A SHORT ADDRESS WHICH MAY BE GIVEN TO MASTER MASONS IN A CRAFT LODGE TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO SEEK A HIGHER UNDERSTANDING OF MASONRY.

To my Masonic brethren, those who are not yet Companions within the Holy Royal Arch.

Brethren, who are not yet Companions - for this is how we relate to each other in the Chapter or the Red Capitular Degrees – take heed that there is a Masonic life outside and beyond that of the 3 Blue Craft Degrees, for Masonry is a progressive and moral science.

Chapter is composed basically of 3 Degrees; in ascending order, namely –
The Degree of Mark Master, The Degree of Excellent Master and culminating in the Holy Royal Arch Degree, sometimes referred to as the 4th Degree.
Some rituals do have another intermediate Degree.
Whilst in England the Mark Degree is a special and separate entity with its own Grand Lodge, in most parts of the world, the subsequent degrees taken after Master Mason, fall under the aegis of the Royal Arch.

Chapter is indeed a natural continuation and advancement from the Degrees listed and will imbue you with much more fulfilled knowledge of self and, interestingly, a better historical understanding of the Holy Land, the spiritual centre of Freemasonry, since the rites of Chapter are wholly based on the Old Testament, Prophets and Writings.
Its ceremonies for the most part are founded upon the return of the Israelites from captivity to rebuild a destroyed temple, and the discoveries there made.

Chapter existed before the development of the Master Mason Degree and indeed contributed towards it.
At one time only Masters of the 2 Degree Craft Lodges could join.

Chapter stands for a fuller understanding and practice of Masonry.
It teaches respectability, dignity and necessity of labour, mental and physical.

Chapter also stands for a more intelligent continuation of the search for the
‘Lost Word’, not found in the workings of the Craft, and which, for the sake of completion, must lead to success.
It unlocks the symbolism of the Blue Lodge.
It will show the Fellow of Craft that profit results from honest work and will show how hard labour, performed without fee or reward, must inevitably be fully compensated.
It has been well expressed that only those who have attained the Royal Arch Degree have completed their Masonic work.

So it is put it to you, my brethren, that you need the Chapter to realise your full potential as Masons and that we, as Royal Arch Companions, need you to augment our numbers in Chapter in order to pursue that noble purpose of exemplifying Masonry, in its fullest colours, to the world at large.
Join with us and let us continue, in strength, to bring light to that world outside our Lodges.