The Holy Royal Arch - History and Meaning

By REV. JOHN GEORGE GIBSON, D.D., LLD.

AS I have indicated in my papers upon the F. C. and M. M.
degrees, there was about the first decade of the 18th century
a considerable modification of ritual and arrangement in
regard to what had been but one, or at most two degrees
which constituted the membership of the revived Craft lodge
and working.

The E.A. became distinct, as a novice, a learner, a disciple;
the M. M. was equally distinct from the first grade, and
almost as much distinguished from the intermediate,
quasioperative grade of F. C. And this involved not only a
division of the ritual, but a rounding of the office, and
introduction and a finale, and a special pointing of the
significance of each degree. When Dr. Anderson's
Constitutions were first issued in 1723 the period of
transition was reached. The conflict and comparison of
workings gradually resolved, from the totality of differences,
a symbolic oneness; and, although the separate existence,
and essential character, of the Arch degree had not any
evidential and official basis, there is little doubt that the
degree was worked, sometimes as an additional degree, at
others as a superior degree, and in yet other eases as a
completion of the Master's pot, or at least of the Master's
degree. At first it would appear to have been worked both in
the private lodge, and in special Arch lodges, and there are
not wanting indications, that the Scots Lodges of France did
a great deal to fix the character of the degree and to make it
popular. We find, according to Dr. Crawley, that in a Masonic
procession at Youghal in 1743 two Excellent Masons carried
"The Royal Arch." One particularly significant feature of the
revival of Masonry in England is the exalted rank given, on
all occasions, to the R. A. degree. And this emphasis is clear
in 1813, since according to the Articles of Union, "It is
declared and pronounced that pure Ancient Masonry
consists of three degrees, and no more; viz: those of the E.
A., the F. C., and the M. M. (including the Supreme Order of
the Holy Royal Arch)." Previously to this the R. A. degree
was worked under both Orders; but now its definite place is
recognized officially, and the grand Chapters of both orders
became one in 1817.

When we say that the R. A. was regarded as the completion
of the M. M. degree, we must not conclude that all M.M.
could legitimately reach that distinction, since only Masters
who had passed the chair were eligible for candidature. It
was a kind of P. M.'s lodge of excellence; and in order that
worthy brothers of long established Masonic status might be
passed, the irregular degree or ceremony of Installed Master
was worked until it became a scandal through its abuse, and
the resolution was passed in Grand Chapter in 1783 that
"Masters and Past Masters only ought to be admitted
Masters of the Royal Arch."

Everywhere, practically, the legend is now the same, and yet
the legend is but the means of conveying truth The search
for the Lost Word, for the Logos, leads to the discovery of
the meaning, and the immortality, of life. In my preliminary
excursus in regard to the Pagan Mysteries, I referred to the
single experience that was explained in the Mysteries of the
Giblites, and in those of the Eleusis. The Royal Arch ideal is
the revelation of the absolute life of the Creator. We have the
figure in varied forms in all human history. In Adam's
expulsion from Paradise and the birth of Cain, in Cain's
desolation and the discovery of Arts and Science, in Noah's
fidelity and the floating of the Ark, in the Solemnities of
Adonis or Tamnuz, - there is the same assertion of the
safety of that which is hidden, of that which, for the sake of
righteousness, is hidden in the ground.

When the Hebrew Moses stood by the Burning Bush, by the
Sacred fire upon holy ground, mourning the failures of Israel,
and the woes of his brethrens and yet in fortitude obeying a
Creator's call to service, the word was made plain to him, the
Logos of Eternal Life and power.

You have often read the searching prayer, the wistful
yearning of one seeking after the Great I AM. You have read
of the captives wailing by the Eastern Rivers because their
masters asked of them one of Zion's songs in the land of
bondage or exile; and you can understand the joy of the
Jews who re-asserted the absolute sufficiency of Infinite God
as they dedicated the Temple of the Restoration. The
system of the Royal Arch is this scene of joy, this joy of
Easter, this assertion of immortality, this clear demonstration
of the Crown that follows the Sacrifice.

Freemasonry is a system of morality; and M. Masons know
how the system results in the loyal research and service of
those who face the tragedy of the darkness which introduces
them to the Master's Light. This, as I indicated in my article
in the Freemason of December 23, 1906, could not continue
Hope springs, eternal, in the human breast; and when the
grave is closed the true Mason sets his gaze upon the Vail.
To the Master Mason who has been loyal under probation
the Capitular degree is open; and in the Royal Arch he finds
the glory of a consummated Sacrifice and of a splendid
persistent resurrection. As the wailing women ceased to
weep for Tamnuz and rejoiced for the fruitful return of
Summer and Harvest, so they who mourn a darkened Valley
rejoice when they climb the Eastern hills each dawning day.
The Sun is not lost: he comes again. Light is not lost: it
increases in its extended application each day. To the true
Mason who has learned to serve, the reward of sight is
granted. "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be
saved." "Weeping may endure for the night; but joy cometh
in the morning." And the joy none can take away, because it
is inspired by the absolute persistence of an Eternal Creator
and Architect of Life. The four degrees are in continued
sequence: they are the stages of Masonic development and
growth.

This is shown in the color and insignia of the Order. In the
Apron there is the white Lambskin; there is also, as a
constituent of the purple of the border, the Craft blue
(retained in the Third Principal's Robe and in the Grand
Officers' collars), and there is also (partly overlapping the
Craft blue and producing purple, and partly upon the clear
white) the Royal Red of the King. We have then in the Apron
the Supreme Red, which is the Royal Arch color, the Craft
Blue, in the purple, and the White of innocence and sacrifice
in the lambskin apron. Craft ideals are not cast out with the
passing of the vails, they are only absorbed in a greater and
more perfect experience.

But the series of colors is still more gradual when we regard
the robes of the principals. There we have the Craft Blue in
the High Priest's robe, the Purple in the Prophet's robe, and
the Red in the King's.

There is also a significant gradation of creed and emphasis.
In a Craft lodge the triangle of Life is undrawn, although it is
suggested by the gradual arrangement of the rosettes upon
the apron. When the Master Mason is raised, he takes a
rosette (or sign of life) upon the center of the apron flap, so
completing the three points from which the sides of a triangle
may be drawn. In the Crimson and Purple indented border of
the R. A., the Crimson, or King's color, points to the center of
this flap, to what was the apex of a triangle - imagined but
undrawn. But now there is no imagined triangle but a
completed one containing a yet more significant symbol in
the triple tau. The suggestion is unmistakable. Bro. A. H.
Morgan has, in one of his lectures, very properly indicated
that the Christian Church did not for the first time discover
the meaning of the Cross when they used it for a religious
emblem. It is the most ancient of symbols. In early ages it
was the sign of the life of the Nile Valley, and has always
been the indicator of Life. Take the element of Life from the
Christian's Cross and nothing is left but the statement of a
historical fact. The number three is sacred in all human
mysteries - to pagan and to Christian. The triple tau involves
the idea of the life that is sacred to the Creator, and the
triangle means the Creative Energy of the G.A.O.T.U. This is
the victory by which we overcome the hardships of a
strenuous life - faith in the Right and Power of the All-Wise.
And the R.A. apron symbolizes this. And the sash has the
same significance with its red diamond always outside and
the Craft, or blue, diamond inside.

There is one part of the emblem upon the apron which
requires especial notice, and that is the triangle. A Past
Master in a Craft lodge may substitute the horizontals and
perpendiculars for the ordinary rosettes of a Master Mason.
But he may not wear the triple tau nor the described triangle
until he has passed the vails. Why? It is not an arbitrary
regulation, nor merely a badge of rank. The significance of
the triple tau plus that of the triangle is geometric. The P. M.
of a Craft lodge studies the discovery of Euclid's 47th
proposition, and finds a world of possibility in the fact that the
square upon the hypothenuse is equal to the sum of the
squares upon the other two sides of a right-angled triangle.
And he wears an emblem which describes twice 90°, or a
fourth part of a circle. When he is exalted to the Arch degree,
he remembers that the sum of the angles of any triangle
equal two right angles. He sees also that in the R. A.
emblem, is the triad of two right angles; and as he is
metaphorically restored from death to a life of immeasurable
potentialities he ponders upon the significance of this
combination. He should realize also that as there is no death
to life, so there is no limit to the growth and progression of
humanity within the circle of the Universe which has been
drawn around his life by the unerring hand of the Grand
Geometrician. The Royal Arch degree is one of startling
suggestions and of amazing revelations. The idea is old as
Mankind is, though the present form of the Mystery cannot
record an age of quite two centuries. It is also the completion
of Symbolic Masonry.

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