The following was taken from The Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Alberta

This may seem to be a foolish question to pose to the readers of a magazine published for Royal Arch Masons. If you will bear with me, for a few minutes, I believe you will see the method in my madness.

We may begin our explanation of the question with some definitions. Mackey, in his Encyclopaedia, states that the Royal Arch is the seventh degree granted in the American York Rite system. A former General Grand High Priest called it the capstone of Symbolic Masonry. Brother, the Reverend, John T. Lawrence, in “Sidelights of Freemasonry” says it is not a degree but the completion of one. Many of us call it “home grown” Masonry to indicate that we operate in the local Masonic Temples and help in the support of local Lodges.

All of these, in their way, are valid definitions, but I believe that we, as Royal Arch Masons, should be aware of a “higher and more noble” definition. My theory is that we are a living symbol. We present, allegorically, as our forefathers intended, the precept that Masonry, as we know it, is of relatively recent origin. While it is based on an ageless foundation, changes have been made and we exist to reveal these facts to the “industrious and inquiring mind. “

We are all familiar with the gradual evolution of the Craft from Operative to Speculative Masonry. By the end of the Seventeenth Century the evolution had been completed and the Craft was, to a large extent, Speculative only. It had also fallen on hard times and there was disorder and disarray in the founding and operation of Lodges, and in the Lectures involved. Mackey records the dismissal of a Mason for making Masons of all who had the required fifteen shillings. He also refers to “leg of mutton Masons” who would confer what they said were Masonic Degrees for the price of a dinner.

In 1715, five London Lodges, seeking to establish order and regularity in the Craft, met together and organized a Grand Lodge. They sought to regulate the forming of Lodges and establish uniformity in the “work.” We must avoid the pitfall of accepting that the “work” was as we know it today.

At that time there was only one obligatory degree. The Entered Apprentice was obligated, probably, much as we are today. That obligation bound him to protect and keep secret the hidden mysteries and secrets that he was eligible to receive. The titles of “Fellow of the Craft” and Master, were granted after the passage of time and the attainment of certain skills and abilities. They were not degrees, as we know them, but titles of respect and honour. This was a carry over from the Operative Lodges from “whence we came. “

The earliest references to “Degrees” began appearing, in Lodge records, around the end of the first quarter of the Eighteenth Century. One reference, of that era, stated that to be a member of the Grand Lodge a Mason must be a Fellow-Craft.

The conferring of the degree of Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, emerged gradually over a period of about fifty years. It is another instance of Masonic evolution comparable to our change to Speculative Masonry. This evolution does not indicate the “discovery” of these degrees, but rather that they were formulated and refined over this period of time.

The first forty to fifty years of the Seventeen Hundreds was a period of flux for the Fraternity. Degrees were being instituted, Anderson presented his Constitutions, and Preston and others were promoting series of “lectures” or systems of work. In 1757 five Lodges, who were dissatisfied with changes in Ritual and philosophy, seceded and formed the “ancient” Grand Lodge. Obviously the objections were not to the added degrees both Ancients and Modems practised the three Degree system. Rather, it seems to have been on word differences and other minor changes. Whatever the reasons, the schism existed until the reconciliation and consolidation of the two factors under the United Grand Lodge.

In the midst of this change and confusion something began to take shape. That something eventually became the Royal Arch. No exact date can be established for the birth of the Royal Craft. In another instance of evolution, it grew and prospered as the Three Degree System had done before it. Earliest references to the Royal Arch date from about 1730. Members of the “ancient” Grand Lodge began working and conferring the degree in their lodges and under the authority of their charters. It was not included as part of the Master Mason Degree, but was conferred as a natural follower of that degree. The myth that the Royal Arch was removed from the Master Mason Degree evidently grew from the early practice of working it in, and under, Lodge auspices.