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CRYPTIC MASONRY
by Hugh M'Curdy
The Voice of Masonry - 1880
To Royal and Select Masters are given the
keystone in Masonry, more precious than is known by the vast
workers of the quarries; and it has been truthfully proclaimed that
to preserve and transmit our principles to those who succeed us,
in the hour of low twelve, is a sacred, bounden duty we owe to
Cryptic Masonry. Thus believing, we should often revert to the origin
of our Institution, for as has been said, it is only by digging to
the foundation and examining each stone minutely that we can
rightfully estimate what has been erected thereon. It is so with
Freemasonry. The first Grand Council which assembled at Jerusalem
was composed of Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram, King of Tyre, and
Hiram Abiff - the three Grand Masters, who, unobserved by "prying
eyes," devised the entire plan by which the temple should be erected,
how the workmen should be divided into various degrees, each class
consisting of an independent body, whereby it might be recognized by
the peculiar sign of that degree. Most happily, too, they combine
within the power of the council the alpha and the omega
of Freemasonry, thereby denominating Cryptic Masonry, by way of
pre-eminence, the summit and perfection of Ancient Craft Masonry.
Thus, in fact, the duties, the powers, the responsibilities of a
council embrace the whole range of Ancient Craft Masonry, from the
conception of the idea in the heart until the candidate is in the
full possession of our mysteries, or in our own peculiar language,
until he has passed the circle of perfection. It is in the secret
vault, securely guarded, that the illustrious companions
are required not only to search out the truth but to
determine plans and design objects for the private as well as
general good of the Craft. If, therefore, companions who
constitute this class and who have passed the circle of perfection -
who have witnessed the wisdom, strength and beauty of our principles,
would be but true to their obligations and faithful to their
requirements, what immense good could be accomplished. No
bickerings, no strife and no conflicts could ever exist in the
Masonic institution, but peace, concord and tranquility would
prevail, and the only contention in the whole Masonic family of
earth would be who can best work and who can best agree. Brotherly
love and charity would be happily blended together, and the life and
character of a gentleman, of a faithful brother and devoted
companion, would be merged m the life and purity of a consistent
Mason. With you and all illustrious companions who have entered the
secret vault rests the responsibility of confusion ever prevailing in
the lodge, chapter or council. Hence you perceive that the charge
of a Select Master is literally true when it says to each of, you
"that your obligations are increased in proportion to your
privileges; and also let it be your constant care to prove yourself
worthy of the confidence reposed in you and of the high honor
conferred on, you in admitting you among Select Masters." The
degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason were
originally Ancient Craft Masonry; while the old constitutions gave
the Master the right and authority to congregate his members into a
chapter for the purpose of conferring the Royal Arch, which
originally constituted a part of the Third degree. In elucidating the
Royal Arch it becomes necessary that other degrees should be
incorporated into the chapter for the purpose of explaining the various
parts of the temple. Hence the Mark and Most Excellent Master's degrees
were added and conferred before the Royal Arch. In process of
time it became necessary to establish a Council whose province it
should be to "account for the concealment and preservation of those
essentials of the Craft which were brought to light at the erection
of the second temple, and which lay concealed from the mystic eye
four hundred and seventy years." Hence Cryptic Masonry was
inaugurated. In different countries different systems prevail to
inculcate, enforce and teach Ancient Craft Masonry; but in this
country it is confined to the degrees of the lodge, chapter
and council. Cryptic Masonry, therefore, is contained within
the degrees of Royal and Select Masters, and are numbered eight
and nine in the York rite, although in a chronological point of view
they are the first and last degrees, hence called the alpha and omega
of Ancient Craft Masonry. They illustrate the mysteries of Masonry,
and without a full, perfect and complete knowledge of these degrees
our Masonic edifice is incomplete and unfinished; or, as has been
aptly said, "the degrees of Royal and Select Masters are
polished and perfect ashlars, marked and numbered for the
building." Delos, an island of the Cyclades, was famed in ancient
times for the number and skill of its artists, and for the
splendid temple and oracle of Apollo, raised eventually as an
asylum to his mother when she was pursued from place to place
by the implacable Juno. From this famous oracle came the fount of
inspiration, said to be a chasm from which issued the exhilarating
vapor. Over this was built the tripod of the gods from which a
populace could breathe the ascending distillations. To the inbred
Mason we need riot enlarge this illustration. The soul grows as truly
as the Mason grows - as the tree takes in the air of the universe,
aided by dew and rain, and by its mysterious chemistry transmits sap
and fiber into wood and leaf, and flower and fruit, and color
and perfume, so does the soul of the Mason drink in
living knowledge and by a divine alchemy, as patent and with
the same inherent force as that which lies hid in the germ of
the acorn. The virtuous Roman truly said, "Either let not
that which seems expedient be base, or if it be base, let it not
be expedient." If our Masonic Order were merely a thing of
yesterday; if it were local and confined to one country, or to men of
one faith; or if the number of its initiates were limited to this
or that clime, or its capacity for good or evil devoted to
selfish ends, the question of its morality and philosophy might
well be consigned to one grave. Not in vain are the winged
seeds of truth ever sown. GOD sees that they take root
somewhere and grow. The truth of all this is witnessed in the past
history of nearly 6,000 years - their pungent facts have been
figured on the breast-plate of time. When our ancient
brethren dispensed their charities under the frowns of barbarism
- when they disregarded the anathemas of kings and rulers and
gathered around common altars in fraternal relations - they gave
divine evidence that the Order would survive the mutations of time;
and if we, brothers, shall continue to emulate the virtues of these
good and faithful men, it will survive the wreck of ages yet to
come. Need I say more in honor of that Craft whose acts
shine among the brightest in the domain of "good will to
man?" Deeds of love, it may well be claimed, are the
chief employment of the angels of GOD, and into a soul
that overflows with bounty the bright-robed messengers of
faith, hope and charity constantly descend. Our faith after
death shall be swallowed up in victory; our hope consumed only
by its enjoyment, and our charity ended when we shake
off mortality in the boundless atmosphere of eternal
love.
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