Introduction

The Order of the Secret Monitor, is developed from a more ancient degree, known as the Brotherhood of David and Jonathan.  In many ways  it is older than Freemasonry itself. Its principles and its watchwords are founded upon those grand examples set by two worthy Hebrew Princes around 1000BC as recorded in the Jewish history of the Bible.

This is a Society framed upon the principles of self-sacrifice; of mutual trust, watchful brotherly care; of warning in time of danger; solace in time of sorrow; and skilful and effective friendly advice in every circumstance of life: A Society that meets a great and crying need in human affairs and is calculated to benefit those who act up to its tenets.

Within Craft Freemasonry we are taught, at an early stage, that it has for its Principles, ‘Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth’. In no other Order in Freemasonry, than that of The Order of the Secret Monitor, can there be found a greater emphasis on those fundamental Masonic Virtues, for the teaching of those Principles are a dominant part of our Ceremonial and Ritual, and enables us to put them into practice.

Biblical History

This Order in Freemasonry is based on the friendship of David and Jonathan. The land of Canaan, or Israel, as it is known today, is a tract of hill country with a narrow coastal belt on the Eastern Mediterranean. When the Children of Israel returned to Canaan from Egypt (circa 1320 BC) they found the country parcelled-out into petty kingdoms, whose people regarded the Israelites as interlopers. There was perpetual warfare between rival tribes for over 200 years but the Israelites, who were ruled by Judges, ultimately had possession of a block of territory from Dan to Beersheba.

From this period on, we have the kingdom of Saul, and then ultimately David; the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. David distinguished himself not only as a warrior but also as a musician. His encounter with Goliath is known to all of us. His success, however, made Saul jealous, and with the help of Jonathan, David was saved from the treachery of Saul. The shooting of arrows is part of this story, as well as the various refuges occupied by David. Jonathan visited David in these refuges and renewed the covenant between them.

Jonathan was killed in a disastrous battle against the Philistines near Mount Gilboa (1018 BC). Saul committed suicide, and David was finally accepted as king by the people of Judah.

Origins of the Order

Based on this Biblical history, the Order has been developed. Speculative masonry in the 17th and 18th centuries gave rise to the invention of many post-Craft degrees. In Scotland were these degrees prevalent and the Early Grand Scottish Rite at this time collected degrees from the 4th to the 44th. The 16th degree was the ‘Order of Brotherly Love’, and in the late 17th century, this Order was taken from Scotland to New York, where various interpretations were given to both the French and Dutch Freemasons over the next hundred years or so.

The rite worked in the 19th century was called ‘The Secret Monitor or Trading Degree’. Around 1890 the Sovereign College of Allied and Christian Degrees for America took the Order under its aegis and candidates had to be Ark Mariners of good standing. 

After serving on the Federal side as a surgeon in the American Civil War, an Englishman, Issachar Zacharie, settled in California and took a prominent role in Masonic affairs. He returned to London in 1875 and set up practice in Brook Street, Mayfair. He made many Masonic contacts, and met other Brethren who had received the Degree of Secret Monitor in various places.

Brother Zacharie discussed with these brethren the possibility of working the degree in England, as a result of which a Conclave of the Order was formed in May 1887, which ultimately became Premier Conclave No 1.

The Last Hundred Years

From this step the Grand Council of the Order was formed with Bro Zacharie as the Grand Supreme Ruler, which office he filled from 1887 to 1894. Model by-laws were discussed and adopted, and Bro W I Spratling was appointed Grand Recorder which office he held from 1887 to 1927.

The Order of the Secret Monitor in England was working the three degrees, namely Induction, the Princes Degree and the Chair Degree of Supreme Ruler: whilst in America only one degree was practised.

The Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees took the Order of the Secret Monitor under its aegis in 1898.

In 1931 R W Bro Napier-Clavering who was the Grand Supreme Ruler of the Order of the Secret Monitor  was also a member of the local Doyles Lodge of Fellowship Craft Lodge as well as the Grand Master of the Allied Masonic Degrees, and the latter Council officially recognised the order as a separate Grand Council.

As an item of interest, those members of the Allied Masonic Degrees who possess an old bar of the jewels for each degree, may find that it also includes the first-degree jewel of the Order of the Secret Monitor – indeed some may include the Royal Ark Mariner Jewel.