Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
Royal Secret . Additional text has been inserted to include the degree names of the system . The 33 rd final and third article of the 1763 version was removed from the 1771 . It was done because the article describes the funeral service for the death of the Master of a symbolic lodge . Interestingly all versions of the Constitutions of 1762 in this study contain language concerning Secret Constitutions which were inserted in the 1771 version , concerning the submission of the Deputy Inspector General to the Grand Council .
The difference between type one and type two rituals is structural . In the 1786 version , two articles have been inserted at the beginning and the following articles have been renumbered , increasing the number of articles from 33 to 35 . In general , the 1771 and 1786 versions are textually identical with subtle variations . The new articles , therefore , signal a change to the system , added on top of the existing statutes .
The 1786 version was modified at some time after 1795 when John Mitchell became the Deputy Inspector General for Charleston but before November 1796 . These changes reflect a structural revision of the system . The article numbers were scratched off the original , and renumbered . The first two additional articles contain a primitive form of what would appear in the version of de Grasse-Tilly and Aveilhé . One startling variation is that in the 1786 version , No person shall be initiated into the Sacred Mysteries of the Eminent De- grees , except he is actually in the Duty of the Christian Religion , whereas the 1797 version has been softened to say that , no person shall be initiated into the Sacred Mysteries of this eminent degree , unless he performs the duties required of him by the religion of his country . The manual revisions and additions to the 1786 , along with the primitive form of the text in the insertions suggest that the Ahmed Francken manuscript may , in fact , have been the original ritual book of the Order of the Royal Secret in Charleston , and served also as the basis of the French translations of the rituals as seen in the rituals of the Sublime degrees in Delorme ’ s register .
Conclusion
We see from the evidence above that , in fact , the first Supreme Council was not merely a newly created body , but rather a union of two separate and independent Sublime Councils of the Order of the Royal Secret . Both resided in Charleston and both were legally and lawfully created by representatives whose powers descend directly from the original Grand Chapter founded in Jamaica in 1770 by Francken and Morin .
The Ancient and Accepted Rite , therefore , represents a union between French and American Freemasons , with respect to the administration of the high degrees . The proof of this is seen in de Grasse-Tilly ’ s Livre d ’ Or 27 on the list comprising the members of the
27 Livre D ’ Or Du Comte De Grasse-Tilly . Premier Souverain Grand Commandeur Du Suprême Conseil De France . Paris : Suprême Conseil de France , 2003 . 112 .
28