Parry Sound Masonic Temple, Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada

"The Three Ancient and Original Orders of Architecture":

youtu.be/9OeTGk-OdKY?si=kASk-3C--3APz2qF

 

Subject: Oct 30, 2019 Most Urgent Tragic News:

Companions, it is with great sadness that I regret to inform you Excellent Companion Jim Tamblyn of Seguin Chapter No 261 has suddenly Passed to the Grand Chapter Above. At this time I have no information on funeral arrangements, but a Masonic Service is likely. I will keep you informed. Last night he accompanied us to High Priests in Victoria Harbour and was in fine form, so this is indeed a shock. We will cherish his memory in our hearts. Fraternally, Dan Glenney, Scribe Ezra, Seguin Chapter No 261.

 

Installation of the Officers of Seguin Chapter No. 261.

 

banahtorah.blogspot.ca/2006/07/12-tribes-of-israel-banner...

 

This evening I have the pleasure to attempt to explain the Holy Royal Arch, The reason for its being and the arrangement of the Chapter Room. I will try to do this to the best of my ability.

 

First, let me explain that the Supreme Degree of the Holy Royal Arch is the completion of the M.M°. In the M.M°., they inform us that something is lost. Surely then, to the thinking man he must wonder, what is that which is lost. In the Royal Arch that which is lost is found. When the candidate has taken the obligation, a brief history of the R.A., degree, follows which sets the stage for the remainder of the ceremony. Briefly the history is as follows: 400 years after the completion of the Temple by King Solomon, King Hiram of Tyre and Hiram Abiff; the Army of the King of Babylon destroyed this Temple. They took the Jews, except the menial class, into captivity to Babylon. There they were to remain for 70 years.

 

At the end of this period, a Prince of the House of Judah, by the name of Zerrubable, convinced Cyrus, then King of Persia to release the captives. Let them return to Jerusalem, there to rebuild the Temple. King Cyrus, with the Lords help, agrees. The candidates represent men who arrive late, seeking a chance to help rebuild the Temple. They tested them, obligated them and then allowed them to enter the Chapter Room. Here they meet four obstacles. Four veils represent these obstacles, which are coloured, blue, purple, scarlet and white. Each veil has its own Scripture Lesson. The candidates having proven themselves worthy are admitted, and make known their request to help rebuild the Temple.

 

They tell them that due to their lateness, the only job available is clearing away the rubble, for the foundations. They agree and in carrying out their task, they find a cave in which they make an important discovery. This discovery is found later in the ceremony to be that which is lost in the M.M°.

 

The form of the Chapter Room is as you see it here this evening. The Three Principals sit in the EAST. They represent the Copestone of an Arch, i.e., that stone that holds the whole building together. It is to them that the Companions look for light and instruction. You will note six lights, the larger lights placed as an equilateral triangle, the three smaller bisecting the lines of the larger. Thus forming four smaller, but equal, equilateral triangles. These triangles represent the four divisions of Masonry, viz. E.A., F.C., M.M., and Holy Royal Arch.

 

The Twelve banners seen in the Chapter Room, represent the bearings of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, each with their own lessons. The four large banners in the East represent the four divisions of the army of Israel. They consist of a Man, a Lion, and Ox and an Eagle. Christianity adopted these four to represent the four evangelists: The Man shows the humanity of St. Matthew’s Gospel; The Lion the strength and power of St. Mark; the Ox represents the docility and the gentleness of St. Luke; while St. John, whose gospel reaches to greater heights than the others, is aptly represented by the highest flyer of all birds, the Eagle.

 

The V.O.T.S.L., square and compass remind the Companions of their Craft lodge affiliation and the Truth and Justice of God. The sword and trowel remind us of the trials and tribulations suffered by those who rebuilt the Temple. Their enemies were everywhere and they must be prepared to defend themselves always. These tools also remind us to pay due obedience to lawful authority and to resist lawless violence.

 

The sojourners used the pick, shovel and crowbar to clear away the rubble to make a place for the foundations of the Temple. This means to us to clear away the accumulation of ignorance and vice in our own selves. That we may build our own bodily Temple of Morality and Truth. Our ancient brethren considered the triangle on the V.S.L., as a most sacred emblem, it is also the emblem of the Deity.

 

The whole purpose of the Holy Royal Arch is to make its members wiser, happier, and to encourage them to practice the virtues of, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Based on the principals brought to us in the V.O.T.S.L..

 

If they ask the question, “Why did the Royal Arch Appear?”, the answer is that a further ceremony, or a separate “Fourth Grade,” was inevitable, and our knowledge of the evolution can best explain this of the three Craft Degrees. If we go back as far as we dare in English Masonic History, to the point where they were evolving the separate grades or degrees. It is almost certain, that the first Masonic ceremony was designed for the Fellow or Fellow-craft, i.e., the fully trained Craftsman.

 

The system of apprenticeship in England makes its first appearance in the 1200s and it is safe to assume that the next degree evolved an admission ceremony for Apprentices. At this stage, and up to the late 1600s, it is certain that the Craft had no more than two admission ceremonies. One Degree for the Apprentice, or Entered Apprentice and the other for the “Fellow Craft, or Master.” Eventually it was inevitable that there would be a demand for a separate ceremony to distinguish the Master from the Fellow Craft. Both were equal in their technical capacity. Nevertheless, the Fellow craft was an employee, and those who were fortunate enough to set up as Masters, would quite naturally have wanted a separate degree to themselves.

 

At this stage all three working grades had separate ceremonies, only one grade remained unrepresented. However, there was still no ceremony for the men who had presided in the lodge. That is for the Masters of the lodges; this ceremony appeared around 1740. This is, of course, an over simplification of the whole story and it represents my own opinions. It is based on historical foundations and the dates mentioned are supported by documentary evidence1.

 

The origins of the R.A. ceremony.

 

If we exclude the minor details, the main body of the Royal Arch Ceremony is based upon two separate stories.

The true Biblical story describing the return from Babylon and the building of the Second Temple.

The ancient legend describing the discovery of a Vault, the Altar and the Sacred Word.

 

Place of Origin

 

It is impossible to say, with certainty, that the R.A. took its rise in any particular country. It seems possible that the ceremony came to England from Ireland. Several of the earliest references to the R.A. are undoubtedly Irish. When they constituted the first Grand and Royal Chapter of the Royal Arch of Jerusalem (‘Moderns’) in July 1767, The ‘Antients’, who had always counted the ceremony as the ‘root, heart and marrow of Masonry’, had not realized the need for a separate controlling body. Their Grand Chapter minutes begin in 1782, after a series of resolutions in their Grand Lodge in December 1771.

 

Masonry grew by change. It is still changing, right under our very noses. Furthermore, it will continue to change, even after we have all passed on.

 

All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. The Aswan Dam was built in Egypt in 1967. It was expected that it would prevent the flooding of the Nile, and produce hydroelectric power. Which it did, but along with the change in the normal flow of the waters came such evils as the loss of the rich silt which for centuries had fertilized the valley. Nutrients were lost with a 97% drop in the local sardine industry. It is estimated that the losses to Egypt due to the Aswan Dam amount to some 550 million dollars per year. Unpredictable results have also happened in Freemasonry. Some adopted changes have proved to be beneficial to the Craft, whereas others have been unexpectedly questionable. The point is that each one of us, one of these days, will be called upon to decide whether to accept or reject some proposed change in our Institution. The decision should be made knowingly, intelligently, and not emotionally. To do so one must be acquainted with the Story of Freemasonry’s evolution, and understand its present structure and mission. It was Confucius who gave the advice “Study the past if you would divine the future. “

 

As an object lesson two innovations in Masonry can be reviewed, one in America, the other in England. Several American Masonic Jurisdictions sent delegates to the 1843 Baltimore Convention. One of the innovations there adopted was that lodge business should be transacted only in a Master Mason’s lodge. The purpose, apparently, was to block impostors. But the result was that Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts were excluded from lodge membership. For instance, Holland Lodge, when under the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, conducted its business in an Entered Apprentice Lodge. Fortunately, some jurisdictions are at this moment attempting to correct that misguided resolution.

 

In England, in the year 1730, there appeared an Exposure called Masonry Dissected, which proved so very popular that many non-Masons bought the six-pence booklet, learned the secrets, and clandestinely conferred degrees for profit. Grand Lodge was very disturbed and reacted by transposing the words of the two Degrees, the purpose being to make it possible to detect impostors. Unfortunately, other results developed. The Grand Lodge, founded only some fifteen years previously, had limited powers. Some lodges in the City of London and the provinces disagreed with the transposition and began, with recent Irish and Scottish immigrants to form irregular lodges which culminated in the creation of a new Grand Lodge of their own, referred to as the Antients.

 

“ This new Grand Lodge, under the leadership of its ambitious and pugnacious Grand Secretary, Bro. Laurence Dermott, introduced ceremonial items that emphasized the gap that was to exist between the two Grand Jurisdictions and give the Antients a supposed superiority over the Premier Grand Lodge The first change was to keep the Words of the First Two Degrees in their original order. Secondly, they adopted a new Substitute Word for the Lost Word of a Master Mason. In the third place, they introduced an esoteric portion called the “Inner Working” into the Installation Ceremony. And finally, the biggest innovation in 18th century Freemasonry was the grafting of the Royal Arch as a fourth degree on to Ancient Craft Masonry.

 

It seems, therefore, that the Premier Grand Lodge’s decision to transpose the words of the first two degrees unwittingly contributed to the start of the rift in the English Craft, which lasted well over half a century. But at the same time it did afford the Antients the opportunity to bring about an almost universal adoption of Royal Arch Masonry.

 

Early references to Royal Arch Masonry are vague, and it is difficult to say when it became a completely separate degree and attained the full development of its present-day ritual and ceremonial. It may be taken as an accepted fact that the Royal Arch ceremony was being worked at York, London and Dublin about the year 1740 in a systematic way. There is a 1744 reference to the Royal Arch as “an organized body of men who have passed the chair.” Later, in 1746, Laurence Dermott was exalted to the Royal Arch in Lodge No. 26, Dublin, Ireland shortly thereafter he emigrated to England. But the really first unchallenged dates of exaltation are 1752 in Ireland, 1753 in America, 1756 in Scotland and 1758 in England. It is of interest to note that the earliest Minutes which definitely re-cords a Royal Arch Exaltation is of “A Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons” in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The historical Minute of December 22, 1753, record that three Brethren were “Raised to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason.” By the way, one month earlier in this same lodge on November 4, 1753, George Washington had been made a Mason.

 

So much for a very sketchy description of the Royal Arch’s evolution and acceptance as a Degree of Masonry. The development and growth of its doctrinal content and ritual is also very hazy. There does not seem to be any evidence to support the statement made by some Masonic scholars that the Royal Arch was originally a part of a Craft Degree. The Master Mason’s Degree does not appear to have been mutilated to provide a separate and additional degree. Some students believe the Royal Arch was compiled in France as one of the many degrees created after the spread of Freemasonry to the Continent of Europe, and then “exported” back into England. However, the prominent Masonic writer, Bernard E. Jones, felt that the arranger, editor or compiler might well have been English. For, it is true, that in the years after the establishment of the 1717 Grand Lodge in London, there were those who found themselves dissatisfied with the simplicity of the teachings of the Craft and embellished it with all kinds of additional ceremonial items and degrees.

 

In that shadowy background from which the Three Degrees of Craft Masonry had emerged, there continued to float around several vague traditions.

 

There were stories of the loss and recovery of vital secrets; of two antediluvian pillars designed to carry and pre-serve the knowledge of Mankind; and in the Graham MS. of 1726 the legend of the loss of knowledge on the (natural) death of Noah. In the 16th and 17th Centuries literature introduced the idea of a Being so dread that His name was not to be mentioned; and in 1726 an advertisement referred to the necessity for a Master to understand well the Rule of Three. It has to be admitted that early references to Royal Arch Masonry are vague, and it is difficult to say when a completely separate and fully developed Degree emerged.

 

Although Royal Arch Masonry gained impetus and definitely established itself as a corollary of the questionable “transposition” decision made by the Premier Grand Lodge in 1730, it is also true that much distress was caused by hasty and uninformed decisions of both the Americans and British. It also seems true that the Royal Arch Degree would have eventually gained recognition and acceptance without the help of a disturbing innovation.

 

In conclusion, a knowledge and an understanding of Freemasonry’s past will help each individual Mason make wise decisions in the future, for the Wisdom of the Ages has already stated that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat the mis-takes of the past. The prophet Hosea (Chapter 4:6) put it this way: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

 

George H. T. French (Texas)

Royal Arch Magazine Winter 1984 Vol 14 No 12.

 

It’s that time of the year for each of us to get out into the backyard and begin our preparations of tilling the ground. We must loosen the soil in order to prepare it for growing. We must then plant the seeds in order for anything, other than weeds, to grow and bear fruit. When planting the seeds, we plant them in rows. Thus, it will be easier to cull out the weak and permit the strong to grow and prosper, and the weak to strengthen themselves by our culling.

 

Soil needs to be fertilized for it to keep its strength. There are many ways to fertilize and enrich the soil. A weak plant, in poor soil, can prosper and become the most beautiful flower in the bed and bear the most fruit if it is properly cared for and enriched.

 

Do we not all take pride in these accomplishments of our work and efforts, as much as we enjoy the fruits of our labours?

 

Is it not time for each of us to till that soil in our communities? By our talk and actions, we begin io plant those seeds about the Masonic Fraternity throughout the community. Search out those whom we know to be strong; and those whom we believe will become the strong. If we do not till and sow the Masonic story in the community, then we will never know who can and will be the strength and pillars of our Fraternity in the future.

 

The young men in today’s society are looking for something in which to believe. We have that something for them. But we must make them aware of that something. Sow before them the seeds of Masonry. Then add a little fertilizer each and every day. Don’t drown them with facts or over-fertilize them with figures, but nourish them as you would your favourite rose. Let them know that they must ASK.

 

If you plant the seeds in fertile ground and give the proper amounts of water and fertilizer, you might be pleasantly surprised at the strong and beautiful plant that you could “raise.’

 

Quietly let them know that Masonry is not a “Secret Society,” nor is it a “Religious Club”; but till the soil by letting them know that we are a Fraternity built upon moral lessons taken from the Bible which we teach through allegory or plays.

 

Answer all of their questions, honestly. And if you do not know the answer to a particular question, tell them so, but that you will seek out the answer for them from some Brother more knowledgeable than yourself. By all means let them know you are a Mason and proud of it.

 

It is not time for each of us to break the hold, that the long habits of folly have held us in its grip, and till the soil by speaking freely about the Fraternity? Nurture and enrich the soil by not hiding your pride in being a Mason.

 

Sow the work add a little sprinkling of facts and carefully add your fertilizer of knowledge. Watch with pride, as the Fraternity Grows and Prospers for the Beautification of the World, Our Community.

 

Paul C. Howell, Grand High Priest of Michigan

 

 

Done