It was customary for the operative Masons to select for themselves a Mark, to be placed upon every piece of work wrought by them. This was done in order to keep a check on each operative's work by the Overseers, and to facilitate the payment of wages. Each Mark was distinctive and the same Mark frequently descended from father to son through several generations.

These Marks may be seen today on the stones in the old cathedrals of Europe. Facsimile copies are reproduced in all Masonic histories. In Scotland, the operative Mason was required to register his Mark by the Shaw's Statutes issued in 1598. From this requirement of registration of the Mark, the Degree was evidently evolved.

The earliest record of the Mark Degree being conferred in Scotland bears the date of January 7, 1778. Yet this does not prove that the degree was not conferred at a much earlier date. These records also contain the information that the Mark Degree could not be conferred upon any one not having received the degree of Fellowcraft and Master. A report made to the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England states: "There is probably no degree in Freemasonry that can lay claim to greater antiquity than those of Mark Man or Mark Mason and Mark Master Mason."

The degree was conferred in Nova Scotia in 1784; in Connecticut in 1791; in New York in 1791 and in Boston in 1793. Like the Royal Arch, the Mark Degree was originally conferred in the Lodge. In the United States, the General Grand Chapter, R.A.M., issued Mark Lodge Charters up to 1853, when it was prohibited and the degree passed under Chapter control. In England the degree is under the control of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masons; in Canada and in Scotland the control is vested as in the United States.

The lessons of the degree are intensely practical, emphasizing the great requirement in life, viz.: Qualification and Service.

To this end, no greater evidence of approval and appreciation could have been devised than the honourable title of "Most Excellent Master", which was bestowed upon those who have proved themselves to be proficient and outstanding masters of their profession.

It was, therefore, not conferred upon the whole body of workmen, but was limited to those who, through diligence and industry, had progressed far toward perfection, and by so doing had merited recognition for their efficient and praiseworthy efforts. The degree is based upon Biblical and historical facts and is presented in a manner designed to carry nearer to completion that character building, the foundations of which were laid in the preceding degrees.

Chronologically, the setting for this degree is some 470 years from the completion of the First Temple, as depicted in the Most Excellent Master Degree. The First Temple had been destroyed and now preparations were under way for the building of the Second Temple.

In the preparatory work for the building of the Second Temple many valuable relics belonging to the craft were discovered, a knowledge of which was essential in providing explanatory answers to various items which up to this time had been hidden from the vision of the Master Mason.

The central idea of the entire system of Freemasonry being the LOSS and RECOVERY of the WORD, the WORD is the pivotal point about which the entire system of Masonic Symbolism revolves. "Its possession is the consummation of all Masonic knowledge." Wherever there is a “loss" there should be a "recovery".

The Royal Arch Degree is not a "Higher Degree', but a volume of the series in a sublime story revealed through symbolism. It should satisfy the anticipation of the Candidate that the earnest searcher after Truth is rewarded; that darkness gives place, not to a feeble ray of light, but to the full radiance which comes with the knowledge of the attributes and the eternal presence of God.