The Mysteries of Free Masonry Part 16

Q. What was you then asked? A. My name.

Q. Your answer? A. Zerrubbabel.

Q. What were you then asked? A. What are your demands?

Q. Your answer? A. To see the sovereign, if possible.

Q. What was then said to you? A. I was then directed to wait with patience until the Sovereign Master should be informed of my request, and his answer returned.

Q. What was that answer? A. That the necessary caution should be taken that I was not armed with any hostile weapons, and that I should then be admitted.

Q. How were you then received? A. The guard being drawn up on the right and left of the throne, swords drawn, two of them placed at the door with swords crossed, under which I was permitted to enter, my face covered with my hands.

Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted in front of the Sovereign Master, who received me with kindness and attention, and listened with patience to my request.

Q. What did the Sovereign Master then observe to the Council? A. That this Zerrubbabel was the friend of his youth, that he could neither be an enemy nor a spy.

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master thus addressed me: "Zerrubbabel, having now gained admittance into our presence, we demand that you immediately declare the particular motives which induced you, without our permission, and with force and arms, to pa.s.s the lines of our dominions?"

Q. Your answer? A. Sovereign Master, the tears and complaints of my companions at Jerusalem, who have been so long and so often impeded in the n.o.ble and glorious undertaking in which they were permitted to engage by our late sovereign, Lord Cyrus, the King; but our enemies having made that great work to cease by force and power, I have now come up to implore your majesty's clemency, that you would be pleased to restore me to favor, and grant me employment among the servants of your household.

Q. What was the Sovereign's reply? A. Zerrubbabel, I have often reflected with much pleasure upon our early intimacy and friends.h.i.+p, and I have frequently heard, with great satisfaction, of your fame as a wise and accomplished Mason, and having myself a profound veneration for that ancient and honorable inst.i.tution, and having a sincere desire to become a member of the same, I will this moment grant your request, on condition that you will reveal to me the secrets of Freemasonry.

Q. Did you consent to that? A. I did not.

Q. What was your reply? A. Sovereign Master, when our Grand Master Solomon, King of Israel, first inst.i.tuted the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, he taught us that truth was a divine attribute, and the foundation of every virtue; to be good and true is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry. My engagements are sacred and inviolable: I cannot reveal our secrets. If I can obtain your majesty's favor only at the expense of my integrity, I humbly beg leave to decline your royal protection, and will cheerfully submit to any honorable exile.

Q. What was the Sovereign's reply? A. Zerrubbabel, your virtue and integrity are truly commendable, and your fidelity to your engagements is worthy of imitation; from this moment you are free--my guards will divest you of those chains and that garb of slavery, and clothe you in suitable habiliments to attend me at the banquet hall. Zerrubbabel, you are free; guards, strike off those chains; and may those emblems of slavery never again disgrace the hands of a Mason, more particularly a prince of the house of Judah; Zerrubbabel, we a.s.sign you a seat of rank and honor among the princes and rulers of our a.s.sembly.

Q. What followed? A. The guards being drawn up in the court yard, the Warder informed the Sovereign Master that the guards were in readiness, waiting his pleasure.

Q. What followed? A. He then ordered the guards to attend him to the banquet hall.

Q. What occurred there? A. After having partic.i.p.ated in a liberal entertainment, the Sovereign Master not being inclined to sleep, and many of the guard having retired, he amused himself by entering into conversation with some of his princ.i.p.al officers and friends, proposing certain questions to them, and offering a princely reward to such as should give the most reasonable and satisfactory answer.

Q. What questions were proposed? A. Among others, "Which was the strongest, wine, the King, or woman?"[17]

Q. What answers were returned? A. The Chancellor said wine was the strongest; the Master of the Palace said the King was the strongest; but I, being firmly persuaded that the time had arrived in which I could remind the King of his vow, and request the fulfilment of it, replied that women were stronger than either of the former, but, above all things, truth beareth the victory.

Q. What followed? A. The King being deeply struck with the addition I made to the question, ordered us to be prepared with proper arguments in support of our respective propositions on the day following.

Q. What followed? A. On the day following, the Council being convened at the sound of the trumpet, the Chancellor was called upon for his answer, and thus replied: (See Templar's Chart of Freemasonry.)

Q. What followed? A. The Master of the Palace thus replied: (See Templar's Chart of Freemasonry.)

Q. What followed? A. I then being called upon for my defence, answered as follows: (See Templar's Chart of Freemasonry.)

Q. What followed? A. The King being deeply struck with the force of the arguments I had used, involuntarily exclaimed, "Great is truth, and mighty above all things; ask what thou wilt, Zerrubbabel, and it shall be granted thee, for thou art found wisest among thy companions."

Q. Your answer? (See Templar's Chart of Freemasonry.)

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then addressed me: "Zerrubbabel, I will punctually fulfil my vow; letters and pa.s.sports shall be immediately issued to my officers throughout the realm, and they shall give you, and those who accompany you, safe conveyance to Jerusalem, and you shall be no longer hindered or impeded in rebuilding your city and temple, until they shall be completed."

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then invested me with a green sash, and thus addressed me, "This green sash, of which you were deprived by my guards, I now with pleasure restore to you, and will make it one of the insignia of a new Order, calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of the event which caused the renewal of our friends.h.i.+p; its color will remind you that truth is a divine attribute and shall prevail, and shall forever flourish in immortal green. I will now confer on you the highest honor in our power at this time to bestow, and will create you the first Knight of an Order, inst.i.tuted for the express purpose of inculcating the almighty force and importance of truth.

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then directed me to kneel, and said, By virtue of the high power in me vested, as the successor and representative of Darius, King of Persia, I now const.i.tute you a Knight of the ill.u.s.trious Order of the Red Cross (at the same time laying the blade of his sword first upon the right shoulder, then upon the head, and then upon the left shoulder of the candidate).

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then directed me to arise, and presenting me with a sword, thus addressed me: "This sword, of which you were deprived by my guards, I now restore in your hands, as a true and courteous Knight; it will be endowed with three most excellent properties--its hilt be faith, its blade be hope, its point be charity; it should teach us this important lesson, that when we draw our swords in a just and virtuous cause, having faith in G.o.d, we may reasonably hope for victory, ever remembering to extend the hand of charity to the fallen foe; sheathe it, and sooner may it rust in its scabbard than be drawn in the cause of injustice or oppression."

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then invested me with the Persian countersign.

Q. Give it? A. This countersign is given like the Jewish, excepting this variation, it is given over instead of under the arch of steel.

The words are Tatnai Shethar-boznai, Enavdai.

Q. Who were they? A. They were governors of Persian provinces, and enemies of the Jews.

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then invested me with the Red Cross word.

Q. Give it? A. (Each placing his left hand upon the other's right shoulder, at the same time bringing the point of the swords to each other's left side, in which position the word Libertas is given.)

Q. What followed? A. The Sovereign Master then invested me with the grand sign, grip, and word of Knight of the Red Cross.

Q. Give them. A. The grand sign is given by bringing the thumb and finger of the left hand to the mouth, and carrying it off in an oblique direction; the grip is given by interlacing the fingers of the left hand; the word is Veritas. The sign, grip, and word are given under the arch of steel.

Q. How do you translate the word? A. Truth.

Q. To what does the sign allude? A. To the blowing of the trumpet upon the walls and watch towers of the Council, but more particularly to the obligation, "that when the last trump shall sound, I shall be forever excluded from the society of all true and faithful Sir Knights."

Q. What is the motto of our Order? A. "Magna est veritas et prevalebit." [Great is truth, and will prevail.]

KNIGHT TEMPLAR, AND KNIGHT OF MALTA.

FIRST SECTION.

Question--Are you a Knight Templar? Answer--That is my t.i.tle.

Q. Where were you created a Knight Templar? A. In a just and lawful Encampment of Knight Templars.

Q. What number composes a just and lawful Encampment of Knight Templars? A. There is an indispensable number and a const.i.tutional number.

Q. What is an indispensable number? A. Three.

Q. Under what circ.u.mstances are they authorized to form and open an Encampment of Knight Templars? A. Three Knight Templars, hailing from three different commanderies, may, under the sanction of a charter or warrant from some regular Grand Encampment, form and open an Encampment for the dispatch of business.

Q. What is a const.i.tutional number? A. Seven, nine, eleven, or more.