The Lodge of Perfection

The Lodge of Perfection confers the 4° through the 14°. These are commonly referred to as the Ineffable Degrees. In the 11 lessons the candidate will observe many references, scenes and characters which recall and amplify the three Symbolic degrees.

The Lessons of the Ineffable Degrees

4° - Secret Master - The Fourth Degree emphasizes duty, fidelity, integrity, and the necessity for secrecy in all confidential relationships.

5° - Perfect Master - This degree teaches that impure thoughts and selfish, unworthy ambitions are corrupting and destructive, and that a man who forgets his duty to family, country and God will be morally and spiritually destroyed.

6° - Intimate Secretary - This degree teaches that devotion to one's friends and zealousness in performing one's duties are rewarding virtues.

7° - Provost and Judge - This degree teaches us to judge righteously, without respect to person, and that one law and one custom shall apply to all. Let just be impartial, tempered with deserved mercy.

8° - Intendant of the Building - This degree teaches that each new honor is meant to be a step toward perfection in the moral code; each a development of a particular duty; and that benevolence and charity are necessary virtues of leadership.

9° - Master Elect of Nine - This degree reminds us that through the ages man has searched for God in many ways, and worshiped Him in many tongues, but that Universal Worship is found in service to our fellow man.

10° - Master Elect of Fifteen - This degree teaches that a violator of his obligations and commitments will not go unpunished, and further, that excuses, rationalizations, and other evidences of lack of repentance, will very likely increase the severity of the penalties.

11° - Sublime Master Elected - This degree dwells on good citizenship. Evil doings should be punished. Honesty and respect for others should be rewarded. Be earnest, honest and sincere.

12° - Grand Master Architect - This degree teaches that the Mason, as he learns to use the tools and instruments of his trade and skill, also learns to contemplate the many aspects of life and deal with them as a child of God, steadily advancing to those heights of experience which will call perfection.

13° - Master of the Ninth Arch - This degree teaches that difficulties and dangers, however great, should not deter the true and faithful brother from progressing onward to perfection. It teaches the great truth that the finest things in life come only as the result of constant and often painful effort.

14° - Grand Elect Mason - In the Scottish Rite, this degree is the summit of Ancient Craft Masonry. As the crowning degree of the Lodge of Perfection, its essence is the holiness of God and reverence for His Holy Name. God will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.