Monday, November 22, 2021

Here is how Noahides subvert religions

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Noahides are those non-Jews who have accepted the Noahide Laws upon themselves, these are the people, that when the time arrives, will be doing the decapitations. On their own site WikiNoah, they detail their plan as to how they subvert religions. They take your religion, remove all non-Noahide compliant elements, but leave behind many of their nostalgic elements. Then they get community leaders of that religion to endorse their teachings.

It is an attempt to review each of the largest faiths held by the Seventy nations. Following a description and brief summary of the religion, an attempt is made to identify which parts of that faith are incompatible with the Seven Laws of Noach. There are two goals in this effort: First, for believers who are currently belong to these faiths to become aware of what the Noachide Laws require of all humanity. Second, to try to isolate, identify and retain the national character of the faith so that a Noachide is left with a deep and fulfilling expression of his faith.
For each of the largest faiths, we include:

Description of the faith.
Documentation of which practices are not allowed according to the Jewish law
Relationship to the Jewish Scriptures
Relationship to authentic Jewish interpretation of Scripture
Religious Council / Creed, as the defining interpretation of the faith
Quote and teachings from leaders of this faith which confirm the above

This approach assumes that there is some relationship between religion, national faith, and Noachide nation. This needs to be explained further.

SOURCE: Noahide Hindu. WikiNoah. Retrieved 11/22/2021 from: http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Noahide_Hindu

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Noahide Law allows non-Jews, but not Jews, to clone

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In this article we learn that non-Jews, but not Jews, are allowed to clone under Noahide Law.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40914656

Cloning and the Noahide Legal Code

MICHAEL J. BROYDE

The Torah U-Madda Journal

Vol. 9 (2000), pp. 207-210 (4 pages)

Published By: Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University

The Noahide code was intended to be a practical legal code, and to form a system that satisfied the social, legal and religious needs of peoples outside the framework of Judaism.1 Jewish law is not the ideal legal code for all—only for Jews. This point is frequently overlooked in discussions of bioethics and Jewish law. Some Jewish legal doctrines concerning bioethics—as well as other areas of Halakhah—might be relevant only to Jews. Consider, for example, the remarks of Rabbi Judah Loewe of Prague (Maharal) concerning the halakhic prohibition of crossbreeding in animals. He states:

The creativity of people is greater than nature. When God created in the six days of creation the laws of nature, the simple and complex, and finished creating the world, there remained additional power to create anew, just as people can create new animal species through inter-species breeding. . . . People bring to fruition things that are not found in nature; nonetheless, since these are activities that occur through nature, it is as if it entered the world to be created. . . . There are those who are aghast at the interbreeding of two species. Certainly, this is contrary to Jewish law which God gave the Jews, which prohibits inter-species mixing. Nonetheless, Adam (the First Person) did this. Indeed, the world was created with many species that are prohibited to be eaten. Inter-species breeding was not prohibited because of prohibited sexuality or immorality. . . . Rather it is because Jews should not combine the various species together, as this is the way of Jewish law. As we already noted, the ways of the Jewish law, and the [permissive] ways of the world are distinct. . . . Just as the donkey has within it to be created . . . but was left to people to create it [and was not created by God]. Even those forms of creativity which Jewish law prohibits for Jews, are not by definition bad. Some are simply prohibited to Jews.2

What flows most clearly from this passage is that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with crossbreeding, even though it violates Jewish law; indeed, Rabbi Loewe nearly states that such conduct by Gentiles is good. It was prohibited by Jewish law because it was not part of the Divine mission for the Jewish people. Jewish law is not a general ethical category governing the conduct of all. Its scope and application is limited to Jews, not merely jurisdictionally, but even theologically. This point of view would seem apparent from the general attitude that the Jewish tradition takes to a number of issues pertaining to proselytizing

The same may be said to be true of cloning: even if one were to flesh out a valid Jewish law doctrine that prohibited cloning, such a doctrine would not affect the propriety of 99.999% of the world from engaging in cloning, as such a doctrine would not have, for sure, any foundation in the Noahide code; and, as Rabbi Loewe notes, many things prohibited through Jewish law to Jews are perfectly acceptable to Gentiles.

I do not feel, however, that Jewish law itself prohibits cloning to Jews. I have addressed the general issues related to cloning at some length in three different articles.3 I suggest that three separate and distinct areas of analysis are needed to understand cloning: (1) Is cloning an intrinsically good, bad or neutral activity? (2) Is the clone human, and who are his or her relatives? (3) Will cloning lead down the slippery slope towards other ethical violations, and if so, what are they? I shall propose some tentative responses to these issues.

The first issue—is cloning an intrinsically good, bad or neutral activity?—would seem to be part of the general debate about assisted reproductive technology. There are a host of such activities that manipulate the normal reproductive process. They vary from simple artificial insemination of the husband’s sperm (which was done 2,000 years ago) to surrogate motherhood and its close cousins zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT). While some religious and ethical traditions, most notably Roman Catholicism, view all tampering with nature in the reproductive area as wrong, that is by no means true of most religious or ethical traditions, and is not true of Judaism in particular. Many traditions view all assisted reproductive technologies, when modestly performed in cases of infertility, as a proper way for people to seek to “be fruitful and multiply,” and to enjoy parenthood, all of which are good acts. Indeed, one is hard-pressed to find a religiously neutral reason why cloning would be intrinsically bad in cases where other means of treating infertility would not work. Indeed, consider what is most likely to be the first use of this new technology, the donation of an oocyte to a woman who has a mitochondrial disease, where her embryo is transplanted into a disease-free oocyte, thus eliminating the mitochondrial disease from the fetus. Why should that be opposed?

The second issue—is the clone “human” and who are his or her relatives—is the one that attracts the most interest, but in fact has the least substance to it. Clones would be born from an ovum/egg that was stimulated to divide after its DNA was removed and replaced with another’s DNA. This egg would then be implanted into a woman’s womb and be carried to term like any child. This child would have a birth mother, and would bear no resemblance to the artificial people some are writing about, who we are afraid would be used for spare parts or slave labor. Clones would be human—born from a human mother—and entitled to the same rights as humans to which we all are. Of course, we must all resist the temptation to label some people as “less human” than others, since terrible immorality can issue from that posture. However, as this century has taught us, that danger is not unique to cloning. Just as the animal named Dolly was a sheep—a cloned sheep, but really just a sheep—so too cloned humans are humans too, and there is no basis for thinking they are not.

The question of who would be the clone’s mother/father/sister brother is a good one. One could view the gestational mother as the mother, and the gene donor—when he is a man and not a woman—as the father. One could view the gene donor as the mother, when she is a woman, and label the gestational mother as of no significance. Indeed, I suppose one could consider the gene donor a sibling, if one wanted to stretch a bit. All of these are possible, and at least within the Jewish law tradition that I am most familiar with, all except the last theory have their adherents. However, the fact one is not sure exactly what the family tree looks like is no reason to stop the process in its tracks. Surrogate motherhood also has its uncertainties about who is the mother, yet it serves a valuable role in allowing those unable to reproduce naturally to have children. Cloning will serve the same function and should not be prohibited because of this uncertainty.

Finally, some worry about the ethical slippery slope. Cloning, the argument goes, is not a problem, but it could lead to other problems. Notwithstanding the Luddite character of this type of reasoning, the unknown should cause all ethical people to stop, pause and examine what potential slopes our society—ethically and religiously fragmented as it is—might slip down. However, once we recognize that clones are full humans—not organ farms, not slave labor, not automatons—we also recognize that cloning is no more likely to lead down the ethical slippery slope than is any other assisted reproductive technology, which we generally permit to treat infertility. Does that mean full speed ahead? The answer is that with appropriate supervision, cloning can be proper and should not be banned.

Indeed, even the most common “nightmare” scenarios advanced by those hostile to cloning are really quite good. Consider the case of a person dying of leukemia and in need of a bone marrow transplant, with no donor available. The decision to clone the sick person, so that there will now be two people (one donor and one recipient of bone marrow) alive—each, to quote the biblical verse, in God’s image—seems to be ethically speaking vastly superior to the alternative that existed before cloning: that one will die and the other will never be born. Indeed, Jewish tradition might regard this procedure as involving two good deeds: having a child and saving a life.

In sum, cloning, like artificial insemination and surrogacy, has narcissistic possibilities. In reality, however, it will most frequently be used as a treatment for drastic infertility, and like all forms of assisted reproductive technologies has its place in one of the central missions of humanity: to make the world a better place for its inhabitants.

Notes

1. For more on this, see my “Public Policy and Religious Law: Assisting in a Deliberate Violation of Noahide Law that is Permitted by Secular Law,” Jewish Law Association Studies VIII: The Jerusalem 1994 Conference Volume (Atlanta, 1996), 11-20, and my “Jewish Law and the Obligation to Enforce Secular Law,” in Tikkun Olam: Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law, ed. David Shatz, Chaim I. Waxman, and Nathan J. Diament (Northvale, NJ, 1997), 103-43.

2. Judah Loewe of Prague (Maharal), Be’er ha-Golah (Jerusalem 5731), 38-39.

3. “Cloning People: A Jewish View,” Connecticut Law Review 30 (1998): 503- 535; “Cloning People and Jewish Law: A Preliminary Analysis,” Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society No. 35 (1997): 27-65; and “The Cloning Controversy,” Emunah Magazine (Spring 1998): 15-17. Some of the material in this essay is drawn from those earlier studies.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Freemason magazine publishes "Noachide laws largely fits within the moral teachings of Freemasonry"

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The following article about Noahidism in Freemasonry states that "this discussion of the Noachide laws largely fits within the moral teachings of Freemasonry".

https://aasr-indy.org/assets/documents/DoubleEagle-51-5.pdf?fbclid=IwAR11zuwHgZlDlej1Y8TliMJ82YbXFnL9yAz8k0ZgKLKtGvgO2gRX_tUpfx0

What's a 'Noachite'?

By William K. Bissey Editor, Indiana Freemason

The names of the degrees of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (Northern Masonic Jurisdiction) of which the Valley of Indianapolis is a part, seem to some Brethren as quite different and to other Brethren, the names appear to be quite exotic.

The name of the 21st degree, Patriarch Noachite, was one that especially intrigued me. What is a Patriarch Noachite was what does he or it have to do with Freemasonry? It should be noted that Noachite has various spellings, among them: Noahide, Noahchite, Noachidae, and Noachida. So, how does this fit into Freemasonry?

T he earliest known reference is in a 1735 letter from the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Calcutta. It is the fourth paragraph of the letter that is pertinent to this discussion. “Providence has fixed your Lodge near those learn’d Indians that affect to be called Noachidae…”

The earliest wide usage of Noachite, or in this case Noachida, is found in the first charge of the second or 1738 edition of the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England written by the Rev. James Anderson.

“A Mason is obliged by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law, as a true Noachida...” The second paragraph has the following sentence, “…For they all agree in the 3 great Articles of Noah, enough to preserve the Cement of the Lodge.”

What did the Rev. Anderson mean by his use of Noachida in the revised First Charge?

The Encyclopaedia Judaica provides an answer. Noachide laws are “…the seven laws considered by rabbinic tradition as the minimal moral duties enjoined by the Bible on all men. The seven Noachide laws as traditionally enumerated are: prohibitions of idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed, sexual sins, theft, and eating from a living animal, as well as the injunction to establish a legal system.” The Noachide laws “…are derived from the divine commands addressed to Adam and Noah, the progenitors of all mankind, and are thus regarded as universal.”

This discussion of the Noachide laws largely fits within the moral teachings of Freemasonry. And it is probably why the Rev. Anderson saw fit to include the reference to them in the 1738 edition of the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England.

But, there are seven Noachide Laws and Anderson alludes to only three. Which three did he mean? The good Reverend did not elaborate, but several Masonic scholars have speculated what he meant. One theory is Anderson meant the Masonic triad of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Perhaps the most likely explanation is that Rev. Anderson was referring to Genesis Chapter 6, verse 9. “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Are Freemasons Noahides? Yes!

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Freemasons and Noahides together do not want you to know that there is any connection between the two. Just look at this piece which appears on both the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon as well as the WikiNoah website. But try as they may they cannot hide the truth because Freemasons are defined as followers of the 7 Laws of Noah explicitly throughout Freemason literature. The 1738 Constitution specifically states that Freemasons are to follow the moral laws as a true Noahide and this is defined as the 7 Laws of Noah. Freemasons do believe that Noah was given 7 Laws by god after the flood. Many Freemason rituals and orders contain the name Noahide. The Freemasons declared the Zoroastrians of India to be Noahides and there is current Freemason-Noahide infiltration of the Zoroastrian community. Modern Freemason websites suggest Freemasons to follow the Noahide Laws and modern lodges admit that the Noahide Laws found in the constitutions likely refer to the 7 Noahide Laws. Modern lodges have also stated that the Noahide Laws fit with the morals of freemasonry. Noahidism has been promoted in the popular Freemason magazine The Square and by The Midnight Freemason Contributor.

Freemasons And Noahides Try To Hide Connections

Are freemasons really Noahides?

No.

Noahides, or those who refer to themselves as such, follow the Noahide laws, generally within the Judaic tradition. These laws comprise prohibitions of idolatry, blasphemy, forbidden sexual relations, murder, theft, consuming the limb of a living animal (an expression of cruelty to animals) and lawlessness (that is to say, requiring the setting up of courts and processes of justice).[3]

There are rival philosophies concerning the Noahide laws. The classical orthodox Jewish tradition, as found in Maimonides, the Maharal of Prague and the writings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, views the source of the authority of the Noahide laws as being the giving of the Torah at Sinai to Moses and therefore of concern only to the Jews. Elijah Benamozegh (1823-1900), author of Israel and Humanity, and Aime Palliere, author of The Unknown Sanctuary, promoted the idea of an "independent" tradition which goes back to Adam and Noah, and thereby to be transmitted to the Gentiles. The growth of late twentieth century Noahide movements has been a source of concern to some Christians who view the ramifications of this philosophy as an anti-Christian attack.

These are religious discussions and therefore not of concern to Freemasonry. Freemasonry is not a religion.

Masonic author, Albert G. Mackey, defined Noachidae as the descendents of Noah; and Noachite as a reference to the legend "that Noah was the father and founder of the masonic system of theology."[4] Mackey neglected to define or detail that theology. Regular Freemasonry has never had a theology and Mackey was simply expressing his own opinion.

Mackey also wrote that the seven Precepts of Noah are preserved "as the Constitutions of our ancient Brethren"[5] but neither the oldest extant manuscript, the Regius Poem, nor the Cooke manuscript mention any such precepts. He can only have been referring to Anderson’s second edition of his Constitutions, published in 1738.

Non-masons, especially those hostile to Freemasonry, have been known to confuse references in masonic ritual to "the Moral Law," or "that religion in which all men agree" with the Precepts of Noah. Albert G. Mackey, in his History of Freemasonry, presented an historical background to the legends of Freemasonry but, in context, is clearly not ascribing the beliefs or practices of Judaism to those of Freemasonry.[6]

A legend of two pillars that survive the Deluge, containing the knowledge of the seven liberal arts and sciences, is contained in the "traditional history" of Freemasonry. The legend that Noah received seven commandments when God made His Covenant after the Flood is not a part of any extant pre-1717 manuscript. The sentiment that "all masons are true Noachidae" was part of "Brother Euclid’s Letter to the Author" included, with no historical authority, with the Rev. John Anderson’s 1738 Constitutions. The 1723 Constitutions contained the passage: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law." In the 1736 edition Anderson completed the sentence with "as a true Noachida. 5 These references were dropped in the 1756 and subsequent editions, and have never played a role in the ritual or teachings of regular Freemasonry. Dermott’s unauthorized Ahiman Rezon copied

Anderson’s 1736 edition and also used the term "Noachida."

Anderson may have taken this idea from the Stonehouse MS., also titled the Krause MS., reproduced in Dr. Krause’s Three Oldest Documents. Probably written by a contemporary of Anderson and now accepted as spurious, it was first alleged to be a copy of the 926 York Constitutions.

Freemasons were called Noachidae by some authors, generally in reference to the Scottish Rite degrees, in a poetical allusion to the preservation and transmission of great truths. But these truths are not defined as the Precepts of Noah.

There is no connection between Noahides and Noachidae. One is a philosophy within Judaism, while the other is a poetical reference to Freemasonry and an eighteenth century attempt to create an older lineage.

The question only has meaning if one assumes that Freemasonry is a religion. Freemasonry is not a religion and has no doctrine.

SOURCE: "Anti-masonry Frequently Asked Questions". Grand Lodge of British Colombia and Yukon. Section 8, version 2.9. Retrieved 06/15/21 from: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry08.html

Repeated At

SOURCE: "Freemasonry and Noachite Law". WikiNoahi. Retrieved 06/15/21/ from: http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Freemasonry_and_Noachite_Law

Places where Freemasons are explicitly
defined as followers of the Noahide Laws

Albert Makey says Noachidae and Noachites refer to Freemasons who preserved the Noahide commandments among idolaters.

"Noachidae, Noachites. The descendents of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons. Noah having alone preserved the true name and worship of God, amid a race of impious idolaters. Freemasons claim to be his descendents, because they still preserve that pure religion which distinguished this second father of the human race from the rest of the world. And even when his descendents began again, in the plains of Shinar, to forget the Almighty, and to wander from the path of purity, the principles of Noah were still perpetuated by that portion of his race whom the Freemasons of the present day regard as their early predecessors. Hence, Freemasons call themselves Noachidae, or the sons of Noah."

SOURCE: (Mackey, Lexicon of Freemasonry, page 324, 2004, Barnes and Noble Publishing, Inc.), Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/history/zionism/news.php?q=1240855358

Albert Makey names out each of the 7 Noahide Laws after stating Freemasons are "Noachidae"

Noachidæ, or Noachites – The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons. Noah having alone preserved the true name and worship of God, amid a race of impious idolaters, Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because they still preserve that pure religion which distinguished this second father of the human race from the rest of the world. And even when his descendants began again, in the plains of Shinar, to forget the Almighty, and to wander from the path of purity, the principles of Noah were still perpetuated by that portion of his race whom the Freemasons of the present day regard as their early predecessors. Hence Freemasons call themselves Noachidæ, or the sons of Noah.

Noah, Precepts of. – The precepts of the patriarch Noah, which were preserved as the constitutions of our ancient brethren, are seven in number, and are as follows:
Renounce all idols.
Worship the only true God.
Commit no murder.
Be not defiled by incest.
Do not steal.
Be just.
Eat no flesh with blood in it.
The “proselytes of the gate,” as the Jews termed those who lived among them without undergoing circumcision, or observing the ceremonial law, were bound to obey the seven precepts of Noah.

SOURCE: From ‘A Lexicon of Freemasonry’, by Bro. Dr. Albert G. MacKey M. D., Published in 1845. Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: http://www.noachide.org.uk/History/history.html

Kenneth MacKenzie names out each of the 7 Noahide Laws after stating Freemasons are "Noachidae"

Noachidæ. - Descendants of Noah. Applied in Masonic legend to the Craft in general, as being derived from Noah, traditionally claimed as the founder and father of Masonic theology, according to some theories, because the Masons preserved the traditions of the one God amidst the corruptions of surrounding faiths. In the second edition of Anderson’s “Constitutions” we read - “A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida.”
Noah, Precepts of. - Certain commandments transmitted to our times in documents of the ancient stonemasons, of no historical value, are thus called. They are-
Renounce all idols;
Worship the only true God;
Commit no murder;
Be not defiled with incest;
Do not steal;
Be just;
Eat no flesh with blood in it.
These have been preserved in the Talmud. Maimonides says that the first six precepts were enunciated by Adam, and the seventh by Noah. They are not mentioned by Onkelos, Josephus, or Philo; still, they have been adopted by the Rabbins.

SOURCE: From ‘The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia’ by Bro. Kenneth MacKenzie. Published in 1877. http://www.noachide.org.uk/History/history.html

Kraus MS. states Noahide Law is obligatory for Masons

In the Krause MS., under the head of " The Laws or Obligations laid before his Brother Masons by Prince Edwin," we find the fol- lowing article. (I translate from the German of Krause, because the original English document is nowhere to be found.) " The first obligation is that you shall sincerely honor God and obey the laws of the Noachites, because they are divine laws, which should be obeyed by all the world. Therefore, you must avoid all heresies and not thereby sin against God."

SOURCE: "The history of Freemasonry" by Mackey, Albert Gallatin, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/historyfreemaso05singgoog/page/n7]

Again, Kraus MS. states Noahide Law is obligatory for Masons

Anderson had, however, a particular object in the use of the word " Noachida." The Krause MS. says that the Mason "must obey the laws of the Noachites ; " that is, that he is to observe the seven precepts of Noah, without being required to observe any other religious dogmas outside of these — a matter which is left to himself. But Anderson says he "must obey the moral law as a true Noachida," by which he intimates that that title is the proper desig- nation of a Mason. And he has shown that this was his meaning by telling us, in a preceding part of his book, that " Noachidae was the first name of Masons, according to some old traditions."

SOURCE: "The history of Freemasonry" by Mackey, Albert Gallatin, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/historyfreemaso05singgoog/page/n7]

Albert C. Makey says Freemasons are called Noachidae, preserved the Noahide "religion"

Noachidae: The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons on the theory, derived from then Legend of the Craft, that Noah was the father and founder of the Masonic system of theology. Henee the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because in times past they preserved the pure principles of his religion amid the corruptions of surrounding faiths. Doctor Anderson first used the word in this sense in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida." But he was not the inventor of the term, for it occurs in a letter sent by the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of Calcutta in 1735, which letter is preserved among the Rawlinson Manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (see Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xi, page 35).

SOURCE: From "Noachidae" entry in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

1738 Constitution of Freemasonry
states Freemasons are to follow the Noahide Law

Old Charges States Freemasons Are Obliged To Follow Noahide Law

First of the Old Charges in the Book of Constitutions, edit., 1738. "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to ob- serve the moral law, as a true Noachida ; and if he rightly understands the Graft, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irre- ligious libertine, nor ad against conscience.

SOURCE: An Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry 1916 Vol 1 - A G Mackey, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/An_Encyclopedia_Of_Freemasonry_1916_Vol_1_-_A_G_Mackey

In Some Charges Of Freemasonry Freemasons Are To Follow Noahide Law, Noahide Laws affirmed to be the laws of Freemasonry

"...(A) revision of the Old Charges...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. ...the only religious laws which a Freemason is required to obey are those which are contained in the code that has been attributed to Noah. This sentiment is still further expressed toward the close of the 'Old Charges' where it is said that the Mason is obliged only 'to that religion in which all men agree,' excluding therefore atheism and requiring the observance of such simple laws of morality as are enjoined in the precepts of Noah."

SOURCE: "The history of Freemasonry" by Mackey, Albert Gallatin, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/historyfreemaso05singgoog/page/n7]

1738 Constitution Obligated Freemasons To Follow The Noachide Code, In Explaining This All 7 Noahide Laws Are Listed Out

"Noah, Precepts of. The precepts of the patriarch Noah, which were preserved as the constitutions of our ancient brethren, are seven in number, and are as follows: 1. Renounce all idols 2. Worship the only true God. 3. Commit no murder. 4. Be not defiled by incest. 5. Do not steal. 6. Be just. 7. Eat no flesh with blood in it. The 'proselytes of the gate', as the Jews termed those who lived among them without undergoing circumcision, or observing the ceremonial law, were bound to obey the seven precepts of Noah."

SOURCE: (Mackey, Lexicon of Freemasonry, page 325, 2004, Barnes and Noble Publishing, Inc.)

Freemason belief in the Noahide myth

Freemasons Believe In The Noahide Legend

It was in the six hundredth year of his age, that Noah, with his family, was released from the Ark. Grateful for his preservation, he erected an altar and prepared a sacrifice of thankofferinga to the Deity. A Masonic tradition says, that for this purpose he made use of that Stone of Foundation which he had discovered in the subterranean vault of Enoch, and which he had carried with him into the Ark. It was at this time that God made his Covenant with Noah, and promised him that the earth should never again be destroyed by a flood. Here, too, he received those commandments for the government of himself and his posterity which have been called "the seven precepts of the Noachidae."

SOURCE: From ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

Noah Set Up The Noahide Laws

"After Noah’s emergence from the Ark, he is said to have promulgated seven precepts for the government of the new race of men of whom he was to be the progenitor... [1] To do justice [2] Worship God [3] Abstain from idolatry [4] Preserve chastity [5] Do not commit murder [6] Do not steal [7] Do not eat blood."

SOURCE: "The history of Freemasonry" by Mackey, Albert Gallatin, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/historyfreemaso05singgoog/page/n7]

Noah's Mystery Religion Of Arkite Influenced Freemasonry (Secret Noahides?)

"The influence of Noah on Masonic doctrine is to be traced to the almost universal belief of men in the events of the deluge, and a consequent establishment in many nations of a system of religion known to ethnologists as the 'Arkite Worship... Hence arose that system known to modern scholars as the 'Arkite Worship' in whose rites and mysteries, which were eventually communicated to the other ancient religions. There were always some allusions to the events of the Noahic flood — to the Ark, as the WOMB OF NATURE, to the eight persons saved in it, as the Ogdoad or sacred number — and to the renovation of the world, as symbolizing the passage from death to immortal life."

SOURCE: "The history of Freemasonry" by Mackey, Albert Gallatin, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: https://archive.org/details/historyfreemaso05singgoog/page/n7]

Many rituals and orders contain the name Noahide.

Orders and rituals named "Noahide"

The 21st Degree of Freemasonry is called "The Noachite"

SOURCE: Pike, Albert. "Morals and Dogma", Chapter 21, Charleston South Carolina. SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE FOR THE SOUTHERN JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES.1871. Retrieved 03/05/2020 from: https://www.sacred-texts.com/mas/md/md22.htm

There Was/Is A Freemason Order Called "Order Of The Nochites"

An Order under this name, called also the French Order of Noachites, was established at Paris, in 1816, by some of the adherents of the Emperor Napoleon. It was divided into three Degrees: 1. Knight 2. Commander 3. Grand Elect The last Degree was subdivided into three points i. Secret Judge ii. Perfect Initiate iii. Knight of the Crown of Oak

SOURCE: From ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

"Noachide, Sovereign" is the title of a Freemason Degree (different from the 21st Degree Noachite)

NOACHITE, SOVEREIGN: The French title is Noachite Souverain. A Degree contained in the nomenclature of Fustier.

SOURCE: From ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

The 21 Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry Is The "Noachite"
XXI.NOACHITE, OR PRUSSIAN KNIGHT.

SOURCE: Morals And Dogma by Albert Pike, Retrieved 02/29/2020 From: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/apikefr.html

Freemasonry Built On Older "The order of Noachites or Chevaliers Prussian."

Nimrod is given as prominent a place in Part II., as Solomon is in Part [II., though it must be admitted that in another song of a later date it is stated that "he was no excellent Mason." The degree of "Noachite, or Prussian Knight" is based upon legends connected with the Tower of Babel though the ritual of 1768 bears very little resemblance to that printed bp Slade. The Tower of Babel figures on old " trazing-boards " and jewels in such a manner as to leave little doubt that it was at some time an important symbol in Freemasonry. I therefore think it is possible that Slade's publication may contain something which if not actually in use in his day had been worked at an earlier period in some such manner as he describes. Bro. J. C. BROOKHOUSE writes:- The very interesting paper read by Bro. Thorp upon Slade's " Freemason Examined" leads on to a further consideration beyond the '' exposure" itself, for a later author has seized the matter therein contained, has attributed the ritual to an actual society and has gone so far as to give a history, certainly rather sketchy but a history none the less, of the masonic body working the ceremonies which are thereby laid open. Among the modern books which have at various times and with various motives professed to publish to the world our secrets, " The Mysteries of Freemasonry," by John Fellows, A.M., is one of the best known; the edition in my hands was published in London and bears date 1866. The section of interest in this connection runs from the middle of page 324 to the foot of page 327 and is headed '' The order of Noachites or Chevaliers Prussian." Mr. Fellows opens his account of this order by stating that there is reason to believe that it was instituted by tlhe ancient Prussians and that it claims priority over that of the Freemasons of England. He continues that the ceremonies of the Noachites seem to have served in some measure as a model upon which those of Freemasonry were founded. Next there appear some extracts from Polish and Prussian history with the suggestion that the order was evidently a military organization and undoubtedly intended as a rallying point for the recovery of the civil and religious liberties of the nation, and a statement that the society was probably founded in the year 1000. A short quotation from Bernard follows :-" The Grand Master-General of the Order, whose title is Chevalier Grand Commander, is Frederick William, King of Prussia. His ancestors, for 300 years, have been protectors of this Order. The Knights were formerly known by the name of Noachites. " The Noachites, formerly called Prussian chevalier*^, are descended from Peleg, the Grand Architect of the Tower of Babel, their origin being more ancient than that of the Masons descended from Hiram. The Knights assembled on the night of the full moon in the month of March (the vernal equinox) in a secret place, to hold their Lodges ; and they cannot initiate a candidate into the mysteries of this Order unless by the light of the moon."l So much for the quotation from Bernard; we return to the ingenious Mr. Fellows, whose next paragraph deserves to be set out in full. " Great innovations have been introduced into the ceremonies of this Order. I have a copy of its ritual, which, from its antiquity and Druidical style, may be presumed 'This is apparently taken from Les Plus Secrets MystBres des haufs grades de la Maqonnerie ddvozlds, &c., 1768, in which the description of the grade of Le Noachite, ou Chevalier Prussien is said $0 be translated from the German by M. de Berage. 110 Transactiolzs of the Quahor Cmonati Lodge. genuine. It was reprinted from a London copy, by John Holt, New York

SOURCE: "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, being the translation of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 London." 1907. Retrieved 08/12/2020 from: http://www.masoniclib.com/images/images0/161571047136.pdf

The order of Noachites, or Chevaliers Prussian.

This order, there is reason to believe, was instituted by the ancient Prussians. It claims priority over that of the freemasons of England. The author of an expose of the ritual of that institution, which will be noticed below, gives just fifty-three years between the periods of the two establishments; and says, " This tradition is firmly believed." In corroboration of this fact, Dr. Anderson observes, " The first name of Masons, according to some old traditions, was Noachidse." The ceremonies of the Noachites seem to have served in some measure, as a model upon which those of freemasonry are founded. Although the scene of the establishment of this order is laid at the Tower of Babel, instead of the Temple of Solomon, the craft of masonry, as in the freemasons' society, is made use of to cover the real design of the institution, the maintaining of religious dogmas, if not the recovery of independence. The following remarks, in Guthrie's sketch of the history of ancient Prussia and Poland, will tend to show at what time this institution was probably formed. Speaking of Poland, he says, "From this period [830] for some centuries we have no very certain records of the history of Poland. The title of duke was retained till the year 999, when Boleslaus (the I.) assumed the title of king, and conquered Moravia, Prussia, and Bohemia, making them tributary to Poland." Of Prussia. — " The ancient history of Prussia, like that of other kingdoms, it lost in the clouds of fiction and romance. The inhabitants appear to have been a brave and warlike people. They were descended from the Slavonians, and refused to submit to the neighboring princes, who, on pretence of converting them to Christianity, wanted to reduce them to slavery. They made a noble stand against the kings of Poland; one of whom, Boleslaus IV. they defeated and killed in 1163. They continued Pagans, till the time of the latter crusades, about the year 1227." From the foregoing statements, it appears that the sway of Poland over Prussia, obtained in 999, was not of long duration; and it is reasonable to conjecture, that soon after the conquest, the people of Prussia established the order of Noachites. It was evidently a military institution, and undoubtedly intended as a rallying point, to operate as occasions might occur, for the recovery of the civil and religious liberties of the nation. Admitting that the society of Noachites was founded in the year 1000, which is highly probable, and provided the foregoing tradition be correct, the establishment of freemasonry in England, would have occurred about the middle of the eleventh century, which is as late as it is likely to have been neglected, after the edict of Canute prohibiting the open worship of the Druids. Bernard, in his account of this order, says, "The grand master, general of the order, whose title is chevalier grand commander, is Frederic William, king of Prussia. His ancestors, for three hundred years, have been protectors of this order. The knights were formerly known by the name of Noachites. " The Noachites, now called Prussian Chevaliers, are descended from Peleg, the grand architect of the tower of Babel, their origin being more ancient than that of the masons descended from Hiram. — The knights assemble on the night of the full moon in the month of March, [the vernal equinox] in a secret place, to hold their lodges; and they cannot initiate a candidate into the mysteries of this order unless by the light of the moon." Great innovations have been introduced into the ceremonies of this order. I have a copy of its ritual, which, from its antiquity and Druidical style, may be presumed genuine. It was reprinted from a London copy, by John Holt, New York, 1768. As a curiosity, and as bearing a relationship to the ancient mysteries, I will give an abstract of it. The order consists of two degrees, called Minor and Major; and the officers form what masonically may be termed a Chapter, to which the other members are not admitted. This chapter comports with the royal arch of freemasonry; for here the secret word, Belusy is revealed, which, the reader is aware, is the same as Osiris, personated by Hiram. The expounder of the order appears to have committed an error, in giving this word at the opening of the minor's degree j because it is expressly said afterwards, that it was unknown to all but officers.

SOURCE: The Origin, History & Purport of Freemasonry by John Fellows

A Freemason's Ceremonial Oath Includes To Promise To Behave Like A True Noachide

amination, by which one Mason may know another." The Examination was conducted by Sabas, who afterwards led the Candidate "round the Tower, and then knocked at the Brazen Gate nine Times. . . . In Order that the Watchman of the Gate might know, that he had been with me round the Tower, which was nine Miles." The diameter of the Tower was three miles, its height 5146 paces. "The Passage that went to the Top, was on the Outside, and, like a Winding Stair-Case, of a very great Breadth, so that Camels and Carriages might go up and down, and turn with Ease " ; 500,000 men were employed on the work for 53 years.l The reason this Tower was built so very extensive was " to make them a great Name, and also to save them from a second Deluge." The Candidate was led to Belus, who charged himTO obey the Master, Superintendent, Wardens and Deacons of the Lodge; to submit to their Directions, and do his 'L Daily Task with Freedom, Cheerfulness and Sobriety." TO " behave like a true Noachide, and instruct the younger Brethren, using all Endeavours to increase Brotherly Love."

SOURCE: "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, being the translation of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 London." 1907. Retrieved 08/12/2020 from: http://www.masoniclib.com/images/images0/161571047136.pdf

Freemason Noahidization of the Parsis

Parsis Dominated Indian Freemason Lodges

Abstract
Following closely in the wake of British imperialism, the first Indian lodge was constituted in 1730, by officials of the East India Company based in Fort William, Calcutta. From there, masonic lodges started to spawn in the other urban centres and army cantonments of the fast-expanding Indian Empire. As the native elites started expressing a growing interest in joining, India became a testing ground on which freemasonry, initially an all-white organization, could experiment its universal creed. The first Indian to become a mason was Umdat-ul-Umrah Bahadur, son of the powerful Nawab of the Carnatic. Following his lead, a handful of muslim noblemen were able to gain access to the fraternity. Local masons appeared to be more willing to fraternize with the Muslim. But in the 1840s, this pattern was somehow overturned, as the Parsi community grew to become the most represented group within Indian lodges. This paper seeks to examine the foundations of this newly acquired eligibility.

SOURCE: Simon Deschamps. "Freemasonry and the Indian Parsi Community: A Late Meeting On the Level". JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH INTO FREEMASONRY AND FRATERNALISM, VOL 3, NO 1 (2012). Published 15 Oct 2013. Retrieved 01/29/2021 https://journals.equinoxpub.com/JRFF/article/view/17814

Parsis Were Accepted In Freemason Lodges, Hindus Were Not

Masons in India were occasionally willing to let in Muslim aristocrats – Umdat ul-Umrah, eldest son of the Nawab of the Carnatic was made a member in 1775. Parsis were also allowed after a spirited campaign by Maneckji Cursetji, the first Indian sheriff of Bombay. But Masons refused Hindus, arguing that Masonry believed in a single Deity, which Muslims and Parsis did, but not Hindus. They also asked how Hindus could accept universal brotherhood while supporting caste barriers. (As a practical point, orthodox Hindus would not eat at the dinners that were an important part of Masonic life).

SOURCE: Doctor, Vikram. "How Masonry Built Integration In India", Economic Times, Published Oct 6th, 2017. Retrieved 06/30/20 from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/miscellaneous/how-masonry-built-integration-in-india/articleshow/60977201.cms?from=mdr

Letter To Grand Lodge Of Calcutta First To Use Term Noachidae

Noachidae: The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons on the theory, derived from then Legend of the Craft, that Noah was the father and founder of the Masonic system of theology. Henee the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because in times past they preserved the pure principles of his religion amid the corruptions of surrounding faiths. Doctor Anderson first used the word in this sense in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida." But he was not the inventor of the term, for it occurs in a letter sent by the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of Calcutta in 1735, which letter is preserved among the Rawlinson Manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (see Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xi, page 35).

SOURCE: From "Noachidae" entry in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

Freemasons Declare Parsis Noahides (First Reference To Noahide)

What those "old traditions" were nobody knows because there is no evidence that Operative Freemasons called themselves by that name. But it was in some use prior to 1738, for in 1734 Lord Weyrnouth ordered a letter to be sent to the Prov. Grand Master at Calcutta in which this curious statement was included: "Providence has fixed your Lodge near those learn'd Indians that affect to be called Noachidae, the strict observance of his Precepts taught in those Parts by the Disciples of the great Zoroastres, the learned Archimagus of Bactria, a Grand Master of the Magians, whose religion is much preserved in India (which we have no concern about), and also many of the Rituals of the Ancient Fraternity used in his time, perhaps more than they are sensible of themselves. Sow if it was consistent with your other Business, to discover in those parts the Remains of Old Masonry and transmit them to us, we would be all thankful ...." (A. Q. C. XI, p. 35.)

SOURCE: From ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRYAND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

Freemason Author And Zoroastrian Convert Inviteded By Scholar Of Zoroastrianism To Attend Noahide Coference

On the day Bahman, month Avan, 1373 A.Y.[ii], I received the naojote by a fully ordained Zoroastrian priest. This personal event took place in my hometown, Reggio Emilia, northern Italy. The venue for the holy ceremony was the “Patanjali Center”, a sort of Indian cultural outpost that looks out on a road where, in times gone by, an affluent of the great Po river used to flow.

...

In 1990 I got in touch with two outstanding western scholars: Mary Boyce, who kindly presented me with a copy of her Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, and James Russell, who - invited by me in 1992 to be the guest speaker at a conference on the Noachide legacy (the universalist side of the Jewish tradition) - brought me his Zoroastrianism in Armenia and a number of intriguing papers on many topics connected with the Good Religion (from the symbolism of sun, cock and horse in ancient Iran, to the contemporary Parsi garbas and monajats)

...

In 1975 I had been made a Mason. Italian Freemasonry used to have strong philosophical connections; its symbolism of building and its enlightened universalism appealed to me. In 1977 - the year I graduated in Philosophy with a final dissertation on the great hindu thinker Shri Aurobindo - I wrote my first book on the subject (in 1990 it was also translated in Russian and published by “Progress” publishers in Moscow). My best accomplishment in the field of masonic studies has been the authorship of the Nuova Enciclopedia Massonica (in three volumes, 1989-1995) favourably reviewed by the field magazines and the press at large. A few inadequate pages of that work deal with the symbolical and historical relationships between Zoroastrianism and Freemasonry (the historical ones having to do mainly with the masonic membership of many Parsi philanthropists and scholars of the past two centuries). I think the masonic ethos - which, for instance, emphasizes solar symbolism: Mozart wrote a wonderful lodge hymn devoted to the Sun as the “soul of the universe” - contributed to increase my interest for Zoroastrianism.

SOURCE: Moramarco, Michele. "On becoming a Zoroastrian in Italy: a shining naojote on a rainy day". Retrieved 01/29/2021 http://www.zoroastrian.org.uk/vohuman/Article/On%20becoming%20a%20Zoroastrian%20in%20Italy.htm

Same Freemason Zoroastrian Convert Is Author Of Book That Seems To Be Blending Zoroastrianism And Christianity

Michele Moramarco (Reggio Emilia, 6 October 1953) is an Italian author on Masonic ritual and history, a pop musician, and an advocate of Mazdean Christian Universalism.^[1]
1. Chierici & 1993-01-19

SOURCE: "Michele Moramarco". Wikipeida. Retrueved 01/29/2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Moramarco

www. Zoroastrian .org.uk profile

Michele Moramarco was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1953. He studied Philosophy and graduated in 1977 with a dissertation on the Indian thinker Shri Aurobindo. Later Michele specialized in Humanistic Psychotherapy, and authored numerous books and articles on various topics including: Freemasonry Studies (a Masonic Encyclopedia), Non-violence, the Noachide universalistic tradition, the psychological aspects of death and the history of comical theatre in Italy during the 60s.

On becoming a Zoroastrian in Italy

SOURCE: Profile of Michele Moramarco. www.Zoroastrian.org.uk. Retrieved 01/21/2021 from: http://www.zoroastrian.org.uk/vohuman/Author/Moramarco,Michele.htm

Freemasonic website states that
Masons should promote Noahide laws

jueves, 8 de octubre de 2009

The Noachide Faith in Masonic Sources

The Old Charges - A Return to our Roots

The Chevalier Ramsay used to declare: ìFreemasonry is indeed the resurrection of the Noachide religion, that of the Patriarch Noah, that religion prior to any dogma, which allows us to go beyond the differences and oppositions of the various faithsî. [as quoted on the site of the Grand Lodge of France]

Andersonís Constitutions of 1738 could very well contain the seedbed of our religious faith and practice as Freemasons. While most masons officially claim that Freemasonry is NOT a religion, it is certainly religious so long as one has a proper understanding of the term and maintains a distinction between what religion is, and what religious means. Freemasonry opens its doors to men of every creed so long as they believe in a Supreme Deity, to whom all men are held accountable for the maintenance of certain basic universal laws, defined by Dr. Anderson as the moral law. In his 1738 [2nd] edition of the Constitutions he gave this moral law a name. The name applied by Anderson to this "moral law" was Noachide. (also variously spelled; Noahide, Noachite, NoachidÊ, Noachida).

The entry NoachidÊ, found in the ENCYCLOPDIA OF FREEMASONRY1 states the following:

"The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons on the theory, derived from the 'legend of the craft,' that Noah was the father and founder of the Masonic system of theology. And hence the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because in times past they preserved the pure principles of his religion amid the corruptions of surrounding faiths. Dr. Anderson first used the word in this sense in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions: 'A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida.' But he was not the inventor of the term, for it occurs in a letter sent by the Grand Lodge of Calcutta in 1735, which letter is preserved among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (See Ars Quartuor Coronatorum, xi., 35.)

In The History of Freemasonry - Its Legendary Origins, Mackey devotes an entire chapter to the Masonic connection with the figure of Noah and so covers the topic more thoroughly. In that chapter he admits that "the story of his [Noah's] life has exercised a very important influence in the origin and the development of the principles of Speculative Masonry". Mackey writes of references to both Noah and the system of faith attributed to him, and cites several references from early Masonic manuscripts. According to Mackey, "In the Halliwell Poem his [Noah's] name and the flood are merely referred to as denoting an era of time in the world's history. It is only a statement that the tower of Babel was begun many years after 'Noees flod [sic]'." In the Cooke Ms more details are furnished about Noah, but they generally follow the Biblical account. From the time of the Dowland MS. forward, says Mackey, "the reference to Noah is exceedingly meager."

Enter Dr. Anderson

Mackey shows that it was Dr Anderson who decisively introduced the character of Noah into Freemasonry as a Fraternal Patriarch. Dr Anderson, in his Constitutions, refers to Noah and his sons as "all Masons true" and claims that the "offspring of Noah...dwelt together as NoachidÊ.". In Dr Anderson's first edition of the Book of Constitutions, published in 1723, he says, "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law". In the 1738 edition, he qualifies this moral law with the phrase "as a true Noachida." Mackey states that this was done by Dr Anderson "without authority". He goes on to say that the interpolation "was rejected 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's Constitutions, in the composition of his Ahiman Rezon, of course adopted the new term." Dr Oliver very much liked the term and "under his example, it has become of so common use that Noachida and Freemason have come to be considered as synonymous terms." But we have no way to know for certain that the change between the first and second editions of the Book of Constitutions was as Mackey proposed, "without authority". Proof of such authority may be lacking, but that is where the scholarly statement must rest. We are better off to seek the source of Dr Andersons association between Freemasons and what Anderson referred to as Noachides. Elsewhere in his work, Anderson states that "NoachidÊ was the first name of masons according to some old traditions". A study of the "old traditions" which may have influenced Anderson sheds some light on this subject. One possible source for the introduction of this term into Masonry is contained in a work known as the York Constitution. The claimed date of this manuscript is 926 of the common era, though this is suspected to be greatly exaggerated and scholars suggest an early 18th century date for this manuscript. This manuscript was one of three Masonic documents contained in the work of Dr Krause (1781-1832) titled, Die drei ”ltesten Kunsturkunden der Freimaurerbr¸derschaft, [The Three Oldest Professional Documents of the Brotherhood of Freemasons]. Quoting again from Mackey's History of Freemasonry it says, "in the Krause MS., under the head of 'The Laws or Obligations laid before his Brother Masons by Prince Edwin,' we find the following article. 'The first obligation is that you shall sincerely honor God and obey the laws of the Noachites, because they are divine laws, which should be obeyed by all the world. Therefore, you must avoid all heresies and not thereby sin against God.'"

It is likely that Dr Anderson, the theologian, found in the Noachide system, a doctrine that fit nicely with the universal theological thrust of Freemasonry. The root element of such thinking can be summarized as follows. According to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as most ancient peoples there was a deluge in which mankind was punished for corrupting Godís way on the earth. The hero of the epoch, called Noah, by Jews, Christians and Muslims, became the progenitor of the post flood world. Legend accords to this figure that he was singled out by God for his unsurpassed righteousness in his generation. Since he was considered righteous amidst a world of evil doers, he must have followed some moral code. Various ancient sources record attempts to define this ancient code of morals and ethics. The Book of Jubilees, copies of which were found among the corpus of manuscripts discovered in the Dead Sea Caves gives one such enumeration of laws given by the Deity to Noah2. Judaism also informs us of this faith in various places within its sacred Talmud3. Jewish sages traditionally divide the laws that have universal implications into 7 categories. These seven ëcategoriesí are therefore known to Jews as "The seven Laws of Noah" or the "Noachide Covenant". The earliest reference to the "7" laws in a Jewish source lists them as follows; a positive injunction to establish a system of justice, prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy (profaning the name of God), sexual immorality, bloodshed, robbery and the consumption of blood (or literally a limb torn from a living animal)4. In other places the actual number of Laws vary. However one lists or classifies the universal moral laws, it stands to reason that all of humanity is responsible for certain moral and ethical duties. It is this ancient ethical code, that according to Drs Anderson and Oliver, as well as Dermott, forms the basis for Masonic practice. This system of theology predates the ministries of Moses, Jesus and Mohammed and therefore is a fitting place for men of all these faiths to meet and function as partners for a better and more peaceful future. The John J. Robinson Center's Masonic Research Branch advocates a return to this ancient code of beliefs and seeks to promote its principles by pointing Masons to their Old Charges contained within Dr Andersonís work of 1738.

"A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachide; and if he rightly understands the Craft, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine, nor act against conscience. In ancient Times, the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian usages of each country where they traveled or worked; being found in all nations, even of divers religions. They are generally charged to adhere to that religion in which all men agree (leaving each brother to his own particular opinions); that is, to be good men and true, men of honor and honesty, by whatever names, religions, or persuasions they may be distinguished; for they all agree in the three great articles of Noah, enough to preserve the cement of the lodge. Thus Masonry is the Center of Union, and the happy means of conciliating persons that otherwise must have remained at a perpetual distance." (Andersonís Constitutions of 1738)

Presidential Recognition of this Ancient Code of Ethics

President George Bush signed an historic resolution of both Congressional Houses, recognizing the Noachide Laws as the "bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization". He urged the United States to take a lead in "returning the world to the ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws". This historically significant document is recorded as House Joint Resolution 104, Public Law 102-14.

As Masons, we believe that as good citizens and promoters of all good and virtuous causes, we should take a leading role in this worthy enterprise. By so doing, we would be fulfilling the Old Charges and returning to the founding ideals of our order.

Footnotes

1. ENCYCLOPDIA OF FREEMASONRY, and Its Kindred Sciences,&c. by Albert G. Mackey, M.D. 33ƒ. Published by The Masonic History Company, New York and London 1917. [back]

2. According to the Book of Jubilees (7:20ff), the list of laws are as follows; to observe righteousness, to cover the shame of their flesh, to bless their Creator, to honor parents, to love their neighbor and to guard against fornication, uncleanness and all iniquity. [back]

3. See for example, Sanhedrin 56-60; Yad, Melachim, 8:10, 10:12. [back]

4. This, first explicit reference to the Noachide laws is found in the Tosefta, a work believed to have been edited in the late 2nd century of the common era. [back]

SOURCE: "The Noachide Faith in Masonic Sources" .Ars Memoriae Blog. 10/08/2009. Retrieved 06/15/21 from: http://masoneriadetradicion.blogspot.com/2009/10/noachide-faith-in-masonic-sources.html

Freemason says the reference to Noahide is the 1738 constitution could likely be a reference to the 7 Noahide Laws

"'A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida' which may very well be a reference to the Noachites, which is a group which upheld the seven laws of Noah

SOURCE: "Diluvian Origins: The Noahide Origins of the Masonic Third Degree". Olive Branch Lodge. Jan 12, 2021. Retrieved 06/15/21 from: https://youtu.be/SMc8qjT3F7I

Freemason says the Noahide Laws fit with the morals freemasonry

What did the Rev. Anderson mean by his use of Noachida in the revised First Charge?

SOURCE: By William K. Bissey. "What's a 'Noachite'?". The Double Eagle. November 2001, Volume 51, Number 5. Retrieved 10/3/21 from: https://aasr-indy.org/assets/documents/DoubleEagle-51-5.pdf?fbclid=IwAR11zuwHgZlDlej1Y8TliMJ82YbXFnL9yAz8k0ZgKLKtGvgO2gRX_tUpfx0

Noahide Laws Pushed In The Square Magazine

The popular Freemason magazine The Square has published an article promoting the Noahide Laws as part of Masonic history. Freemasons are playing both sides of the street, denying they are Noahides but admitting it too.

https://www.thesquaremagazine.com/mag/article/202102the-noachite-legend-and-the-craft/

DOWNLOAD PDF OF ARTICLE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mWtglDk7Kqzwv8ID1vn6kiclQAF2Sb6w/view?usp=sharing

Even more Freemasons as the Midnight Freemason Contributor admit that they follow the Noahide Laws.

http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2020/06/the-noahchites.html

The Noahchites

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

It may be a surprise to some Freemasons that Hiram Abiff wasn't always in a prominent role in the Master Mason Degree. In fact, the first reference to the Hiramic legend occurs in 1730 in Samuel Prichard's Masonry Dissected. In this work, Prichard refers to Hiram as "Grand Master Hiram". We do know that by 1738, the Hiramic Legend seems to be in place, as Dr. James Anderson's Constitutions of 1738 states that after the completion of the Temple, "their joy was soon intterupted by the death of their dear Master, Hiram Abiff, whom the decently interred in the Lodge near the Temple according to ancient usage." If Hiram wasn't always featured in the Master Mason degree until sometime around 1730, then what was the degree like?

In 1936, a document entitled: The whole Institution of free Masonry opened and proved by the best of tradition and still some reference to scripture, was discovered. The document, which came to be known as The Graham Manuscript, comprises two small pieces of parchment which have been dated to 1726. It was written in very old English, and thought to be a copy from another document. Translated into Modern English it reads:

"We have it by tradition, and still some reference to scripture for it caused Shem, Ham and
Japheth to go to their father Noah's grave for to see if they could find anything about him to
lead them to the valuable secret which this famous preacher had...
For I hope all will allow that all things needful for the new world was in the Ark with Noah.
Now these 3 men had already agreed that if they did not find the very thing itself,
that the first thing that they found was to be to them as a secret...
They not doubting, but did most firmly believe that God was able and would also
prove willing, through their faith, prayer and obedience, to cause what they did find to prove
as valuable to them as if they had received the secret at first from God Himself at its headspring.
So [they] came to the grave, finding nothing save the dead body almost consumed away.
Taking a grip at a finger, it came away... so from joint to joint... so to the wrist...
so to the elbow... so they reared up the dead body... and supported it...
setting foot to foot... knee to knee... breast to breast... cheek to cheek... and hand to back...
and cried out 'Help, Oh Father'...
As if they had said 'Oh Father of Heaven, help us now, for Our earthly father cannot'...
so laid down the dead body again and not knowing what to do...
so one said: 'Here is yet marrow in this bone' and
the second said: 'But a dry bone' and
the third said: 'It stinketh'.
So they agreed to give it a name as is known to free masonry to this day...
so went to their undertakings, and afterwards works stood."

So it can be said then without a doubt that Noah held an important role in the Master Mason degree prior to the introduction of Hiram Abiff. This is further illustrated in Albert Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and it's Kindred Sciences. Under the entry for Noah, Mackey states: "In all the old Masonic manuscript Constitutions that are extant, Noah and the Flood play an important part in the Legend of the Craft. Hence, as the Masonic system became developed, the Patriareh was looked upon as what was called a Patron of Freemasonry. This connection of Noah with the mystic history of the Order was rendered still closer with the influence of many symbols borrowed from the Arkite Worship, one of the most predominant of the ancient faiths. So intimately were incorporated the legends of Noah with the legends of Freemasonry that Freemasons began, at length, to be called, and are still called, Noachidae, or the descendants of Noah a term first applied by Doctor Anderson, and very frequently used at a much later day."

With all of the characters in the Old and New Testaments, then why would Noah be chosen to be represented in the Master Mason degree prior to Hiram Abiff?

Noah was important for a few reasons:

1. He and his ancestors would have been the progenitors of the Human Race after the flood, as well as the saviors of the animals of the land that he held in the Ark.

2. He carried the Noachide Laws, or the six laws given to Adam by God to which a seventh was given to Noah. These were the laws which would be followed by his people until he gave Moses the Ten Commandments.

The Noachide Laws were:

1. Renounce all idols.
2. Worship the one true God.
3. Commit no murder.
4. Be not defiled by incest.
5. Do not steal.
6. Be just.
7. Eat no flesh with blood in it.

3. He would have been the keeper of antediluvian knowledge, especially the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Mackey acknowledges these points further down in his entry for Noah: "The writer of the Cooke MS. (1410/1450 A.D.) had before him an original which may have been written about 1350 A.D. The author of that original frankly acknowledges that many of his historical statements are taken from "the polycronicon," a sort of universal history, or omnium gatherum, in which were collected scraps and fragments of lore of many kinds, especially about the remote past, and without any attempt to distinguish genuine history from myths, legends, tales, fables. It was from such a polycilronicon that the writer of the Cooke original drew the story of Noah and the Deluge which the Cooke condenses into a paragraph beginning at line 290. According to the old tale thus taken from the polychronicon men knew that God would destroy the world out of vengeance, either by fire or by water; therefore in order to save them from destruction, men wrote the secrets of the Arts and Sciences on two "pilers of stone." When the vengeance came, it turned out to be by water as Noah had expected, and for 365 days he and his family lived in the Ark. With him mere his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Many years afterwards, the "cronyelere telleth," the two pillars were found; Pythagoras found one, and Hermes the other.

The 0ld Charges (Masonic MS, Old Constitutions, etc., they also were called) which served as a charter for the first permanent Lodges of the Freemasons were held in great reverence; in them was this story of Noah and the pillars, and it is from this source, it is reasonable to believe, that pillar and column symbolism came to be used in Speculative Masonry; and since the use of the Arts and Sciences traced directly back to Noah's sons who recovered their use after the Deluge, practitioners of them were sometimes called "Sons of Noah."

The first, or 1723, edition of the Book of Constitutions of the Mother Grand Lodge touches but lightly on the story of Noah, but in the second, or 1738. edition the whole account is changed, the Arl; itself is described as having been a Masonic masterpiece, and Noah and his three sons are described as "four Grand officers." "And it came to pass as they journeyed from the East of the plains of Mount Ararat, where the Ark rested toward the West, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there as Noachidae, or Sons of Noah . . ." In a footnote the author explains the word: "The first name of Masons, according to some old traditions."

What those "old traditions" were nobody knows because there is no evidence that Operative Freemasons called themselves by that name. But it was in some use prior to 1738, for in 1734 Lord Weyrnouth ordered a letter to be sent to the Prov. Grand Master at Calcutta in which this curious statement was included: "Providence has fixed your Lodge near those learn'd Indians that affect to be called Noachidae, the strict observance of his Precepts taught in those Parts by the Disciples of the great Zoroastres, the learned Archimagus of Bactria, a Grand Master of the Magians, whose religion is much preserved in India (which we have no concern about), and also many of the Rituals of the Ancient Fraternity used in his time, perhaps more than they are sensible of themselves. Sow if it was consistent with your other Business, to discover in those parts the Remains of Old Masonry and transmit them to us, we would be all thankful ...." (A. Q. C. XI, p. 35.)

If ever "Noachidae" was in use as a name for Masons it could not have been extensive, because the word (an ugly hybrid) is almost never met with in early Lodge Alinutes or Histories; it is probable that such small use of it as is encountered in American Lodges in the first half of the Nineteenth Century (it is now wholly obsolete) was directly owing to the popularity here of the writings of the Rev. George Oliver who never hesitated to give to fancies out of his own mind the same weight as the verdict records of history.

There mere two reasons for the place of Noah and his sons in Masonic thought and traditions. It is obvious that the writer of the Cooke MS—or rather, the author of the original of which the Cooke is a copy —had an historical problem to solve: if the Deluge destroyed everything how were the Arts and Sciences, Geometry especially, preserved and recorded?

The story of the pillars and of the use made of them by Noah's sons, which, as was seen, he found ready-made in a polychronicon, was his solution. Second, the story of the sons of Noah had a point to it of value for Masons who sought to make clear to their own minds the religious foundations of the Craft. If Masonry w as geometry and architecture it is as old as the world; if it existed in Stoah's time it existed before Christianity, or Judaism either; and yet it now works in Christian lands; how could a "Christian" society have a pre-Christian origin? The answer was that under the separate religions is a ground, or fundamental, or matrix of a universal religion which consists of a belief in God and Brotherhood among men, and righteousness. Oliver himself gives one of the clearest expressions of this idea in a paragraph of his in A Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry (New York; 1855; p. 190): "NOACHIDAE, Sons of Noah; the first name of Freemasons; whence we may observe that believing the world u as framed by one supreme God, and is governed by him; and loving and worshiping him; and honoring our parents; and loving our neighbor as ourselves; and being merciful even to brute beasts, is the oldest of all religions."

Not all the versions of the Old Charges contain the Noah story in the same form; the Graham MS. version which has so many details peculiar to itself, and is really an Old Catechism more than a version of the Old Charges, gives the Noah story in a different form and reads in it a different lesson; and it has the lost secrets discovered after the death of Noah rather than after the death of Niram. In his Ahiman Rezon, or Book of Constitutions, writing as Grand Secretary for the Ancient Grand lodge of 1751, Laurence Dermott ridicules the whole story; but it is only as history that he ridicules it, not as symbolism, because (to judge by such written remains of it as have survived) the Ancient Ritual connected the Great Pillars with the two "pillars" in the Cooke MS. Also, in both Ancient and Modern symbolism and in the Royal Arch, the Ark is used as an emblem. (This identification of the Ark with Noah's Ark may be a mistake on the part of Eighteenth Century Ritualists, because before 1717 Operative Gilds kept their papers in a "coffin"— which later reappears under the name "casket," "the Lodge," and "ark.")"

Prior to being Widow's Sons, Freemasons were sometimes identified as NOACHIDES or NOACHITES or "Sons of Noah". This is further confirmed again by Mackey under the entry for NOACHIDAE (NOACHITES) in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and It's Kindred Sciences. Mackey states: "The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Freemasons on the theory, derived from the Legend of the Craft, that Noah was the father and founder of the Masonic system of theology. Hence the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because in times past they preserved the pure principles of his religion amid the corruptions of surrounding faiths. Doctor Anderson first used the word in this sense in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida." Aside from being the Sons of Noah, the Noachides were essentially those that followed the Noachide Laws up until the time of Moses. In following the moral laws of a Freemason, Freemasons were also following the Noachide Laws, and therefore were associated with the Noachides.

It is easy to see the similarities between the Noachite Legend given in the Graham Manuscript and the current Hiramic legend. Both include raising from the grave, the five points of fellowship and the pact to record whatever was observed during the actions in at attempt to recover lost knowledge. Furthermore, the words and actions around the grave should strike some level of familiarity with Master Masons. Given the similarities, I think one can say that the Noachite Legend was mostly transformed into the the Hiramic Legend that we know today. Noah and his sons still are represented in Freemasonry in one of the Allied Masonic Degrees, in that of the "Royal Ark Mariner". Noah is also alluded to one of the emblems of a Master Mason, "The Anchor and the Ark." I think that the brethren who went through the Master Mason degree prior to when Hiram Abiff was part of it still had a profound and deeply moving experience. I can only imagine how interesting the degree would have been to witness with Noah being the main figure. All this being said, I might be the only Freemason that is disappointed that real grip of a Master Mason isn't called: "It Stinketh". It would be a much easier explanation than Covid-19 to explain why we're now bumping elbows instead of shaking hands.

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is a Past Master of and Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282 and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com