The Royal Arch Degree.

THE ROYAL ARCH DEGREE .

By BRO . R . F . GOULD . By a resolution of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England , duly confirmed on the 7 th of February last , the portals of Royal Arch Masonry have been thrown open to all candidates for that Supreme Degree , who have served a qualifying period of four weeks in the rank or station of Master

Masons . Prior to this recent legislation , no brother could be received a member of the Royal Arch , in England , at a less interval than 12 months between the ceremonies of raising and exaltation . For the colonies , however , the qualifying period of service as Master

Masons had been cut down from 12 months to four weeks , so far back as 1857 , and the alteration was made because wherever English chapters were working side by side with Scottish or Irish ones , the great bulk of candidates for the Degree naturally acquired it in the latter , as it could be obtained in far less time than by making application to the former .

Freemasonry in the British Islands and Dependencies has made giant strides during the 19 years the Prince of Wales has been Grand Master . But the fact is a noteworthy one , that the number of chapters and companions has certainly not increased pari passu with that of the lodges and

brethren , i . e ., in South Britain , and elsewhere under the English Constitution —or to be more precise , within the Royal Arch jurisdiction , of which the G . M . of the Grand Lodge of England ( if a companion ) is ex-officio the First Grand Principal .

For this many reasons have been assigned , the chief one being that the appetite for new Degrees is keenest when men are young in [ Masonry , and that having taken a great many during their first year in the Craft , the hunger of a large proportion of brethren is so thoroughly appeased towards the end of it , as to render them quite indifferent to the attractions of any

further ceremony whatever , for which they only become eligible as candidates at the expiration of 12 months' service in the grade of Master Mason . There 'is much force in this contention , and the impartial student will

incline to the belief that it would have been far better both for the Craft and Arch , if the bond between them had been loosened instead of tightened , at the memorable Union of the two Grand Lodges of England in 1813 . According to the Second Article of the Union :

" It is declared and pronounced , that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three Degrees ; and no more , viz ., those of the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow Craft , and ihe'Master Mason ( including the Supreme Order of the Hol y Royal Arch ) . " How , indeed , any " Order " or ceremony , -which did not exist in the era

preceding that of Grand Lodges , could be constituted a portion of " pure Ancient Masonry , " it would be bootless to inquire , though the remark may be thrown out , that if one Grand Lodge could add to the system of Ancient Masonry , so could another . Therefore , while I deprecate the action of many American Grand Lodges in following on the lines of what is familiarly known

as the " Massachusetts New Departure , " nothing can really be urged against their including in the legitimate Masonic family the Knight Templars and others , providing only that the precedent established by the United Grand Lod ge of England in 1813 , is entitled to be regarded as a lawful exercise of its authority by that body ?

Passing , however , from this point , which might detain us too long , let me proceed with the observation , that the ardour with which the Rojal Arch was wooed in 1813 , has finally resulted in its having been nearly stifled in the embrace of the Grand Lodge .

I he Committee of General Purposes—Grand Chapter of England—has one excellent service in bringing forward and carrying to a successful issue e re" 10 Val of a restriction which operated most oreiudicaliv with resneri

0 the diffusion and extension of the Degree . One further step is now only requisite in order that the trammels imposed by the legislation of 1813 and _ u years may be fully swept away , and that is the abrogation of the existing law under which actual or Past Masters of lodges are alone eligible to h 11 the principal chairs .

Ungmall y , no doubt , or at least as far back as there is evidence to guide > v'z ., in the year 1744 , when Dr . Dassigny printed his Serious and Ini-Pertial Enquiry , the " Masters of the Royal Arch " —by which is to be crsiood

all members of the Degree—were " an organised body of men 0 ^ d passed the chair , " i . e ., the chair of a lodge , which at that time , r ml y in England and Scotland , was filled and vacated without a ceremony w a " kind - Ultimately , indeed , the Degree of Installed or Past Master a appear—as I wrote in the Freemason more than 10 years ago—to ave been invented by the Schisrnatic Grand Lodgeof England ( orso-called

The Royal Arch Degree.

" Ancients ) to serve as a constructive passing of the chair , and thereby to qualify brethren for the Royal Arch , which could only be communicated to actual or Past Masters of lodges . In other words—the practice by the " Ancients " of conferring the Arch upon brethren not legitimately entitled to receive it , brought about a constructive passing through the chair , which by qualifying candidates not otherwise eligible , naturally entailed the introduction of a ceremony , additional to the simple forms known to Payne , Anderson , and Desaguliers .

But whatever secrets were then peculiar to Royal Arch Masonry , every candidate who was received within its pale , became acquainted with them all . The Degree was at first invariably conferred in the lodges , and it was nqt until comparatively late in the last century that chapters of the Order were established under the hierarchy of Principals .

For a long period the Degree of Past Master continued to be given in English chapters to all candidates for the Royal Arch , and the practice appears not to have been forbidden until 1826 . According to the Freemasons' Quarterly Review for iS . ^ 7 : "By the laws of Grand Chapter , as revised February 5 th ,. 1823 , no previous office in

the Lodge was required as a qualification for office in the Chapter . It was only necessary that a candidate should have been a Master Mason for a year , and that then he should in a particular manner obtain , what , until the recent alteration , was his passport to the Royal Arch . The laws of iSij placed no further obstacle of the Craft in the way of the highest honour of the Chapter .

" Three years afterwards , viz ., on March 2 nd , 1 S 26 , it was resolved in the Grand Chapter : 'that no Companion should be elected to the principal chairs unless he be the actual or a Past Master of a Lodge . ' This alteration of the laws was not uniformly attended to , up to 1834 , as appears from a resolution of Grand Chapter on May 6 th of that year , confirming and

repeating the resolution of 1826 . " Gleaning from earlier volumes of the same Masonic journal , I find the following : " It was resolved by the Grand Chapter— 'August 2 nd , 182 ( 1—that no Companion can be elected to the principal chairs , but a Master or Past Master , nor into the 2 nd Chair until he has served the 3 rd , nor into the ist , until he has served the 3 rd and 2 nd . ' " (/•' . 0 . Rev ., 1834 ) .

It is further stated , that on June 13 th , 1833 , the Committee of Grand Chapter " explained the alteration ( recently ) considered advisable . " ist , As respected the installation of Principals in the several chairs , and " 2 nd , Such alterations as were necessary on the introduction of a M . M . " ( Ibid . ) In 1835 , there was formed a Committee of Promulgation , but that the new system did not work very smoothly is evidenced by the proceedings of the

Grand Chapter on November 4 th of that year : " The Committee reported that a ist Principal elect had intimated his intention to work the Chapter according to an old and not according to the recently promulgated system . " Declared , that the ceremonies recently adopted by the several Grand Chapters are the Ceremonies of our Order , which it is the duty of every Chapter to obey . " ( F . Q . Rev . 1835 . )

A little later ( 1837 ) , a Bro . Robt . Leigh , P . M . 327 , writes * . " I believe it will be found that many Companions , even since 1 S 34 have been placed in the chairs without its ever having been suspected that they should have served as the actual Master of Lodges , they having passed the chair and taken the degree of Past Master in their -way to the . Chapter . " ( Ibid 1837 J The Past Master ' s Degree continued to be conferred in Provincial and

Foreign Chapters , long after the practice had been put an end to in London . Indeed , so late as April 3 rd , 1857 , when I was myself exalted in the Melita Chapter , Valetta , then 437 , now 349 , the minutes record—as I learn from Bro . Broadley ' s History of Freemasonry in Malta—my "having first passed the chair of W . M . "

To sum up this portion of my article—according to the Regulations of the Grand Chapters of England at the present time of writing : I . The Grand Master of English Freemasons , the Grand Secretary , and certain other Grand Officers of the Craft ( if duly qualified ) are to hold corresponding positions in the Grand Chapter , *

II . Every Chapter must be attached to some warranted lodge and distinguished by the same number ; and , III . Candidates for the Degree of R . A . must be Master Masons of four weeks' standing . To which may be added , that no ceremonies are worked in the chapters , but the Royal Arch itself , except the Installat on of Principals , each of whom must have been previously installed in the chair of a regular lodge . —New Zealand Craftsman . ( To be continued ) .

Consecration Of The Thurston Lodge, No. 2525.

CONSECRATION OF THE THURSTON LODGE , No . 2525 .

On Friday , the 7 th inst ., a new lodge was consecrated at Coniston , and is numbered as above . The founders are : Bros . Tom Hunter , P . M . 1225 ; John Kendall , John Bell , Thomas Pollitt , P . M . 1225 ; John Raven , M . G . Redhead , Robt . Shaw , 673 ; J . D . Stamper , 1390 ; and Bowness , P . M .

The Consecrating Ofhcer was Bro . W . Simpson , P . M ., Prov . S . G . W ., assisted by Bros . J . D . Murray , P . G . Treas ., as S . W . ; G . A . Harradon , P . M ., P . P . G . T ., as J . W . ; Rev . W . H . Baynes , P . M ., P . P . G . Chap ., as Chap . ; Wm . Goodacre , P . M ., P . P . G . Std . Br . Eng ., Prov . G . Sec . ; J . Cunliffe , P . M . 730 , as S D . , * j . Hard wicke-Marsh , I . P . M . 17 . 30 , as LI . ) . ;