Most well read Freemasons are already aware that, at the formation of the first Grand Lodge, in 1717 London, the Craft work consisted of only two degrees. Most of these same Masons will be aware that the ritual of the degrees evolved out of an operative framework toward a speculative edifice. It is reasonably well established that the Master Mason degree grew out of the former Fellow of Craft degree, and that the same process eventually allowed for the development of the Mark Man or Mark Mason, or even the Mark Master Mason out of the remaining body of the Fellow of Craft degree, much as the lessons of the Royal Arch grew from the parts of the Fellow's degree that were split off to form the Master Mason degree.
The existence of the Royal Arch degree has been confirmed as far back as 1741. The oldest Mark ceremony for which I have found reference is in 1778, but the degree was well established in Nova Scotia by 1782 where it was one of the degrees worked regularly in Virgin/Artillery Lodge, now #3 of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.
Tonight, I am going to be examining how one got from the one to the other.
In our ritual, we are told that the Virtual Past Master degree exists in conformity to an ancient custom and practise, that only those Masons who had been elected to preside over a regular Lodge could be admitted to the Royal Arch.
If the Royal Arch is, indeed, the "completion of the Master Mason degree", as evidenced in many writings by other authors as well as myself, then the historical background of the Royal Arch would support the claim that only those who had presided over a regular Lodge could be admitted to the Royal Arch. This is based on the belief that the first appearance of the modern Master Mason degree (from which the Royal Arch was split about 1741) was initially only conferred upon that Fellow of Craft (in modern parlance, a Journeyman) who had been elected to preside over his Lodge. At this period of Masonic history, it was not uncommon to find elections in Lodges occurring twice in each year, on the meeting day nearest to each of the St. John's Days celebrations. Even with two candidates coming from each Lodge each year, this process did not permit much growth in the Order of the Holy Royal Arch. Remember too, that these early framers of our Order faced similar concerns as we do, in regard to membership, demits, deaths, and loss of interest. It soon became clear that restricting the Royal Arch to actual Masters of Lodges, and to Past Masters, would not allow for either much growth, or stability.
It is a fact that, in England, the history of Craft Masonry is much confused by the lack of written evidence of many early practices. Additionally, the existence of two and sometimes three or more so-called Grand Lodges leads to more confusion in specific areas. The Antient or Atholl Grand Lodge was erected at some point between 1747 and 1752. (Records exist of the Grand Lodge from 1752, and the charter of the oldest Lodge under the Atholl Grand Lodge was dated 1747. Nothing more definite survived.) Minutes of the Grand Lodge in 1752 refer to the Royal Arch in such a way that there can be no doubt that the Antients considered the Royal Arch to be an essential part of their Masonic experience. In Laurence Dermott's "Ahimon Rezon" of 1756, he expressed the opinion of the Antient Grand Lodge in these words: "The Royal Arch I firmly believe to be the root, heart, and marrow of Masonry". The opinion he expressed in 1756 was not fully reflected in the structure of the Antient's Masonry until 1771, when the Royal Arch was plainly held to be an integral part of Craft Masonry and was to be practised and conferred under the authority of the regular warrant of the Lodge.
The situation with regard to the elder Grand Lodge, styled from 1752 as the "Moderns", was much clearer. Maybe. The Grand and Royal Chapter, from 1765, exercised control of the Royal Arch degree as a separate and independent body within the "Modern" system.
The plain fact is that the Royal Arch was occasionally conferred in lodges under both obediences at early dates, and along with that degree, in both obediences it was common practise to "pass Brethren through the Chair", in other words, "conferring the degree of a Past Master" without the Brethren having served in the Office of Master.
Laurie's "History of Freemasonry" alludes to the practise of conferring the "Degree" of a Past Master in the Royal Arch Chapter as well as in a Lodge, saying "Although this is now frequently communicated by Royal Arch Chapters as a separate degree, with a formal initiatory ceremonial, embracing words, signs and tokens, it belongs to the Order of Craft Masonry, and is still practised by many of the Lodges in the Third Degree, but is only communicated to the newly elected Master when about to be installed". He describes the Degree as being worked in a separate apartment, with none but Past Masters present.
From the English practise in the early days, it would seem that, almost from the inception of some sort of Work particular to the Office of Master, the actual ceremony had gone in two directions - in one direction, it became the Board of Installed Masters, while in the other direction, it became the Past Master Degree.
The confusion surrounding this degree is not yet finished building, Brethren, (for I must still add to it my own little twists, on which there may be a quiz later, and perhaps even a prize) as the Capitular structure in the so-called American or York Rite will confirm.
The entire situation became even more confused at the time of the Union of the Modern and Ancient Grand Lodges, in 1813. That Act of Union reunited the Brethren of the two systems, and confirmed the eminent place of the Royal Arch as the pinnacle of Craft Masonry, being the "completion of the Third Degree" as we have heard. That Union also gave a steady form and purpose to the Board of Installed Masters, a ceremony which many Lodges under the Moderns had not used at all, although it was an established part of Antient practise from at least 1768 according to Hughan. It is interesting to note that, even at this early date, there were instances of both Actual Masters and Honorary Masters receiving the same ceremony on the same night from the same team of officers, and at the same time. With the Union of 1813 in England (including the Provincial and District Grand Lodges), the Chapter's version of the ceremonial was dropped, and the Board of Installed Masters was adopted by Grand Lodge. When the now United Grand Lodge, at the same session, dealt with the Royal Arch, forming the Supreme Grand Chapter within the Grand Lodge, the requirement of the Moderns, that a Brother must be an actual Master of a Lodge, was dropped in so far as simple membership in the Royal Arch was concerned, but it was retained as a requisite qualification for election to the first of the three Council offices, or Principals.
Between 1813, when the ritual of the Craft became somewhat more settled than had been the case, and 1869, the English Lodges in Nova Scotia settled in to a regular use of the ceremonial of the Installed Master, or Inner Work of the Installation ceremony. The use of a "Chair Degree" was also becoming standardized in the Scottish Lodges at home and abroad.
In 1869, our Grand Chapter was formed, with "Union Chapter" #118 EC, "St. Andrew's Chapter" #55 Scot. and "Hiram Chapter" #33 RC. The ritual to be used by the Grand Chapter had been chosen and prepared in advance, and our first officers were elected and installed using, in the main, the titles we know today, coming from the rituals used by our major trading partners and most frequent Masonic visitors, the American Grand Chapters of Maine, New York and Massachusetts.
This "York Rite" carried with it the traces of the Antient or Atholl Grand Lodge in that the organisation of the Royal Arch also brought with it the tradition of the Past Master Degree. So now in 1869, Nova Scotia has, long after the question of the Work of the Chair was settled in our parent Grand Lodges, both the Installed Master Work in the Craft and the Past Master Work in the Royal Arch.
The question of membership requirement in the Royal Arch was resolved by requiring applicants to the Chapter to have served a full 12 months in the Craft before being eligible to enter a Royal Arch Chapter, and receive therein the Mark, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and Royal Arch degrees according to Antient (Atholl) practise; but a Companion in possession of these Degrees could only proceed to the Chair in the Royal Arch if he were an actual Installed Master, which was a Modern tradition. Proposals to eliminate this requirement came before Grand Chapter regularly from 1870, but it was only removed by vote of Grand Chapter after 1909. (I admit to not having found, yet, the reference to when this change was finally enacted; it has been removed in our present Constitution of 1994.) It is also interesting to note that, while the versions of the Master's Work were clearly connecting the Craft and the Royal Arch, it was not until 1909 that membership in the Royal Arch became dependent on maintaining Craft membership.
Delivered to: Royal Union Chapter #1
Halifax, NS
April 16, 2002
Subsequently delivered to: Renown Chapter #19
Dartmouth, NS.
May 28, 2002
Copyright©2001 J. Douglas Welsh. All rights reserved
Note: Anyone wishing to use this lecture has the permission of R.Ex.Comp. J. Douglas Welsh to use it but credit must be given to The Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Nova Scotia for it's use.