MILITIA.
In Medieval Latin, this word signifies Chivalry or the Body of Knighthood. Hence Militia Templi, a title sometimes given to Knights Templar, does not signify, as it has sometimes been improperly translated, the Army of the Temple, but the Chivalry of the Temple.
MILLIN DE GRAND MAISON, A. L.
Born, 1759; died, 1818. Founder of the Magasin Encyclopedique. He was a Freemason under the Rite Ecossais, and also belonged to the Mere Loge, or Mother Lodge, of the Rite Ecossais Philosophique.
MINERVAL.
The Third Degree of the Illuminati of Bavaria.
MINISTER OF STATE.
An officer in the Supreme Councils, Grand Consistories, and some of the advanced degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
MINNESOTA.
A petition to the Grand Master of Ohio for authority to open a Lodge was signed on July 16, 1849, by several Brethren in St. Paul. On August 8, a Dispensation was forwarded to them. The Lodge was instituted on September 8, and the Grand Lodge of Ohio granted a Charter dated October 22, 1852. It was constituted as Saint Paul Lodge No. 223, on February 7, 1853. Representatives from Saint John's Lodge, No. 39, of Wisconsin; Cataract Lodge, No. 191, of Illinois, and Saint Paul Lodge, No. 223, of Ohio, met on February 23, 1853, in the hall of Saint Paul Lodge. On the following dav Brother A. E. Ames was elected Grand Master and the Grand Lodge of Minnesota was duly constituted.
A Chapter at St. Paul was organized inJuly,1853, by Royal Arch Masons who met in the office of Companion G. L. Becker. A petition was carried by Companion Pierson 400 miles to the nearest Chapter at Dubuque, Iowa, for the necessary approval and a Charter was granted at the Triennial Convocation of the General Grand Chapter on September 11, 1856. Two other Chapters were chartered in Minnesota before the Grand Chapter was constituted, namely,
verrnillion No- 2, and St. Anthony Falls, No. 3. The three chapters held a Convention in St. Paul, by authority of Companion Albert G. Mackey, General Grand High Priest, to arrange for the organization of a Grand Chapter of Minnesota. Companion A. T. C. Pierson was elected Grand High Priest and Companion Ames, Grand Secretary.
Saint Paul Council, No. 11, was chartered at St. Paul October 21, 1869, by the Grand Council of Iowa; which also granted Charters to two others in the following year. These three Couneils met on December 12, 1870, and formed a Grand Council for Minnesotan
The first Commandery in the State was Damascus, No. 1, at St. Paul, organized by Dispensation July 8, 1856, and chartered September 10, 1856. A Grand Commandery was constituted on October 23, 1865, with four subordinate Commanderies, namely, Damascus, N90. 1; Zion, No. 2; Coeur de Lion, No. 3, and Mankato, No. 4.
The Carmel Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was chartered on April 21, 1873; the Saint Paul Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1, on July 3, 1869; the De Molay Council of Kadosh, No. 1, in April, 1875, and the Minnesota Consistory, No. 1, on April 23, 1873.
MINOR.
The Fifth Degree of the German Rose Croix.
MINOR ILLUMINATE.
The Latin title is Il- luminatus Minor. The Fourth Degree of the Illuminati of Bavaria.
MINUTE-BOOK.
The records of a Lodge are kept by the Secretary in a journal, which is called the Minute-Book. The French call it Planche traced and the Minutes a Morceau d 'Architecture.
MINUTES.
The records of a Lodge are called its Minutes. The Minutes of the proceedings of the Lodge should always be read just before closing, that any alterations or amendments may be proposed by the Brethren; and again immediately after opening at the next Communication, that they may be confirmed. But the Minutes of a Regular Communication are not to be read at a succeeding extra one, because, as the proceedings of a Regular Communication cannot be discussed at an extra, it would be unnecessary to read them, for, if incorrect they could not be amended until the next Regular Communication.
MISCHCHAN, MISCHAPHERETH, MISCHTAI.
Hebrew words, Tent of Testimony; Tent of Restival (see Twenty-fourth Degree of the Scottish Rite). The word s has reference to the Thirtieth Degree.
MISCONDUCT.
The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England provides that "if any Brother behave in such a manner as to disturb the harmony of the Lodge, he shall be thrice formally admonished by the Master; and if he persist in his irregular conduct, he shall be punished according to the by-laws of that particular Lodge, or the case may be reported to higher Masonic authority." A similar rule prevails wherever Freemasonry exists. Every Lodge may exercise instant discipline over any member or visitor who violates the rules of order and propriety, or disturbs the harmony of the Lodge, by extrusion from the room.
MISERABLE SCALD MASONS.
See Scald Miserables.
MISHNA.
See Talmud.
MISSISSIPPI.
Harmony Lodge, No. 7, was chartered at Natchez, October 16, 1801, by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. On August 30, 1814, it surrendered its Charter but received a new Dispensation August 30, 1815. During the following year it was chartered as No. 33. The first Worshipful Master was Seth Lewis, Chief Justice of Mississippi Territory in 1800. A Convention consisting of Masters, Wardens and Past Masters of Harmony Lodge, No. 33; Andrew Jackson Lodge, No. 15, and Washington Lodge, No. 17, was held at Natchez on July 27, 1818, and organized a Grand Lodge.
A Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was instituted at Natchez in 1816, attached to Harmony Lodge and working under its Warrant. It was called the Natchez Royal Arch Chapter. Other Chapters, namely, Clinton, Vicksburg, Colurnbus, Jackson, Wilson, Carrollton, No. 7, and Yazoo, No. 8, were soon formed. On March 12, 1846, the Deputy General Grand High Priest gave permission to form a Grand Chapter for Mississippi, which was duly organized on May 18, 1846.
On one of his journeys, Companion Jeremy L. Cross conferred the Select Degree at Natchez and sent a Council Charter on March 15, 1817, but there is no proof that this Council was ever organized. In the same place, John Barker established a Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem in 1829, which assumed control of the Royal and Select Masters Degrees. Seven Councils were then organized and met and formed a Grand Council on January 19, 1856. Several Councils had surrendered their Charters and others had ceased work when the Grand Council adopted a system in 1877 called the Mississippi Plan, by which each Royal Arch Chapter was to open a Council of Royal and Select Masters to work under its Charter. The Grand Council was then dissolved. On September 16, 1853, the General Grand Chapter resolved that it had no jurisdiction over the Degrees of Royal and Select Master. In February, 1888, the Grand Council of Mississippi met again and decided that it was illegal for Chapters to work the Degrees. Six Councils were represented at this session and it included six of the officers elected in 1877.
The Mississippi Commandery, No. 1, was organized at Jackson by Dispensation issued July 5, 1844, and was granted a Charter September 12, 1844. When the Grand Commandery of Mississippi was formed, the subordinate Commanderies were Mississippi, No. 1; Magnolia, No. 2, and Lexington, No. 3.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was first established at Meridian on October 20, 1897, when the following four bodies were established: Meridian, No. 1, Lodge of Perfection; Mississippi, No. 1, Chapter of Rose Croix; Mississippi, No. 1, Council of Kadosh; Mississippi, No. 1, Consistory.
MISSOURI.
Through the kind co-operation of Brothers Ray V. Denslow, I)r. William F. Kuhn, and Dr. J. E. Burnet Buckenham (see also page 25, Proceedings, 1922, Grand Lodge of Missouri), a number of important changes have been made in the details given in the Introduction to the Reprint of Grand Lodge Records, Early History of Freemasonry in Missouri, by Brother George F. Gouley, the Centennial History by Dr. William F. Kuhn, and the historical report submitted to the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1908 by, Brothers A. M. Hough, W. F. Johnson, and A. S. Houston.
From latest information we find that the first Masonic Lodge established in what is now the State of Missouri, came into existence in the Town of St. Genevieve, Territony of Louisiana, by authority of a "Warrant for holding a Lodge" granted onJuly 17, 1807, by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to Brother Dr. Aaron Eliot (Elliott), Worshipful Master; Brother Andrew Henry, Senior Warden, and Brother George Bullitt, Junior Warden. Brother James Edgar, Worshipful Master, Western Star Lodge No. 107, at Easkaskia, Indian Territory, was suggested by the petitioners to constitute the new Lodge, Louisiana, No. 109, and this was done on November 14, 1807 (see pages 285 and 350, vol. ii, Reprint of Minutes, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania). A petition for a Warrant to hold Lodge at St. Louis came before the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on September 15, 1808, stud this Lodge, No. 111, was constituted on November 8, 1808 (see pages 354 and 390, vol. ii, Reprint of Minutes, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania).
This Lodge was constituted by Judge Otho Shrader, the principal officers being General Meriwether Lewis, Worshipful Master, Governor of the Territory of Louisiana and famous for his participation in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (which see); Brother Thomas F. Riddick, Senior Warden, Missouri's first Grand Master, and Brother Rufus Easton, the first Postmaster of Missouri. From the historical report of November 26, 1908, to the Grand Lodge of Missouri, we learn that the Grand Lodge of Tennessee granted Charters to the following Lodges in the Territory: Missouri Lodge No. 12, St. Louis, October 8, 1816; I lkton Lodge No. 24, Elkton, October 3, 1819; Joachim Lodge No. 25, Herculaneum, October 5, 1819, and St. Charles, October 5, 1819. Brother Denslow (page 247, Te77iX1 Masonry) lists Potosi Lodge No. 39, as chartered in 1816 by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and Unity Lodge as working under Dispensation, from the Grand Master of Indiana, issued December 21, 1820. Potosi Lodge continued a couple of years only and Unity Lodge beeame No. 6 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. February 22, 1821, representatives from Missouri Lodge No. 14'; Joachim Lodge, No. 2O, and St. Charles Lodge, No. 28, met in the Lodgeroom of Missouri Lodge and proceeded to organize a Grand Lodge for the State of Missouri.
A committee was appointed to draft a Constitution for the government of the Grand Lodge and this original document is still in the custody of the Grand Secretary of Missouri. The Convention met again and received the above report on April 21, 1821, on April 24 the officers were elected, and their were installed on May 4.
A Dispensation was issued on April 3, 1819, by the General Grand High Priest, and, by a Warrant issued at the sixth Convocation of the General Grand Chapter on September 16, 1826, Missouri Chapter, No. 1, duly began work. Delegates from Missouri Chapter, No. 1; Palmyra, No. 2; La Fayette, No. 5, and Booneville, No. 6, were present at a Convention held in St. Louis October 16, 1846, and organized a Grand Chapter. After an inquiry into the circumstances of its organization about which there was some irregularity the General Grand Chapter duly recognized its existence.
Companion Anthony O'Sullivan states that the Select Degree was conferred in Missouri in 1818 by someone with powers from Companion Jeremy L. Cross. It has also been said that a Baptist preacher as early as 1828 introduced the Roval Degree. In 1841, however, according to the records of the transactions of the Grand Council, three Councils were in existence in Missouri, of which the first was probably St. Louis, No. 7, chartered in 1857 by the Grand Council of Illinois as No. 1. On July 17, 1883, it united with Hiram Council, No. 10, as Hiram Council No. 1. In 1854 the Grand Chapter withdrew the authority by which, in Independence, the Council Degrees were worked in Chapter subsequent to the Royal Arch. On May 21, 1864, a Grand Council was organized.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was first established in St. Louis. A Lodge of Perfection opened as St. Louis, No. 1, a Chapter of Rose Croix of the same name, a Council of Kadosh and a Consistory, both as Missouri, No. 1, were respectively granted Charters on April 23, 1881; June 30, 1883; May 24, 1884, and October 24, 1884, under the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction.
MlSTLETOE.
The Latin term is Viscum Album. A sacred plant among the Druids. It was to them a symbol of immortality, and hence an analogue of the Masonic Acacia. "The mistletoe," says Vallancev, in his Grammar of the IrishLanguape, "was sacred to the Druids, because not only its berries but its leaves also grow in clusters of three united to one stocky
The Christian Irish hold the shamrock—clover, trefoil— sacred, in like manner, because of the three leaves united to one stalk." In Scandinanan countries it iB called Mistel. It is a parasitic evergreen plant bearing a glutinous fruit. It was from a fragment of this plant that the dart was made which cost the life of Balder, according to the Scandinavian Mysteries (see Balder). The Mistletoe, to the Scandavian, is the coincident symbol of the acacia to the Freemason, the ivy to those of the Mysteries of Dionysius, the myrtle to those of Ceres, the erica or heath to those of the Osirian the lettuce to those of the Adonisian, and the lotus or water-lily to those of India and Egypt. The Mistletoe that caused the death of Balder was deemed sacred as the representative of the number three. The berries and leaves of the plant or vine groat in clusters of three united on one stalk. It was profanation to touch it. It was gathered with ceremony, and then consecrated, when it was reputed to possess every sanative virtue, and denominated All Heal.
MITCHELL, JAMES W. S.
A Masonic writer and journalist, was born in the State of Kentucky, in the year 1800. He was initiated into Freemasonry in Owen Lodge, at Port William, now Carrollton, Kentucky, in the year 1821. He subsequently removed to the State of Missouri, where he took a prominent position in the Masonic Fraternity, and held the offices of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, Grand High Pnest of the Grand Chapter, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar. In 1848 he established, in the City of St. Louis, a onthly journal entitled the Masonic Signet and Library Mirror, which he removed to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1852, where it lasted for a short time, and ten was discontinued for want of patronage.
In 1858 he published The History of Freemasonry and Masonic digest, in two volumes octavo. Brother Mitchell was warm-hearted and devoted Freemason, but, unortunately for his reputation as an author, not an accomplished scholar, hence his style is deficient, not only in elegance, but even in grammatical purity. His latural eapacity, however, was good, and his argunents as a controversialist were always trenchant, if he language was not polished. As a Masonic jurist his decisions have been considered generally, but by no means universally, correct. His opinions were sometimes eccentric, and his History possesses much less value than such a work should have, in consequence of its numerous inaccuracies, and the adoption by its author of all the extravagant views of earlier writers on the origin of Freemasonry. He died at Griffin, Georgia, November 12, 1873, having been for many years a great sufferer from illness.
MITER.
The head-covering of the High Priest of the Jews was called metznephet, which, coming from the verb naphat, to rod around, signified something rolled around the head, a turban; and this was really the form of the Jewish miter. It is described by Leusden, in his Philologus Hebroeo-Mixtus, as being made of dark linen twisted in many folds around the head. Many writers contend that the miter was peculiar to the high priest; but Josephus and the Mishna assert that it was worn by all the priests, that of the High Priest being disting ushed from the rest by the golden band, or holy crown, which was attached to its lower rim and fastened around the forehead, and on which was inscribed the words Kadosh L' Yehovah, Holiness to Jehovah, or, as it is commonly translated, Holiness to the Lord. The miter is worn by the High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter, because he represents the Jewish high priest; but the form is inaccurate. The vestment, as usually made, is a representation rather of the modern Episcopal than of the Jewish miter. The modern miter— which is but an imitation of the Phrygian cap, and peculiar to Bishops of the Christian Church, and which should therefore be worn by the Prelate of a Commandery of Knights Templar, who is supposed to hold Episcopal rank—differs in form from the Jewish vestment. It is a conical cap, divided in the middle so as to come to two points or horns, one in front and one behind, which, Durandus says, are symbolic of the two laws of the Old and New Testament.
MITHRAS, MYSTERIES OF.
There are none of the Ancient Mysteries which afford a more interesting subject of investigation to the Masonic scholar than those of the Persian god Mithras. Instituted, as it is supposed, by Zeradusht or Zoroaster, as an initiation into the principles of the religion which he had founded among the ancient Persians, they in time extended into Europe, and lasted so long that traces of them have been found in the fourth century. "With their penances," says C. W. King (Gnostics and Their Remains, page 47), "and tests of the courage of the candidate for admission, they have been maintained by a constant tradition through the secret societies of
the Middle Ages and the Rosicrucians down to the modern faint reflex of the latter—the Freemasons."
Of the identity of Mithras with other deities there have been various opinions. Herodotus says he was the Assyrian Venus and the Arabian Alitta; Porphyry calls him the Demiurgos, and Lord of Generation; the Greeks identified him with Phoebus; and Godfrey Higgins supposed that he was generally considered the same as Osiris. But to the Persians, who first practiced his mysteries, he was a sun god, and worshiped as the God of Light. He was represented as a young man covered with a Phrygian turban, and clothed in a mantle and tunic He presses with his knee upon a bull, one of whose horns he holds in his left hand, while with the right he plunges a dagger into its neck, while a dog standing near laps up the dripping blood. This symbol has been interpreted: The piercing the throat with his dagger signifies the penetration of the solar rays into the bosom of the earth, by which action all nature is nourished; the last idea being expressed by the dog licking up the blood as it flows from the wound. But it will be seen hereafter that this last symbol admits of another interpretation
The mysteries of Mithras were always celebrated in caves. They were divided into seven stages or Degrees, Suidas says twelve, and consisted of the most rigorous proofs of fortitude and courage. Nonnus, the Greek poet, says in his Dionysiaca that these proofs were eighty in number, gradually increasing in severity. No one, says Gregory Nazianzen, could be initiated into the mysteries of Mithras unless he had passed through all the trials, and proved himself passionless and pure.
The aspirant at first underwent the purifications bv water, by fire, and by fasting; after which he was introduced into a cavern representing the world, on w hose walls and roof were inscribed the celestial signs. Here he submitted to a species of baptism, and received a mark on his forehead. He was presented with a crown on the point of a sword, which he was to refuse, declaring at the same time, "Mithras alone is my crown." He was prepared, by anointing him with oil, crowning him with olive, and clothing him in enchanted armor, for the seven stages of initiation through which he was about to pass. These commenced in the following manner: In the first cavern he heard the howling of wild beasts, and was enveloped in total darkness, except when the cave was illuminated by the fitful glare of terrific flashes of lightning. He was hurried to the spot whence the sounds proceeded, and was suddenly thrust by his silent guide through a door into a den of wild beasts, where he was attacked by the initiated in the disguise of lions, tigers, hyenas, and other ravenous beasts.
Hurried through this apartment, in the second cavern he was again shrouded in darkness, and for a time in fearful silence, until it was broken by awful peals of thunder, whose repeated reverberations shook the very walls of the cavern, and could not fail to inspire the aspirant with terror. He was conducted through four other caverns, in which the methods of exciting astonishment and fear were ingeniously varied. He was made to swim over a raging flood; was subjected to a rigorous fast; exposed to all the horrors of a dreary desert; and finally, if we may trust the authority of Nicactas, after being severely beaten with rods, was buried for many days up to the neck in snow. In the seventh cavern of Sacellum, the darkness was changed to light, and the candidate was introduced into the presence of the Archimagus, or Chief Priest, seated on a splendid throne, and surrounded by the assistant dispensers of the mysteries. Here the obligation of secrecy was administered, and he was made acquainted with the sacred words.
He received also the appropriate investiture, which, says Maurice (Indian Antiquities v, chapter i), consisted of the Kara or conical cap, and candys or loose tunic of Mithras, on which was depicted the celestial constellations, the zone, or belt, containing a representation of the figures of the zodiac. the pastoral staff or crozier. alluding to the influence of the sun in the labors of agriculture, and the golden serpent which was placed in his bosom as an emblem of his having been regenerated and made a disciple of Mithras, because the serpent, by casting its skin annually was considered in these mysteries as a symbol of regeneration. He was instructed in the secret doctrines of the Rites of Mithras. of which the history of the creation, already recited, formed a part. The Mysteries of Mithras passed from Persia into Europe and were introduced into Rome in the time of Pompey. Here they flourished, with various success, until the year 378, when they were proscribed by a decree of the Senate, and the sacred cave, in which they had been celebrated, was destroyed by the Pretorian Prefect.
The Mithraic monuments that are still extant in the museums of Europe evidently show that the immortality of the soul was one of the doctrines taught in the Mithraic initiation. The candidate was at one time made to personate a corpse, whose restoration to life dramatically represented the resurrection. Figures of this corpse are found in several of the monuments and talismans. There is circumstantial evidence that there was a Mithraic death in the initiation, just as there was a Cabiric death in the masteries of Samothrace, and a Dionysiac in those of Eleusis.
Commodus, the Roman emperor, had been initiated into the Mithraic mysteries at Rome, and is said to have taken great pleasure in the ceremonies. Lampridius, in his Lives of the Emperors, records, as one of the mad freaks of Commodus, that during the Mithraic ceremonies, where "a certain thing was to be done for the sake of inspiring terror, he polluted the rites by a real murder:" an expression which evidently shows that a seenie representation of a fictitious murder formed a part of the ceremony of initiation. The dog swallowing the blood of the bull was also considered as a symbol of the resurrection.
It is in the still existing talismans and gems that we find the most interesting memorials of the old Mithraic initiation. One of these is thus described by C. W. King, in his valuable work on the Gnostics and their Remains (London, 1864):
There is a talisman which, from its frequent repetition would seem to be a badge of some particular degree amongst the initiated, perhaps of the first admission. A man blindfolded, with hands tied behind his back, is bound to a pillar, on whieh stands a gryphon holding a wheel, the latter a most ancient emblem of the sun Probably it was in this manner that the candidate was tested by the appearance of imminent death when the bandage wets suddenly removed from hts eyes.
As Mithras was considered as synonymous with the sun, a great deal of solar symbolism clustered around his name, his doctrines, and his initiation. Thus, was found, by the numerical value of the letters in the Greek alphabet, to be equal to 365, the number of days in a solar year; and the decrease of the solar influence in the winter, and its revivification in the summer, was made a symbol of the resurrection from death to life (see Encyclopedia Britannica, also Tezlzs st Monuments figures relatifs au2 Mystbres de Mithra, Franz Cumont, 1896, 1899).
MIZRAIM.
Often by Masonic writers improperly spelled Misraim. It is the ancient Hebrew name of Egypt, and was adopted as the name of a Rite to indicate the hypothesis that it was derived from the old Egyptian initiation.
MIZRAIM, RITE OF.
This Rite originated, save Clavel, at Milan, in the year 1805, in consequence of several Brethren having been refused admission into the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which had just been established in that city. one Lechangeur has the credit of organizing the Rite and selecting the Statutes by which it was to be governed. It consisted at first of only eighty-seven Degrees, to which three others were subsequently added. Sixty-six of the ninety Degrees thus formed are said to have been taken from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, while the remaining twenty-four were either borrowed from other systems or were the invention of Lechangeur and his colleagues, Joly and Bedarride.
The system of Mizraim spread over Italy, and in 1814 was introduced into France. Dissensions in the Rite soon took place, and an attempt was unsuccessfully made to obtain the recognition of the Grand Orient of France. This having been refused, the Supreme Council was dissolved in 1817; but the Lodges of the Rite still continued to confer the Degrees although, according to the constitution of French Freemasonry, their non-recognition by the Grand Orient had the effect of making them illegal. But eventually the Rite ceased altogether to exist as an active and independent system, and its place in Masonic history seems only to be preserved by two massive volumes on the subject, written by Mark Bedarride, the most intelligent and indefatigable of its founders, who published at Paris, in 1835, a history of the Rite, under the title of De l'Ordre de Misraim. The Rite of Mizraim consisted of 90 Decrees, divided into four series and seventeen classes.
Some of these Degrees are entirely original, but many of them are borrowed from the Aneient and Accepted Scottish Rite. For the gratification of the curious, the following list of these Degrees is subjoined. The titles are translated as literally as possible from the French:
- First Series --Symbolic
- lst Class:
- 1Prentice;
- 2, Fellow Craft;
- 3, Master.
- 2 d Class:
- 4, Secret Master;
- 5, Perfect Master:
- 6, Master through Curiosity,
- 7, Provost and Judge or Irish Master;
- 8. English Master.
- 3d Class:
- 9, Elect of Nine-
- 10 elect of the Unknown;
- 11, Elect of Fifteen:
- 12, Perfect Elect,
- 13, Illustrious Elect.
- 4th Class:
- 14. Scottish Trinitarian;
- 15, Scottish Fellow Craft:
- 16, Scottish Masters
- 17, Scottish Panisiere;
- 18, Master Ecossais;
- l9 Ecossais of the three J. J. J.-
- 20. Ecossais of the Sacred Vault of James VI;
- 21, Ecossais of Saint Andrew.
- 5th Class:
- 22, Little Architect,
- 23, Grand Architect:
- 24 architecture;
- 25 Apprentice Perfect Atchitect;
- 26 Fellow Craft Perfect Architect;
- 27 Master Perfeet Architect;
- 28, Perfect architect,
- 29, Sublime Ecossais;
- 30 Sublime Ecossais of Heroden.
- 6th Class:
- 31. Grand Royal Arch;
- 32, Grand Ax;
- 33. Sublime Knight of Election, Chief of the First Symbolic Series.
- SECOND SERIES—PHILOSOPHIC
- 7th Class:
- 34, Knight of the Sublime Election-
- 35. Prussian Knight;
- 36, Knight of the Temple;
- 37, Knight of the Eagle;
- 38, Knight of the Black Eagle:
- 39, Knight of the Red Eagle,
- 40, White Knight of the East-
- 41 Knight of the East.
- 8th Class:
- 42, Commander of the East-
- 43, Grand Commander of the East;
- 44, Architecture of the Sovereign Commanders of the Temple;
- 45, Prince of Jerusalem.
- 9th Class:
- 46, Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of Kilwinning and Heroden;
- 47, Knight of the West;
- 48, Sublime Philosopher;
- 49, Chaos the First, Discreet-
- 50, Chaos the Second, Wise;
- 51, Knight of the Sun.
- 10th Class:
- 52, Supreme Commander of the Stars
- 53, Sublime Philosopher;
- 54, First Degree of the Key of Freemasonry, Minor-
- 55, Second Degree, Washer-
- 56, Third Degree. Bellows-blower;
- 67, Fourth Degree, Caster,
- 58, True Freemason Adept;
- 59, Sovereign Elect;
- 60 Sovereign of Sovereigns;
- 61, Grand Master of Symbolic Lodges;
- 62, Most High and Most Powerful Grand Priest Sacrificer-
- 63, Knight of Palestine;
- 64, Grand Knight of the White and Black Eagle-
- 65, Grand Elect Knight Kadosh-
- 66, Grand Inquiring Commander, Chief of the Second Series.
- THIRD SERIES—MYSTICAL
- 11th Class:
- 67, Benevolent Knight;
- 68, Knight of the Rainbow-
- 69, Knight Chanuka, called Hynaroth-
- 70, Most Wise Israelitish Prince.
- 12th Class:
- 71, Sovereign Princes Tahnudim;
- 72, Sovereign Prince Zadkim;
- 73, Grand Haram.
- 15th Class:
- 74 Sovereign Princes Haram;
- 75, Sovereign Princes Hasidim,
- 76, 77, Grand Inspector Intendant. Regulator General of the Order, Chief of the Third Series.
- FOURTH SERIES CABALISTIC
- 15th and 16th Classes:
- 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, degrees whose names are concealed from all but the possessors.
- 17th Class:
- 87, Sovereign Grand Princes constituted Grand Masters, and Legitimate Representatives of the Order for the First Series;
- 88, Ditto for the Second Series,
- 89, Ditto for the Third Series,
- 90 Absolute Sovereign Grand Master, Supreme Power of the Order, and Chief of the Fourth Series.
The Chiefs of this Rite demanded the privilege— which, of course, was never conceded to them—of directing and controlling all the other Rites of Freemasonry, as their common source. Its friends claimed for it an eminently philosophical character. The organization of the Rite is, however, too complicated and diffuse to have ever been practically convenient. Many of its Degrees were founded upon, or borrowed from, the Egyptian Rites, and its ritual is a very close imitation of the ancient system of initiation. The legend of the Third Degree in this Rite is abolished. Hiram is said to have returned to his family, after the completion of the Temple, and to have passed the remainder of his days in peace and opulence. The legend, substituted by the Rite of Mizraim for that admitted by aLl the other rites, is carried back to the
days of Lamech, whose son Jubal, under the name of Hario-Jubal-Abi, is reported to have been slain by three traitors, Hagava, Hakina, and Heremda. Lenning calls the Rite of Mizraim "one of the latest of the monstrous visionary schemes introduced into Freemasonry"; and Ragon characterizes it as a "fantastical connection of various rites and degrees" (see Bedarride, The Brothers).
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