Chapter, may visit any
Chapter. I wish the reader to understand that neither all Royal Arch
Masons nor Master Masons are members of either Lodge or Chapter; there
are tens of thousands who are not members, and scarcely ever attend,
although privileged to do so.

A very small proportion of Masons, comparatively speaking, ever
advance any further than the third degree, and consequently never get
the great word which was lost by Hiram's untimely death. Solomon, King
of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff, the widow's son,
having sworn that they, nor either of them, would ever give the word,
except they three were present (and it is generally believed that
there was not another person in the world, at that time, that had it),
consequently the word was lost, and supposed to be forever; but the
sequel will show it was found, after a lapse of four hundred and
seventy years; notwithstanding, the word MAH-HAH-BONE, which was
substituted by Solomon, still continues to be used by Master Masons,
and no doubt will, as long as Masonry attracts the attention of men;
and the word which was lost is used in the Royal Arch Degree. What was
the word of the Royal Arch Degree before they found the Master's word,
which was lost at the death of Hiram Abiff, and was not found for four
hundred and seventy years? Were there any Royal Arch Masons before the
Master's word was found? I wish some masonic gentleman would solve
these two questions.

The ceremonies, histories, and the Lecture, in the preceding degree
are so similar that perhaps some one of the three might have been
dispensed with, and the subject well understood by most readers,
notwithstanding there is a small difference between the work and
history, and between the history and the Lecture.

I shall now proceed with the Mark Master's degree, which is the first
degree in the Chapter. The Mark Master's degree, the Past Master's,
and the Most Excellent Master's, are Lodges of Mark Master Masons,
Past Master, and Most Excellent Master; yet, although called Lodges,
they are called component parts of the Chapter. Ask a Mark Master
Mason if he belongs to the Chapter; he will tell you he does, but that
he has only been marked. It is not an uncommon thing, by any means,
for a Chapter to confer all four of the degrees in one night,
viz:--the Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal
Arch degrees.

* * * * *

TEST-OATH AND WORD.