Various passages of scripture are made use of in the ceremonies, as 2 Thess. iii. 6-17. Isaiah xlii. 16. Exodus iii. 1-6. Chron. xxxvi. 11-20. Ezra i. 1-3. Exodus iii. 13, 14. Psalm cxli. cxlii. cxliii. Exodus iv. 1-10. Haggai ii. 1-9-23. Zech. iv. 6-10. John i. Deut. xxxi. 24-26. Exodus xxv. 21, xxvi. 32-34, vi. 2, 3. Num. xvii. 10. Heb. ix. 2-5. Amos ix. 11.
The very principles of the institution of arch masonry can notfail to arrest our attention, and call forth our active powers in the contemplation of a field so exten sive, and a superstructure so exalted. Indeed, knowing from experience the truth of this assertion, I can add without hesitation, that it is one of the most sublime, august, and beautiful systems with which the world has ever been enriched. And as it comprehends in itself many important particulars, with which the master ma son is totally unacquainted, and without which, as we have before observed, the masonic character cannot be complete, it certainly claims the attention of every member of the institution.
Agreeably to the constitution of the general grand chapter of the northern states, every chapter has the power of conferring intermediate degrees, except those of apprentice, fellow craft, and master, which are re served exclusively for the blue lodges. The mark master, past master, and most excellent master, are considered as preparatory degrees to the arch. The grand lodge of Pennsylvania, ever mindful of preserv ing ancient masonry in its pristine beauty, and with intelligence and zeal in establishing the tenets and de sign of our order upon a permanent foundation, do not consider the past master as a degree, nor do they ac knowledge the mark and the most excellent master as appertaining, in the way they have generally been con sidered, to primitive masonry. There are indeed many supposed degrees of masonry, but which, it appears, have been established about the time of the crusades; such, for instance, as the knights templars, knights hospitallcrs, Ste.
The late J. B. Smith, Esq. R. W. past grand master, and most excellent high priest of the holy royal arch chapter No. 3, to which the writer has the honor to be long, sheaved me a letter from Lawrence Dermott, Esq.
grand secretary of the R. W. grand lodge of England, in which he explicitly declares, that ancient masonry contains only four degrees. The passing the chair, and in some chapters the conferring of the royal master, &c. are preparatory to the exaltation to the degree of R. A. mason. Having had the honor of presiding as worshipful master in lodge No. 2, and having an oppor tunity of investigating the truth of these assertions, we consider them perfectly correct.
To conclude this part of this article, we beg permis sion to introduce the following particulars relative to king Solomon's temple, as given by Webb, which can not be uninteresting to a royal arch mason.
This famous fabric was situated on Mount Moriah, near the place where Abraham was about to offer up his son Isaac, and where David met and appeased the destroying angel. It was begun in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon; the third after the death of Da vid ; four hundred and eighty years after the passage of the Red Sea, and on the second day of the moan Zif, being the second month of the sacred year, which an swers to the 21st of April, in the year of the world 2992, and was carried on with such prodigious speed, that it was finished, in all its parts, in little more than seven years. By the masonic art, and the wise regu lations of Solomon, every part of the building, whether of stone, brick, timber, or metal, was wrought and pre pared before they were brought to Jerusalem ; so that the only tools made use of in erecting the fabric were wooden instruments prepared for that purpose. The noise of the ax, the hammer, and every other tool of metal, r'as confined to the forests of Lebanon, where the timber was procured ; and to mount Libanus, and the plains and quarries of Zeredathah, where the stones were raised, squared, marked, and numbered ; that no thing might be heard among the masons at Jerusalem, but harmony and peace.
In the year of the world 3029, king Solomon died, and was succeeded by his son Rehoboam, who, imme diately after the death of his father, went down to She chem, where the chiefs of the people were met together to proclaim him king.