Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

428 SL’SLPtfl~ PRINCE OF THE ROYAL SECRET.
14. Antient Grand Elect. Ancient Grand Elect.
15. Knights of the Sword. Knights of the East.
16. Prince of Jerusalem. Prince of Jerusalem.
17. Knights of the E. and W.Knights of the East and West.
18. Knights of Rose Croix. Knights of Rose Croix.
19. Grand Pontif. Grand. Pontiff.
20. Grand Patriarch. Gr. Mas. of all Symbolic.
21. Grand Master of tue Key.Noachite or Prussian Kni’ts.
22. Knight of the Royal Axe.Kt. of B. A. or Pr. of Lihanus.
23. Prince Adept. Chief ol the Tabernacle.
24. Corn, of the W. & B. Eagle.Prince of the Tabernacle.
25. Coin, of the Royal Secret. Knight of the Brazen Serpent.
26. Prince of Mercy.
27. Soy. Corn, of the Temple.
28. Knights of the Sun.
29. Gr. Scotch Kt. of St. Andrew.
30. Gr. Elect Knight Kadosh.
31. Gr. Ins. Inq. Commander.
32. Sub. Pr. of Royal becret.
33. Soy. Gr. Inspectors General.
EXPLANATION OF CAMP :—We read in almost all the
rituals of this degree, that Frederic the Second, or the
Great King of Prussia, being at the head of the Masonic
fraternity on the continent of Europe, projccted
a league of the union of the brethren, Companions,
Knights, Princes and ~ of Masonry, for
the purpose of rescuing Jerusalem and the Sepulchre
of Jesus of Nazareth from the hands of the Turks, by
a ncw crusade, in which it was his intention to command
in person. It is said that he prepared a plan, by
which the army was to encamp, which is the sairie now
represented to you, and which is also perpctuatcd on
the tracing-board and apron of this degree.
But it is not at all probable that Frederic thc Great
ever thought seriously of invading Palestine, and waging
a new crusade. He was far too busily engaged in
the affairs of his own kingdom, and too much of a
INITIATION. 429
philosopher to have thought of so chimerical a project.
Nor had he any control whatever over the Maaonic fraternity,
elsewhere than in Prussia, nor even was he
Grand Master of Masons thcre, and if he had intended
a crusade, he was too accomplished a general ever to
have fixed upon such a plan, for a real encampment. It
is contrary to all nile. It would be wholly impracticable
in the field, and it is entirely evident that it is
~nerely an imaginary plan, never meant to be put to
actual use.
It is equally evident that if Prederic had expected to
gather any army of Masons, which he could not seriously
have done, the number of Masons of the different
degrees would not have been so proportioned as
to admit of their encamping by the plan proposed. Of
some of the degrees there would have been but a handful,
and the Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Masters,
to whom only one of the nine sides of the nonagon is
assigned, would have outnumbered all the rest.
The camp being therefore, impracticable, and even
absurd as an actuality, we must either conclude that
the inventor was a man of no sense, or that it is an allegory
and a symbol. We are certain of the latter.
The camp, which is so prominent a feature in this
degree, must originally have had a meaning, for it cannot
be supposed that a man of intellect ever seriously
occupied himself with making a beautiful figure on paper,
arranging it as a camp and adopting arbitrary letters
and names without any deeper meaning than that
which you have thus far discovered. It is an elaborate,
complicated and intricate symbol. Its meaning was
no doubt originally explained, only orally, and that
alone would be reason and cause sufficient why that
meaning should in time be lost. For that cause alone
has cost Masonry the true meaning of many, even