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The Secret Tradition of Freemasonry
Waite,

"We must go further therefore in search of the Secret Tradition concerning the Sacred Word, and may glance in the first place at some additional points in rare French Rituals. . . . There follows the Grade wihich is called Grand Elect, otherwise Perfect Master and Sublime Ecossais, filling an entire volume in the collection on which I depend and extending to nearly three hundred pages. . . . I am citing throughout from Collection Maconnique, vol. iii, a pearl beyond price of Masonry. . . . The Lodge represents a Subterranean Vault, and an illuminated transparency in the East exhibits a delta or triangle, described as that of the Burning Bush, emblazoned with the Sacred Name of the Great Architect of the Universe in Hebrew letters. . . .The Candidate is advised that he is now at last to be made acquainted with those secrets for which Substitutes were provided at the death of the Master Builder, and this not alone as regards the Sacred Name and its true pronunciation, but as to those who were acquainted with it in past ages and the mode of its hidden transmission. The secret of his True Name was revealed by God to Enoch, who was transported for this purpose to a high mountain, where he beheld a radiant triangle inscribed therewith. But the story is that he was forbidden ever to pronounce it. He was then taken to a subterranean place, into which he descended by nine arches, and in the ninth or undermost he beheld the same triangular plate. He constructed a Temple subsequently. . . . composed of nine analogous arches one above the other, according to the revelation of his vision. Methuselah, his eldest son, had charge of the work, which was performed in the land of Canaan, afterwards the Land of Promise and Jerusalem. But Methuselah did not know the designs of his father. Enoch prepared a duplicate of the golden plate, inscribed and erected it on a pedestal of white marble, fixed beneath the lowermost arch.

He had been warned also concerning the Deluge to come, and fearing that all knowledge might perish therein he built two Pillars on the highest mountain in that region, one being of bronze, to resist water, and one of brick to withstand fire. We have seen that this story is told by Josephus, but the Masonic account offers variants of its own making. On the Pillar of brick Enoch inscribed hieroglyphics, recording that a precious treasure had been deposited beneath the subterranean arches of the Temple which he had built to the Lord; and on the bronze Pillar he engraved the chief liberal arts, especially that of Masonry. The Pillar of brick was destroyed in the Deluge, but that of bronze survived and therefore also the arts. . . .

After the Captivity in Egypt the true pronunciation of the Divine Name was taught by God himself to Moses, but he and his descendants were also forbidden to write it, though he was told of a day to come when it should be discovered by his children, graven on a plate of gold. . . . Solomon was acquainted with the manifestation promised to Moses. . . . Solomon was acquainted with the manifestation promised to Moses, and when he began to build his Temple the remains of a previous edifice were unearthed while laying the foundations' but fearing that it had been erected to false gods, he removed his operations to another locality. After the death of the Master Builder, though prior to the completion of the Temple, the remains in question, being those of Enoch's Vaults, were examined further. . . . This resulted in discovering the ninth arch, the marble or agate pedestal and the golden plate. . . . At the destruction of Jerusalem by the King of Babylon certain Sublime Masters melted down the gold plate, preserving the Word only in memory. . . .Subsequently -- according to the last Discourse of the Grade -- the pronunciation and even the lettering were alike lost, except for the Grand Elect Masons. They are represented as scattering into Egypt, Syria, Scythia and the deserts of the Thebaid. Others passed overseas to England, Scotland and Ireland; but it is pointed out that they were and apparently remained Israelites. After several centuries a general degeneration is said to have taken place among them, a few only excepted who became -- as it were -- an inner circle, faithful to the great Tradition, true unto that which it exacted and transmitters of the Treasured Secret with all due precautions. The story is brought down in this manner to the important epoch of the Crusades."