311 i^t^a.
MASONIC ORIGINES. A <strong>Masonic</strong> Degree is a rank and dignity with which one is, by legal authority, invested ; the investiture consisting in a ceremony of initiation or reception, longer or shorter, scenic, spectacular, or instructive, or with scenic pomp, and instruction intermingled in administering to him certain vows or obligations ; and in the putting him in possession of certain modes of recognition, con- sisting generally of signs, words, and grips or 'tokens'. A 'Kite' is an aggregation and succession of any number of Degrees, given by one or more Bodies, but always by the author- ity of a single Supreme Government. Of most of the Degrees styled ' <strong>Masonic</strong>,' the time and the manner of origin are unknown to us. <strong>The</strong>y have either been made by individuals, who were their authors and composers, or by Committees of Bodies. <strong>The</strong> earliest were undoubtedly framed and set on foot by individuals, themselves makers of them, or for whom they were made by others. Except the first possessor or possessors, no one can ever obtain legal investiture with any Degree, unless by receiving it from him or them, or from a person or persons or a Body, having power derived from him or them, and so as if immediately from him or them; by assuming the required vows or obligations; and by being, as if by such first possessor or possessors, entrusted with the arcana or modes of recognition, and the oral explanations of the Symbols employed. A Rite might consist of a single Degree ; but whether of one or more, the first possessor or possessors of the Degree or System, or his or their successors, have the right to make or to adopt Con- stitutions, Institutes, Statutes, or Regulations, which shall be the ;