Note 281 — Part I (continued 3)

Dr. Oliver and Dr. Mackey thus refer to true and spurious Masonry, the former descending from Noah, through Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses to Solomon--hence the appellation of Noachites sometimes applied to Freemasons--the latter from Cain and the Gymnosophists of India to Egypt and Greece. They add that a union between the two took place at the time of the building of the Temple of Solomon through Hiram Abiff, who was a member of both, being by birth a Jew and artificer of Tyre, and from this union Freemasonry descends. According to Mackey, therefore, Jewish Masonry is the true form.--A Lexicon of Freemasonry, pp. 323-5; Oliver's Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry, I. 60.