Duncan's Ritual of Freemasonry.pdf - FatimaMovement

deemed appropriate to their occupation.
A society of Royal Arch Masons is called a
Chapter, and not a Lodge, as in the previous
Degrees. All Chapters of Royal Arch Masons are
"dedicated to Zerubbabel," and the symbolic
color of this Degree is scarlet. The several
Degrees of Mark Master, Present or Past Master,
and Most Excellent Master, are given only under
the sanction of the Royal Arch Chapter; and a
Master Mason who applies for these Degrees
usually enters the Chapter also, and sometimes
the four degrees are given at once. If he takes the
four, he is only balloted for once, viz.: in the
Mark Master's Degree. Candidates receiving this
Degree are said to be "exalted to the most
sublime Degree of the Royal Arch."
It is a point of the Royal Arch Degree not to
assist, or be
p. 218
present, at the conferring of this Degree upon
more or less than three candidates at one time. If
there are not three candidates present, one or two
companions, as the case may be, volunteer to
represent candidates, so as to make the requisite
number, or a "team," as it is technically styled,
and accompany the candidate or candidates
through all the stages of exaltation.
At the destruction of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar, three Most Excellent Masters
were carried captives to Babylon, where they
remained seventy years, and were liberated by
Cyrus, King of Persia. They returned to
Jerusalem to assist in rebuilding the Temple, after
travelling over rugged roads on foot. They
arrived at the outer veil of the Tabernacle, which