The Royal Ark Mariner Degree

My talk concerns the first degree in the Lodge and Council series as it is practiced under the Scottish Constitution, that of Royal Ark Mariner.  In particular I want to address the apparent irrelevancy of that degree.

Matthew Christmas is an English researcher into the origins of Freemasonry.  He contends that many Masons who have taken this degree simply see it to be a quaint, short little ceremony about Noah's Flood whose members wear rainbow-coloured aprons.

The precise origins of the Royal Ark Mariner Degree are unknown. The earliest confirmed record of such a degree being specifically worked is in 1790 at Bath in England, although the existence of Noachite traditions within the body of English Freemasonry is suggested as early as 1726. 

Christmas deplores the fact that the degree is often dismissed as being of very little ritual significance and states that this impression could not be more wrong.  He contends that those who are 'elevated' as Royal Ark Mariners, and who take the slightest interest in Ark Masonry, soon realize that it is simple and beautiful, rather than superficial or trivial.

I am going to focus your attention on the era that saw great changes in society - and in particular the way Freemasonry was practiced - the early 18th Century.  In fact I want to take you back two hundred years or more prior to that time.

You must appreciate that in those early times very few of the populace could read, and that knowledge was promulgated in the form of stories and plays.  Chief among these plays were the various Mystery Plays or 'Cycles' of the medieval Christian church. 

These biblical dramas were popular until suppressed in the 16th century as part of the Reformation. The Mysteries enacted the events of the Bible from the fall of Lucifer to the Day of Judgment in a series of pageants. 

Each pageant or section of the story was performed by a different trade-guild.  Thus, in many places carpenters enacted the crucifixion, while in other places the carpenters staged the tale of Noah and the Flood.  By the 15th century the plays had been written down in various forms and the Mystery Cycles that survive today are long and very elaborate.

There have been several masonic historians who hold that our fraternity is merely a romantic continuation of the trade-guilds and their Mystery Plays.  And there are some who go to the other extreme and hold to fabulous speculations that the fraternity had its origins in secret rites brought back by the Templars from the Holy Land.  The truth may lie somewhere in the middle.

Research tells us that there are two conflicting legends concerning Freemasonry, the Noachidic legend and the Hiramic legend.  There can be no doubt that our present Craft ceremonies are based upon the Hiramic legend.

It seems that Noah had for many years been considered as one of the Grand Masters of Freemasonry.  Why, then, did the Hiramic legend prevail and was the change complete?  Not at all.  Important elements of the Noachidic legend remain to this day.  Let me elaborate.

Christmas contends that some have seen the dedication and skill of Noah as a builder, with the enormous nature of the task and the importance of what he constructed on God's direct orders, as comparable or at least identifiable with that current Masonic centre-piece, the building of King Solomon's Temple.

There are two genealogies of Noah, one in Genesis Chapter 4 and one in Chapter 5; it is the latter that the rituals of the degree select.  Thus Noah is descended from Adam, being nine generations in descent from him.  His half-brother was Tubalcain, who is well known to all Masons as the first artificer of metals.

I wish to draw your attention now to the charge given to the incoming Worshipful Commander Noah on the occasion of his installation.  For the sake of completeness I will give it in full:

"We read in the V.S.L. that God commanded Noah to make an Ark of gophar wood, instructing him how to fashion it. 

Noah took 100 years to build it.  He was 500 years old when he commenced the work, and consequently was 600 years old when it was finished. 

When he entered into the Ark he took with him his wife, his three sons and their wives, and two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life, as God had commanded him. 

His father Lamech having died a short time before at the age of 777 years, there were no other ancient Patriarchs at the time of the flood with the exception of Methuselah, who attained the age of 969 years, and as no mention is made in Holy Writ of his death, he is supposed to have perished in the flood. 

Enoch, the son of Jared the sixth in descent from Adam, who had been instructed in the history of Mankind since the Creation and also in the Arts and Sciences as known at that time, perceiving that that knowledge was likely to be lost in the general destruction foretold by Adam, and being desirous of preserving that knowledge for future generations, made two pillars, one of brass, and the other of brick, and wrote thereon in hieroglyphics a description thereof. 

Tradition informs that this knowledge thus preserved and transmitted was afterwards providentially discovered and applied to the benefit of mankind."

Another legend of the Craft that claims our attention is one relating to Hermes and Mercury, who are said to have each found one of the pillars erected by Enoch, and to have given to mankind the sciences written on it.  Hermes was said to be the son of Taut or Thoth, whom the Egyptians made a God and placed his image beside those of Osiris and Isis.  To him they credited the invention of letters, as well as of all the sciences, and they esteemed him as the founder of their religious rites.

Let me stimulate your imagination.  I refer now to the legend (for that is what it is) of the two pillars at the entrance of King Solomon's Temple.  Could it be that the two pillars of Enoch, being the repository of knowledge for future generations, have been 'borrowed' from the Noachidic legend and used in the present Hiramic Legend?

That brings me to the Seven Arts and Sciences.  I am going to tell you another tale, a legend involving those Seven Arts and Sciences, and I want you to bear in mind what I have said about Enoch's pillars and the recording of  the Arts and Sciences as known at that time.

Legend has it that Mercury, after some unsuccessful attempts to secure a suitable wife, consulted Apollo, who advised him to marry Philology, an astonishingly erudite young lady. The suggestion met with the approval of both parties, and Philology, after considerable preparation and instruction, was wafted to the upper heavens, where her marriage was to take place before a Senate consisting of gods, demigods, and philosophers. The connection between the setting and the seven liberal arts becomes clear when an elderly but attractive lady named Grammar, one of the seven learned sisters, is introduced to present her discipline first to the assembled wedding guests. The seven sisters, personifications of the seven disciplines, have commonly been referred to as bridesmaids. What they actually were are handmaids presented by Mercury to his bride. The marriage of Mercury and Philology has been taken, both early and late, to symbolize the union of eloquence and learning.

Have I persuaded you?  Are you satisfied that the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences in the current Hiramic legend have been appropriated from the Noachidic legend?

It is interesting to note that in England even today the Deacons in 'Atholl' lodges have Hermes as a collar-jewel rather than a dove, and that there are Deacon's wands in existence (but no longer used) capped by Mercury.

One of the earliest surviving Masonic documents, the Graham Manuscript, apparently dated 24 October 1726, explicitly refers to the sons of Noah seeking the secret which their dead father had possessed in a manner similar to part of the Traditional History of the Third Degree. This manuscript thus gives a Noah story, rather than an Hiramic one, as the legend of the Third Degree.

Let me expand on that manuscript, and in particular its relationship to the Third Degree ritual as we now know it.  My research for this part of my address comes from a somewhat surprising source, the Mormon Church.  As an aside, did you know that Joseph Smith, the founder of that church, was a Freemason? 

I must first make the point that I have modernized the language and shortened the passage, but I assure you that I have not altered its integrity.

"We have it by tradition and reference to scripture that Shem Ham and Japhet went to their father Noah's grave to try and find the veritable secret he possessed. 

The three men had already agreed that if they did not find the secret itself, that the first thing that they found was to be to them a secret.

They came to the grave finding nothing save the dead body almost consumed.  On taking a grip at a finger it came away from joint to joint, so too the wrist, so too 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.  They cried out 'Help Oh Father' as if they had said 'Oh Father in Heaven help us now for our earthly father cannot.' 

Not knowing what to do they laid the dead body down again.  One said 'There is still marrow in this bone.'  The second said 'It is but a dry bone,' and the third said 'It stinketh.'  They agreed to give it a name as is known to Freemasonry to this day."

In other words, having found no real secrets, they substituted one: 'Marrow in the Bone.'  This is confirmed as early as 1725 as a metaphor for concealing the secret of Freemasonry, that is, as marrow is hidden in the bone, so also should the fellowship of Masonry be hidden within the Mason.

So, we have a substituted secret.  Is that familiar?

Consider this: What was the first word whispered to you when you were raised in your Third Degree ceremony?  You were given an explanation of those words.  It is my contention that the first word actually signifies 'marrow in the bone' and that the alternative now given is an attempt to align the ceremony with the Hiramic legend.

Yes, and I am sure you have realized the significance of the method of Noah's raising.

Let me turn your attention to the point within the Royal Ark Mariner ritual where Noah sends forth the dove from the Ark.  The dove returned with an olive branch, the symbol of reconciliation and peace.  Actually, the Bible tells us that it was a leaf plucked from an olive branch, but consider this:

The badge of office of a Deacon in our modern-day Craft lodges is staff surmounted by a dove clasping an olive branch in its beak.  That Deacon is charged with preserving order, peace and harmony within our lodges.

There is little doubt that the Noachidic legend was revered in 'Antient' Freemasonry, and there is, for me, another striking similarity between the ancient charges and today's Freemasonry.  I refer to the seven Noachidic Laws.

On a web site entitled 'Noachites' the unnamed author states that the earliest reference to those 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 - raw meat, for example). 

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 Noah.   According to the Book of Jubilees 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. 

Before we leave the Noachidic Law, I might add that in 1991 US 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.

These laws, I submit, are the same moral laws that today we as Freemasons are charged to obey.

At this point I will give a summation of the common threads of the old Noachidic legend appearing in the skein of the present Hiramic legend:

1. The dedication and skill of Noah as a builder in his construction of an edifice such as the Ark, an edifice comparable with that of King Solomon's Temple.

2. Noah's half-brother, Tubalcain, the first artificer of metals.

3. The search by the sons of the deceased Noah for his secret; the manner of his 'raising' and the substituted secret.

4. The dove and the olive branch.

5. The two pillars.

6.  The Seven Noachidic Laws.

7. The Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Whilst there is reference to Hiram and his work for King Solomon in the Graham Manuscript, it makes no mention of his death. It was not until 1730 that any detailed account was published of the death of Hiram. 

This has profound implications for Ark Mariners, especially when one considers the central nature of what became the Third Degree of the Craft.  It would seem possible, then, that at some point various Masons decided to replace Noah with Hiram, and that this change took place over time.

What prompted that change?  Let me remind you of the recorded history of Freemasonry in England over the past three hundred years or so.

Masonic students today consider that the history of Speculative Freemasonry commenced with the formation of the London Grand Lodge on the 24th June, 1717, however the transition of the Craft from Operative to Speculative was a gradual process taking place both before and after the inauguration of that Grand Lodge.

This was the beginning of the period when the Craft of Masonry was transformed, and the final result was the emergence in the year 1723 of Speculative Freemasonry, proclaiming a system of morality presented in the form of Ritual, and veiling its instruction by recourse to allegory and symbolism. 

This transformation required another 'legend', one which gave more opportunity for the allegory and symbolism I have just mentioned.  Enter Hiram, but much of the allegory in the Noachidic legend was retained. 

My conclusion is that the Royal Ark Mariner degree is of great relevance in the overall scheme of Freemasonry as we know it today.  Have I persuaded you? 

I am indebted to my mentor and friend PWCN & MEC Keith W Hepburn, for his assistance in my research for this address. 

References:

'Following in Noah's Footsteps'
Matthew Christmas
http://www.freemasonrytoday.co.uk/issue15-article1.shtml

'Whence and Whither the Five Points of Fellowship?'
Brent Lee Metcalfe
http://mormonscripturestudies.com/tem/blm/fpof.asp

Noachites:
http://tracingboard.com/noachites.htm

House Joint Resolution 104, Public Law 102-14:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:H.J.RES.104.ENR:

'The Spiritual Vision of the Seven Liberal Arts'
Thomas D. Worrel
http://www.abaris.net/freemasonry/worrel/seven-liberal-arts-02.htm