THE BUILDER MARCH 1918

THE STORY OF THE SCOTTISH RITE
BY BRO. C. C. ADAMS, ENGLAND

The warrant for the existence of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite of Masonry is found in a number of documents which are now in
the possession of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction
of the United States of America, and it is from these that it is
possible to gather up the threads which go to form the history of
one of the greatest organisations of Masonry.

The beginning of the Scottish Rite is from a Templar source, so we
cannot do better than go back to the period after the Crusades,
when the defenders of the Cross were returning from their wars in
the Holy Land. Although primarily driven forward by religious
motives, and eager to save the land of Palestine from the hands of
the Saracen, there is no doubt that many of these cavaliers were
also out to capture what worldly property they could from the hated
Turk, with the result that as soon as the wars were finished they
found themselves rich and settled down to a life of ease on the
plains of central and southern Europe. The wealth and power of the
Order soon aroused the avarice and envy of both the Church and the
State with the result that a number of persecutions were
deliberately organised with the object of overthrowing the Order
and forfeiting its possessions. Many charges, the chief of which
was idolatry, were trumped up against the Knights with the object
of bringing them to trial. The culmination of these persecutions
occurred in Paris in the year 1314, when Jacques de Molay, the
Grand Master of the Order, was publicly burned to death. This
caused a general dispersion of the Order and there is a great deal
of doubt as to what followed. There are a number of versions which
might almost be called legends of the subsequent history, the
majority of which are probably fictitious, but it is an undoubted
fact that after this time the Templars flourished and remained free
from persecution in Scotland where they are said to have united
with the Freemasons. This was the beginning of all High Grade and
Scottish Masonry.

A number of Scottish Templars entered Robert Bruce's army and after
the battle of Bannockburn were formed into the Royal Order of
Scotland which consisted and still does consist of two degrees, the
Order of Heredom and the Knighthood of the Rosy Cross.

All High Grade Masonry claims the Order of the Temple as its origin
and this was the basis of a system founded at Lyons in France in
the year 1743. Six degrees were recognised of which the first three
or Craft degrees were not worked; the remaining degrees were the
fourth degree or the Knight of the Eagle, the forerunner of our
present eighteenth degree of Sovereign Prince Rose Croix, the fifth
degree entitled Illustrious Knight or Templar, and the sixth and
last degree of Sublime Illustrious Knight. From this the titles of
Illustrious and Sublime used so freely in the Scottish Rite of
today evidently originated. The system which I have just quoted
also shows the connection between the Masonic grades of Rose Croix
and Knight Templar, a connection which is obvious from many of the
symbols.

In 1747, Charles Edward Stuart, the Pretender, while in exile in
France is said to have instituted a Chapter of Rose Croix Masons at
Arras to which he communicated the Scottish Masonry which he had
brought from his own country.

Another interesting step in the history of these degrees is the
Baldwyn Encampment of Knights Templar at Bristol, England, which
was working shortly after this time and conferred the following
degrees:

1d Entered Apprentice. 
2d Fellow Craft. 
3d Master Mason. 
4d Royal Arch. 
5d Knight Templar and Knights of Malta. 
6d Rose Croix. 
7d Knight Kadosh (the present 30d). 

The origin of this encampment is unknown.

In 1754 the Chevalier de Bonneville established a Chapter of high
degrees in Paris at the College of Jesuits of Clermont. This was
called the Chapter of Clermont and at first worked only the three
degrees which were conferred at Lyons eleven years before. The
system was, however, soon expanded and renamed the Rite of
Perfection or Rite of Heredom of twenty five degrees. This system
included all our present degrees from the first to the
twenty-second. The 23d of the Rite was our present 28d and was then
called the degree of Knights Princes Adepts. The degree of Knight
Kadosh (30d) was the twenty-fourth degree and the system was
completed by the twenty-fifth degree now known to us as the
thirty-second degree of Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.
Throughout this system the theory was maintained that Freemasonry
had its origin in the Order of the Knights Templar.

The derivation of the word Heredom is unknown but it appears to
have come from Scotland and it is probable that this name and
several of the Scottish factors were taken from Scotland to France
by the Stuarts in their exile.

Four years after the formation of the Chapter of Clermont, that is
to say, in 1758, a new body was organised in Paris which absorbed
the Clermont Chapter. This was called the Council of Emperors of
the East and West and governed the twenty-five degrees of the Rite
of Perfection. The Emperors governed what was entitled the Holy
Empire which title still survives in our present Supreme Councils,
whose Secretary is called the Secretary General H. E. (in some
countries Grand Secretary General H. E.)

We have copies of the Statutes of the Sovereign Grand Council at
this time and it appears that there were headquarters at Berlin,
Paris and Bordeaux.

There were then:

Lodges of Perfection--1d to 14d. 
Councils of Knights of the East--15d. 
Councils of Princes of Jerusalem--16d. 
Chapters of Princes Rose Croix--17d to 18d. 
Consistories of S.R.P.S.--19d to 25d.

At this time any member of the 15d could confer the lower degrees
of the Rite on Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master
Masons, and any member of the Rose Croix degree could make Masons
in a district where there was no Symbolic Lodge.

In the year 1761, Stephen Morin, who was leaving France for the
West Indies, was given a warrant by the Council of Emperors of the
East and West to propagate the Rite in America. He made several
Inspectors General in North America, one of whom, M. Hayes, had
power to appoint others and made Isaac Da Costa Deputy Inspector
General for South Carolina, who, in 1783, established a Grand Lodge
of Perfection at Charleston.

At this time the Rite still consisted of twenty-five degrees but
soon afterwards Frederick the Great became Sovereign Grand
Commander in Germany and he again reorganised the system.

German symbols, such as the Teutonic Cross and the Eagle were
introduced into many of the degrees and seven new degrees were
added making a total of thirty-two degrees. The regulations of
Frederick the Great of 1786 provided for the government of the
Order by a Supreme Council who were to be of the thirty third
degree of Sovereign Grand Inspector General.

In 1801, the Grand Lodge of Perfection at Charleston adopted the
new continental system of thirty-three degrees and a Supreme
Council was formed, this being the Mother Supreme Council of the
world. The title of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was then
taken. From this Supreme Council, a Council for France was
established in 1804 and one for Italy in 1805. In 1813, the Supreme
Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States was
formed and in 1845 the Supreme Council for England, from which
originated, in 1874, the Supreme Council for Canada.

There are now Supreme Councils in almost every civilised country,
and the Rite has spread to a tremendous extent. There are, however,
different systems for conferring the degrees in different
countries. In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States there
are Lodges of Perfection 14d, Rose Croix Chapters 18d, Councils of
Knights Kadosh 30d, and Consistories of Sublime Princes of the
Royal Secret 32d; in the Northern Jurisdiction, there are also
Councils of Princes of Jerusalem 16d, but Councils of Knights
Kadosh 30d are not held. In Canada, there are Lodges of Perfection
14d and Rose Croix Chapters 18d; also one Consistory of the
thirty-second degree for each Province.

In England, Scotland and Ireland, the system is very different;
there are Rose Croix Chapters which communicate the degrees from
the 4d to the 17d in a short form and the 18d of Sovereign Prince
Rose Croix in full. There are no Consistories in these countries
and all degrees above the 18d are conferred only by the Supreme
Council.

In the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the United States and
in Canada there are thirty-three active members of the Supreme
Council and a number of honorary members, all of whom are of the
thirty third degree.

In England there are only nine members of the Supreme Council and
the total number of members of the thirty-third degree is limited
to thirty-three. Also, under this jurisdiction the numbers are
limited in all the high degrees. Candidates for the 30d must have
been members of the Rite for at least three years and installed
Most Wise Sovereign of a Rose Croix Chapter. The number of members
of the 31d is limited to 99, and of the 32d to 63, the vacancies
being filled by selection by the Supreme Council. The Scottish and
Irish arrangements are very similar to the English in this matter.
The English Supreme Council also dropped the title "Scottish" some
years ago and the Rite is now known in that country as the "Ancient
and Accepted Rite."

In conclusion, I should point out that there is a great deal of
doubt as to the origin and early history of these degrees; during
the eighteenth century a great number of so-called High Grades
sprung up all over Europe and the origin of most of them is very
obscure. Undoubtedly, there is a connection between this Rite and
the Order of the Temple, and it is probable that the House of
Stuart, the Pretenders to the throne of England were a factor in
the case.

The true value of this Rite, as of any other, is to be found in
what it gives to its members; however obscure the history may be,
we have in the Ancient and Accepted Rite, a system of degrees whose
teaching is of the most sublime nature to be found in the Masonic
Order.

UNDERSTANDING

GOD grant me understanding,-- 
That I may put away myself and think of others; 
That those with whom I daily work may be my brothers, 
And to them from my heart show true affection. 
Thus may I bring my life to real perfection. 
GOD grant me understanding.

GOD give me understanding;--
That I may feel the sorrows others feel when most they grieve
That to my lips may come the cheery work they would receive; 
That I may give to some one hope to work out their new plan;
That I may read my dear friends' thoughts if I their faces scan.
GOD grant me understanding.

GOD give me understanding;-- 
To tune my soul in sympathy with others' joy, 
To live a life of Charity without alloy; 
To know how life is seen by those about me 
And help them know they cannot live without Thee. 
GOD give me understanding.
E. E. M.

