The Mysteries of Free Masonry Part 18

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.

This moment, even while I yet speak, the angel of death may receive the fatal mandate to strike you from the role of existence; and the friends who now surround you may be called upon to perform the last sad duty of laying you in the earth, a banquet for worms, and this fair body become as the relic you now hold in your hand. Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of sorrow; he cometh up and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not; in the midst of life we are in death; of whom may we seek for succor but of Thee, O Lord, who for our sins are justly displeased. Yet, O G.o.d most holy, thou G.o.d most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us from the pains of eternal death. I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write from henceforth, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; even so, saith the spirit, for they rest from their labors; be ye also ready, and rest a.s.sured that a firm faith in the truths here revealed will afford you consolation in the gloomy hour of dissolution, and insure you ineffable and eternal happiness in the world to come. Amen and amen."

Q. Where did your tour of penance end? A. It has not yet ended; neither can it end until this mortal shall put on immortality; for all men err, and all error need repentance.

Q. Were you then permitted to partic.i.p.ate in the fifth libation? A. I was.

Q. Where? A. Within the asylum.

Q. How gained you admittance there? A. After having pa.s.sed my year of penance, I returned to the door of the asylum, where, on giving the alarm, the Warden appeared and demanded, "Who comes there?"

Q. Your answer? A. Pilgrim penitent, traveling from afar, who begs your permission here to rest, and at the shrine of our departed Lord to offer up his prayers and meditations.

Q. What was then demanded of you? A. What surety can he offer that he is no impostor?

Q. Your answer? A. The commendation of two true and courteous Knights, the Junior and Senior Wardens.

Q. What was then demanded of you? A. By what further right or benefit I expected to gain admittance.

Q. Your answer? A. By the benefit of a pa.s.s-word.

Q. Did you give that pa.s.s-word? A. I did not; my conductor gave it for me.

Q. Give it? A. Golgotha. (It is given as before described.)

Q. What was then said to you? A. Wait with faith and humility, and soon an answer shall be returned to your request.

Q. What was the answer of the Grand Commander? A. That I should be admitted.

Q. What did the Grand Commander then demand? A. Who have you there in charge, Sir Knight?

Q. What answer was returned? A. A pilgrim penitent, traveling from afar, who, having pa.s.sed his term of penance, seeks now to partic.i.p.ate in the fifth libation, thereby to seal his fate.

Q. What did the Grand Commander then observe? A. Pilgrim, in granting your request and receiving you a Knight among our number, I can only offer you a rough habit, coa.r.s.e diet, and severe duties; if, on these conditions, you are still desirous of enlisting under our banners, you will advance and kneel at the base of the triangle.

Q. What did the Grand Commander then observe? A. Pilgrim, the fifth libation is taken in the most solemn and impressive manner; we cannot be too often reminded that we are born to die; and the fifth libation is an emblem of that bitter cup of death, of which we must all sooner or later partake, and from which even the Saviour of the world, notwithstanding his ardent prayers and solicitations, was not exempt.

Q. What was then said to you? A. The Grand Commander asked me if I had any repugnance to partic.i.p.ate in the fifth libation.

Q. Your answer? A. I am willing to conform to the requirements of the Order.

Q. What followed? A. I then took the cup (the upper part of the human skull) in my hand, and repeated after the Grand Commander the following obligation:

"This pure wine I now take in testimony of my belief in the mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul, and may this libation appear as a witness against me, both here and hereafter, and as the sins of the world were laid upon the head of the Saviour, so may all the sins committed by the person whose scull this was be heaped upon my head, in addition to my own, should I ever knowingly or wilfully violate or transgress any obligation that I have heretofore taken, take at this time, or shall at any future period take, in relation to any degree of Masonry, or Order of Knighthood. So help me G.o.d."

Q. What was this obligation called? A. The sealed obligation.

Q. Why so? A. Because any obligation entered into, or promise made in reference to this obligation, is considered by Knight Templars as more binding and serious than any other special obligation could be.

Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read the sixth lesson, relative to the election of Matthias. (See Chart.)