The degree of Super–Excellent Master certainly has no connection, in its
history or its symbolism, with the Royal and Select degrees, nor was
it ever, until it was very recently introduced by a few Councils in
some of the Northern and Western States, considered as forming any
part of the work of a Council. I do not myself acknowledge its
legitimacy as a degree of Cryptic Masonry, and I seriously object to
its introduction into the Council, because it destroys the symmetry
of the rite which very properly closes with the ninth degree. A
description of it is, however, inserted in this Manual, because,
although I deem it misplaced, it has nevertheless been adopted, and
is worked by many Councils, and is, withal, an interesting degree,
and conveys some valuable information.
But
although the introduction of the degree, into the Council work is of
very recent date, being unnoticed by any writer who has hitherto
compiled a Masonic monitor, the degree itself can boast of a much
longer existence. It has always been in possession of the Supreme
Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and was frequently
conferred by the Inspectors-General as a “detached” or
honorary degree. [Dalcho, in his “Orations,” says, while
speaking of the thirty-three degrees of the Ancient and Accepted
Rite: “Besides those degrees which are in regular succession,
most of the Inspectors are in possession of a number of detached
degrees, given in different parts of the world, and which they
generally communicate, free of expense, to those brethren who are
high enough to understand them.” It was in this way that,
twenty years ago, I myself received the degree from the hands of
Illustrious Brother Alex. McDonald, at that time Grand Commander of
the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United
States, who at the same time presented me with a ritual, copied by
him from a much older one in the possession of Brother Roche, a
former member of the Supreme Council.] It is not, however, a degree
that has been very generally known to Masonic writers. Lenning makes
no allusion to it in his very copious “Encyclopadie der
Freimaurerei,” nor is it to be found in the catalogue of
several hundred degrees given by Thory in his “Acta Latomorum.”
But, on the other hand, Dr. Oliver, in his “Historical
Landmarks of Freemasonry, vol. II,” describes the degree with
such completeness as to demonstrate that he must have seen or been in
possession of its ritual precisely as it is practiced in this
country. [I mention the name of this venerable patriarch almost at
the very moment that the melancholy tidings of his death have reached
me. As one honored with his friendship and grateful for his
instructions, I dedicate this sentence to the memory of the most
learned and enthusiastic of Masons.]
The
Masonic legend of the degree of Super–Excellent Master refers to
circumstances which occurred on the last day of the siege of
Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the Chaldean army, who had
been sent by Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city and temple, as a just
punishment of the Jewish king Zedekiah, for his perfidy and
rebellion. It occupies, therefore, precisely that point of time
which is embraced in that part of the Royal Arch degree which
represents the destruction of the temple, and the carrying of the
Jews in captivity to Babylon. It is, in fact, an exemplification and
extension of that part of the Royal Arch degree.
As
to the symbolic design of the degree, it is very evident that its
legend and ceremonies are intended to inculcate that important
Masonic virtue, fidelity to vows. Zedekiah, the wicked king of
Judah, is, by the modern ritualists who have symbolized the degree,
adopted very appropriately as the symbol of perfidy, and the severe
but well-deserved punishment which was inflicted on him by the king
of Babylon is set forth in the lecture as a great moral lesson, whose
object is to warn the recipient of the fatal effects that will ensue
from a violation of his sacred obligations.
COUNCIL OF SUPER–EXCELLENT MASTERS.
A
Council of Super–Excellent Masters consists of the following eleven
officers: Most Excellent King, Companion Gedaliah, Three Keepers of
the Temple, Captain of the Guards, Three Heralds, Treasurer, and
Secretary. The Most Excellent King represents Zedekiah, the
twentieth and last king of Judah. He is seated in the East.
Gedaliah is seated in the West, except during a reception, when he
assumes a station in front, of the King. The First Keeper of the
Temple is seated in front of the West. The Second and Third on the
left of the West, and near the door of preparation. The Captain of
the Guards is seated on the right hand of the King, the Three Heralds
are on the outside of the door, and the Treasurer and Secretary
occupy the usual positions of those officers in other Masonic bodies.
There are also three Guards who attend the King as an escort, but
they are not permanent officers, and are assigned no definite
position.
RECEPTION.
The
following passages of Scripture are appropriately read in the course
of a reception into this degree.
“How
does the city sit solitary, that was full of people: how is she
become as a widow! she that was great among the nations and princess
among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore
in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt
treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.” —
Lamentations 1:1-2.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.
The
destruction of the temple which had been built by King Solomon is the
important event that is recorded in the legend of this degree. This
was not the result of a single hostile act, but was brought about
after a series of wars and sieges, which, with brief intervals of
peace and prosperity, lasted for one hundred and fifty years, and
finally culminated not only in the destruction of the city of
Jerusalem, its holy temple, and all its magnificent palaces and
dwellings, but also in the total annihilation of the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah. About the year 741 B.C., which was two hundred and
sixty-three years after the building of the temple, and in the reign
of Ahaz, king of Judah, an invasion of Palestine was made by
Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who carried off the pastoral
population that lived beyond the river Jordan, together with the
tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali. His successor, Shalmanezer,
continued these predatory incursions, and after having made Hoshea,
the king of Israel, tributary to Assyria, when the tribute was
withheld he attacked and reduced Samaria, in the year 721 B.C., and
carried the remnant of the ten tribes, which constituted the
Israelitish monarchy, into Assyria and Media, whence they never
returned. This was the end of the kingdom of Israel.
But
the kingdom of Judah still remained, consisting of the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, the capital of which was the city of Jerusalem.
Less
than a century after the extinction of the kingdom of Israel,
Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean monarch, commenced those hostile
aggressions upon the kingdom of Judah which only terminated in its
meeting with a similar fate.
In
the reign of Jehoiakim, in the year 599 B.C., Jerusalem was besieged
and taken by Nebuchadcezzar, who carried away many of the people as
captives to Babylon, and despoiled the temple of a large proportion
of its treasures and sacred vessels.
In
the reign of Jehoiachin, who succeeded his father Jehoiakim on the
throne of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar again laid siege to Jerusalem. On
its surrender, for it made but little resistance, Jehoiachin was
carried to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until his death.
Nebuchadnezzar, on this invasion, took away ten thousand Jewish
captives, consisting of all the remaining artificers and effective
Inhabitants, leaving behind only the poorer people and the unskilled
laborers. He also placed Zedekiah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, upon the
throne, having first exacted from him an oath of fidelity and
allegiance.
The
third and last invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar was in the reign
of this king, who proved treacherous to his Babylonian master.
Nebuchadnezzar accordingly marched upon Jerusalem with a mighty army,
and, having taken up his own residence in Riblah, a town of Syria, he
dispatched Nebuzaradan, his general, or, as he is called in
Scripture, “captain of the guard,” to the city, which he
took by storm after a twelve months' siege.
On
this occasion, the King of Chaldea was resolved to inflict signal
vengeance on his unfaithful tributaries, and to leave no means for a
renewed revolt. He accordingly directed Nebuzaradan, after having
taken possession of all the vessels and treasures of the temple which
had escaped the former pillage, and all the riches that he could find
in the king's house and the houses of the other inhabitants, to set
fire to the temple and the city, and completely to consume them; to
overthrow the walls, the towers, and the fortresses, and in short to
make a thorough desolation of the place, in which condition it
remained for fifty two years, until the restoration of the captives
by Cyrus.
This
is the calamitous event which is briefly referred to in a portion of
the ceremonies of the Royal Arch, and which it is the sole object of
the Super–Excellent Master's degree to commemorate.
ZEDEKIAH.
Zedekiah
was the twentieth and last king of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar had in
his second siege of Jerusalem deposed Jehoiachin, whom he carried as
a captive to Babylon, he placed Zedekiah on the throne in his stead.
By this act Zedekiah became tributary to the King of the Chaldees,
who exacted from him a solemn oath of fidelity and obedience. This
oath he observed no longer than till an opportunity occurred of
violating it. In the language of the author of the Books of
Chronicles, “he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had
made him swear by God.”
This
course soon brought down upon him the vengeance of the offended
monarch, who invaded the land of Judah with an immense army.
Remaining himself at Riblah, a town on the northern border of
Palestine, he sent the army under his general, Nebuzaradan, to
Jerusalem, which was invested by the Babylonian forces. After a
siege of about one year, during which the inhabitants endured many
hardships, the city was taken by an assault the Chaldeans entering it
through breaches in the northern wall.
It
is very natural to suppose, that when the enemy were most pressing in
their attack upon the devoted city, when the breach which was to give
them entrance had been effected, and when perhaps the streets most
distant from the temple were already filled with Chaldean soldiery, a
council of his princes and nobles should have been held by Zedekiah
in the temple, to which they had fled for refuge, and that he should
ask their advice as to the most feasible method of escape from the
impending dangers. History, it is true, gives no account of any such
assembly, but the written record of these important events which is
now extant is very brief, and as there is every reason to admit the
probability of the occurrence, the original compiler of the degree
was authorized to make the meeting of such a council a part of its
legendary ceremony. By the advice of this council, Zedekiah
attempted to make his escape across the Jordan. The result is so
succinctly told in the simple language of the prophet Jeremiah, who
was present during the siege and at the capture, that no other words
could give as good a description.
“And
it came to pass that when Zedekiah the King of Judah saw them [the
princes of Babylon] and all the men of war, then they fled, and went
forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by
the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the
plain. But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook
Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they
brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah, in the
land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
“Then
the King of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his
eyes: also the King of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to
carry him to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and
the houses of the people with fire, and brake down the walls of
Jerusalem.
“Then
Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Guard, carried away captive into
Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and
those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people
that remained. But Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Guard, left of
the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and
gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.” —
Jeremiah 39:4-10.
GEDALIAH.
There
are five persons of the name of Gedaliah who are mentioned in
Scripture, but only two of them were contemporary with the
destruction of the temple.
Gedaliah
the son of Pashur is mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah (38:1) as a
prince of the court of Zedekiah. He was present at its destruction,
and is known to have been one of the advisers of the king. It was
through his counsels, and those of his colleagues, that Zedekiah was
persuaded to deliver up the prophet Jeremiah to death, from which he
was rescued only by the intercession of a eunuch of the palace.
The
other Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam. He seems to have been greatly
in favor with Nebuchadnezzar, for after the destruction of Jerusalem,
and the deportation of Zedekiah, he was appointed by the Chaldean
monarch as his satrap or governor over Judea. He took up his
residence at Mizpah, where he was shortly afterwards murdered by
Ishmael, one of the descendants of the house of David.
The
question now arises, which of these two is the one referred to in the
ceremonies of a Council of Super–Excellent Masters? I think there
can be no doubt that the founders of the degree intended the second
officer of the Council to represent the former, and not the latter;
Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and not Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; the
Prince of Judah, and not the Governor of Judea.
We
are forced to this conclusion by various reasons. The Gedaliah
represented in the degree must have been a resident of Jerusalem
during the siege, and at the very time of the assault, which
immediately preceded the destruction of the temple and the city.
Now, we know that Gedaliah the son of Pashur was with Hezekiah as one
of his advisers. On the other hand it is most unlikely that Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam could have been a resident of Jerusalem, for it is
not at all probable that Nebuchadnezzar would have selected such an
one for the important and confidential office of a satrap or
governor. We should rather suppose that Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
had been carried away to Babylon after one of the former sieges; that
he had there, like Daniel, gained by his good conduct the esteem and
respect of the Chaldean monarch; that he had come back to Judea with
the army; and that, on the taking of the city, he had been appointed
governor by Nebuchadnezzar. Such being the facts, it is evident that
he could not have been in the council of King Zedekiah, advising and
directing his attempted escape.
The
modern revivers of the degree of Super–Excellent Master have,
therefore, been wrong in supposing that Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
and afterwards Governor of Judea, was the person represented by the
second officer of the Council. He was Gedaliah, the son of Pashur, a
wicked man, one of Zedekiah's princes, and was most probably put to
death by Nebuchadnezzar, with the other princes and nobles whom he
captured in the plains of Jericho.
It
may be said that it is not important to decide which Gedaliah is
referred to, because the whole legend of the degree is apocryphal,
not founded on history, but simply intended as an allegory or
symbolic lesson.
To
this I reply, that even in the composition of a fictitious work we
should observe consistency, respect probabilities, and by all means
avoid an absurdity.
CHARGE TO THE NEW SUPER–EXCELLENT MASTER.
Companion:
As Masonry is a science of morality vailed in allegory and
illustrated by symbols, it is proper that, as a Super–Excellent
Master, you should be instructed in the moral design of the degree
into which you have just been initiated. It is intended, in the
first place, to inculcate a sincere devotion to the GREAT I AM, in
contradistinction to an idolatrous worship, which is, in other words,
but a symbolical expression for a reverence of truth and an
abhorrence of falsehood.
It
also impresses on us the necessity of a faithful fulfillment of our
several vows, and the fearless discharge of our respective duties;
and teaches us, by its legends and its ceremonies, that the violation
of our solemn vows, as in the instance of the last king of Judah,
will not only cause us to forfeit the respect and friendship of our
companions, but will also most surely destroy our own peace of mind.
Let
us, then, labor diligently and faithfully in the cause of TRUTH,
doing with all our might whatever our hands find to do, so that, when
at the time of the third watch our work is finished, we may be
greeted as Super–Excellent Masters, and be released from our
captivity in the flesh, to return over the rough and rugged way of
the Valley of the Shadow of Death to our abiding-place, eternal in
the heavens, there to erect our second moral and Masonic temple, that
house not made with hands, there to adore the Holy One of Israel
throughout the endless circle of eternity.
[This
charge, which has never before been published, is, I think, the
conclusion of Cushman's historical lecture on the degree. Its
appropriateness has induced me to adopt it, with some slight
variations of language, as the charge to the candidate; and as such
it should be used. I am indebted for it to the kindness of Comp.
Tho. Snow, of New Hampshire.]