While there are many numerically higher degrees, the third degree (or Master Mason degree) is considered the highest degree in Freemasonry. This is because the Master Mason degree, in an extensive allegorical drama in which the candidate participates, teaches Masonry's sublime belief in the resurrection of the body. This drama is also called the Hiramic legend or the legend of the third degree.
In the third degree, the candidate participates in a drama where he plays a biblical character named “Hiram Abif,” a stonemason who worked on King Solomon’s Temple. In the lodge drama, Hiram is accosted in the Temple by renegade Masons who are trying to extort from him the secret Masonic word. When Hiram refuses to divulge the secret Masonic word, the Masons kill him (the candidate is symbolically murdered by being hit over the head with a padded setting maul, knocked off his feet, and caught in a large sack by his Masonic brothers). The Masons then bury the body of Hiram Abif (the candidate is instructed to remain lying down and materials are spread over his body).
As the drama unfolds, Hiram’s body is later discovered by other Masons who work in King Solomon’s Temple. When he is discovered, King Solomon and the other Masons make a procession to the gravesite and then pray for Hiram’s salvation. After the prayer, King Solomon raises Hiram (the candidate) up by the Strong Grip of a Master Mason. The candidate is then told that he has been raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular in the Masonic faith of the resurrection of the body and the Immortality of the soul.
After a Mason reaches the third degree, he may advance in his Masonic journey to either the Scottish Rite or the York Rite. The Scottish Rite confers the fourth through thirty-second (and honorary thirty-third) degree. The York Rite also confers advanced degrees and is known as Original or Ancient Craft Masonry. These bodies are not under the authority of the Grand Lodges but have friendly Relationships with them. The purpose of these Higher Degrees is to amplify what the Mason learned in his Blue lodge. These degrees, like those of the Blue lodge, require oath-bound secrecy. When a man becomes either a thirty-second degree or York Rite Mason, he is eligible to join the Shriners.
Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):
John Sebastian Marlowe Ward - The Higher Degrees HandbookCaptain William Morgan - The Mysteries Of Freemasonry
Charles Webster Leadbeater - The Hidden Life In Freemasonry
Arthur Edward Waite - The Templar Orders In Freemasonry
