The History of Freemasonry

by Albert Gallatin Mackey

Chapter 49 - The Introduction of Royal Arch Masonry into America

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THE Royal Arch degree was introduced into the North American Colonies not very long after its invention or adoption in England.

The Grand Lodge of Ancients granted its first Warrant for a lodge in the colonies in the year 1758. (1) In the same year, as will be seen hereafter, a chapter connected with an Atholl lodge was established. This alone would prove, if such proof were necessary, that the Royal Arch Masonry of Pennsylvania, where it first appeared on this continent, was derived from the "Grand Lodge of England, according to the Old Institutions," and that the degree which was then worked was what is commonly known as Dermott's Royal Arch.

Of course, the degree must have been conferred in a chapter working under a Master's Warrant, as at that time no Grand Chapter had been organized.

The Grand Lodge of Ancients had always granted this privilege to its lodges, and it was maintained up to the early years of the present century by several of the American lodges. Thus as late as January, 1803, Orange Lodge of Ancient York Masons, an Atholl lodge in Charleston, S.C., granted the privilege of its Warrant for the use of the Royal Arch Chapter of South Carolina." (2)

The first Royal Arch Chapter in America of which we can find anv account, was held in Philadelphia in the year 1758. The author of the Historical View prefixed to Pennsylvania Ahiman Rezon, says that it was held "anterior" to that year. This is manifestly an error, as the date of the Warrant of the first lodge of the "Ancients"

(1) It is so stated in Gould's "Register of the Atholl Lodges," p. 16, and the fact is confirmed by the recent researches of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. (2) "Historical Sketch of Orange Lodge." See Mackey's "History of Freemasonry in South Carolina," p. 471.

in that city, and indeed in the country, was June 7, 1758, and it is evident that no chapter could have preceded the lodge in date of birth, as the former derived its authority from the latter, and worked under its Warrant.

The author of the Historical View, which has just been referred to, stated that it worked under the Master's Warrant of Lodge numbers and that it was recognized by and had communion with a military Chapter working under a Warrant number 351 granted by the Grand Lodge of England, meaning, as the context clearly shows, the Atholl Grand Lodge or the Grand Lodge of the Ancients. (1)

There can be no doubt of the truth of the statement that a chapter of Royal Arch Masons was established in Philadelphia about the year 1758 and that it worked under the Master's Warrant of Lodge number 3. Bro. Clifford MacCalla, who is the very best authority on the early history of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, says that the minutes of this Chapter, which he designates as Jerusalem Chapter number 3, are in existence as far back as 1767, and that they mention prior minutes. (2)

But it is not easy to reconcile the statement that it held communion with a military lodge, numbered 351, granted by the Atholl Grand Lodge, with the facts of history.

Up to the year 1756 the Atholl Grand Lodge had granted only two military Warrants, numbers 41 and 52, one in 1755 and the other in 1756. In fact, at the end of the year 1757 the numbers on the roll of that Grand Lodge as accurately arranged by Bro. Gould amounted to only 68. (3)

There was a military Warrant numbered 351, but it was not granted until October, 1810. (4)

Indeed, number 351 is too high for the year 1758 roll of either of the Grand Lodges of England, or of those of Ireland or Scotland. Even in England, the oldest of the four bodies, the numbers had not at that early period gone far into the two hundreds.

What then was this military Lodge, numbered as 351, at a time

(1) "Ahiman Rezon of Pennsylvania," edition of 1825, p. 79. (2) "Philadelphia, the Mother City of Freemasonry in America," p. 99. (3) Gould's "Atholl Lodges," p. 16. (4) Ibid., p. 102. By a typographical error the number is printed 361 instead of 351 as it should evidently have been.

when no such numbers could have been reached by the existing registrations, and what was this Lodge number 3 on the Pennsylvania roll which held communion with it, and both of which were thus engaged in the propagation of the Royal Arch degree in America ?

Bro. MacCalla, referring to the military lodges in Pennsylvania, during and before the war of the Revolution, says that "Lodge number 18 was in the 17th Regiment British army." Nowin the first official list of the Atholl lodges given in the Ahiman Rezon for 1807, we find if "18, 17th Regiment of foot," as the third of the miIitary lodges. No date is given for its Warrant, but from its position in the list we may presume that it was one of the oldest lodges Gould says it was originally warranted as number 237, and he gives the original 18 as having been constituted as a civil lodge at London in 1753. This lodge becoming extinct, the number seeme by a system of registration peculiar to the Atholl Masons to have been taken up by the military lodge instead of its original number, 237.

Again this military Lodge number 18 makes its appearance in another official quarter.

C. Downes, Past Master of Lodge number 141, on the registry of Ireland, published at Dublin in 1804, Lists of lodges "according to the 'Old Constitutions' of the kingdom of Great Britain, and also of America, the East and the West Indias, &c." Downes was the printer to the Grand Lodge of Ireland and with its permission had edited the Irish Ahiman Reman. His Lists are therefore possessed of some official authority.

In his List of military lodges he also gives Lodge number 18, in the 17th Regiment, as third lodge in order of sequence as having been warranted by the Atholl Grand Lodge of England.

But he also gives a list of the lodges which had been warranted up to the year 1804, amounting to 65. How many of these had been discontinued, and what was the date of any of their warrants we can not learn from the List, which gives only the numbers and places and times of meeting. (1)

The 8th Pennsylvania lodge in Downes's List is marked as

(1) In an article on "Military Lodges," published by Bro. Gould in the "Freemasons' Chronicle," and copied into the "Keystone" (July 31, 1880), he finds after much research, much difficulty in "disentangling the history of Lodge number 18." The only explanation at all satisfactory, and that nose altogether so, is the one given in the text.

number 18, British 17th Regiment of Foot." The coincidence here apparent would indicate that this was the same lodge as that marked in Downes's, Harper's, and Gould's list of military lodges warranted by the Atholl Grand Lodge of England. By what process it changed its obedience from its Mother Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Downes does not inform us.

We have an authentic record that in 1767 there had been and was a military lodge in an Irish regiment stationed at Philadelphia.

The records of Lodge number 3, which have been copied in the Early History and Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, (1) contained the following item:

"Dec. 9, 1767. The majority of (the) Body was of opinion that it would not be proper to admit Bro. Hoodless a member of this or to enter, pass, or raise any person belonging to the army, in this lodge, as there is a lawfull warranted Body of good and able Masons in the Royal Irish regiment." (2)

So much for the military lodge which is said to have introduced Royal Arch Masonry into the American Colonies, and through whose instrumentality the degree was first conferred in Lodge number 3.

Our next inquiry must be directed to the character and position of this lodge, which, without rhetorical exaggeration, may be well called the Mother of Royal Arch Masonry in America.

The Lists of the Atholl lodges show that the Grand Lodge of the Ancients granted a Warrant for a lodge at Philadelphia in the year 1758. On the Pennsylvania roll this lodge was known as number 2, but in Gould's List it is marked as "No. 69, Philadelphia, 7 June 1758." On June 13, 1761, the Grand Lodge of Ancients granted a Warrant for another lodge, which Gould records as is 89, number 1 Philadelphia." This Warrant was, however, lost. and another one was issued on June 20, 1764.

It is from the date of this Warrant that the organization of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is reckoned.

Why the lodge warranted in 1758 should be designated as number 2, while that warranted three years afterward should be designated

(1) Compiled and published by authority of the Grand Lodge, 1777. (2) "Early History," etc.,p. 11. The "Royal Irish Regiment" afterward became the 8th on the Muster roll of the British army. see Debrett's "British Imperial Calendar for 1819," p. 137

as number 1, can be accounted for in only one way. There was most probably a deputation accompanying the Warrant for number 2, which deputation must have organized a Provincial Grand Lodge which took the number 1. The Ahiman Rezon of Pennsylvanza, for 1825, referring to Lodge number 2, says that "the patents to Provincial Grand Masters were usually in force for one year, at the expiration of which, if a Grand Lodge was formed, it elected its Grand Master, Wardens, Secretary and Treasurer. . . If no Grand Lodge was constituted upon a patent, it expired, and another patent was issued as occasion required." (1)

The writer then concludes that "it is probable that no Grand Lodge had been organized upon the first patent issued for Pennsylvania since a second was issued on June 20, 1764, by the Grand Lodge of England to William Ball, Esqr., and others authorizing them to form and hold a Grand Lodge for the then province." (2)

This conjecture is very plausible. The deputation which accompanied the Warrant for number 69 in Philadelphia may have been intended for a Provincial body, which was not, however, completely organized, but which nevertheless took the number 1, while the lodge which on the registry of the Atholl Grand Lodge of England bore the number 69 was changed on the Pennsylvania roll to number 2. The Provincial deputation which had been appointed in 1758 not having completely fulfilled its functions by the permanent establishment of a Provincial Grand Lodge, another Warrant for that purpose was issued in 1761, and that having been lost on the way, a second was issued in 1764, and the Provincial Grand Lodge was formed. In fact this must have been merely a continuation of the first lodge or deputation, and the Lodge number 69, which had been originally transmuted into number 2, retained that number, and, excepting the Provincial Grand Lodge, we find no number 1 on the registry of Pennsylvania.

But though this deputation of 1758 did not formally and permanently organize a Provincial Grand Lodge, or if it did, has left no record of the transaction, it performed the functions of one by warranting another lodge, which received the number 3.

Of this fact we have the following evidence. When the Grand Lodge of Ancients granted its warrant for a lodge in 1758, no further

(1) "Ahiman Rezon of Pennsylvania," for 1825, p. 67. (2) Ibid., p. 68.

notice of Pennsylvania was taken by it until it granted the Warrant numbered 89 on its register in 1761, which being lost was replaced by another of the same tenor issued in 1764, and which Gould calls number 1, at Philadelphia.

Between 1758 and 1764 it granted no more Warrants for the establishment of lodges in Pennsylvania, nor did it ever afterward do so. With the exception of the Warrant issued at first in 1761 and renewed or rather replaced in 1764, Freemasonry in Pennsylvania appears, from the year 1758, to have been controlled solely by some authority within the Province, and from that authority Lodge number 3 must have received its Warrant.

The first act of the Provincial Deputation, or Provincial Grand Lodge, or whatever may have been the character and designation of the authority existing in Philadelphia in the year 1758 was to grant a Warrant for the establishment of another lodge as number 3.

There is no record extant of this Warrant but the author of the Early History of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania says that in Lodge number 3 of Philadelphia by tradition dates its warrant about the same time as number 2." (1)

This Lodge number 3 is the one which in 1758, with the concurrence and under the instruction of the military lodge in the 17th Royal Irish Regiment, introduced the Royal Arch degree into Pennsylvania and worked it, as all "Ancient" lodges at that time did, under the authority of its Master's Warrant.

The absence of the records of early Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, which were lost or destroyed during the revolution, forces us to trust, more than is desirable in writing history, to conclusions mainly based on conjectures; but the conjectures are reasonable, sustained by the strongest evidence and entirely consistent with facts derived from the very few authentic documents that remain.

We are told in the Pennsylvania Ahiman Rezon that other Chapters were afterward established "upon like principles." That is, they were established under the shadow of Master's Warrants.

The writer of the Historical View of Masonry, contained in the 1825 edition of the Pennsylvania Ahiman Rezon, tells the story of the further progress of Royal Arch Masonry in that State in the following words:

(1) "Early History and Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania." p. 35

"In November, 1795, an irregular attempt was made, at the instance of one Molan, to introduce innovations in the Arch degree and to form an independent Grand Royal Arch Chapter, under the Warrants of numbers 19, 52, and 67, held in the city of Philadelphia, and a lodge constituted by authority of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and another holding under the Grand Lodge of Georgia. Chapter number 3 instituted an enquiry into these proceedings, which they declared, after investigation, to be contrary to the established uniformity of the Craft. The Grand Lodge, upon complaint made, unhesitatingly suspended the Warrants of numbers 19, 52, and 67, and having received the report of the committee raised for that purpose, resolved that Molan ought not to be received as a mason by the lodges or brethren under its jurisdiction. The offending lodges, by the mild and firm course of the Grand Lodges were convinced of their errors, and were received into favora having their Warrants restored to them.

"Throughout this controversy, the Grand Lodge acknowledged the right of all regular warranted lodges, so far as they have ability and number, to make masons in the higher degrees, but lest differences might exist, or innovations be attempted in such higher degrees, which for want of some proper place to appeal, might create schism among the brethren, they resolved that a Grand Royal Arch Chapter should be opened, under the immediate sanction of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania; and that all past and present officers of the Grand Lodge, having duly obtained the degree of Royal Arch, and all past and existing officers of Chapters of Royal Arch masons, duly and regularly convened under the sanction of a warrant from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to be considered as members of the Grand Rowral Arch Chapter; and that all members of the regular Chapters shall be admitted to their meetings, but without the right to vote or speak therein, unless requested." (1)

It has, from this record, been maintained that this was the first Grand Chapter established in America, and that Webb was mistaken in giving the priority to that organized at Hartford in 1798.

But the truth is that the Grand Chapter established at Philadelphia in 1795 was not a Grand Chapter in the sense attached to such

(1) "Ahiman Rezon of Pennsylvania," edition of 1825, p. 79.

a body by those who organized at Hartford the Grand Chapter of the Northern States.

The Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania was merely an instrument of the Grand Lodge. That body alone could grant permission to hold a Chapter, and no Chapter could be held unless with the sanccion of the Warrant of a lodge, and it was expresslydeclared that the Grand Chapter was to be opened "under the immediate sanction of the Grand Lodge."

Now all these prmcipies oil dependence were repudiated by Welbb and his associates. They expressly declared in the very outset of their labors of organization - no matter whether the statement was historically accurate or not - that no Grand Lodge could "claim or exercise authority over any convention or Chapter of Royal Arch masons." In the first constitution which they formed they placed Chapters exclusively under the control of Grand Chapters, and by implication abolished all authority of Grand Lodges over them and at the same time denied the right of any Chapter to work under the Warrant of a Master's lodge.

This system has ever since prevailed in the United States. It was subsequently adopted by the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania itself.

The Grand Chapter established at Philadelphia in 1795 was only an organization for the more convenient administration of Royal Arch Masonry in the bosom and under the superintendence of the Grand Lodge.

The Grand Chapter established in 1798 at Hartford was, as has been shown, of a very different construction, and based on very different principles of Masonic law.

To the Grand Chapter formed at Hartford in 1798 must therefore in all fairness Ibe given the precedency of date as being the first independent Grand Chapter established in the United States - indeed we may say it was the first in the world, as the Grand Chapters previously established in England were like that of Pennsylvania, dependent instruments of the Grand Lodge.

The credit, however, must be given to Philadelphia of having introduced Royal Arch Masonry into the British Colonies. We have no record of the establishment of a Chapter in any other of the Provinces before the year 1758, at which time, as we have seen, the degree was conferred in a Chapter attached to Lodge number 3 .

But during the succeeding years of the 18th century the degree, under various modifications, was introduced into other States, principally by Atholl, or as they were pleased most incorrectly to style themselves, "Ancient York Masons."

The original system inaugurated by the "Ancients" was strictly followed, and as Thomas Smith Webb, the founder of the American system, has said, during all that period "a competent number of companions, possessed of sufficient abilities, under the sanction of a Master's Warrant, proceeded to exercise the rights and privileges of Royal Arch Chapters, whenever they thought it expedient and proper, although in most cases the approbation of a neighboring Chapter was deemed useful if not proper." (1)

The degree practiced was that of the Grand Lodge of Ancients from whom it was derived. Virginia was, however, an exception. Whether the English Royal Arch was worked in the early period of Freemasonry in that State is not known. Dr. Dove, the author of the Virginia Text Book of Royal Arch Masonry, our best authority on the subject, does not inform us.

Joseph Myers was one of the deputies of M. M. Hayes, who had, under the authority of Stephen Morin, been engaged in the dissemination of the twenty-five degrees of the Rite of Perfection, which was afterward developed into the Ancient and Accepted Rite of thirty- three degrees.

Soon after 1783 Myers removed to Richmond, Va., where, says Bro. Dove, he imparted the degrees of the Rite Ecossats to many Master Masons. (2)

Among these degrees was the Arch of Enoch, which was really Ramsay's Royal Arch. This degree, Dove says, was taught in Virginia until the year 1820, when it was abandoned and Webb's degree, which was the modification of the English system, and which is novn universally practiced in the United States, was adopted.

During the latter part of the 18th century several Chapters were organized in Virginia, each of which worked under the authority of Master's Warrant. Such were the Chapters at Norfolk, Richmond, Staunton, and Dumfries. In the year 1808 the first three united in the organization of a "Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter," which immediately assumed jurisdiction over the degree in the State.

(1) "Freemason's Monitor," p. 155. (2) "Virginia Text Book," p. 91.

The Royal Arch degree was introduced into New York not long after its introduction into Pennsylvania, and most probably by some of the English military lodges, many of which were at that time in the Province. (1)

Independent Royal Arch Lodge was warranted in December, 1760. Bro. John G. Barker, the author of the Early History of Masonry in New York, says "that the history of this lodge, prior to the year 1784, is involved in obscurity, as is also the derivation of its name." (2)

But it is evident that the peculiarity of the name refers to the fact of its having been engaged in working the Royal Arch degree. I do not therefore hesitate to place, conjecturally, the introduction of that degree into the Province at a time contemporaneous with the organization of the lodge.

From New York, Royal Arch Masonry extended into other Northern Provinces, and independent Chapters were established which eventually gave birth to the General Grand Chapter.

Chapters were successively formed in different parts of the Province, each acting under the authority of a Master's Warrant. One of the most important of these was Washington Chapter in the City of New York, which, as it will hereafter appear, granted Warrants for the establishment of other Chapters.

In 1798 a Deputy Grand Chapter was formed under the newly adopted constitution of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States, and when in 1799 that body changed its title to that of the General Grand Chapter," the Deputy Grand Chapter of New York assumed rank and name as a " Grand Chapter."

In the Province of Massachusetts, Royal Arch Masonry was introduced about the year 1769, probably a year or two later.

In that year the Grand Lodge of Scotland granted a Warrant for a lodge under the title of "St. Andrew's Lodge number 82." In the same year, if we may credit the statement of Bro. C. W. Moore, (3) "the degree was conferred in Boston in a "Royal Arch

(1) Of the nine lodges engaged in 1782 in the organization of the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, six were military lodges, attached to different regiments in the British Army. (2) "Early History and Transactions of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York," published by Kane Lodge, 1876, p. 17. (3) "Freemasons' Monthly Magazine," vol. xii., p. 165.

Lodge," which he "thinks" was attached to St. Andrew's Lodge Subsequent researches have removed all uncertainty on that point.

There is no positive information as to the original source whence the ritual of the degree as it was practiced by the St. Andrew's Chapter was derived. Its introduction has been attributed to Moses Michael Hayes, who is said to have introduced it from France, under the authority of a patent dated December 6, 1778. This statement Bro. Moore declares to be not true, (1) and his close official connection for a long series of years with the Masonry of Massachusetts, certainly makes him a competent judge.

But besides Hayes was one of the Inspectors appointed by Stephen Morin for the propagation of the Rite of Perfection which subsequently became the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and if the degree had been instituted by him, it would have assumed, which it did not, the form of Ramsay's Royal Arch, or the thirteenth degree of that Rite, as it did in Virginia, where Royal Arch Masonry was introduced by Myers, who was one of the collaborators of Hayes.

But according to Moore, the degrees conferred by the St. Andrew's Chapter corresponded in number and name with the degrees which were then conferred in Scotland, and hence he asserts with great plausibility that the system was brought over from Scotland, perhaps at the same time that the Warrant for St. Andrew's Lodge was issued.

The degree had no rapid growth in Massachusetts. In 1798 there were but two Chapters in the State. St. Andrew's at Boston, and King Cyrus's at Newburyport. These two united to form a Deputy Grand Chapter, and in 1799 became the Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, under the new Constitution of the General Grand Chapter.

The history of the introduction of Royal Arch Masonry into Rhode Island presents some interesting facts in reference to the degrees which were at that time conferred preparatory to the Royal Arch. (2)

In the year 1793 a number of the members of St. John's Lodge number 1, in the city of Providence, met to consult upon the proper

(1) "Freemasons' Monthly Magazine," vol. xii., p. 165. (2) The facts stated in this narrative are derived from the Records of St. John's Lodge, extracts from which were published in "The Warden," a Masonic magazine, printed at Providence, No. IV., September, 1879, p. 23 et seq.

steps to be taken for the establishment of a Royal Arch Chapter, after consulting with those brethren who were already in possession of the degree.

An agent was accordingly sent to New York, who, on October 5, 1793, returned with a Dispensation issued by Washington Chapter in the city of New York.

Though called in the official records a Dispensation, the words of the instrument show that it was really a Warrant of Constitution. Its date is September 3, 1793.

The brethren proceeded under this Warrant to organize Providence Chapter number 2. This was done on November 23, 1793, with the assistance of certain Royal Arch Masons who had been invited from Newport, and who were members of a Chapter.

As we learn from the records of this Chapter, the essential officers were, a High Priest, King, Scribe, Royal Arch Captain, and Zerubbabel, the latter officer evidently being the one now known as Principal Sojourner. The fact that an inferior office was attributed to Zerubbabel instead of the more exalted station of King, as is now the case, shows that the ritual used in New York and in Rhode Island was different from the present one.

Such a position for the "Prince of the Captivity" is more conformable to the ritual of the Sixteenth degree or Prince of Jerusalem, in the Rite of Perfection which afterward became the Scottish Rite, but altogether incompatible with the functions ascribed to him in the Royal Arch of the present day.

This circumstance would indicate that there is some foundation for the hypothesis that in its early introduction into the American Colonies, Royal Arch Masonry was to a considerable extent affected by the rituals of the Hautes Grades or High Degrees, which were brought over from France in 1761 by Stephen Morin as the Agent of the "Deputies General of the Royal Art," for the purpose of "multiplying the sublime degrees of High Perfection." (1)

Morin appointed his Deputies, who spread over the West India islands and the continent of North America, and there isvery strong evidence that they or some of them exercised an influence in the organization of Royal Arch Masonry in several parts of the country. Charters for Mark Lodges were originally issued by Grand Councils

(1) The language of the Patent issued to Morin.

of the Prince of Jerusalem. The Select degree was one of the honorary degrees conferred by the Inspectors - we have seen that Myers, one of Morin's Inspectors, organized the Royal Arch Masonry of Virginia according to the ritual of the Thirteenth degree - Moses Michael Hayes, who was also an Inspector of the new Rite, was at one time Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and as he was a very zealous Mason and a very energetic officer, it can scarcely be doubted that he exercised an influential connection with St. Andrew's Chapter, the first Chapter established in that State - and finally we have a significant fact stated in the records of the organization of the chapter at Providence, which shows the intimate relation which existed at that time between the Royal Arch Masons who founded the Chapter and certain possessors of the High Degrees imported into this country by the deputies and agents of Stephen Morin.

When the Dispensation or Warrant had been issued by Washington Chapter for the holding of a Chapter at Providence, the brethren to whom it had been granted, feeling perhaps incompetents from their want of skill and experience to undertake unaided the task of organization, invited the assistance of the Royal Arch Masons who resided at Newport to give their assistance in the ceremony. The invitation having been accepted, the lodge met on Tuesday evening, October 29th. But "unavoidable necessity having prevented the attendance of the brethren from Newport, the brethren who had met, agreed to postpone any further meeting until they should arrive." Nearly a month passed before any further steps were taken toward the organization, and it was not until November 23d that the Newport Royal Arch Masons having then made their appearance, the organization was completed.

The evidence of the connection of these Newport brethren with the "High Degrees" is to be found in the following extract from the record of the proceedings:

"Our worthy and respectable Brethren from Newport, viz.: R. W. Moses Seixas, 45th Degree or Deputy Inspector General of Masonry in and thro'out the State, and Master of St. John's Lodge number 1, in Newport, the W. Peleg Clark 28th Degree or Knight of the Sun, and Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge in this State, and the Hon. Thomas W. Moore 28th Degree or Knight of the Sun and Consul of his Britannic Majesty in this State, having this Day cheerfully attended at the Council chamber in this Town, agreeably to invitation, for the express Purpose of assisting in the Formation of a Royal Arch Chapter, the Brethren of the Royal Arch here, with the brethren aforesaid and our worthy Brother, Samuel Stearns, 7th Degree, R. A. (who also attended by Invitation), proceeded agreeably to the Directions in that case provided to open and consecrate a Royal Arch Chapter, by the name of 'Providence Chapter of Royal Arch Masons' under the Dispensation from the M. W. Washington Chapter of R A. Masons of New York, etc." (1)

The figure "45 " is evidently either an error of the pen in the manuscript record or of the press in the printed copy in The Warden. It should be " 43." In David Vinton's Short Historical Account of Masonry appended to his Masonic Minstrel, which was published at Dedham, in Massachusetts, in the year 1816, will be found a list of the degrees said to be conferred in Charleston, New York, and Newport. The number is 43, and the last, or 43d, is Sovereign Grand Inspector-General. The number is made up by adding to the thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite ten others, embracing the degrees of the American Rite and several Orders of Knighthood. In this enumeration the Knight of the Sun is made the 38th, and therefore I suppose that the number "28" prefixed to that degree in the extract above quoted is also an error. This enumeration of 43 degrees was never accepted nor used by the legitimate bodies of the Scottish Rite, but only by some spurious associations which then existed. Newport was the locality of one of these associations, and Moses Seixas was its chief. This does not, however, affect the truth of the statement that the possessors of the "High Degrees," whether legally or illegally obtained, sought, in the infancy of Royal Arch Masonry in this country, to take a part in its institution and in giving complexion to its ritual.

There is another record in these minutes of the proceedings of Providence Chapter which is of far greater importance, as it shows, officially, the number, names, and sequence of the degrees which in the year 1793 and for some time before were considered asessentially preliminary to the reception of the Royal Arch.

At the meeting on October 5, 1793, when the Dispensation was

(1) Proceedings of Providence Chapter, published in " The Warden," No. iv., p. 24.

received from New York, we find the following proceedings recorded:

"Our M.W. having suggested that in order to confer the R A. Degree it would be necessary that the Brethren who were Candidates for the same should previously be initiated in Three Degrees which were between that of Master Mason and the R A., and to accomplish the business as soon as possible, proposed the immediate opening of a lodge for that purpose, which was done accordingly.

"Present, M. W. DANIEL STILLWELL, M. W. JONA. DONNISON, S. W. W. JACOB SMITH, J. W. BR. WILLIAM MAGEE.

"And the Brethren whose names here follow after due preparation were regularly initiated in the degrees of Master lWark, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master."

This record conclusively proves that Thomas Smith Webb was not the inventor of the Mark and Most Excellent degrees, an opinion that has been entertained by several Masonic writers Webb was not initiated into the symbolic degrees until about the year 1792; certainly not before, for having been born in October, 1771, he was not qualified by age to receive those degrees at an earlier period. The Royal Arch degree he of course obtained at a still later date, and it is certain that in October, 1793, he could not have been competent by skill or experience to invent a ritual, nor could he have had influence enough to establish it.

All that can justly be ascribed to him is that in 1798, and in the subsequent years in which he was engaged in teaching a ritual, he modified the degrees of the Chapter, as well as those of the lodge, so as to give them that permanent form which they have ever since retained.

But though it appears very satisfactorily from this record that about the year 1793 the system of degrees given in a Royal Arch Chapter was well settled in the Northern States, at least in New York and in New England, yet in other parts of the United States and in Canada there remained for a long time, even to the early years of the 19th century, a great diversity in the names and number of the preparatory degrees.

In Philadelphia, where Royal Arch Masonry made its first appearance, having been derived from England through a military lodge, warranted by the Ancient Masons, the system pursued by the Atholl Grand Lodge appears to have adopted, and the Royal Arch immediately followed the Master's degree. Such was the case in Royal Arch Lodge number 3, whose minutes, as far back as 1767, have been preserved. (1)

This lodge was so styled because it conferred the Royal Arch degree as well as the three symbolic degrees. In its minutes, so far as they have been published, we shall find no allusion to any preparatory steps. Indeed, the only reference to the degree in the earlier minutes is on December 3, 1767, when the important admission is made that the initiation into the symbolic degrees of a candidate who had been Entered, Passed, and Raised by three Royal Arch Masons acting without a Warrant was lawful. (2) There is no evidence elsewhere, either in England or America, that this prerogative was ever claimed or admitted for the possessors of the Royal Arch degree.

It was, however, from the earliest period made the qualification of the Royal Arch degree that the candidate should have passed the chair either by election or by a dispensation from the Grand Master.

We learn from the minutes of Jerusalem Chapter number 3 that in 1783 the Royal Arch as given in Pennsylvania differed so much from that conferred in Scotland that Bro. George Read, coming from the latter country, where he had been made a Royal Arch Mason, "not being able to make himself known in some of the most interesting points, he was (in consequence of his certificate) granted the privilege of a second initiation." Bro. Charles E. Meyer, when quoting this extract from the Minutes, in his History of Royal Arch Masonry and of Jerusalem Chapter number 3, as a proof that the rituals of Scotland and Pennsylvania were not alike, says: "It would be interesting to know what these points were that Bro. Read did not possess."

(1) "See Early History and Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania," Part 1., p. 11. (2) "It appearing by good authority that Bro. John Hoodless has been duly and lawsfully entered, passed and raised at Fort Pitt in the year 1759 by our brethren, John Maine, James Woodward and Richard Sully, all Royal Arch Masons." Minutes of Royal Arch Lodge, No. 3.

I think it very probable that there was a difference in the rituals of the two countries at that time, as there is at the present day. But the proof of it from this record is not positive, since the question may very naturally arise, whether the difficulty in this case arose from the difference of ritual or from the ignorance or forgetfulness of the candidate, who had possibly not retained in full the lesson which he had been taught.

In May, 1795, we have the first record of the adoption of the Mark as a preparatory degree, though Bro. Myers thinks it was doubtless previously conferred as a side degree.

The first record of the Most Excellent Master's degree in the minutes of Jerusalem Chapters is on November 5, 1796, and from that time the three preparatory degrees have been conferred in Pennsylvania as they are in the other States.

In Virginia, the Royal Arch was introduced as we have already seen by Myers, and was not the degree practiced either by the Ancient Masons of England or by the Chapters of this country. It was the Thirteenth degree or Royal Arch of Solomon, contained in the series of degrees of the Rite of Perfection. Dislocated from its proper place in the original Rite to which it belonged, it was made to follow the Third degree, without the interpolation of any preparatory step.

Subsequently the Virginia Chapters introduced preliminary degrees, derived from other sources. In the minutes of the Grand Chapter, as late as 1808, we find references to the degrees of "Most Excellent Master," and of "Arch and Royal Arch Excellent and Super-Excellent Masons." (1)

In Connecticut all the Chapters except one had derived their Warrants from Washington Chapter of New York, and necessarily adopted the system of degrees which was practiced by it and by the Chapters which it established. These degrees, as we have already seen in the instance of Providence Chapter in Rhode Island, were the Master Mark, Past and Most Excellent Master as preliminary to the Royal Arch. (2)

(1) Dove, " Royal Arch Text Book," p. 132. (2) There was not, however, absolute uniformity. According to Wheeler ("Records of Capitular Masonry in Connecticut," p. 21), the minutes of Solomon Chapter No. 5 at Derby contain no notice of the Past Master's degree until January, 1796, and the Mark and Most Excellent Master are not mentioned until a later period.

But in Vanden Broeck Chapter, at Colchester, which was warranted in 1796 by the Grand Chapter of New York, the names and sequence of the preparatory degrees was as follows: Mark Master, Excellent Master, and Super-Excellent Master. In 1800 it conformed to the system which has been established by the General Grand Chapter. Excellent Master was exchanged for Past Master, and Super-Excellent for Most Excellent. (1) It is probable that the change was rather in the nomenclature than in the ritual.

We have already seen that the names and ranks of the officers of Chapters in the 18th century differed from those now used. For instance, Zerubbabel, who now occupies one of the prominent places in our modern ritual, was formerly placed at the bottom of the list.

The by-laws of Hiram Chapter, at Newtown, which were adopted March 3, 1792, give the following succinct account of the duties of these officers, and throw considerable light upon the ritualistic history of the time:

"It shall be the duty of the High Priest to preside at every meeting, to direct the business and to give occasionally a lecture; of the King to preside in the absence of the High Priest, and to assist him in his duty; of the Scribe, to preside in the absence of both, to cause the Secretary to enter in a fair and regular manner the proceedings of the Chapter in a book provided for that purpose, to summons the members for attendance at every regular and special meeting and also to administer the obligation; of Zerubbabel, to superintend the arrangements of the Chapter; of the Royal Arch Captain, to keep watch at the Sanctuary; of the three Grand Masters, to watch the vails; of the Treasurer, to receive the monies, to keep an account thereof and to pay none but on the warrant of the High Priest, and to render an account at the meeting previous to the annual election; of the Secretary, to keep the minutes under the direction of the Scribe, to receive the fees for admission, and to pay the same to the Treasurer; of the Clothier, to provide and to take care of the clothing; of the Architect, to provide and take care of the furniture." (2)

The Royal Arch was probably introduced into many of the Southern States, as it had been into the Northern, either by possessors of the degree coming direct from England, or by military

(1) "Records of Capitular Masonry in Connecticut," p. 24. (2) By-laws of Hiram Chapter, Article VIII. See Wheeler's "Early Records." D. 10.

lodges in the British army, and which held their Warrants from the Grand Lodge of the Ancients.

Chapters were, however, not organized as independent bodies, but the degree was, until some time after the beginning of the 19th century, conferred both in South Carolina and Georgia, and, I think, also in North Carolina, (1) in Chapters dependent on and deriving their authority from Master's Warrants.

Many years ago, while investigating the history of Royal Arch Masonry in South Carolina, I was led to make the following statements, the correctness of which I have since had no reason to doubt. (2)

I have in years past made the acquaintance of several Royal Arch Masons in the upper part of South Carolina, who had received their degrees in Master's lodges. The long period which had elapsed since their withdrawal from the active pursuits of Freemasonry, and the imperfection of memory attendant on their extreme age, prevented them from furnishing me with all the particular information in reference to the ritual which I desired, but I learned enough from my frequent conversations with these Patriarchs of the Order (all of whom must long since have succeeded to their heritage in the Celestial Lodge) to enable me to state, positively, that in the upper counties of the State, at as late a period as the year 1813, the Royal Arch degree was conferred in Master's lodges. The same condition of things existed in the neighboring State of Georgia.

The manuscript Minutes of Royal Arch Chapter number 1, under the sanction of Forsyth's Lodge number 14," are now, or were, some years ago, on the Archives of the Grand Chapter of Georgia. For an examination of these interesting records I was indebted to the kindness of the Grand Secretary, Comp. B. B. Russell.

The Chapter met in the City of Augusta, and the Minutes, to which I shall have occasion again to refer, are restricted to the year 1796.

These records state that the chapter at Savannah, having announced its intention to apply to the Grand Lodge of Georgia for

(1) The first warrant for an independent chapter in North Carolina was granted in 1808 by the Grand Chapter of Virginia to "sundry Royal Arch Masons" in Bertie County. But the petition was recommended by the Lodge at Windsor, and by the Master of the Lodge at Winston. The Royal Arch Masons who signed the petition had, it is to be supposed, previously received the degree in these Lodges. Dove, "Royal Arch Text Book," p. 122. (2) Mackey's "History of Freemasonry in South Carolina," 1861, p. 471.

a dispensation or warrant, a letter was written to the brethren at Savannah by the chapter at Augusta on May 27, 1796, in which the following declaration appears:

"If there is any rule or by-law that requires a Royal Arch Chapter to apply for a special dispensation or Warrant, it is unknown to us. We conceive that the Warrant given to Forsyth's Lodge was sufficient for the members thereof to confer any degree in Masonry agreeable to the ancient usages and customs." (1)

The same usage was pursued at the same time in South Carolina, where, as has been previously stated, Orange Lodge number 14 in 1796 adopted a resolution to "sanction the opening of a Royal Arch Chapter under its jurisdiction, and again in January, 1803, resolved "that the privilege of the Warrant of this lodge be granted for the use of the Royal Arch Chapter of Charleston." (2)

That this usage was not confined to the Atholl lodges is seen from the fact that while Orange Lodge in South Carolina was a lodge of "Ancient Masons," all the lodges in Georgia were "Moderns," the Atholl Grand Lodge of England never having extended its jurisdiction over that State nor organized any lodges in it.

The first Chapters in these States, under the constitution of the General Grand Chapter, were established in 1805 at Beaufort in South Carolina and at Savannah in Georgia.

The Grand Chapter of the former State was formed in 1812; that of the latter in 1816.

But reverting to the subject of the early ritual of Royal Arch Masonry and to the differences which prevailed toward the end of the 18th century in the names and character of the degrees, we shall meet with some interesting information in these Minutes of the Royal Arch Chapter at Augusta.

The business of electing candidates for the Royal Arch having been accomplished in an informal meeting of Royal Arch Masons. a Master Mason lodge was opened, when, the qualification for exal tation being to "pass the chair," they were made what are now called "Virtual Past Masters."

We find this in the records of the first meeting of the Chapter of which the following is an exact transcript made by me from the original manuscript.

(1) "MS. Minutes of Forsyth's Royal Arch Chapter." (2) "Historical Sketch" appended to By-laws of Orange Lodge, p. 4

"At a meeting of the subscribers, Royal Arch Masons at Forsyth's Lodge room the 29th February, 1796.

"Read a petition from Brothers Joseph Hutchinson, William Dearmond, and John McGowan, Master Masons of Forsyth's Lodge, praying to become Royal Arch companions; and the same being agreed to, a Master's lodge was then opened.

"Present: Thomas Bray, Master; Thomas Davis, S.W.; D.B. Butler, J. W.; Joseph Hutchinson, Tyler; William Dearmond, John McGowan.

"Brothers Hutchinson, Dearmond, and McGowan were regularly passed the chair and obtained the degree of Past Master, and returned thanks for the same. The lodge was closed.

"A Royal Arch Chapter was then opened in ancient form.

"Present: Thomas Bray, H. P.; Thomas Davis, C.S.; D.B. Butler, K.

"Bro. Hutchinson (attending) received the preparatory degree; also Brothers Past Masters Dearmond and McGowan. They were then in rotation raised to the super-excellent degree of Royal Arch Masons, and returned thanks for the same."

Subsequent minutes are of the same character, except that the election of the candidates took place in a Master's lodge and not as in the first in an informal meeting of Royal Arch Masons. But, of course, we are to suppose that all the Master Masons present were not only Past Masters but also Royal Arch Masons.

But what were the preparatory degrees? That question is answered by the Minutes of November 29, 1796 these degrees are for the first time given. The record is as follows:

"At an extra meeting of Forsyth's Lodge, convened by the order of the W. M. and held at the court-house on Tuesday 29 November, 1796.

"Present: Thomas Bray, Master; Thomas Davis, S.W.; William Dearmond, J. W. pro tem.

"A Master's Mark lodge was opened for the purpose of conferring the degrees of Fellow-Craft Mark and Master Mark on Brothers John McGowan, Lawrence Trotti, and John B. Wilkinson, when they, attending, received the same and returned thanks to the lodge; which was then closed. A Past Master's lodge was then opened.

"Present: Thomas Bray, M.; Thomas Davis, S.W.; William Dearmond, J. W. pro tem., John McGowan.

"The lodge was opened for the purpose of conferring the degree of Past Master on Brothers Lawrence Trotti and John B. Wilkinson, when, they attending, were regularly passed the chair and obtained the degree of Past Master, and gave thanks for the same. The lodge was then closed in ancient form. The Royal Arch Chapter was then opened.

"Present: Thomas Bray, H. P.; Thomas Davis, C. S.; John McGowan, K.; William Dearmond, R. A. C.

"The minutes of the last Chapter were read. The M. E. H. P. informed the companions present that the Chapter was called for the purpose of conferring the Super-excellent degree on Brothers Lawrence Trotti and John B. Wilkinson, who were then attending. Bro. Trotti was then duly prepared and received the preparatory degree of R. M. and R. A., also Brother Wilkinson. They were then raised to the super-excellent degree of Royal Arch Mason, and returned thanks. The Chapter was then closed by order of the M. E. H. P."

These records supply us with several interesting and important facts relating to the ritual and the organization of Royal Arch Masonry in America about the close of the 18th century.

The Chapter degrees were then, as has been already shown from other sources, conferred under the sanction of the Warrant of a Master's lodge, but the body in which the Royal Arch degree was given was called a Chapter.

Nine Royal Arch Masons were not then deemed necessary to the opening of a Chapter or the conferring of the degree.

The only officers mentioned are a High-Priest, Chief Scribe, King, Royal Arch Captain, Treasurer and Secretary, and the Scribe appears to have taken precedence of the King. The officer called "Zerubbabel" in the Northern Chapters, is not mentioned in the Southern. In the latter it is probable that the same officer was called the "Royal Arch." The Royal Arch Captain could not have supplied his place, for both officers are recorded in the Minutes of the Providence Chapter in Rhode Island. The absence of an officer called "Zerubbabel" in the Southern Chapters, while it is found in all Northern ones, would evidently indicate some difference in the rituals of the two sections of the country. It is also significant on this point, that in the records of the Chapters at Augusta, no mention is made of the three Grand Masters of the Vails. They are included in the list of officers of all the Chapters in Connecticut which derived their Warrants and, we may suppose, their rituals from the Washington Chapter in New York.

It was always deemed an indispensable qualification for the reception of the Royal Arch degree that the candidate should be a Past Master. This practice, established in England at the origin of the degree, was followed by all the Chapters in America. As the restriction of the degree to those only who had presided for twelve months over a Symbolic lodge and thus become "Actual Past Masters" would have circumscribed the number of candidates within a very narrow and inconvenient limit, the ceremony of passing the chair was invented, by which the candidate became a "Virtual Past Master." This usage, which was the real origin of what is now called the Past Master's degree, was adopted by all the American Chapters, and thus the earliest records of the Augusta Chapter show that each person before being raised to the degree of Royal Arch was made to "pass the chair."

At first, as is shown by the minutes of February 29, 1796, the ceremony was performed in a Master's lodge. The same usage was observed at several subsequent meetings, but on December 26, 1796, for the first time it is recorded that the Master's lodge was closed and a Past Master's was opened for the purpose of conferring what had then become, not a mere qualification, but a preparatory degree.

Other preparatory degrees are mentioned in the earliest Minutes, but their names are not given until a later period. From the later minutes we learn what these degrees were. They are recorded in the November minutes as having the following names and being given in the following order:

Past Master, Fellow-Craft Mark, Master Mark, R.M., and R.A. These last two degrees are never recorded otherwise than by their initials, but we have every reason to believe, from other authorities, that they were Royal Master and Royal Ark, or Royal Ark Master.

Samuel Cole, writing in 1826, says of these two degrees that "they are considered as merely preparatory and are usually conferred immediately before the solemn ceremony of exaltation." Cole's work received the sanction of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and it is hence evident that these two degrees were at one time conferred in the Chapters of the State. They were not known to or practiced in the chapters of the Northern States.

It will be noticed also, as a further evidence of the want of uniformity in the rituals of the 18th century, that the Minutes of the Chapter at Augusta make no reference to the Most Excellent Master's degree, which from an early period was always conferred as a preparatory step to the Royal Arch in the Northern States.

Passing over from the United States to Canada, we shall find the Royal Arch ritual at the close of the 18th century in another but still confused condition.

In the year 1856 the members of Ancient Frontenac Chapter, attached to the St. John's Lodge number 491, English Register, situated at Kingston in Canada, published a history of the Chapter from its organization. From this little but interesting work may be gleaned a very satisfactory statement of the character and condition of Royal Arch Masonry at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century.

Ancient Frontenac Chapter, which is or was the old Chapter in Canada West, was established at Freemasons' Tavern, in the town of Kingston, on June 7, 1797, under the sanction of a Warrant which had been granted to Lodge number 6 on November 20, 1795, by R. W. William Jarvis, at that time Provincial Grand Master of Canada, under the Atholl Grand Lodge of England.

Master's lodges in Canada, as in the neighboring United States, assumed the right to hold Chapters for conferring the Royal Arch degree. It was a right always sanctioned by the usages of the "Ancients" and tolerated by the "Moderns," nor ever denied until after the organization of the General Grand Chapter at Hartford. As late as February, 1806, at a convocation held in Kingston a charge was preferred against a member of Frontenac Chapter of "unmasonic conduct in striving to separate the Holy Royal Arch Chapter from the body of number 6."

Until the year 1809, the three principal officers of the Chapter were designated as "1, High-Priest; 2, Solomon, King of Israel; and 3, Hiram, King of Tyre." Judging by this, we must conclude that the ritual used in Frontenac Chapter differed very materially from all the various systems which prevailed at the time in other parts of America.

The earliest records of the Chapter do not show any recognition of preparatory degrees. The "Most Excellent" was first conferred on April 17, 1807, and the "Mark" on July 20, 1818. These degrees were not, however, even then obligatory, but appear to have been taken or not, at the action of the candidate; and as there was an attendant expense, few of the brethren availed themselves of the opportunity of receiving them. The Past Master's was, however, a prerequisite qualification toward exaltation, and, as elsewhere, it was always conferred in the Master's lodge to which the Chapter was attached.

Up to the end of the last century, many candidates were exalted when only seven Royal Arch Masons were present, the mystical number nine not being then required to constitute a quorum for conferring the degree.

Capitular Masonry seems to have been separated in Canada from Lodge Masonry in 1806, for on January 18th in that year a decision was received from the Provincial Grand Master for holding a Chapter at Kingston, which, says the pamphlet from which I have been quoting, was "the first step towards this Chapter working under a warrant separate from that of the Craft lodge."

On February 10, 1818, the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Upper Canada was established, and on March 25th of the following year Frontenac Chapter number 1 received its Charter as one of its constituents.

The extracts given in the preceding pages, from the records of Chapters working at the close of the last and the beginning of the present century, have been sufficient to show that there prevailed at that time, in the different parts of the American Continent, a very confusing variety in the ritual of the Royal Arch and in the number of preparatory degrees, which clearly demonstrates that the conflicting systems must have been derived from different sources.

What these sources were it is impossible to precisely say, at least in every instance, in consequence of the unavoidable scantiness of the records. The general drift of history leads us to believe that among these sources were the Grand Lodge of Ancients, in England, and at a later period the Grand Lodge of Moderns, both of whom disseminated the degree through their military lodges, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, or rather the Royal Arch Masons of that kingdom, who practiced the degree without the recognition of their Grand Lodge, and as in Virginia and the Southern States the possessors of the "Sublime degrees," as they were called, which had been introduced into this country from France by Stephen Morin and his emissaries or deputies.

The result of borrowing rituals from so many different sources inevitably led to a deplorable diversity in the ceremonies, which led the Royal Arch Masons in some of the Northern States to attempt the laying of a firm foundation on which a uniform system might be established, and the constitution of a superintending authority which should maintain that uniformity, and give to Capitular Masonry a symmetry and shapeliness which should secure to it a permanence and success such as had been previously given to Craft Masonry by the ritualistic labors of Desaguliers and his associates in the second and third decades of the 18th century.

This work of reformation and of purification, in which the dross was rejected and the pure ore only retained, was finally accomplished by the institution of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, which was one of the most important events in the Masonic history of the United States.

To this event we must therefore next direct our attention. But the extent and interest of the subject demand a separate chapter for its consideration.

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