Bro..., when you were initiated into Freemasonry, you were informed that it was upon the circumstances attending the erection of King Solomon's Temple that our ceremonies were chiefly based. As you have made progress in the three degrees of the Craft you must surely have come to the realisation that Craft Masonry has selected that particular point in history in order to illustrate, in a special manner, the relationship we have to one another in the field of material ethics.

In the M.M's. degree the teaching of the Craft culminates in the supreme test to which we as Masons are figuratively subjected: we are taught how to face with fortitude and honour the final barrier to the glory of immortality and of union with the Most High, never at any time permitting circumstances or outside pressures to force us from the strict path of moral virtue. The possession of this excellence of character will fortify us in the hope that God might extend His mercy to us in the hour of our extreme need.

The three degrees of the Craft have been designated the Symbolic Degrees, because in them the predominant method of instruction is by means of symbols. The lessons are conveyed by comparison of some physical object with the moral attributes which it suggests. By the emblems and symbols of the Craft we are taught the lessons of humility and faith; of moral rectitude and equality; of brotherly love and charity; of our imperfect conditions by nature and the necessity of a descent into the grave, to arise therefrom clothed in immortality.

But with all these lessons of great moral worth there is something lacking, something lost for which the mind reaches forth, and which cannot be found without further search.

In the Third Degree it is implied that all M.Ms. are engaged upon a quest for that which is said to have been lost soon after the hour of high twelve on a day shortly before the completion of King Solomon's Temple.

The magnificence of the Temple built to the glory of the Most High and dedicated with great pomp by King Solomon was short-lived. The Jews, surrounded by many peoples who did not acknowledge Jehovah as the one true God, themselves tended to fall away into idolatry.

Soon after the death of Solomon ten of the twelve tribes broke away to form an independent Kingdom, centred around the fortified city of Samaria as capital, leaving the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in possession of the Holy City and Temple.

About 400 years after King Solomon had completed the Temple at Jerusalem it was utterly destroyed when the city was captured by Nebuchadnezzer, King of Babylon. The two great pillars and all the holy vessels of the Temple were carried away, and those of the people who escaped the sword were taken captive and removed to Babylon. They remained captive for a period of seventy years, until the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the Persians under Cyrus, when they were set at liberty.

In the first year of his reign, Cyrus issued a decree granting them permission to go to Jerusalem and there rebuild a house to the Lord God of Israel. At the same time he restored to them most of the sacred vessels taken from King Solomon's Temple, and appointed Zerubbabel Governor over the land of Judea.

When Zerubbabel and his companions in authority were preparing to return to Jerusalem, they found that many who could not show that they were justly entitled to be considered as descendants of Abraham sought to avail themselves of the decree of Cyrus and go with them. In order, therefore, to exclude these and prevent any chance of intermixture with the idolatrous inhabitants of Judea and Samaria, the series of signs, tokens and words which are embodied in this degree were adopted by Zerubbabel as tests of fidelity.

As the conditions under which the captives were then living were similar to those of the Israelites in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, it was natural that the basis for the new degree should be founded on the history and tradition of their ancestors.

During their wanderings in Egypt, the newly freed people did not always give to Moses the whole-hearted support and obedience which God had demanded of them, and once at least they were led into open rebellion.  Korah, a man of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Ruben, wishing to set themselves above the people, came before Moses with their followers saying: "Ye take too much upon yourself seeing that the people are holy and the Lord is among them.  Why then do you lift yourself above the people?"

Moses answered them, crying before the whole congregation, "If these men die the common death of all men then the Lord is not with me, but if they die after this manner, namely, if the earth shall open and swallow them up, then shall ye know that these men have provoked the Lord, and the Lord hath sent me."  The Sacred Record tells us that, as he finished speaking, the earth did open and swallow them up.

The penalty with is attached to the breaking of the obligation and the Scriptural readings associated with each veil, draw to our attention the impossibility of questioning the unerring judgement of God, and His thoughtfulness in providing for us a means whereby we are able to make His will known amongst our Brethren.

The ceremony of admitting you to the Degree of Excellent Master is related to that point and circumstance in historical time, and in effect we are transported back through time to those days of rejoicing when the Decree of Cyrus permitted the children of the second captivity to return to the land of their fathers.

You were admitted upon the pentagram, representing the f... p... o... f..., to remind you of your Obligation as a M.M.

The veils you passed were of different colours; blue, purple and crimson, which typify the elements air, water and fire respectively. The white veil, to which you were not admitted, typifies the element earth. The four veils are symbolical, respectively, of friendship, union, fervency and zeal, and purity.

The barriers of the three veils refer us to the vicissitudes of our journey through life, and of the conditions associated with the search for that which was lost. Symbolically the veils also represent the barriers erected by the material needs of our mortal existence; those barriers which must be overcome before we are able to discover the glory and gratification which will surely come as a reward to the faithful and obedient amongst men.

Finally, my brother, you are reminded that as you have passed through the three veils, so you have gained spiritual preparedness by casting the material needs of the flesh behind you, and are now symbolically fitted for your admission through the final veil, the colour of which is white, emblematic of purity and innocence, the same purity and innocence of that first temple which has been destroyed by human sin.

The Exaltation Ceremony of the Holy Royal Arch will endeavour to lead your thoughts to that peace and tranquillity promised the children of the Most High to whom He may be pleased to extend His mercy, and to illuminate the end and object of all your arduous years of toil and search - a spiritual reunion with the Deity.