From the Gates of Eternity An examination of the symbolism of The 14th Degree, Grand Elect Mason

Samuel F. Swicegood, 32°

May 1, 2018

Sam Swicegood 2

When a lodge of Grand Elect Masons opens, it is a momentous occasion. It is the continuation of a long tradition that stretches back symbolically to the time of Most Excellent

King , with traditions that have survived centuries of . When an aspirant appears, he is “seeking perfection”. We can then ask: what is meant by that? And when the token is shown—the gold ring of a Grand Elect Mason—what does it symbolize beyond just the receipt of the Sublime Degree of a Grand Elect Mason? What is meant by perfection?

The History of the Lodge of Perfection is very detailed and very well-documented.

According to Mackey’s Encyclopedia, the creation of the Lodge of Perfection was symbolically modeled after the Master of the Temple’s construction after the temple had been completed. As

King Solomon began to turn away from the One Living and True God, the Masters had to meet in secret vaults beneath the temple to perform their ceremonies and continue their search for

Light in Masonry. (Mackey 1873, 554)

The original version of the 14th Degree, Perfection, appears in the Francken Manuscript, where 39 total pages are dedicated to the ceremony. This is the degree upon which both Grand

Elect Mason in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and Perfect Elu in the Southern Jurisdiction are based. In the original form of the ritual, many of the same landmarks which appear in today’s ritual appear, showing how little has been altered since the inception of the degree. This version of the Manuscript also echoes the definition in Mackey, explaining that while symbolically the

Perfect and Sublime Degree of Perfection was meant for the Masons to undertake God’s work during the time that King Solomon continued to transgress against God, it was also a place where the Craft who were dedicated to being an example of devotion to His work might find a respite from other Masons who were “not being circumspect in their words, actions & lives” despite their Masonic obligations. (Francken 1783, 156) Sam Swicegood 3

Francken’s work was expounded upon in 1853 by Enoch T. Carson shortly after the foundation of the Ohio Consistory; Carson and Killain Van Rensselaer added a recitation of the

Ten Commandments and the explanation of the jewels and apron of the 14th degree. These culminated in the Supreme Council’s ritual in 1871 which forms the foundation of the degree still used today. (Supreme Council, 33º, AASR, NMJ 1871)

It is notable that the Lodge of Perfection uses the term Sublime in its degree. At the time of the degree’s inception, the word “Sublime” was the pass-word of a Master Mason in the

Adonhiramic Rite, because it was said to have been the surname of Hiram Abiff, in that rite called Adonhiram by name. (Clegg 1956, 983) The Adonhiramic rite is often considered to be the source of the term Giblios, through a translation error of the French Jiblime and which became the source of the anglicized Giblights of the degree’s original note, who aided Solomon and Hiram of Tyre in the construction of the temple. A variation on this term also appears in the

Francken manuscript. In it, the Aspirant has been symbolically questioned in the prior 13 degrees

(a tradition which has remained in the Northern Masonic jurisdiction). The Thrice Puissant

Master asks, “What is your name?” To which is answered, “Guibelum” alluding to the three

Masters King Solomon sent to investigate the Ninth Arch of the temple and who was Solomon’s confidant. Guibelum is also the symbolic name of the Treasurer in a lodge of Sublime and

Perfect Masons, signifying the zeal for which he guards the treasures of the Sublime and Perfect

Masters. (Francken, 140)

The Lodge of Perfection’s sublime degree of Grand Elect Masons is symbolically composed of seven: the Thrice Potent Master (the Thrice Puissant Master in the Francken

Manuscript), the Deputy Master, the Senior and Junior Warden, The Orator, The Master of

Ceremonies, and the Captain of the Guard. This follows in the the French Masonic definition of Sam Swicegood 4 the constituent members of a lodge, wherein “Three rule a lodge, because Man is constituted of body, spirit and soul…five compose it, because the soul of Man has interior and spiritual sense in analogy with those which are physical…and seven make it just and perfect, because this is the number of Harmony, the root of equity, the basis on which the social structure rests, and finally that golden rule out of which come beneficence and prudence.” (Waite 1970, 276)

What, then, is Perfection so alluded to in this degree? When one describes a perfect circle, for example, it might be easy to expect this refers to the circle being without flaw, or deviation from its design. But, in truth, this is a common use of one of the oldest definitions of the word, derived from the Latin perfectus, meaning “Ideal, complete, and whole.” (Lewis 1879).

In this, the Masonic aspirants are not seeking to be perfect in relation to the removal of their flaws, but instead to be the ideal—the example for mankind. In the previously referenced French

Masonic definition, for example, perfect is in reference to an ideal lodge; one that is complete and can transact business and perform work.

This perfection is represented in the gold Grand Elect Mason’s ring, which in the

Francken manuscript is described as a “perfect band of gold”. Here, again, the ring is described as “perfect” to allude to its completeness and wholeness (as opposed to a ring made of lesser mixed metals) and that the man wearing it should seek to be as ideal, complete, and whole as the ring itself. Gold, in this degree, is consistently representative of the secrets of the Masters of a

Lodge of Grand Elect Masons; it makes sense, therefore, that the simple band of gold is a representation of that perfect circle, composed of those secrets, as a constant reminder of the duties of a Grand Elect Mason to be ideal, whole, and complete in his dealings with all mankind.

The standardization of the Grand Elect Mason’s Ring occurred on September 16, 1903, in

Boston, MA when the Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted , NMJ, passed a Sam Swicegood 5 resolution that “that the 14º ring is a plain, flat band of gold five-sixteenths of an inch in width, having engraved or enameled on the outside thereof an equilateral triangle, and within the same

and engraved within the ring the motto of the ,(י) the first letter of the Ineffable Name in Hebrew degree, ‘Whom virtue unites, death cannot separate,’ in such language as may be selected.”

(Supreme Council, 33º, AASR NMJ 1903). The design of the ring, it is noted, bears a great resemblance to the Signet of Truth which is particularly important to the degrees of . In the book of Haggai, God tells Zerubbabel that he shall destroy the kingdoms of heathens. “On that day,” the Lord tells Zerubbabel, “will I take thee …and I will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee.” (Hg. 2:23) The physical representation of that signet appears in several

Masonic sources, such as Mackey’s Revised, as a delta of brass featuring the Tetragrammaton or the letter Yod upon a band of gold. (Clegg, 944). This first appears in Cross’ Chart, an early 19th- century monitor for Craft and American York Rite degrees. (Cross 1825, 45-46) In this chart, the setup and symbolism of the Royal Arch degree is strikingly similar to the engraving depicting a lodge of Sublime and Perfect Masters in Francken’s manuscript. This makes sense since both dgerees are based on the same symbolic journey despite taking place in different time periods.

Zerubbabel, the signet of God, is integral in understanding not only God’s plan for the resconstruction of the temple, but also in understanding perfection as it applies mathematically.

In the book of Ezra, King Cyrus delcares “Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits…” (Ez 6:3) This numerical representation of the temple’s dimensions (sixty by sixty) is certainly not by accident; the number sixty is “the number of perfection” in Babylonian mysticism and numerology as analyzed by Michael Chutyin in

Architecture and Utopia in the Temple Era. (Chyutin 2006, 60). In this form, the word perfect Sam Swicegood 6 again refers to wholeness and completeness—so by building this temple with these specified dimensions the new Temple is seen as spiritually and physically complete as a resting place for the One Living and True God.

From these symbols, numbers, and names comes the story which unfolds the setting of the 14th Degree. Beneath the Sanctum Santorum the perfect and ineffible name of God is placed.

Symbolically, the sacred vault is the same sacred vault beneath the ninth arch where, according to Francken, King Solomon and Hiram of Tyre created the new passwords, signs, and tokens of the Craft degrees, having noted that with the death of Hiram Abiff the old ones were useless.

Here, too, they placed the golden delta bearing the Ineffible Name as inscribed by Hiram Abiff during the execution of his duties. (Francken, 157)

In a more memetic view, the Sacred Vault is also symbolically a single place regardless of its physical location. Much as a Lodge extends from the Earth to heaven and the surface to the center, the Sacred Vault is not a physical location but a state of mind for those seeking the wholeness and completion of the Perfect Degree. It could, therefore, be alluded that all Perfect and Sublime Masons have all visited the same vault, and saught the same light in Masonry there.

This is alluded to later in the Rose Croix degrees, where the physical temples have dissolved and the new temple of God is within the soul of man.

As memorable as the presentation and design of the ring is to the mind of a Grand Elect

Mason, one would be remiss not to include the funerary service of the Ancient Accepted Scottish

Rite as part of the degree. Described as “The last ceremony associated” with the ring, this ceremony completes the circle of perfection by allowing the deceased brother to, through the passing of the ring to another, stand as an ideal and complete Mason, whose covenant with God and Masons has been satisfied. Sam Swicegood 7

The importance of this ceremony is very great, as is the act of passing the ring on to a loved one. In 1871, the Thrice Potent Master of the Gibulum Lodge of Perfection paid, at the family’s request, to have a Scottish Rite Mason’s remains exhumed to retrieve the ring and present the same to the Mason’s eldest son. This ring was accompanied by a letter explaining the importance of the ring. In part, this letter reads:

Mister Charles Bigler…in pursuance with an ancient custom, we present to you,

the son of our departed brother, Dr. Geo. W. Bigler, this golden ring, which he became

entitles to wear when invested with the Sublime degree of perfection in this Lodge on the

166th of December, 1869. …

It implies the sacred power of purity and truth. It implies that when your father

became one of our chosen members, and took sweet counsel with us around a common

altar, his character has stood well at the highest moral test; that he was found worthy of a

union and fellowship, which aim to be pure and noble; and that he became joined to us,

heart to heart, in a perpetual bond.

(Rosenfield 2014)

This expresses in its simplicity the aim of the Scottish Rite ring ceremony, which exists to complete the bond presented in the Sublime Degree. It is a chain of sincere affection that unites Grand Elect Masons.

When examining the degree from a larger perspective, it is therefore both a beginning and an end. It is the ultimate degree of the Lodge of Perfection, but it is also represented in the end of a Scottish Rite Masons’ life, bringing the ritual and the ceremonies of the Sublime Degree Sam Swicegood 8 of Perfection back to their roots, in the moment that a perfect band of gold was placed in an aspirant’s hand and a promise there was made to meet the wholesome and complete ideals of the degree witnessed. This is why, for example, the degree of Perfection focuses so greatly on the moral and spiritual essence of a man who seeks perfection. It is why he is questioned as to his qualities and his desires to be good to his fellow men, even if those questions are answered silently to God. In essence, what is being done is an assurance that the path toward perfection has already been tread. By symbolically answering to the examination of the Thrice Potent Master, the aspirant is tracing a circle back to the degrees of Masonry which has expressed object lessons about self-betterment and self-reflection.

This leads to the final symbolism of perfection. In the degree, the aspirants form a chain around the altar, and in that chain they are made Grand Elect Masons. There, they make a

Covenant with God and receive a ring as a token to commemorate that moment; but it is more than just a souvenir of the event; it is a bond with every Perfect Elu and Grand Elect Mason who has received that ceremony and stood in that circle. It is a chain, not unlike the chain of lineage that a Master Mason traces through his Raising and the tradition of the Masonic Father or

Grandfather. In this covenant, symbolized by the ring of gold, is the idea of unity. “Whom Virtue

Unites,” the ring reads—and it is not just the ceremony of the 14th Degree that unites these brothers. It is that shared virtue and devotion. It is the fulfillment of those Scottish Rite Values that unites these brothers in an indissoluble bond of brotherly love and friendship. The ring represents the aspirant, now made a Grand Elect Mason. It represents the Thrice Potent Master and all Thrice Potent Masters who came before him. It represents any brother who made the sacred covenant with God in that Secret Vault. Sam Swicegood 9

All throughout the Lodge of Perfection degrees, both in their original and current form, the candidates learn aspects of God and his plan for mankind. God is presented as more of a creator than a director in these degrees; the few times the voice or commands of God are presented plainly or communicated openly, they are to make a man better or to give him the opportunity to rise from his sins and repent.

The Degree of Perfection, then, is the pinnacle of that journey through repentance, when the past vulgarities and imperfections of man may reach a turning point, and push him further onward toward an ideal life, in the service to the Almighty Father. Before receiving the Degree of perfection, the Thrice Potent Master asks the candidates “certain searching questions”. What is striking here is that the candidate not only need not answer aloud, but he not even need have answered them well: the Thrice Potent Master asks if the candidate has done certain wrongful or distasteful deeds, and if so, asks if the candidate will strive to not do those things in the future.

By making that promise—to improve one’s self—is the choice to be a Perfect Mason.

Therein, most explicitly, is the idea of Perfection. What is Perfection? It is simply this: the desire to strive toward an example for others to follow. In the beginning, Perfect Masons represented those who wished to truly act as Masons when their brothers had faltered; as it expanded, it covered the ideas on man walking upright in the world as a covenant with God; and finally, as it is today, the Degree of perfect is a reminder of that divine covenant made as a promise to do better and strive to be worthy of the title and honors therein bestowed.

The ring represents an unbroken chain and an ideal. That chain is indeed a perfect one— complete, and whole, and unbroken, even by the power of death. No power this side of heaven can break that bond, and so it will remain unbroken and perfect from the immemorial period in which it was formed, until the dust of all Grand Elect Masons shall one day return to the earth Sam Swicegood 10 and they walk no more. That history, symbolism, and countless combined experiences become one single indissoluble chain, which stands to be the ideal which any Mason should hope to emulate. In truth, this ring and this chain of brethren embodies perfection in its simplicity, that when we have passed beyond this mortal coil we can find that this chain still does not dissolve, linking the imperfect world of man and that all-perfect, complete, and ideal place where God, in his glory, dwells. Sam Swicegood 11

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