Antediluvian Freemasonry

Antediluvian Freemasonry. This name means before the Deluge or Flood referred to in the Book of Genesis. The idea that Masonry (although this may have really meant only Geometry) originated before the Flood and was cleverly preserved from that calamity was expressly related in all of the Gothic Legends. (See GOTHIC CONSTITUTIONS.) The typical story there told was that Lamech lived before the Flood and had three sons and a daughter: Jabel, who founded Geometry; Jubal, who founded Music; Tubal-Cain, who founded Smithing; and Naamah, who founded Weaving. It being known that God would take v*ngeance for the sin of the world either by fire or by water, it was planned to write those sciences on two pillars, one that would not burn, and the other that would not drown (sink). After the Flood, HERMES found one of the pillars and taught the sciences to those present at the building of the Tower of Babylon (Babel). Thence, it was carried into Egypt by Abraham. Masons used Geometry at Solomon’s Temple, whence the science was taken into France and thence to England in the time of ST. ALBAN.

Dr. Anderson repeated the story in his Constitutions of 1723, but did not accord to Noah the prominence which he afterwards thought that Patriarch deserved. In his Constitutions of 1738, he referred to Masons as Noachidae or Sons of Noah. But that idea was probably not originated by Anderson, for we find traces of a claimed connection between Masons and the Flood or with pre-Flood conditions more than a decade before 1738. Following is the text of a notice published in a London newspaper in 1736:

”Antediluvian Masonry,
”This is to give Notice,
”To all Masons who have been made after the Antediluvian Manner,
”That there will be a Lodge held at the Ship Tavern in Bishopgate Street tomorrow the 24th of this instant June, being the feast of St. John the Baptist, the Forerunner of ________ who laid the first parallel line--there not being Brethren enough assembled the last year to make a true and perfect Lodge.

”There will be several Lectures on Ancient Masonry, particularly on the signification of the letter G, and how and after what Manner the Antediluvian Masons form’d their Lodges, shewing what Innovations have lately been introduced by the Doctor and some of the Moderns, with their Tape, Jacks, Moveable Letters, Blazing Stars, &c, to the great Indignity of the Mop and Pail.

”There will likewise be a Lecture giving a particular Description of the Temple of Solomon, shewing which way the Fellow Crafts got into the Middle Chamber to receive their wages, and proving without lettering or giving the first or second, that the two Pillars of the Porch were not cast in the Vale of Jehosaphat but elsewhere; and that neither the Honorary, Apollonian, or Free and Accepted Masons know anything of the matter; with the whole History of the Widow’s son k*lled by the Blow of a Beetle, afterwards found three Foot East, three Foot West and three Foot perpendicular, and the necessity there is for a Master to well understand the Rule of Three.

”Lastly: there will be an Oration in the Henlean stile, on the Antiquity of Signs, Tokens, Points, Grips, Knuckles, Wrists, Right-hands, bare-bended Knees, naked left Breast, Bibles, Compasses, Squares, Yellow Jackets, Blue Breeches, Mosaick Pavements, oblong-Squares, Cassia, and mossy Graves, delivered neither sitting nor standing naked nor clothed, but in due Form, concluding with a genuine Account of Penalties, Throats, Tongues, Hearts, Sands, Cables, Shoars, Tides, Bodies b*rnt, Ashes, Winds, solem Obligations, &c.

”N. B. The Wax Chandler near Pall Mall will provide three great Lights and a Gormogon to keep off the Cowin and Eves-droppers.

”By Order of the Fraternity
”Lewis Giblin M. B. N.
”The Eulogium on Masonry will not be deferred on any account.”

That is a very illuminating publication, disclosing, as it does, not only the general nature of the interest created at the time by the Masonic Society but also many hints on the contents of the ritual, as to which the writer seems to have been well informed. It does not, however, tell us much about Antediluvian Masonry, except that this particular group was probably organized more to ridicule the new Grand Lodge than to conduct any order of its own and that, although meeting but once a year, there were not enough present for a meeting the preceding year. But they met on St. John the Baptist’s Day and the writer of the notice showed that he was otherwise familiar with the ritual, as well as the general aspects of Freemasonry, for he mentioned a large number of items so material to the subject that they form items in this modern encyclopedia. He referred to the innovations introduced by the Doctor, meaning John Theophilus Desaguliers, F.R.S., D.D., and employed the terms, Ancient and Modern in essentially the same sense as they became so widespread some 30 years later. Other significant items were: St. John the Baptist; Parallel Lines; Perfect Lodge (See LODGE, JUST AND PERFECT), G; Blazing Star; Mop and Pail; Temple of Solomon; Middle Chamber; Two Pillars of the Porch (See PILLARS); Honorary Masons; Apollonian Masons; Free and Accepted Masons; Widow’s Son (See HIRAM ABIF); Signs; Tokens; Points; Grip; Bible; Compasses; Square; Yellow Jacket; Blue Breeches; Mosaic Pavement; Cassia (See ACACIA); Cable (See CABLE-TOW); Obligation; Great Lights; Due Form. See the articles under those respective titles.

The oration in the Henlean style had reference to John Henly a well known master of invective. The posting of a Gormogon at the door refers to a member of a somewhat unfriendly rival of the Freemasons, called the Gormogons (See GORMOGONS, ANCIENT NOBLE ORDER OF THE.) The meanings of other terms are not now apparent, such as Tape, Jacks, Moveable Letters, Three Foot East, Three Foot West, and Three Foot Perpendicular, Rule of Three, Knuckles, and Wrists. See NOAH; NOACHIDAE.

Macoy Collector's Note: The 1736 satirical notice quoted in this entry is a goldmine for Masonic scholars, offering a rare, mocking glimpse into the early ritual elements and controversies surrounding the Premier Grand Lodge and Dr. Desaguliers.