
peaceful, his pious, and his useful life, until the crimes of
mankind had increased to such a height that, in the
expressive words of holy writ, "every imagination of the
thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." It was
then, according to Masonic tradition, that Enoch, disgusted
with the wickedness that surrounded him, and appalled at
the thoughts of its inevitable consequences, fled to the
solitude and secrecy of Mount Moriah, and devoted himself
to prayer and pious contemplation. It was on that spot, then
first consecrated by this patriarchal hermitage, and
afterwards to be made still more holy by the sacrifices of
Abraham, of David, and of Solomon, that we are informed
that the Shekina, or sacred presence appeared to him, and
gave him those instructions which were to preserve the
wisdom of the antediluvians to their posterity, when the
world, with the exception of but one family, should have
been destroyed by the forthcoming flood. The circumstances
which occurred at that time are recorded in a tradition which
forms what may be called the great Masonic legend of the
patriarch Enoch.

Enoch being inspired by the Most High - so runs the legend
– and in commemoration of a wonderful vision, built a temple
under ground and dedicated it to God. His son, Methuseleh,
constructed the building, although he was not acquainted
with his father's motives for the erection. This temple
consisted of nine brick vaults, situated perpendicularly
beneath each other, and communicating by apertures left in
the arch of each vault.

Enoch then caused a triangular plate of gold to be made,
each side of which was a cubit long; he enriched it with the
most precious stones, and encrusted the plate upon a stone
of agate of the same form. On the plate, he engraved in
ineffable characters the true name of Deity, and placing it on
a cubical pedestal of white marble, deposited the whole
within the deepest arch.

When this subterranean building was completed, he made a
door of stone, and attaching to it a ring of iron, by which it
might be occasionally raised, be placed it over the opening
of the uppermost arch, and so covered it over that the
aperture could not be discovered. Enoch himself was not
permitted to enter it but once a year; and on the death of
Enoch, Methuseleh, and Lamech, and the destruction of the
world by the deluge, all knowledge of this temple and of the
sacred treasure which it contained was lost, until in after
times it was accidentally discovered by another worthy of
Freemasonry, who, like Enoch, was engaged in the erection
of a temple on the same spot.

The legend goes on to inform us, that after Enoch had
completed the subterranean temple, fearing that the
principles of those arts and sciences which be had cultivated
with so much assiduity would be lost in that general
destruction of which he had received a prophetic vision, he
erected two pillars, the one of marble, to withstand the
influence of fire, and the other of brass, to resist the action of
water. On the pillar of brass he engraved the history of the
creation, the principles of the arts and sciences, and the
doctrines of speculative Freemasonry, as they were
practised in his times; and on the one of marble he inscribed
characters in hieroglyphics, importing that near the spot
where they stood, a precious treasure was deposited in a
subterranean vault.

Josephus gives an account of these pillars in the first book of
his antiquities. He ascribes them to the children of Seth,
which is by no means a contradiction of the Masonic
tradition, since Enoch was one of these children. "That their
invention," says the historian, " might not be lost before they
were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the
world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire,
and at another time by the violence and quantity of water,
they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone;
they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case
the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar
of stone might remain and exhibit those discoveries to
mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar
of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of
Siriad to this day."

Enoch having completed these labors, called his
descendants around him on Mount Moriah, and having
warned them in the most solemn manner of the
consequences of their wickedness, exhorted them to forsake
their idolatries, and return once more to the worship of the
true God. Masonic tradition informs us that be then delivered
up the government of the craft to his grandson, Lamech, and
disappeared from earth.  (3)

This brief sketch of the services of Enoch, which exhibits the
care with which he devoted himself to the investigation of the
science, the assiduity with which he cultivated those
principles of morality and religion which constitute the
doctrines of speculative Freemasonry, and the caution which
he exercised in preserving for future ages those important
secrets, which tradition tells us were thus preserved for the
future service of the craft, justly entitle him to the encomium
that he has received from one of the most illustrious of our
writers.  (4)

"Enoch was a very eminent Freemason, and the conservator
of the true name of God, which was subsequently lost, even
amongst his favorite people, the Jews." - MACKEY'S
MISCELLANY.

(1) Oliver, Historical Landmarks, vol 1, p. 53, note 29.
(2) They have undoubtedly confounded the pyramids with
those pillars of Enoch, of which we stall hereafter speak.
(3) Selden quotes the annals of Eutychius Patriarch of
Alexandria, as stating from the ancient monuments from the
East, that Enoch died or was translated on Saturday, after
sunset, the 3d of Tisrl, or 30th September.
(4) Oliver, History of initiation, p.3

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