The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 7 - Rituals 421
That which prevails under the obedience of the Grand Mark Lodge of
England and Wales stultifies the symbolical procedure by its violence to
the logic of things, reversing as it does the position of the two points, so
that the Candidate is compelled to go back on the step which he has
taken, as if renouncing the status which he has reached, though it has
received official recognition. The consistent procedure is that of the
Scottish working, where the business of the MARK MAN antecedes
that of the MASTER. 1301
The ritual herein employed stems from England (printed in London) and is
dated 1920; in its ceremony, the candidate is first designated a Mark Man (p. 16),
he is then duly obligated a Mark Master Mason (p. 21), and has to re-enter the
lodge as a Mark Man or "workman from the quarries," (p. 21/22), in order to
stage the "historical" proceedings. Mark Master lodges are dedicated to "Hiram,
the Builder." 1302
In order to explain the function of the role play in the ritual, it is reasonable
to begin with the lecture in the Mark Master Mason's Degree, which is appended
to the ritual and relates the alleged historical events at the building of King
Solomon's Temple. It is a dramatic story of rejection, rediscovery, and final
approval. Grantham, in his History of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons,
calls the Mark degree essentially a "Rejection" Grade. 1303
According to the legend, the degree of Mark Master has existed long before
the institution of the degrees of Master Mason and Past Master. At the building
of King Solomon's Temple, there were 80,000 operatives employed, some of
them hewers in the quarries at Zaradatha, some builders of the temple, and
besides these a levy of 30,000 in the forests of Lebanon. In order to make each of
the 110,000 workmen known to his officers, they were divided into 1,100
Lodges of Fellow Crafts and Entered Apprentices, over whom presided 3,300
Menatschins, Overseers, or Mark Masters. Each Fellow Craft was distinguished
by a peculiar mark which made his work known to his immediate Overseer, and
the Overseers had one mark in common to stamp the approved works with, next
to other marks by which they indicated the proper places for the stones. The
3,300 Overseers (three over each Lodge) were subdivided into 100 Lodges, 33 in
each, over whom presided 300 Overseers who were also Mark Masters and who
are now called Worshipful Master and Senior and Junior Warden. These were
appointed by Hiram Abiff personally, and they were responsible of paying the
wages.
When receiving their wages, the Fellow Crafts and their Mark Masters put in
their hands in a different manner at a different wicket. Thus, a Fellow Craft who
put his hand in at a Mark Master's wicket was quickly exposed as an impostor
and accordingly punished. The overseers had the duty to check each stone by
turning it over to examine the finish, and by giving three blows upon it with a
1301 Waite, p. 33.
1302 Duncan, p. 150.
1303 Grantham, p. 153.