THE SCOTTISH ROYAL ARCH
Subject to some elements of doubt explained in earlier pages, it is known that there was an R.A. lodge in Scotland in 1743 ‑ the lodge at Stirling, which might therefore claim to be the oldest‑known Royal Arch body in the world. Even admitting the doubt, Scotland’s place in R.A. history remains a high and honoured one, although, truth to tell, the facts of that history have been difficult to come by, and it is therefore all the more necessary to make quite clear, as we do most gratefully, that much of the information in this present section is due to a manuscript entitled The Triple Tau: An Outline of the History of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, generously placed at the present writer’s disposal by its author, G. S. Draffen, then Grand Librarian of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and since published in printed form under the authority of the Scottish Grand Chapter. Many other sources have been referred to, but the Draffen information has been the mainstay.
The Scottish Royal Arch is not designated “Holy,” nor is it described as an “Order.” Scotland has, of course, an ancient and honourable Masonic Order ‑ the Royal Order of Scotland ‑ which “in respect to the preservation of records” (quoting D. Murray Lyon) appears to be senior to any degree other than the three Craft degrees.
The oldest of the Scottish chapters are given here in the order of their official numbers, but not, unfortunately, in the order of the dates of their founding. As from the early nineteenth century, however, Scottish chapters, with but few exceptions, are numbered in accordance with their priority of date. No. 1 is Edinburgh, founded in 1779 (F); No. 1, Stirling Rock, Stirling, 1743 (F); No. 3, Enoch, Montrose, 1765 (F); No. 4, Operative, Banff, 1766 (F); No. S, Linlithgow, 1768 (F); No.6G, Union, Dundee, 1773 (F); No. 7, Noah, Brechin, 1774 (F); No. 8, Haran, Laurencekirk, 1774 (F); No. 9, Hope, Arbroath, 1779 (F); No. 10, Josiah, St Andrews, 1780 (F); St Luke, Aberdeen, 1782 (F); No. 12, Elijah, Forfar, 1783 (F); No. 13, Macduff, Macduff, Banffshire, 1784 (F); No. 14, St Andrew, Banff (now Buckie), 1787 (F); No. 15, Land of Cakes, Eyemouth, 1787 (F); Old Aberdeen, 1788 (F); No. 17, Greenock, Greenock, 1789 (F); No. 18, Ayr St Paul, Ayr, 1789 (F); No. 19, Strathmore, Glamis. 1789 (F); St James’, Aberdeen, 1789 (F); No. 21, St George, Aberdeen, 1795 (F); Royal Caledonian, Annan, 1796; No. 22, Banks of Douglas Water, Douglas, 1797 (F); Loyal Scots, Langholm, 1797; St Albans, Lanark, 1797 (F); NO. 23, Horeb, Stonehaven, 1799 (F); Military, Ayrshire Militia, 1799 (F); Grand Assembly, Kilmarnock, 1798; No. 41, Operative, Aberdeen, 1792. (Names in italics are of chapters no longer in existence. ‘F’ indicates founding chapters of the Grand Chapter.) The R.A. ceremonial is believed to have been introduced from England, and in the case of one chapter, the Union, No. 6, Dundee, is known definitely to have been brought by a military lodge warranted by the ‘Antients’ Grand Lodge of England. An early chapter, Land of Cakes, of Eyemouth, a coast town less than ten miles north of Berwick, has two charters, an English one of 1787 and a Scottish one of 1817, and was, of course, working on the English charter when Robert Burns was exalted in that chapter on May 19, 1787.
The Scots Grand Chapter
The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland is entirely independent of any Craft connexion. Its chapters are not attached to Craft lodges. Its chief officials (‘office‑bearers’) are not necessarily officials of the Scots Grand Lodge, although, by coincidence, they may well be so. English writers generally give the date of its founding as 1817, but it is now accepted that 1816 is the truer date. It came into existence in spite of the opposition of the Scots Grand Lodge, and the reader is already well aware in this connexion that the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland were for long very cold in their regard of the Royal Arch, and the only Grand Lodge in whose favour it held a warm place was that of the Antients’ in England. (During the remainder of this chapter the terms ‘Grand Lodge’ and ‘Grand Chapter’ must be taken to mean the Scottish bodies.) In 1800 the Grand Lodge “expressly prohibited and discharged all Lodges having charters from the Grand Lodge from holding any other meetings than those of The Three Orders” (the Craft degrees). In the year following the founding of Grand Chapter, Grand Lodge resolved that “no person holding an official position in any Masonic Body, which sanctions higher Degrees than those of St John’s Masonry, shall be entitled to sit, act or vote in the Grand Lodge of Scotland”; this resolution was directly aimed at the new Grand Chapter (two of whose Three Principals were Past Grand Masters), which promptly issued a protest, of which little notice was taken.
The Grand Chapter was formed by chapters of two classes: (a) those that had long been working in connexion with Craft lodges and (b) those working under charters issued by the Royal Grand Conclave of Scotland. As a consequence the coming of the Grand Chapter did not, unfortunately, bring together all the Scottish chapters into one fold. Remaining outside were any chapters holding charters from the English Grand Chapter (with the exception of Land of Cakes, already mentioned and still at work); the last of the chapters remaining under the English jurisdiction was that at Kirkcudbright (Royal Gallovidian), which dissolved by mutual consent of its members in 1861. Also there were some unchartered chapters, such as Ayr St Paul, dating back to 1789, which must have been regarded as irregular. In addition, there were some chapters working under Irish warrants, all of whom regarded the new Grand Chapter as irregular; four or five of them became in 1822 “the early Grand Encampment of Scotland,” which lingered until 1877, when it received a new lease of life; it was divided shortly afterwards into three bodies. The first of these was the Early Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, which had twenty‑one chapters when, in 1895, it amalgamated with or was absorbed by Grand Chapter. (The two other bodies do not concern us in this book.)
Until the coming of Grand Chapter the R.A. Degree, with many others, was worked in the Templar encampments and, in spite of the Grand Lodge ban in 1800, in a number of country lodges. It was agreed that the new Grand Chapter should supervise (in addition to seven Templar degrees with which we are not here concerned) twelve degrees as follow: (1) Master passed the Chair (already particularly referred to in an earlier section); (2) Excellent Master; (3) Super Excellent Master (one of the degrees believed to have been brought to Scotland from America in 1877); (4) the Arch Degree (of which nothing appears to be known); (5) and (6) R.A. and Mark Mason (early versions of the degrees now worked); (7) Ark Mason (just possibly the present Royal Ark Mariner Degree); (8) Link and Wrestle (one of the ‘Wrestle’ degrees worked early in the nineteenth century, possibly based on the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel); (9) Babylonian Pass, or Red Cross of Daniel; (10) Jordan Pass (possibly still being worked); (11) Royal Order or Prussian Blue (of which little is known); (12) High Priest (possibly an Installation or Chair degree).
The above does not correspond with to‑day’s list of degrees controlled by the Grand Chapter as from 1915. The present‑day degrees include four series, three with which we in this book are not concerned, plus the Royal Arch series of seven degrees, comprising Mark Master, Excellent Master, and Royal Arch and, in addition, four Installation or Chair degrees, of which three are Royal Arch and one Mark Master.
Six West of Scotland chapters set themselves up in 1863 as the General Grand Chapter for Scotland and the Colonies as the sequel to a quarrel centring upon Dr George Arnott Walker Arnott; this body issued charters to at least eight chapters, but faded out about 1870.
Grand Office‑bearers
Officers are known as ‘office‑bearers,’ and in the Grand Chapter are as follow: First Grand Principal; Past First Grand Principal; Depute First Grand Principal; Second and Third Grand Principals; Grand Scribes E. and N.; Grand Treasurer; Grand Recorder; Grand Chancellor; First, Second, and Third Grand Sojourners; Grand Sword‑bearer; G.D.C. and Depute G.D.C.; Grand Superintendent of Works; First, Second, Third, and Fourth Grand Standard‑Bearers; Grand Organist; eight Grand Stewards; Grand janitor. Members eligible for these offices above rank of Organist must have received all the seven degrees included in the Scots R.A. series, but Grand Principals elect, if not in possession of any of them, receive them upon election and before Installation.
The jewel worn by the Third Grand Principal is a breastplate corresponding to that worn by the High Priest of Israel with the names of the twelve tribes engraved upon it.
A subordinate chapter consists of at least Three Principals, two Scribes, a Treasurer, and three Sojourners. The Three Principals and all Past Principals are styled M.E. In the absence of the First Principal his immediate predecessor or another present or past Installed First Principal may act for him; the rule is similar in the absence of the Second and Third Principals. The period for which any office‑bearer holds the same office is, not limited except by any limitation in the by‑laws. Chapter by‑laws may provide for separate office‑bearers for the several associated degrees, with the consent of the Three Principals, failing which, the First Principal of the chapter has the right to the chair in the Mark and Excellent Master’s Degrees, the Second Principal to that of Senior Warden and the Third to that of junior Warden.
The office‑bearers are 訴nstalled,’ a word which in English lodges and chapters means 祖haired,’ but which in Scotland covers both 祖hairing’ and 訴nvesting.’
Petition for a new chapter is made by no fewer than nine Companions in good standing. A Royal Arch chapter or a lodge of Excellent Masters cannot hold a meeting unless seven regular Royal Arch masons be present; nor a lodge of Mark Masters unless three Mark Masters be present.
Robes when worn by the Principals agree in colour with those worn in English chapters.
Scots Ritual
The ritual is practically the same as that in England, but of what it was in the early years ‑ at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for example ‑ very little is known. The ritual was standardized in the 1840s following the revision of the English ritual, to which it has since conformed. But there is in existence a manuscript ritual which George S. Draffen supposes might have been used in an unknown Glasgow chapter in the 1820 period; it has a definite Christian complexion, and recites the story of some pilgrims removing the keystone of an arch and discovering the books of the Gospel. The Candidate is led between two columns (lines) of Brethren, who form an arch with batons and, when the Candidate is ‘Passing the arch,’ beat him with the batons. (This is almost certainly a survival from an Irish ceremony in which the beating used to give rise to horseplay.) The Candidate passes the first and second arches and raises a third keystone, actually a large Bible. In the course of the ceremony, which includes references to the burning bush and the casting off of the shoes, he is conducted to twelve candlesticks standing on the floor, one of which, proving a Judas, he extinguishes. (Commonly in medieval churches a little candle was made to appear a big one by being mounted on a candlelike pillar, the arrangement, because of its falsity, being known as a Judas.) The ceremony is quite short, including Scripture readings, and apparently in the lodge was a canvas representation of the burning bush, around which some amount of symbolism centred.
Some little information on the ritual observed in a Scots chapter warranted by the English Grand Chapter emerges from the minutes of the Royal Gallovidian Chapter, Kirkcudbright, South‑west Scotland, chartered in 180g and dissolved in 1861. A valuable paper by Fred L. Pick in AQ.C., vol. Ix, indicates that the Principals were placed in their chairs without any form of esoteric Installation, and apparently at every meeting the whole or part of the R.A. lecture (catechism) was worked. A minute of November 11, 1812, refers to a procession to church, and says that the members “having gone through part of the Lecture, no other business having come before them, the Chapter was shut in Common form (M.Z. pronouncing the Blessing) ‑ until the second Wednesday of next month.” There was no reference to the Mark Degree, but it is apparent that a ceremony of the veils was worked, and the Scripture readings for ‘Passing the arches’ are noted, these being: Isaiah xii; Psalm cxlix; Psalm xcix; Psalm lxxvii; and the first four verses of Psalm lxxvii. For ‘shutting the chapter’ the readings are: “2nd Thessalonians 3d Chapter from the 6th verse to the end, leaving out the 17th verse.”
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Coming to the ritual ceremonies and regulations of to‑day, it should be said that Candidates for Exaltation must be Master Masons, not less than twenty‑one years of age, and of proved good standing. They are balloted for in the R.A. Degree, and three black balls exclude, or a smaller number if so provided in the by‑laws. The Candidate must have received the Mark Master and Excellent Master Degrees, the former of which must have been conferred in a lodge or chapter whose right to do so is recognized by Grand Chapter. Candidates who have already been made Mark Masons elsewhere must be affiliated in the Mark Degree (must become members of) in a lodge held within the chapter before they can proceed further. It is not allowable to confer the Excellent Master and R.A. Degrees at the same meeting, but, whatever the degree to be worked, the R.A. chapter is opened before and closed after it. Neither the Mark nor the Excellent Master Degree is conferred upon honorary members. Candidates are not required to be P.M.’s, in regard to which there is a long past history which is briefly related in an earlier section of this book.
The J., H., and Z. Installations are regarded in Scotland as separate degrees, as is also the Installation of the Mark Master, and although these must be conferred in regular sequence they may, if necessary, be conferred on the one individual on the one occasion and at a meeting of the R.A. chapter held in ordinary form.
A particular form of ceremonial for constituting and dedicating a chapter and installing its officers is approved and provided by Grand Chapter; contrary to the English practice, these ceremonies include some small amount of choral sanction and Psalm singing. The Exaltation ceremony follows an approved form.
The Supreme Committee, constituted and elected by Grand Chapter, exercises a general control over R.A. masonry, acts as a judicial tribunal, visits the Metropolitan chapters and sees that their working conforms with the authorized working, all chapters being obliged to observe The Book ofInstruction issued by Grand Chapter.
Scottish Mark Masonry
The Mark Degree is indigenous to Scotland and of particular importance to Scots masons, who hold it in high regard as the Fourth Degree in freemasonry. Most Candidates for the R.A. will have already taken the Mark Degree in their Craft lodge, and it almost follows that nine out of ten Scots Craft masons are also Mark masons.
It is only in two countries, Scotland and Germany, that we know operative Masons’ Marks (marks of identity on stones shaped or laid by the masons concerned) to have been registered or organized, and it is to Scotland that we naturally turn for the early history of Mark masonry, both operative and speculative. The Mark Degree is an essential preliminary to the R.A. in Scotland and in all jurisdictions not deriving directly from the English Grand Chapter.
Following keen controversy in 1858 it was agreed that the Grand Lodge and the Grand Chapter should jointly control the Mark Degree; nowadays, and dating from 1865, the Craft lodges work the Mark Degree by virtue of their ordinary charters, while the chapters work it under their charters and for the purpose of qualifying their Candidates. Obviously, then, if a Candidate has received the degree in his Craft lodge, he need not take it from the chapter, whereas an exaltee who has not yet received it takes it from the chapter.
There is a particular point that needs to be understood. The Grand Lodge holds the Mark Degree to be a second part of the Fellow Craft Degree; notwithstanding this, it is conferred only on Master Masons and in the presence of those who have taken it from a lodge or chapter entitled to grant it, the object being to obviate confusion to Mark masons under other jurisdictions.
When a chapter meets solely for the purpose of working in the Mark Degree its minutes are treated as chapter minutes, and the only Mark masons admitted, except as Candidates, are those who are also Royal Arch masons; this restriction does not apply when a Mark meeting is held without opening or closing the chapter.