Casting the Molten Sea

References to the ‘Lion of Judah’ notwithstanding, as this is geared toward Christian specific bodies including Templary, many references remain quite important to all given the fact ‘Jesus’ was not named specifically in the time of Hiram Abif or the timeline of this story, beginning long before Jesus was born. At the time when premonitions of ‘a’ Savior were made by Founding Fathers of the Craft, the Lord’s Temple had yet to be completed. Please enjoy. Thank you. SK Eric Erfourth

An excerpt from:

Freemasonry and Catholicism

By: Max Heindel - 1919

{the entirety of the book may be found in the public domain at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Freemasonry_and_Catholicism/d0BIAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 }

Part IV. CASTING THE MOLTEN SEA

“As the spiritual gifts of the Sons of Seth flowered in Solomon, the wisest of men, and enabled him to conceive and design a marvelous temple, according to the plan of his creator, Jehovah, so Hiram, the clever craftsman, embodied within himself the consummate skill of a long line of ancestral artificers. He possessed the concentrated quintessence of the material knowledge gained by the Sons of Cain, while they wrought from the wilderness of the world a concrete civilization, and in the execution of the wonderful Temple of Solomon this superlative skill found full fruition.

Hiram, being the focus and repository of all the crafts of Cain, was also invested with the Spirit of Samael intensified in commensurate ratio, therefore he was consumed by an overpowering urge to add something to the Temple that would eclipse the rest of the structure in beauty and importance. Out of the travail of his spirit was born the conception of THE MOLTEN SEA, and this great ideal he proceeded to carry into execution, though heaven and earth held their breath in awe at the audacity of his purpose.

When Hiram had about completed the Temple, he commenced to cast the various vessels required in the service, according to designs made by Solomon as agent of Jehovah. Chief among these was the great laver, intended to hold the bath of purification, through which all priests must pass to enter upon the service of the Lord. This, and all the lesser vessels, was successfully cast by Hiram, as recorded in the Bible.

Masonic Traditions tell us, Hiram’s preparations were so perfect that success would have been assured, had not treachery triumphed. But the incompetent craftsmen whom Hiram had been unable to initiate into the higher degrees, conspired to pour Water into the vessel cast to receive the molten sea; for they knew that the Son of Fire was unskilled in the manipulation of this element and could not combine it with his wonderful alloy. Thus, by frustrating his cherished plan and spoiling Hiram’s Masterpiece, they aimed to revenge themselves upon the Master.

When Hiram confidently pulled the plugs, the liquid fire rushed out, was met by the water, and there was a roar that seemed to shake heaven and earth, while the elements boiled and battled. All but Hiram hid their faces at the awful despair, until from the center of raging fire he heard the call of Tubal Cain, bidding him jump into the molten sea. Full of faith in his ancestor, who had gone before him upon the path of fire, Hiram obeyed and plunged fearlessly into the flames.

Sinking through the disintegrated bottom of the vessel he was conducted successfully through nine arch-like layers of the earth to the Center, where he found himself in the presence of Cain, the founder of his family, who gave him instructions relative to blending Water and Fire, and furnished him A NEW HAMMER, AND A NEW WORD, which would produce these results. He looked into the future and uttered a prophecy which has been partly fulfilled; what remains is in process of realization day by day, and as surely as time goes, all will come to pass.

“You, Hiram,” said Cain,“ are destined to die with hopes unfulfilled, but many sons will be born to the widow and keep your memory green through the ages and at length one will come who is greater than you. You shall not wake till the Lion of Judah raises you with the powerful grip of His paw. This day you have received your baptism of fire, but He shall baptize you with Water and Spirit. You and every son of the widow, who will come to Him. Greater than Solomon, he will build a new city and a Temple wherein the nations may worship. The Sons of Cain and the Sons of Seth shall there meet in Peace, at the sea of glass. And as Melchisedec, King of Salem (which means Peace), and Priest of God, ministered to Abraham, the father of nations, when mankind was yet in its infancy, so shall this new Light combine in Himself the dual office of King and Priest after the order of Melchisedec; he shall judge the nations with the law of love and to him that overcometh will be given a white stone with a name that will serve as passport to the temple. There he may meet the king face to face.

Hiram was again conducted to the surface of the earth and as he walked from the scene of his shattered ambition the conspirators set upon and fatally wounded him, but before he expired he hid the hammer and disc upon which he had inscribed the Word. This was never found until ages later when Hiram, “the widow’s Son,” was reborn as Lazarus and became the friend and pupil of the Lion of Judah, who raised him from death through initiation. When the hammer was found it had the shape of a cross, and the disc had become a rose. Therefore, he took his place among the immortals under the symbolical name 

‘Christian Rosenkreuz’.

He founded the Order of Temple-Builders which bears his name and in that Order aspiring souls are still instructed how to fuse the base metals and make the White Stone.

Notes:

Among all the characters mentioned in the Bible none is more mysterious than ‘Melchisedec’; said to be without father, mother, or earthly kin, and holding the dual office of king and priest. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews gives us the most information showing the connection between Christ and Melchisedec, both of them Kings and High Priests, but of different dispensations.

In the Epistle of the Hebrews where Saint Paul gives us a few hints concerning the Mystery of Melchisedec in the character of High Priest, he emphasized the absolute necessity of blood as an adjunct to the Temple Service; he shows how the High Priest was required to offer blood for his own sins before he was qualified to give sacrifice also for sins of the people, and that this double sacrifice must be performed year after year. He points to the sacrifice upon Golgotha as having been made once and for all providing a way of atonement through the blood of Jesus.”