Part 18 (1/2)
Q. What was then demanded of you? A. What surety can you give that you are no impostor?
Q. Your answer? A. The commendation of a true and courteous Knight, the Senior Warden, who recommends to the Grand Commander the remission of the four remaining years of warfare.
Q. What was then demanded? A. By what further right or benefit do you expect to gain admittance to the asylum?
Q. Your answer? A. By the benefit of a pa.s.s-word.
Q. Give it. (Here the warrior's pa.s.s is given, as before described.)
Q. What was then said to you? A. I was directed to wait with courage and constancy, and soon an answer would be returned to my request.
Q. What answer was returned? A. Let him be admitted.
Q. What did the Grand Commander then observe? A. Pilgrim, having gained admittance to our asylum, what profession have you now to make in testimony of your fitness to be received a Knight among our number.
Q. Your answer? A. Most Eminent, I now declare, in truth and soberness, that I hold no enmity or hatred against a being on earth, that I would not freely reconcile, should I find him in a corresponding disposition.
Q. What was the Grand Commander's reply? A. Pilgrim, the sentiments you utter are worthy of the cause in which you are engaged; but still we must require some stronger proofs of your faithfulness; the proofs we demand are, that you partic.i.p.ate with us in five libations; this being accomplished, we will receive you a Knight among our number.
Q. What were the ingredients of the libations? A. Four of them were taken in wine and water, and the fifth in pure wine.
Q. What was the first libation? A. To the memory of Solomon, King of Israel.
Q. What was the second libation? A. To the memory of Hiram, King of Tyre.
Q. What was the third? A. To the memory of Hiram, the widow's son, who lost his life in defence of his integrity.
Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander then addressed me: ”Pilgrim, the Order to which you seek to unite yourself is founded on the Christian religion; let us, then, attend to a lesson from the holy evangelist.”
Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read a lesson relative to the apostasy of Judas Iscariot. (See Templar's Chart.)
Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander then addressed me: ”Pilgrim, the twelve tapers you see around the triangle, correspond in number with the disciples of our Saviour while on earth, one of whom fell by transgression, and betrayed his Lord and Master; and as a constant admonition to you always to persevere in the paths of honor, integrity, and truth, and as a perpetual memorial of the apostasy of Judas Iscariot, you are required by the rules of our Order to extinguish one of those tapers; and let it ever remind you that he who can basely violate his vow and betray his secret, is worthy of no better fate than Judas Iscariot.” (The candidate extinguishes one of the tapers; the triangle is placed in the centre of the room, on which are twelve burning candles; between each candle stick a gla.s.s of wine; in the centre of the triangle is placed a coffin, on which are the Bible, skull and cross-bones.)
Q. What followed? A. The relics were then uncovered, and the Grand Commander thus addressed me: ”Pilgrim, you here behold an emblem of mortality resting on divinity--a human skull resting on the Holy Scriptures; it is to teach us that among all the trials and vicissitudes which we are destined to endure while pa.s.sing through the pilgrimage of this life, a firm reliance on divine protection can alone afford us the consolation and satisfaction which the world can neither give nor take away.”
Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read a lesson to me with respect to the bitter cup.
Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander took the skull in his hand, and p.r.o.nounced the following soliloquy: ”How striking is this emblem of mortality, once animated, like us, but now it ceases to act or think; its vital energies are extinct, and all the powers of life have ceased their operations; and such, my brethren, is the state to which we are all hastening; let us, therefore, gratefully improve the remaining s.p.a.ce of life, that when our weak and frail bodies, like this memento, shall become cold and inanimate and mouldering in sepulchral dust and ruins, our disembodied spirits may soar aloft to the blessed regions, where dwell light and life eternal.”
Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read a lesson relative to the crucifixion. (See Templar's Chart.)
Q. What was the fourth libation? A. To the memory of Simon of Cyrene, the early friend and disciple of our Saviour, who was compelled to bear his cross, and fell a martyr to his fate.
Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander then addressed me: ”Pilgrim, before you can be permitted to partic.i.p.ate in the fifth libation, we must enjoin on you one year's penance as a trial of your faith and humility, which you will perform under the direction of the Junior and Senior Wardens, with the skull in one hand, and a lighted taper in the other; which is to teach you that with faith and humility you should cause your light so to s.h.i.+ne before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify our Father, which is in heaven.”
Q. What followed? A. I then commenced my tour of penance, and pa.s.sed in an humble posture through the sepulchre, where the fifth lesson was read by the Senior Warden relative to the resurrection. (Here the ascension of the Saviour is represented on canvas, which the candidate is directed to look at: at the same time the Sir Knights sing a hymn.) After the hymn, the Prelate speaks as follows:
”I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he be made alive; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Pilgrim, the scene before you represents the splendid conclusion of the hallowed sacrifice offered by the Redeemer of the world, to propitiate the anger of an offended Deity. This sacred volume informs us that our Saviour, after having suffered the pains of death, descended into the place of departed spirits, and that on the third day he burst the bands of death, triumphed over the grave, and, in due time, ascended with transcendent majesty to heaven, where he now sits on the right hand of our Heavenly Father, a mediator and intercessor for all those who have faith in Him. I now invest you with an emblem of that faith (at the same time suspends from his neck a black cross): it is also an emblem of our Order, which you will wear as a constant memorial, for you to imitate the virtues of the immaculate Jesus, who died that you might live. Pilgrim, the ceremonies in which you are now engaged are calculated deeply to impress your mind, and I trust will have a happy and lasting effect upon your character. You were first, as a trial of your faith and humility, enjoined to perform seven years of pilgrimage; it represents the great pilgrimage of life, through which we are all pa.s.sing; we are all weary pilgrims, anxiously looking forward to that asylum, where we shall rest from our labors, and be at rest forever. You were then directed, as a trial of your courage and constancy, to perform seven years'
warfare; it represents to you the constant warfare with the lying vanities and deceits of this world, in which it is necessary for us always to be engaged. You are now performing a penance as a trial of your humility. Of this our Lord and Saviour has left us a bright example. For though he was the Eternal Son of G.o.d, he humbled himself to be born of a woman, to endure the pains and afflictions incident to human nature, and finally to suffer a cruel and ignominious death upon the cross; it is also a trial of that faith which will conduct you safely over the dark gulf of everlasting death, and land your enfranchised spirit in the peaceful abodes of the blessed. Pilgrim, keep ever in your memory this awful truth; you know not how soon you may be called upon to render an account to that Supreme Judge, from whom not even the most minute action of your life is hidden; for although you now stand erect in all the strength of manhood and pride of beauty, in a few short moments you may become a pale and lifeless corpse.