Mark
Masonry
R.
E. TREBILCOCK
RITUAL
OF THE MARK MASTER DEGREE
The
degree of Mark Master has continued with as few changes as any Masonic degree
of which we have knowledge. It is
impossible for anyone to specify accurately what the ritual consisted of
previous to 1797, but in that year, Thomas Smith Webb issued the first complete
Masonic Monitor which included the Capitular degrees.
We have before us, as we write,
this edition of Webb; in it he says of the degree:
The first section explains the manner of
convocating and opening a Mark Master Lodge.
It teaches the duties of the respective officers, and recapitulates the
mystic ceremony of introducing a candidate.
In this section is exemplified the regularity and good order that was
observed by the craftsmen on Mount Libanus, and in the plains and quarries of
Zeredathah, and ends with a beautiful display of the manner by which one of the
principal events took place.
In the second section, the Mark Master
Mason is particularly instructed in the history of this degree, and the
increased obligation he is under to stretch forth his assisting hand to the
relief of an indigent and worthy brother.
The distinguishing marks and
characteristics are also explained and illustrated in this section. In the course of the lecture the following
texts of Scripture are recited, viz.:
