THE BUILDER January 1917

 CRYPTIC MASONRY AND THE COMMANDERY

BY BRO. J. ANGUS GILLIS, OKLA

In the beginning I wish to say that in this article there is
nothing original. In some instances I have used quotation marks and
at times give full credit when I have copied verbatim what I have
read if at the time I remember who made the original remarks, but
the assembling of facts and arrangement of arguments may be of some
value to the Craft.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction,
claims to have conferred both the Royal and Select Master's degrees
at Charleston, S.C., in 1783, which was certified from Berlin,
Prussia; but Josiah H. Drummond investigated and found that the
ritual was not authentic, for while they claimed the Supreme
Council as the governing body, the Supreme Council did not exist
until 1801. The records show that in 1802 to 1807 the Inspectors
General conferred fifty-five different degrees, but the Council
degrees were not named among them.

The Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction, claimed that the Royal
and Select Master's degrees were conferred in the lodge of
Perfection in New York by Andrew Franken who received his authority
from Stephen Morin, of Jamaica, Deputy Inspector General, and that
Morin was empowered to propagate the rite in the new world by the
Emperors of the East and the West in France; but there is no
evidence to substantiate the claim.

Philip P. Eckles and Hezekiah Niles received the degree of Select
Master in 1792, at Baltimore, from Henry Wiemans, Grand Inspector
General; but there is no record of when, where, or from whom
Wiemans received it. Eckles and Niles conferred it on Jeremy L.
Cross in 1807, and Cross conferred it on a great many Royal Arch
Masons in the North, South and Western parts of the then United
States; and in 1818 he received the Select Master's degree and
united it with the Select Mason's of 27, now the Select Master's
degree. To Jeremy L. Cross, therefore, are we indebted for uniting
these two degrees and forming the Cryptic Rite; and even if it was
from a mercenary motive for disseminating them more assiduously
than any one else, until they became independent in their
governmental relations to the other branches of the American
system, it was a real service to the Order.

The origin of all Masonic degrees is unknown; in fact, the Holy
Bible, the Great Light of Freemasonry, gives an account of
everything that we know. Our knowledge otherwise ;s limited,
mystic, unauthentic, denied by some and averred by others. No one
can go back with steady steps through the dark, winding, and
sometimes obliterated pathways of the past, to the time or
birthplace of Masonry.

In discussing the origin of the different Masonic degrees,
Frederick Speed said: "One myth after another has vanished into
thin air, until we do not hesitate to aver in writing, that, with
scarcely an exception, the ritual of every Masonic degree now
produced in these United States, originated, or was elaborated,
since the American revolution, and by Americans; but that the
admission of this fact does not in the least degree detract from
the dignity, high character, or claim to an ancient origin of the
institution itself."

All Masonic students admit that the origin of the Cryptic degrees
are in doubt, just as are the origin of the Symbolic and Capitular
degrees; and while there seems to be no doubt but what the Scottish
Rite first conferred them as detached or side degrees, there is the
same proof that the Royal Arch degree was conferred by the
Inspectors General the same way, and under the same conditions,
until each branch became self supporting, or expressed a desire to
be controlled or under the jurisdiction of State Grand Chapters and
Councils. While in each branch or rite in the American system there
is an interdependency for application for membership, both by
affiliation and by receiving the degrees, the system lacks one link
of being complete, because of its numerical place (except in the
Virginias), as the Commandery organization does not protect the
Council as is done in all the other branches of the system.

For example, the pre-requisite to apply for the E. A. degree is to
be a man of lawful age, etc.; for the F. C. is to have been an E.A.
for a proper length of time; for a M. M. is to have been a F. C. a
proper length of time. As a member of a Symbolic lodge, he may
apply for the Capitular degrees, and as a member of a Chapter of
Royal Arch Masons he may apply for the Cryptic degrees; or he may
skip this link in the series of allegories of Ancient Craft Masonry
and apply to the Commandery for the Chivalric Orders--the summit of
teaching in the American system of Freemasonry.

Thus, each degree is a pre-requisite to the succeeding degree, and
each branch is a pre-requisite to the succeeding branch. Each is
supported from below and protected from above, (except the
Council), and if the amendment to Sec. 113 of the Constitution of
the Grand Encampment is adopted, the accepted scheme of Masonic
support and protection will be carried out in full.

Masonry is a progressive science consisting of a series of degrees,
and as practiced in the American system is divided into branches,
or rites, which, when taken together, form the complete American
system of Freemasonry.

Albert Gallatin Mackey said: "I learned from the experience of my
early Masonic life, that the character of the institution was
elevated in every one's opinion, just in proportion to the amount
of knowledge that he had acquired of its symbolism, philosophy and
history." This is why Masonry means something different to each
individual. Some think it is simply a "club of good fellows," while
to others it is a "system of morals, or even pure religion,"
according to their foundation of character, educational and
intellectual attainments, previous instructions, etc.; as is
evidenced by the superficial and selfish views of some who see only
the part that suits their narrow purposes, or the deep reverence
and wide humanitarian outlook of others; and the difference becomes
greater the more difference there is in their preliminary Masonic
instructions.

It is a pleasure to gather together the scattered legends of
Freemasonry, each different, but deftly built together so that
their symmetry as a whole develops the great TRUTH. The Cryptic
degrees are so closely connected with the degrees of the other
branches of the American system, their beauty and utility is
unquestioned; their logical necessity is recognized by all Masonic
students. They are thoroughly established and organizations are
maintained in almost every Jurisdiction in the United States; and
no one will claim to have completed the studies of Ancient Craft
Masonry who has not received the Cryptic degrees. This being so, we
do not treat the applicant for further Masonic light justly when we
allow him to skip these links that are explanatory of the 3rd and
7th degrees.

This logically brings to mind the question of prerequisition of the
Council degrees for the Commandery Orders, which has been before
the Grand Encampment for the last three years, and which is to be
adopted or rejected at the Triennial Conclave in Philadelphia in
October, 1919.

There is no good reason why this legislation should not be adopted;
for if Cryptic Masonry is good--and it is or organizations would
not be maintained--it should have the same protection that is
accorded the other branches of Masonry. This argument of one's own
free will and accord will not stand against the acid test of
enlightened reason, and the fact of compulsion practiced in all
other degrees and branches comprising the American system of
Freemasonry. The Cryptic rite is universally recognized and
accepted as a component part of the American system, and a
legitimate and necessary branch to complete Ancient Craft Masonry;
herefore the Commandery should willingly require knowledge of all
preceding degrees, Symbolic, Capitular and Cryptic, in order to
maintain with dignity and impartial justice its position at the
head of the system.

Cryptic Masonry is the top of Ancient Craft Masonry; Templary is
the top of the American system of Freemasonry; and it is beyond
dispute that it was the intention of the original organizers of
Templary in America to make all Masonic degrees pre-requisite to
the Commandery Orders, for each degree known at that time was
specifically mentioned. The accepted scheme of Masonic support and
protection should be carried out full. A Templar should receive all
the information contained in the system; not be a half or
two-thirds, but a complete Mason.

If a brother is satisfied with his Masonic knowledge and fraternal
associations after taking the Symbolic degrees, well and good; if
a Companion is satisfied after taking the Capitular degrees, it is
also well; but if he then desires to take the Chivalric Orders for
the satisfaction of being a Templar, or in order to be eligible to
take the Shrine, he should also be required to take the Cryptic
degrees. Each applicant should have the same Masonic preliminary
teaching, receive the same lessons, learn the same allegories, and
miss none of the links; for if so, it will be a handicap in
accomplishment in proportion to the educational attainments along
other lines. For, "He who has the key to any science will interpret
the whole according to the light he possesses," and the efficiency
of the membership will be marred according to the number missing a
part of the legends.

The claim that this legislation, if adopted, would be the death
knell of Templary in some Jurisdictions, is proven not to be a fact
from the rule and practice in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Ohio,
and in many of the large subordinate Commanderies; and as the law
in some Jurisdictions compels an applicant for the Capitular
degrees to apply and pay for the Cryptic degrees at the same time,
experience wholly disproves that the additional fee, time required,
or association as Cryptic Masons, deleteriously affects Templary;
e. g. investigate conditions in Texas and South Carolina.

In every walk and vocation and in every effort of life we must
advance or retrograde. Accomplishment is effected by individual or
collective effort, and socalled Independent Jurisdictions must
decide whether they can accomplish the most independently or
collectively. We must all admit that visits and fraternal exchange
of idea is an aid to accomplishment, and having this end in view
the National Masonic bodies have been organized. The General Grand
Chapter, General Grand Council, and the Grand Encampment Knights
Templar of the United States of America are working (in a broad
sense) harmoniously together towards the hope of accomplishing many
great things which are in the heart of every true Mason; and the
question of affiliation of the so-called Independent Jurisdictions
with the National bodies is whether more good can be accomplished
alone or by working in concert with a large majority of the other
Jurisdictions of the United States.

This last phase of the question some may say has nothing to do with
pre-requisition, but I think it has, for--"in union there is
strength" and every division means a less concerted effort which is
a detriment to accomplishment.

THE POWER OF VIRTUE

I think there is some reason for questioning whether the body and
mind are not so proportioned, that the one can bear all which can
be inflicted on the other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground
as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will not sooner
die
than be subdued.     --Samuel Johnson.



