The Grand Masonic Allegory.

dissemination and perpetuation of whfch formed 4 he grand design of our brother revivalists of 1717 . The ancient York rite culminates in the Supreme Order ofthe Holy Royal Arch , and to the attainment and due comprehension of the

allegorical revelation thereby made to men , our Scottish and American brethren deem the degree of Mark .. Master to be absolutely requisite , and moreover 'Unite with the Irish Craft in attaching similar

importance to that of Past , or , as it is sometimes styled , Chair Master ; but all of these three -national systems differ radically from each other as regards the further steps which they likewise look upon as indispensible qualifications for

exaltation . Until lately English Royal Arch Masons also considered the possession of a Past Master ' s secret to be essential to every candidate for admission amongst them ; but inasmuch as these secrets are merely historical and distinctive ,

and have no moral significance whatever , the true . genius of the English system has dictated their ¦ disuse in this connection , and now every Master Mason is eligible for exaltation to the English Royal Arch order , as soon as—wise restriction

!he shall have been twelve months raised . A beautiful simplicity , which it would be well if , ¦ wherever the York Rule is practised , the Craft would imitate . It may be asked , brethren , whence arose all these differences ? How came it that , whereas the

order and succession of the three first degrees are the same wherever the banner of Masonry is waved , distinctions of so grave a nature have interposed themselves between the third one and its universally recognised perfection , the Holy

Royal Arch ? The reply is easy . I have already explained in my address to the Zetlsnd Lodge , No . 525 , entitled "The Rise and Purposes of Speculative Masonry , " that originally the degrees of Master Mason and of Past Master , together

with the secrets of the Arch , were conferred all at the same time , and upon those only who in the terms of the ancient charges had been elected into the chair of a lodge ; and that it was not previous to 1740 that increase in the number of

companions enabled the chapters to give realising effect to the tradition that every Royal Arch Convocation perpetuates the Grand Council opened at Jerusalem , A . L . 3466 . When that great change in tho practice , though not in the nature , of the Craft took place , when the brethren at large perceived that on account of the increase in their

The Grand Masonic Allegory.

numbers it would be well to divide the greater from the lesser mysteries , and admit to the former only those Masons whose love of their symbolic art the comprehension of the latter had whetted , the taste of the time was ornate , and prone to the accumulation of forms aud ceremonies . The

separation of the Order of the Holy Royal Arch from the mere degree of Master Mason appeared to all companions to be an appropriate moment for the formal adoption into the Masonic canon of various old legends , more or less apocryphal , but

full of interest to both the antiquary and the moralist . Some traditions , however , were deemed of more value than others , and the measure of estimation in which different ones were held was

not in all countries the same . Thus it came about that the Scottish rule looks upon the degrees of Mark Master , Chair or Past Master , and Excellent Master , as absolute prerequisites to exaltation ; that our Irsh brethren regard in the

same light those of Past Master , Excellent Master , and Super-Excellent Master ; and that chapters in the Hnited States insist that candidates for

admission amongst them should already be Mark Masters , Past Masters , and Most Excellent Masters . The Irish degrees of Excellent and Super-Excellent Masters have exclusive relation to the divine legation of Moses ; the American

one of Most Excellent Master commemorates the dedication of the temple by King Solomon ; and the Scottish gradation of Excellent Master is nothing other than the ceremony of the " passing of the veils , " which is practised in both Ireland

and the United States as an integral part of the Royal Arch ritual itself , and which was formerly likewise so worked in England , until dropped along with the qualification of Past Master , at the

time when , as I have already explained , severe and simple ideas of Masonic symbolism took root amongst the English brethren and companions . These preliminary remarks will go far , I trust , to dispel the perplexities which must inevitably

arise from any hasty consideration of the differences existing between the various modes in which the ancient York Rite is worked ; they will , I hope , make clear the princip les upon which the English system of that Rite is based ; aud v ? iil enable us

to proceed to the elucidation of that sublime allegory which all symbolic Masonry is designed to illustrate , but which , unencumbered by nonessential tradition or ceremonial , is more particularly kept in view by the Craft in England . Yet ,