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The
Grade of
Perfect Elect Mason
Eric Serejski, 32° and S. Brent Morris, 33°
TRANSLATORS'
NOTE: Les Plus Secrets Mystères des Hauts Grades de la Maçonnerie
Dévoilé [The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades
of Masonry Unveiled], edited by M. de Bérage, was an exposé
published in 1766 and was the first printed book to give the rituals
of the hauts grades, or "high degrees," of Masonry. It
may be the most important book for understanding the origins of
the degrees of the Scottish Rite from the many rival hauts grades
in France in the eighteenth century. We present here, with little
comment, the "First Degree of Masonry," Parfait Maçon
Elu [Perfect Elect Mason], and the "History of the Origin of
Masonry." The analysis of this degree is helpful in appreciating
the origins of themes, characters, and words that ultimately found
their way into the Scottish Rite. The History shows the influence
that Ramsay's Oration had on French Masonry in just twenty-nine
years.
It
should be emphasized that the ceremonies are not those of the present
day Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. They are the alleged practices
of hauts grades Masons in France in 1766. We have taken no account
of the enormous changes, both organizational and ceremonial, that
occurred as the hauts grades eventually coalesced into their modern
form in 1801 in Charleston.
Les
Plus Secrets Mystères has the rituals for seven degrees which
match very roughly with more developed ceremonies in the Scottish
Rite: Perfect Elect Mason, Elect of Perignan, and Elect of Fifteen,
corresponding to the 9°, 10°, and 11°; Little Archi--tect,
and Grand Architect, corresponding to the 12°; Knight of the
Sword and of the Rose Croix, corresponding to the 15° and 16°;
and Noachite or Prussian Knight corresponding to the 21°.
There
is indeed little honor among thieves (or exposers), as Bérage's
text has been plagiarized in many different rituals and exposés.
Two examples demon-strate its pervasiveness. In 1781 Louis Guillemain
de Saint-Victor published Recueil Précieux de la Maçonnerie
Adonhiramite [Precious Compendium of Adon-hiramite Masonry], which
was a copy of Les Plus Secrets Mystères with just a few addi--tions.
Light on Masonry was an exposé published by David Bernard
in 1829 fol-low-ing the Morgan affair. In addition to the degrees
of the York and Scottish Rites, Bernard included seven "French
Degrees" which he explained "are conferred in France and
in this country as honorary degrees." Bernard's degree of Elu
de Perignan includes verbatim portions of Bérage's Perfect
Elect Mason.
Our
translation of Les Plus Secrets Mystères is based on the
1981 reprint by Gutenberg Reprints of Paris and is not verbatim,
as the original French is convo-luted and often difficult to understand.
Our goal has been readability while being faith-ful, but not slavish,
to the original. The clauses in some sentences have been rearranged,
lengthy sentences have been split into two or more shorter ones,
and long paragraphs have been broken up, especially when speakers
change. We have tried to note those places where the original text
is unclear or ambiguous to us.
HISTORY OF
THE ORIGIN OF MASONRY
This order
was instituted in Palestine by Godfrey de Bouillon in 1330 after
the decline of the Christian armies. It was communicated some time
later to the Free-masons, and only to a very small number, in reward
for the kind services they rendered to a few of our English and
Scottish knights. From this true Masonry is drawn. Their mother
lodge is situated on Mount Heredom where the first lodge was held
in Europe, and which still exists in all its splendor. The General
Council is always held there, and it is the seat of the presiding
Sovereign Grand Master. This mountain is situated between the East
and North of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinburgh.
There are other
secrets in Masonry which were never known by the French, and which
have no relationship to Apprentices, Fellows, and Masters. These
grades were made for common masons and were published under the
title of Betrayed Masons and others. These higher grades develop
the true goal for which Masonry was created, the true secrets of
which have never been known. They are nothing less than what follows.
The Saracens captured the Holy Places, otherwise called Palestine,
where all the mysteries of our august order happened, and put them
to the most profane uses. The Christians joined together to conquer
that beautiful country and to drive these barbarians away from such
a respectable land.
They succeeded
in entering these places with the help of the numerous armies that
all the Christian princes had sent and which had taken the name
of crusaders of the Holy War. Because of the considerable losses
they suffered, they were obliged to live and remain mingled among
these sects. This caused daily disputes, which ended tragically
for the faithful crusaders. The fury of these barbarians was even
taken so far, that at the mention of the name Christian, they slaughtered
anyone they felt like.
This was what
determined Godfrey de Bouillon, their ruler towards the end of the
third century, to hide and cover the mysteries of religion under
the figures which are traced in the prints attached. These emblems
and allegories were carefully engraved with the most scrupulous
attention. It was this motive that led the zealous Christians to
choose the Temple of Solomon, which has so much connection with
the Christian church. That holy edifice, so superb, is truly the
emblem and symbol of the Church. It was for this reason that the
Christians hid the mystery of building the church under that of
constructing the Temple. They gave themselves the name of Masons-architects
or builders-since they were dealing with the building of the faith.
They made a painting similar to the frontis-piece [see Figure 1,
page 64] and gathered under the pretext of studying the archi-tectural
plans in order to follow the Christian religion, by all the emblems
and allegories that Masonry was able to furnish, and to protect
their lives from the cruelty of the Saracens.
Since the mysteries
of Masonry were, and still are, in their principles noth-ing more
than those of the Christian religion, one was extremely scrupulous
to entrust these important secrets only to those whose discretion
was tested and of whom one was sure. This is why grades were made-to
test those to whom they would be given. They were at first given
only the symbolic secret of Hiram, upon which all the mystery of
blue masonry is built, as much for the Entered Appren-tice and Fellowcraft,
as for the Master Mason. This is in truth the only secret known
to the public, and only consists in the word mac-benac, which has
no relation to true masonry.
Fearing treachery,
nothing else was explained to them. They only received those degrees
as a means of recognition among themselves, because of the con-fu-sion
in being among the barbarians. To have this more efficiently successful,
it was resolved that different signs, words, and marks for each
grade would be used. This was not only to distinguish them from
the uninitiated Saracens, but also to mark the different grades.
The number of grades was fixed at seven, because of the example
of the Great Architect who built the universe in six days and rested
the seventh, and because of the seven years of the construction
of King Solomon's Temple. This was chosen as the symbolic base of
Masonry, under the name of Hiram, the mastery of which only gives
a false explanation; the true secret
is only unveiled in this work.
*
* *
This excerpt is from Heredom, the
transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society
Volume I, Year 1992
©1992-2002, Scottish Rite Research Society
All Rights Reserved
Scottish Rite Research Society
1733 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009-3103
202-232-3579 voice, 202-383-1847 fax
srrs@srmason-sj.org, www.srmason-sj.org
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