January 22, 2010 by Greg
Filed under featured, Sojourners
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[...] is taken from: Tracing the Generation of the Third Degree by Adrian T. Taylor, Ph.D. Founding Member of the David A. McWilliams, Sr. Research & [...]
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The author may want to review this paragraph in light of the evidence below:
Within this milieu, there are credible reports that one of the earliest depictions of the third degree was “performed as a play by an all-Masonic cast at the Philo Musicae et Architecturae Societas Apollini (Apollonian Society for Lovers of Music and Architecture) in London.” In this original play, we find that “it dramatically told two stories: the building of King Solomon’s Temple and the death of Noah, and with his death, the loss of his ‘secret knowledge.’”[15] In a later edition of Dr. James Anderson’s Constitutions of 1738 we find that a “Noachidae was the first name of the Masons, according to some old tradition” meaning “sons of Noah.”[16] For Anderson, his legendary conception of Noah was consequential insofar as Noah “was commanded and directed of God to build the great Ark” and that he and “his three Sons, JAPHET, SHEM, and HAM, all Masons true, brought with them over the Flood the [Masonic] Traditions and Arts of the Ante-deluvians.”[17] This ongoing transition helped to facilitate the consummation of what we now know as Blue Lodge Freemasonry.
Having thus invented and adopted the name as the distinctive designation of a Mason, he repeats it in his second edition or revision of the “Old Charges” appended to the Book of Constitutions. The first of these charges, in the Constitutions of 1723, contained this passage: ” A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law.” In the edition of 1738, Dr. Anderson has, without authority, completed the sentence by adding the words ” as a true Noachida.” This interpolation was reached by Entick, who edited the third and fourth editions in 1756 and 1767, and by Northouck, who published the fifth in 1784, both of whom restored the old reading, which has ever since been preserved in all the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England.
Dermott, however, who closely followed the second edition of Anderson, in the composition of his Ahiman Rezon of course adopted the new term.
About that time, or a little later, a degree was fabricated on the continent of Europe, bearing the name of ” Patriarch Noachite,” one peculiar feature of which was that it represented the existence of two classes or lines of Masons, the one descending from the Temple of Solomon, and who were called Hiramites, and the other tracing their origin to Noah, who were styled Noachites.
Bro. Taylor, I think you over analyzed the paper, “Origins, 1717 or Antiquity?” As you even stated, “…..this researcher argued that sufficient evidence had been crafted to simply suggest that Freemasonry may have an African origin…” The purpose of that paper was not to make any groundbreaking definitive statements. The paper was written in 2002 and during that time the most interesting research topics centered on “Regularity of Prince Hall Masonry” and the “Recognition of Prince Hall Lodges by Their Mainstream Counterparts.” At that time, I felt that the esoterics within the ranks of Prince Hall Masonry should advance the overall conversation to another front. I sought to challenge my brethren (Prince Hall and Mainstream) to think about other topics and other possibilities within the framework of masonry. Having said that, I do like the rigor that you intend to bring to the topic. I look forward to seeing your other scholarly works. Also, I would like to add that this topic deserves a true investigation into the decline of the Knights Templar and the sudden rise of the Freemasonic order. Equally important would be an investigation into the lost bibliography of Greece or simply the undocumented influence of Ancient Egypt on the Greek civilization. In my mind, these are the frontiers of this topic, and they deserve the rigors of a true academic investigation. Bro. Taylor, this would be a great place for your analytical skill set.
not positive I could have said/written it any superior myself personally