Arkansas recently hosted the two bodies of the York Rite of Freemasonry and their auxiliaries, namely the Knights Templar and the Cyrenes Crusaders; and the Royal Arch Masons and the Heroines of Jericho. These were the two national organizations, the Grand Encampment and the General Grand Conferences. What a time we had!
The Royal Arch Mason is considered one of the most astute Masons in the world, as he is a 'bridge' between the symbolic Lodge and the philosophical degrees of the Royal and Select Masters of the York Rite, leading to the degrees of the Knights of the Red Cross, Malta, and finally the apex of York Rite Masonry, the Knights Templar degree. The Royal Arch Mason is one to be respected, if he is about the business of the exalted degree; he is to be emulated if he is living up to the high ideals of Capitular Freemasonry.
The Biblical references to the Royal Arch Degree are found throughout the Holy Book, from Genesis to Revelation, with the seeker using prayerful thought and contemplation. A shovel is used to dig with, rather than a spoon, for the Royal Arch Degree is like no other, for it is here that the East meets the West. Understanding is not to be gained if one searches for a little while, for many elements are brought to fore, elements that escape the random seeker. One studies the Jew, as well as the Gentile; the Brahim as well as the Christian; the Coptic as well as the Trinitarians. In the Royal Arch Degree, one is expected to seek to want to be a bridge, a bridge to understanding, rather than a walkway to tolerance. The bridge of understanding calls for a higher order of timber in its building. Therefore, the Royal Arch Mason is at first, an usual Mason, for the colors of the Temple becomes his lessons of life; the inner workings of the Temple become his quest for light, more light, and further light.
The East is found in the story of Cyrus; it is found in the story of Darius; it is found in the story of Daniel, of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. The East is found in the restoring of the Temple treasurers, the granting of a dispensation to Zerrubabel and Joshua, and to Haggai, to rebuild the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem. It is found in the trials and tribulations of the Jews as they tried to leave their land of captivity, Babylon. It was in Babylon, that the Children of Israel tasted the good life as compared to other periods of captivity. It was here that the beautiful Esther, later queen, saved her people. It was in the East that Daniel survived the lion's den and the Three Hebrew Children survived the fiery furnace. It was here that Ezekiel saw the vision of the wheel in the "middle of the wheel."
The West is found in the returning of the captives, for without their return, the Scarlet Line would not continue in the same vein. Without their return, the Temple and all its secrets (legendary) would continue to be lost. It is in the West that the Royal and Select Masters' Degree is born, when the workmen had to labor with one hand holding a trowel, while the other held a weapon. It is here that the Temple is laboriously finished after many years of adversaries and calamities, a far cry from the original Temple, when there was not even rain in the day time to impede the progress of the Temple. It was here that the prophecy of a Savior is to be fulfilled, the completion of a Scarlet Line that began with Tamar and Judah.
The Royal Arch Mason is a bridge between the symbolism of the physical Temple, the futile belief in the second physical Temple, and the secular belief in a "spiritual Temple, not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens." The bridge is meant to lift the seeker out of valleys of despair, to smooth rough and rocky roads of diversities, and convey the traveller over dangerous places where otherwise, there would be passage. The Royal Arch Mason is the leader of men and Masons to search out the land and find the secret of the veils that hide truths of eternity, to lift them and learn their real meanings. The degree is a bridge to the 'real thing'.