Development Of Ram Degrees
We tell our Exaltees that they are not to consider
that they have received a Fourth Degree in Freemasonry, but that
they have only completed the Third. When we look out on Freemasonry
of the present day we see that there are a great number of Masonic
degrees practised - outside degrees, as we sometimes term them.
“The Royal Arch differs from them in being
recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England. But at one time the
Royal Arch was the Fourth Degree in Freemasonry, and the number four
still recurs in the ceremony. The Third Degree and the Royal Arch
are, however, intimately connected. Two hundred and six years ago,
when the Grand Lodge was formed, I think I am correct in saying that
neither of them had any existence as distinct ceremonies.
“The square, the level, the plumb rule,
themselves, which are the tools of a F. C. are also the jewels worn
by the W.M. and his wardens, and seem to suggest to us that the
Second Degree was at one time the highest in Freemasonry - and
Masonic history confirms this.
“It was not until some time after the Grand Lodge
of England was formed in 1717, that we find the least trace of the
Third or M. M.’s Degree. And not a few lodges in Scotland refused
for forty years after their Grand Lodge was formed to have anything
to do with the Third Degree. You may trace the spread of the Third
Degree in the minutes of the lodges in Scotland.
“France, on the other hand, after its Grand Lodge
was formed, accepted the Third Degree at once, and proceeded
further. The idea of higher degrees for the aristocrats of France
was developed. About 1740 certain Excellent Masters, as we may call
them, who wore sprigs of acacia on their aprons, took upon
themselves the duty of inspecting the lodges to see that the work
was correctly done and free from abuses.
“This was the seed from which the various higher
degrees ere developed and confusing the two French words ccessois
and ecossais, this development was fathered on to Scotland, which,
as a matter of fact knew nothing about these degree, and when they
did, objected strongly to them.
“The Scottish Knight became the Fourth Degree,
the Knight f the Eagle, the Fifth; the Knight Templar, the Sixth;
and the sublime Illustrious Knight, the Seventh. The Second Knight’s
Degree was founded on the tradition that three Scottish Crusaders
while they were in the Holy Land, and that during their researches
they had to hold a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other to
ward off the Saracens.
“This I take to be the basis of our Royal Arch
ceremony. I cannot here trace the many developments which followed
in France, and later, in America. Those who belong to the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite of Thirty-three Degrees will know how the
Master Mason’s Degree was eventually divided into ten degrees.
“The idea, however, of the Royal Arch as a
completion of the Third Degree proved popular. England had then
three Sovereign Grand Lodges: the Modern Grand Lodge of 1717; the
Ancient Grand Lodge of 1751; and the Old York Lodge, which for some
years claimed jurisdiction in the North of England.
“Each of these Grand Lodges allowed Royal Arch
Chapters to be formed between the years 1750 and 1770, and they were
eventually attached to Craft Lodges. After 1770 the ‘Ancients’ and
the ‘Moderns’ both formed Grand Chapters. In 1817 these two Grand
Chapters were taken under the wing of the Craft and all the higher
degrees were left severally alone.
“The Grand Lodge of Scotland, which with great
caution accepted the Third Degree, has never, I believe, recognized
the Royal Arch. That degree and others are granted under the
jurisdiction of the Grand Chapter of Scotland, which has not that
intimate connection with Grand Lodge which we find in England and
Germany, after twenty-five years of higher degrees in the eighteenth
century, reverted to the three Craft degrees only. Two attempts were
made to introduce the Royal Arch, but without success.
“What, then, shall we say, are the purposes of
Royal Arch Masonry? We may look at the matter in this way: The Third
Degree leaves us with a mysterious veil over the prospect of
futurity. The Royal Arch lifts that veil and brings us face to face
with eternal realities, the throne of the Great I Am, and assures
that there is indeed an eternal left beyond the grave, where we
shall get to know the Mysterious Name of the True and Living God
Most High.
“The Royal Arch, therefore, is the completion of
the Third Degree, which deals with death. As far as I can see, it
includes all the essential teachings which are the subject of the
higher degrees. It is that which calls itself, the Supreme Degree in
Freemasonry.”
SIR FREDERICK HALSEY IN a recent address
delivered in London, Sir Frederick
Halsey, D. G. M. of England, and Grand Second Principal of the Grand
Chapter, interestingly referred to the development
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