5° Perfect Master PrologueIn this degree the drapes are green. The V.S.L. is opened at 1 Chronicles 27, which details the Officers who served the King each month. In effect a duty roster. The various charges in the ceremony are based on the Apocryphal Books of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom. The Lodge of Perfect Masters represents a Lodge of Sorrow. The mourning for a Master called to higher work and no longer with us in the flesh to inspire us with his presence and advice. But the degree has a greater significance than that. The first part compels the candidate to contemplate the inevitability of death, by his participation in the sacred duties to the memory of Hiram Abif. But is well to remember that Hiram Abif is, to members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, synonymous with the Great Exemplar himself.
Epilogue You will have noted that the chief lesson of this degree is found in the obligation - to be honest and sincere in affirming the faithful discharge of one’s engagements and the keeping of promises made. The penalty itself is far reaching in its implications, the sheer desolation of the soul, which must inevitably result from infidelity. This should not act simply as a deterrent, but should awaken compassion in our hearts for those who might have fallen by the wayside. Thus, we have had impressed upon us the necessity of acquiring Knowledge and Wisdom to promote discretion in speech, and the faithful observance of all promises and undertaking
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HOLDEN CHAPTER OF IMPROVEMENT
under
The Supreme Council 33̊
of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite
for Australia