“Every association of men,
as well as this of Freemasons, must, for the sake of order and
harmony, be regulated by certain laws, and for that purpose, proper
officers must be appointed and empowered to carry those laws into
execution, to preserve a degree of uniformity, at least to restrain
any irregularity that might render such associations inconsistent.”
Hutchinson, Spirit of Masonry.
SYMBOLICAL DESIGN.
The
Past Master's degree presents us with a peculiar feature in the
symbolism of the masonic system. While, as masons, we admit the
general equality of men in their relation to their common Creator,
and acknowledge with proper humility that we are all traveling on the
level of time to “that undiscovered country from whose bourne
no traveler returns,” we do not deny the advantage and
propriety of distinctions in society, based on a difference of
talent, virtue and position; and we know that while some must rule
and govern, others must of necessity be called upon to obey. It is
to this view of the gradations of society that the fifth degree
alludes in its ceremonies and instructions. While the other degrees
involve the duties and obligations of the various stages of human
life, this degree confines itself to the consideration of only one
aspect of these many duties. It is symbolic of the good, the wise,
and the just ruler—whether it be of the sovereign over his
people, the master over his household, or the father over his
children. It inculcates, by appropriate, yet singular, and sometimes
unfortunately perverted ceremonies, the necessity of judgment,
discretion, wisdom, firmness and determination in him who undertakes
to govern his fellow-men, and of obedience, submission, order and
discipline in those who would live happily and quietly under
constituted authority.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY.
This
degree was originally, and still is, in connection with Symbolic
Masonry—an honorary degree conferred on the Master of a lodge.
When a brother, who has never before presided, has been elected the
Master of a lodge, an Emergent Lodge of Past Masters, consisting of
not less than three, is convened, and, all but Past Masters having
retired, the degree is conferred upon the newly-elected officer; and
this conferring of the degree constitutes a part of the installation
ceremony.
How long this custom has
prevailed, we are unable to determine; but it is probable that ever
since the organization of the institution, some peculiar mark of
distinction has been always bestowed upon those who were selected to
rule over the craft. The earliest written reference on this subject
is found in the first edition of Anderson's Book of Constitutions. A
description is there given of the “manner of constituting a new
lodge.” The Grand Master, after proclaiming the Master, is
said to use “some other expressions that are proper and usual
on that occasion, but not proper to be written.” From rituals
of a not much later period that are in existence, it is evident that
the author here refers to the very brief mode of conferring the Past
Master's degree which was then in use, and which consisted of no more
than a communication of the methods of recognition.
In
Preston's time, the ceremonies had been enlarged, for he says in
describing the form of installation, that “the new Master is
then conducted to an adjacent room, where he is regularly installed
and bound to his trust in ancient form, in the presence of at least
three installed Masters.”
It
is evident, then, that this degree was originally simply a degree of
office, and conferred only on the elected Master of a lodge. As
these rulers of Masonry were supposed to be selected for their
superior skill and intelligence, they alone were permitted to receive
that consummation of masonic light which is contained in the Royal
Arch degree. Hence, therefore, the possession of the degree of Past
Master became a necessary qualification for exaltation to the Royal
Arch, and as, at first, that degree was conferred in connection with,
and under the jurisdiction of, symbolic lodges, none but those who
had presided in the chair were permitted to receive it.
So,
in time, when the Chapters were separated from the lodges, and placed
under a distinct jurisdiction, the usage still prevailed, and
candidates for exaltation were invested, as a preparatory step, with
the Past Master's degree, and for this purpose a lodge of Past
Masters was opened, and a fictitious installation (for it was nothing
else) was performed.
This
was the origin of the insertion of this degree into the series of
capitular degrees, which has in recent years occasioned so many
almost bitter controversies respecting the contending rights of
“actual” Past Masters, or those installed in a regularly
constituted symbolic lodge, and “virtual” Past Masters
made in a Chapter, simply as a qualification for receiving the Royal
Arch degree.
One
of the evils resulting from the disseverance of the Past Master's
degree from its legitimate position as a part of the installation
service in a symbolic lodge, was the introduction of a number of
ceremonies into the Chapter degree, which were unknown to it in its
original conception, and which are still unused in the installation
of a Worshipful Master.
These ceremonies became at
length, by an unfortunate misdirection of the fertile genius of some
inventor, so perverted from the original design of every masonic
degree, which is to inculcate some particular moral or religious
truth, as to meet with the very general condemnation of all
intelligent and reflecting minds.
At
length a powerful effort was made to divest the degree of those
offensive ornaments which had been gradually fastened upon it, and to
restore it, as nearly as possible, to its original simplicity. This
effort was successful, and in September, 1856, the General Grand
Chapter of the United States adopted a resolution, which recommended
the subordinate Chapters under its jurisdiction “to abridge the
ceremonies now conferred in the Past Master's degree within the
narrowest constitutional limits, only retaining the inducting of the
candidate into the Oriental Chair, and communicating the means of
recognition.”
It
is to be hoped that this reform, dictated by good taste and judgment,
will be approved and enforced by the presiding officers of all the
Chapters.
LODGE OF PAST MASTERS.
The
symbolic color of the Past Master's degree is purple. The apron is
of white lamb-skin, edged with purple, and should have the jewel of
the degree inscribed upon it. The collar is of purple, edged with
gold. But, as Past Master's lodges are held under the warrants of
Royal Arch Chapters, the collars, aprons and jewels of the Chapter
are generally made use of in conferring the Past Master's degree.
The
jewel of a Past Master is a pair of golden compasses, extended to
sixty degrees, and resting on the fourth of a circle. Between the
extended legs of the compasses is a flaming sun.
[The
jewel, in England, was formerly a square, resting on an arc of ninety
degrees; at the present time it is the square, with a silver plate
suspended within it, on which is engraved a diagram of the
forty-seventh problem of Euclid.]
Lodges
of Past Masters are “dedicated to the Holy Saints John.”
A
candidate receiving this degree is said to be “seated in the
Oriental chair of King Solomon.”
PRAYER AT THE OPENING OF A LODGE OF PAST MASTERS.
Most
holy and glorious Lord God, the Great Architect of the universe, the
Giver of all good gifts and graces: Thou hast promised, that where
two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou wilt be in the
midst of them, and bless them. In thy name we assemble, most humbly
beseeching thee to bless us in all our undertakings, that we may know
and serve thee aright, and that all our actions may tend to thy
glory, and to our advancement in knowledge and virtue. And we
beseech thee, O Lord
God, to bless our present assembling, and to illuminate our minds,
that we may walk in the light of thy countenance; and when the trials
of our probationary state are over, be admitted into THE TEMPLE “not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” So mote it be.
Amen.
THE GIBLEMITES OR STONE-SQUARERS.
The
Giblemites, or, as fhey are called in Scripture, the Giblim, were
inhabitants of the city and district of Gebal, in Phoenicia, near
Mount Lebanon, and were, therefore, under the dominion of the King of
Tyre. The Phoenician word “gihal” which makes
“giblim” in the plural, signifies a mason or
stone-squarer. In the First Book of Kings, chapter 5, verses 17 and
18, we read that “the King commanded, and they brought great
stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the
house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and
the stone-squarers,” which last word is, in the original,
giblim. Gesenius [Hebrew Lexicon in voce.] says that the
inhabitants of Gebal were seamen and builders, and Sir William
Drummond [Origines, vol. III, b. V, ch. IV, p. 192.] asserts
that “the Gibalim were Master Masons, who put the finishing hand
to Solomon's temple.” In this sense the word is also used in
the Book of Constitutions [Anderson, James. Constitutions of the Free
and Accepted Masons, edit. 1738. p. 70.],
which records that John do Spoulee, who, as one of the deputies
of Edward III., assisted in rebuilding Windsor Castle, was called the
“Master of the Ghiblim.” The Giblim, or the Giblimites,
were, therefore, stone-squarers or Master Masons.
IMPLEMENTS OF A PAST MASTER.
The
implements necessary to a Present or Past Master are sometime
presented to the candidate, and their uses explained.
The Book of the Law, that great
light in Masonry, will guide you to all truth; it will direct your
path to the temple of happiness, and point out to you the whole duty
of man.
The
Square teaches us to regulate our actions by rule and line,
and to harmonize our conduct by the principles of morality and
virtue.
The
Compasses teach us to limit our desires in every station—that,
rising to eminence by merit, we may live respected and die regretted.
The
Rule directs that we should punctually observe our duty, press
forward in the path of virtue, and, neither inclining to the right
nor to the left, in all our actions have eternity in view.
The
Line teaches the criterion of moral rectitude, to avoid
dissimulation in conversation and action, and to direct our steps to
the path which leads to a glorious immortality
The
Book of Constitutions you are to search at all times. Cause
it to be read in your lodge, that none may pretend ignorance of the
excellent precepts it enjoins.
You
now receive in charge the Charter, by the authority of which
this lodge is held. You are carefully to preserve and duly transmit
it to your successors in office.
You
will also receive in charge the By-Laws of your lodge, which
you are to see carefully and punctually executed.
CHARGE TO THE NEW PAST MASTER.
Brother:
The conferring at this time of a degree which has no historical
connection with the other capitular degrees, is an apparent anomaly,
which, however, is indebted for its existence to the following
circumstances:
Originally,
when Royal Arch Masonry was under the government of symbolic lodges,
in which the Royal Arch degree was then always conferred, it was a
regulation that no one could receive it unless he had previously
presided as the Master of that or some other lodge; and this
restriction was made because the Royal Arch was deemed too important
a degree to be conferred only on Master Masons.
But,
as by confining the Royal Arch to those only who had been actually
elected as the presiding officers of their lodges, the extension of
the degree would have been materially circumscribed, and its
usefulness greatly impaired, the Grand Master often granted, upon due
petition, his dispensation to permit certain Master Masons (although
not elected to preside over their lodges) “to pass the
chair,” which was a technical term, intended to designate a
brief ceremony, by which the candidate was invested with the
mysteries of a Past Master, and, like him, entitled to advance in
Masonry as far as the Royal Arch, or the perfection and consummation
of the third degree.
When, however, the control of
the Royal Arch was taken from the symbolic lodges and entrusted to a
distinct organization—that, namely, of Chapters—the
regulation continued to be observed, for it was doubtful to many
whether it could legally be abolished; and, as the law still requires
that the august degree of Royal Arch shall be restricted to Past
Masters, our candidates are made to pass the chair simply as a
preparation and qualification toward being invested with the solemn
instructions of the Royal Arch.
The
ceremony of passing the chair, or making you in this manner a Past
Master, does not, however, confer upon you any official rank outside
of the Chapter, nor can you in a symbolic lodge claim any peculiar
privileges in consequence of your having received in the Chapter the
investiture of the Past Master's degree. Those who receive the
degree in symbolic lodges as a part of the installation service, when
elected to preside, have been properly called “Actual Past
Masters,” while those who pass through, the ceremony in a
Chapter, as simply preparatory to taking the Royal Arch, are
distinguished as “Virtual Past Masters,” to show that,
with the investiture of the secrets, they have not received the
rights and prerogatives of the degree.
With this brief explanation of
the reason why this degree is now conferred upon you, and why you
have been permitted to occupy the chair, you will retire, and suffer
yourself to be prepared for those further and profounder researches
into Masonry, which can only be consummated in the Royal Arch
degree.
PRAYER AT THE CLOSING OF A LODGE OF PAST MASTERS.
Supreme Architect of the
Universe, accept our humble praises for the many mercies and
blessings which thy bounty has conferred on us, and especially for
this friendly and social intercourse. Pardon, we beseech thee,
whatever thou hast seen amiss in us, since we have been together; and
continue to us thy presence, protection and blessing. Make us
sensible of the renewed obligations we are under to love thee
supremely, and to be friendly to each other. May all our irregular
passions be subdued, and may we daily increase in Faith, Hope and
Charity, but more especially in that Charity which is
the bond of peace, and the perfection of every virtue. May we so
practise thy precepts, that we may finally obtain thy promises, and
find an entrance through the gates into the temple and city of our
God. So mote it be. Amen.