Part 31 (1/2)
FORM OF RECEPTION.--After the Council is opened, the candidate is introduced into an ante-chamber, where there are a number of Sylphs, each with a bellows, blowing a large pot of fire, which the candidate sees, but they take no notice of him. After he is left in that situation two or three minutes, the most ancient of the Sylphs goes to the candidate and covers his face with black c.r.a.pe. He must be without a sword, and is told that he must find the door of the Sanctuary, and when found, to knock on it six times with an open hand. After he finds the door and knocks, Brother Truth goes to the door, and having opened it a little, asks the candidate the following questions, which he answers by the help of the Sylphs. ”Q. What do you desire? A. I desire to go out of darkness to see the true light, and to know the true light in all its purity. Q. What do you desire more? A. To divest myself of original sin, and destroy the juvenile prejudices of error, which all men are liable to, namely, the desire of all worldly attachments and pride.” On which Brother Truth comes to Father Adam, and relates what the candidate has told him; when Father Adam gives orders to introduce the candidate to the true happiness. Then Brother Truth opens the door, and takes the candidate by the hand, and conducts him to the middle of the Lodge or Sanctuary, which is also covered by a black cloth, when Father Adam addresses him thus: ”My son, seeing by your labor in the royal art, you are now come to the desire of knowledge of the pure and holy truth, we shall lay it open to you without any disguise or covering. But, before we do this, consult your heart, and see in this moment if you feel yourself disposed to obey her (namely truth) in all things which she commands.
If you are disposed, I am sure she is ready in your heart, and you must feel an emotion that was unknown to you before. This being the case, you must hope that she will not be long to manifest herself to you. But have a care not to defile the sanctuary by a spirit of curiosity; and take care not to increase the number of the vulgar and profane, that have for so long a time ill-treated her, until Truth was obliged to depart the earth, and now can hardly trace any of her footsteps. But she always appears in her greatest glory, without disguise, to the true, good, and honest Free Masons; that is to say, to the zealous extirpators of superst.i.tion and lies. I hope, my dear brother, you will be one of her intimate favorites. The proofs that you have given, a.s.sure me of everything I have to expect of your zeal; for as nothing now can be more a secret among us, I shall order brother Truth, that he will instruct you what you are to do in order to come to true happiness.” After this discourse of Father Adam, the candidate is unveiled and shown the form of the Lodge or Council, without explaining any part thereof. Brother Truth then proceeds thus: ”My dear brother, by my mouth, holy truth speaketh to you, but before she can manifest herself to you, she requires of you proofs in which she is satisfied in your entrance into the Masonic order. She has appeared to you in many things which you could not have apprehended or comprehended without her a.s.sistance; but now you have the happiness to arrive at the brilliant day, nothing can be a secret to you. Learn, then, the moral use that is made of the three first parts of the furniture, which you knew after you was received an Entered Apprentice Mason, viz.: Bible, Compa.s.s and Square. By the Bible you are to understand that it is the only law you ought to follow. It is that which Adam received at his creation, and which the Almighty engraved in his heart. This law is called natural law, and shows positively that there is but one G.o.d, and to adore him only without any subdivision or interpolation. The Compa.s.s gives you the faculty of judging for yourself, that whatever G.o.d has created, is well, and he is the sovereign author of every thing. Existing in himself, nothing is either good or evil; because we understand by this expression, an action done which is excellent in itself, is relative, and submits to the human understanding, or judgment, to know the value and price of such action; and that G.o.d, with whom every thing is possible, communicates nothing of his will, but such as his great goodness pleases; and every thing in the universe is governed as he has decreed it, with justice, being able to compare it with the attributes of the Divinity. I equally say, that in himself there is no evil; because he has made every thing with exactness, and that every thing exists according to his will; consequently, as it ought to be. This distance between good and evil with the Divinity, cannot be more justly and clearly compared than by a circle formed with a compa.s.s. From the points being reunited there is formed an entire circ.u.mference; and when any point in particular equally approaches or equally separates from its point, it is only a faint resemblance of the distance between good and evil, which we compare by the points of a compa.s.s forming a circle, which circle when completed is G.o.d.
SQUARE.--By the Square we discover that G.o.d, who has made every thing equal, in the same manner that you are not able to dig a body in a quarry complete, or perfect; thus, the wish of the Eternal in creating the world by a liberal act of his own, well foresaw every matter that could possibly happen in consequence thereof; that is to say, that every thing therein contained at the same time of the creation was good.
LEVEL.--You have also seen a level, a plumb, and a rough stone. By the level you are to learn to be upright and sincere, and not to suffer yourself to be drawn away by the mult.i.tude of the blind and ignorant people; to be always firm and steady to sustain the right of the natural law, and the pure and real knowledge of that truth which it teacheth.
PERPENDICULAR AND ROUGH STONE.--By these you ought to understand that the perpendicular man is polished by reason, and put censure away by the excellence of our Master.
TRESSLE-BOARD.--You have seen the tressle-board, to draw plans on.
This represents the man whose whole occupation is the art of thinking, and who employs his reason in that which is just and reasonable.
CUBIC STONE.--You have seen the cubic stone, the moral of which, and the sense you ought to draw from it, is, to rule your actions, that they might be equally brought to the sovereign good.
PILLARS.--The two pillars teacheth you that all Masons ought to attach themselves firmly to become an ornament to the order, as well as to its support; as the pillars of Hercules formerly determined the end of the ancient world.
BLAZING STAR.--You have seen the blazing star, the moral sense of which is, ”a true Mason perfecting himself in the way of truth,” that he may become like a blazing star which s.h.i.+neth equally during the thickest darkness; and it is useful to those that it s.h.i.+neth upon, and who are ready and desirous of profiting by its light.
The first instructions have conducted you to the knowledge of Hiram Abiff, and the inquiries that were made in finding him out. You have been informed of the words, signs and tokens which were subst.i.tuted for those we feared would have been surprised, but of which they afterwards learnt that the treacherous villains had not been able to receive any knowledge of; and this ought to be an example and salutary advice to you, to be always on your guard, and well persuaded that it is difficult to escape the snares that ignorance, joined to conceited opinion, lay every day against us, and thereby to overcome us; and the most virtuous men are liable to fall, because their candor renders them unsuspecting. But, in this case, you ought to be firm as our Respectable Father Hiram, who chose rather to be ma.s.sacred than to give up what he had obtained.
This will teach you that as soon as truth shall be fixed in your heart, you ought never to consider the resolution you should take; you must live and die to sustain the light, by which we acquire the sovereign good. We must never expose ourselves to the conversation of cowans, and must be circ.u.mspect even with those with whom we are the most intimate; and not deliver up ourselves to any, excepting those whose character and behavior have proved them brothers, who are worthy to come and appear in the sacred sanctuary where holy Truth delivers her oracles.
You have pa.s.sed the Secret and Perfect Master; you have been decorated with an ivory key, a symbol of your distinction; you have received the p.r.o.nunciation of the ineffable name of the Great Architect of the universe, and have been placed at the first bal.u.s.trade of the sanctuary; you have had rank among the Levites, after which you knew the word ”Zizon,” which signifies ”a bal.u.s.trade of the Levites;” where all those are placed, as well as yourself, to expect the knowledge of the most sublime mysteries.
COFFIN AND ROPE.--In the degree of Perfect Master they have shown you a grave, a coffin, and a ”withe rope,” to raise and deposit the body in a sepulchre, made in the form of a pyramid, in the top of which was a triangle, within which was the sacred name of the Eternal, and on the pavement were the two columns of Jachin and Boaz laid across.
IVORY KEY.--By the ”ivory key” you are to understand that you cannot open your heart with safety, but at proper times. By the corpse and grave is represented the state of man, before he had known the happiness of our order.
ROPE.--The rope to which the coffin is tied, in order to raise it, is the symbol of raising one, as you have been raised from the grave of ignorance to the celestial place where truth resides.
PYRAMID.--The pyramid represents the true Mason who raises himself by degrees, till he reaches heaven, to adore the sacred and unalterable name of the Eternal Supreme.
INTIMATE SECRETARY.--This new degree leads you near to Solomon and honor; and after you redoubled your zeal, you gained new honors and favors, having nearly lost your life by curiosity; which attachment to Masonry gave you the good qualities of your heart, and which obtained your pardon and let you to the ”Intendant of the Buildings,” where you saw a ”blazing star,” a large candlestick with seven branches, with altars, vases, and purification, and a great brazen sea.
BLAZING STAR.--By the expression of PURIFICATION you are to understand that you are to be cleansed from impiety and prejudice before you can acquire more of the sublime knowledge in pa.s.sing the other degrees, to be able to support the brilliant light of reason, enlightened by truth, of which the blazing star is the figure.
CANDLESTICK WITH SEVEN BRANCHES.--By the candlestick with seven branches you are to remember the mysterious number of the seven Masters who were named to succeed one; and from that time it was resolved that seven Knights of Masonry, united together, were able to initiate into Masonry, and show them the seven gifts of the Eternal, which we shall give you a perfect knowledge of, when you have been purified in the Brazen Sea.
BRAZEN SEA.--You have pa.s.sed from the Secret and Perfect Master to the Intimate Secretary, Provost and Judge, and Intendant of the Buildings.
In these degrees they have shown you an ebony box, a key suspended, a balance, and an inflamed urn.
EBONY BOX.--The ebony box shows you with what scrupulous attention you are to keep the secrets that have been confided to you, and which you are to reserve in the closet of your heart, of which the box is an emblem. And were you to reflect on the black color of said box, it would teach you to cover your secrets with a thick veil, in such a manner that the profane cowans cannot possibly have any knowledge thereof.
KEY.--The key demonstrates that you have already obtained a key to our knowledge, and part of our mysteries; and if you behave with equity, fervor, and zeal to your brothers, you will arrive shortly to the knowledge and meaning of our society, and this indicates the reason of the balance.
INFLAMED URN.--By the inflamed urn you are to understand, that as far as you come to the knowledge of the Royal and Sublime Art, you must, by your behavior, leave behind you, in the minds of your brethren and the vulgar, a high idea of your virtue, equal to the perfume of the burning urn.
TWO KINGS.--In the degree of Intimate Secretary, you have seen and heard two kings who were entering into their new alliance and reciprocal promise, and of the perfection of their grand enterprise.
They spoke of the death of Hiram Abiff, our Excellent Master. You saw guards, as a man who was overseen, very near of being put to death for his curiosity of peeping. You also heard of the prospect of a place called the vault, to deposit the precious treasure of Masonry, when the time should be fulfilled, and you afterwards became a brother. The conversation of the two kings is the figure of the coincidence of our laws and the natural law, which forms a perfect agreement with what is expedient, and promises to those who shall have the happiness to be connected to you in the same manner and perfect alliance that they will afterwards come to the centre of true knowledge.
TEARS.--The tears and regret of the two kings are the emblem of the regret you ought to have when you perceive a brother depart from the road of virtue.