תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

foll, signs, and demonstrate that proof to me by copying their example.

J. W. Brethren, by command of the Worshipful Master, you are desired to prove yourselves Fellow Craft Freemasons by three-fold signs: and to prevent confusion, observe the Senior Warden (The persons present then make the three signs, which will be hereafter explained, and the Junior Warden reports.) Worshipful Master, the brethren present having proved themselves bellow Craft Freemasons, by three-fold signs, I, in obedience to your commands, demonstrate that proof to you, by copying their example.

W. M. And I acknowledge the correctness of those signs.Brethren, our lodge being thus duly formed, before I proceed to declare it open, let us invoke a blessing from the Grand Geometrician of the universe*, that the rays of heavent may shed their benign influence over us, to enlighten us in the paths of nature and science.

P. M. So mote it be.

W. M. In the name of the Grand Geometrician of the universet, I declare this lodge open on the square, for the instruction and improvement of Fellow Craft Freemasons.

(The Master gives the three knocks, which are echoed by the Wardens and the Guards. The Bible is opened at certain parts, &c.)

CEREMONY OF PASSING IN THE SECOND DEGREE

W. M. Brethren, Brother Noodle is this evening a candidate to be passed to the second degree; but it is first requisite that he should give proofs of proficiency in the former; I shall, therefore, proceed to put the necessary questions. (The master questions him as to what he knows of the first degree and asks if any brother has any other question to put. He is then repórted as qualified).

W. M. Brother Noodle, you will come this way. Do you pledge your honour as a man and your fidelity as a Mason, that you will steadily persevere through the ceremony of being passed to the second degree?

Noodle. I do.

W. M. Do you likewise pledge yourself, that you will conceal what Ishall now impart to you with the same strict caution as the other secrets in masonry?

N. I will.

W. M. Then I will entrust you with a test of merit which is a passing grip and a passing word leading to the door of the lodge

* Who, where, what is he?

What are the rays of heaven?

Very fine words, but what do they mean? To whom or to what do

they allude?

1

into which you seek to be admitted. The passing grip is given by a distinct pressure of the thumb of your right hand between the joints of the first and middle fingers of the right hand of a brother. This demands a passing word, which is SHIBBOLETH. The word Shibboleth denotes plenty, and is usually depicted in our lodges by an ear of corn near a fall of water. You will be particularly careful to remember this word, as, without it, you cannot gain admission to a lodge in a superior degree. (Noodle withdraws and lodge opens in the second degree. During his examination, and instruction, it was considered to be open in the first degree. The knocking takes place at the door, after the examination of the candidate by the Tiler, as to the passing grip and word, and the Inner Guard, demanding who is there, reports.)

I. G. Worshipful Master, at the door of your lodge stands Brother Noodle, who has been regularly initiated into masonry and has made such progress as he hopes will recommend him to be passed to the degree of a Fellow Craft; for which ceremony he comes properly prepared.

W. M. How does he hope to obtain the priveleges of the second degree?

I. G. By the help of God, assistance of the square and the benefit of a passing word.

W. M. We acknowledge the propriety of the aid by which he seeks it, do you, Brother Inner Guard, vouch, that he is in possession of that passing word.

I. G. I do, Worshipful Master.

W. M. Then let him be admitted in due form. (The candidate is not now hoodwincked; but his left arm, right breast and right knee are made bare and the left heel slipshod.) Brother Deacon, let the candidate kneel while the blessing of heaven is invoked on what we are about to do. (Master prays) We supplicate the continuation of thy aid, O merciful Lord, on the behalf of ourselves and of him who kneels before thee, May the work begun in thy name be continued to thy glory and evermore established in us by obedience to thy precepts. So mote it be. (The candidate is then raised and led round the lodge that all may see he is properly prepared. As he comes to the wardens, a ceremony passes, on giving them the passing grip and word, as at the door, and he is finally brought to the master for the same purpose.)

S. W. Worshipful Master, 1 present to you, Brother Noodle, a candidate properly prepared to be passed to the second degree.

W. M. Brother Senior Warden, you will direct the Senior Deacon to instruct the candidate to advance to the pedestal in due form.

S. W. Brother Senior Deacon, it is the Worshipful Master's command, that you instruct the candidate to advance to the east in due form.

W. M. Brother Noodle, as in every case the degrees of Free

masonry are to be kept separate and district, another obligation will now be required of you in many respects similar to the former, are you willing to take it?

Noodle. I am.

W. M. Then you will kneel on your right knee, your left foot in the form of a square, your body erect, place your right hand on the sacred volume of the law, supporting your left arm with the compasses, the whole forming a square, and say after me

-

I, Doodle Noodle, in the presence of the Grand Geometrician of the Universe, and in this worshipful and warranted Lodge of Fellow Craft Masons, duly constituted, regularly assembled and properly dedicated; of my own free will and accord, do hereby and hereon most solemnly promise and swear, that I will always hale, conceal and never reveal any or either of the secrets or mysteries of or belonging to the second degree of Freemasonry, known by the name of the Fellow Craft, to him who is but an Entered Apprentice no more than I would either of them to the uuinitiated, or the popular world who are not Masons.

I further solemnly pledge myself to act as a true and faithful craftsman, obey signs, and maintain the principles inculcated in the first degree. All these points I most solemnly swear to obey without evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation of any kind, under no less a penalty, on the violation of any of them, in addition to my former obligation, than to have my left breast cut open, my heart torn therefrom and given to the ravenous birds of the air, or the devouring beasts of the field, as a prey, so help me Almighty God and keep me steadfast in this my great and solemn obligation of a Fellow Craft Mason.

This is about the form or the oath under the new regulations of the Grand United Lodge. The old oaths had more points mentioned, such as a promise to attend all summonses when within a cable low's length of the Lodge, which signified three miles; a promise to obey the Master Mason, to observe a particular conduct towards Masons in general, and a description of the Lodge, as dedicated to St. John, and generally, as opened on the square for the instruction and improvement of Fellow Craft Masons. Saint John appears to have been the Mason's Saint: and their fables have made him the institutor of a Lodge of Masons. Jesus Christ and his disciples they also find to have been a Lodge of Masons, though no fair searching historian can prove their existIn short, every name and character found in the Bible, they have associated with Masonry, and their idol God has been made the grand Architect of all! Let them see, as they will see,

ence.

if they search, that there is no God, no intelligent being superior and what then becomes of their divine Masonry?

to man,

This oath, it will be seen, is still more foul than the former, and we shall find, that that of the Master Mason is still worse. What is all the boasted "morality veiled in allegory" of Masonry worth, when put by the side of so foul and vicious and barbarous an oath? Here, in addition to licensed throat-cutting, and a tearing out of the tongue by the roots, we have a cutting up of the breast, a tearing out of the heart, and a gnawing of that heart by birds or beasts of prey. Delightful brotherhood, that can harbour such ideas as these, upon any conditions! But when we recollect, that Masonry originated with such oaths as these, without any of that pretended morality or benevolence which has been subsequently added to it; have we not the fullest proof that it is fundamentally vicious? Without its modern moral garb, it would not have been tolerated in this day. It is now a system of trick, deceit and vice, from the beginning to the end, decked in finery that dazzles the eye, but that is contaminating to the touch, and that pollutes every mind that partakes of it. The ceremony then thus proceeds.

W. M. As a pledge of your fidelity, and to render this a solemn obligation, which would otherwise be but a serious promise, I will thank you to seal it with your lips twice on the volume of the sacred law.

Your progress in Masonry is marked by the positions of the square and compasses. When you were made an Entered Apprentice, both points were hidden. In this degree, one is disclosed, implying, that you are now in the middle of Freemasonry; superior to an Entered Apprentice, but inferior to what I trust will hereafter be communicated to you. Rise newly obligated Fellow Craft Freemason.

You, having taken the solemn obligation of a Fellow Craft Freemason, I shall proceed to entrust you with the secrets of the degree. You will advance towards me, as at your initiation. Now, take another pace with your left foot, bringing the right heel into its hollow, as before. That is the second regular step in Freemasonry, and it is in this position that the secrets of the degree are communicated. They consist, as in the former instance, of a sign, token, and word: with this difference, that the sign is of a three-fold nature. The first part of the three-fold sign is called the sign of fidelity, emblematically to shield the repository of your secrets from the attacks of the cowan. (The sign is

made by pressing the right hand on the left breast, extending the thumb perpendicularly to form a square.)-The second part is called the hailing sign, and is given by throwing the left hand up in this manner (horizontal from the shoulder to the elbow and perpendicular from the elbow to the ends of the fingers). It took its rise at the time when Joshua fought the battles of the Lord in the valley of Rephidim: and from the memorable event of Moses having his hands supported by his brother Aaron, whilst Joshua was fighting the Amalekites. It was also the position of Joshua, when he prayed fervently to the Almighty to continue the light of day, that he might complete the overthrow of his enemy. And Moses also, when he came down from the mount, hailed his brethren with this double sign (the first and second part) in order to arrest their attention, as a signal for them to attend to what he was about to deliver, and as a pledge of his sincerity and truth, and also of the importance of what he was about to declare.This was the origin of the sign, and on the morning, that the foundation-stune of the Temple was laid, King Solomon adopted the same double sign: the right hand as a token of the sincerity of his holiness and piety towards God, and the left hand as a token of an upright hand and heart, in earnest prayer, imploring the blessing of the most high on their pious undertaking, in erecting the Temple of Jerusalem to his holy service. The third part is called the penal sign, and is given by drawing the hand across the breasts and dropping it to the side. This is in allusion to the penalty of your obligation, implying, that, as a man of honour and a Fellow Craft, you would rather have your heart torn from your breast, than to improperly divulge the secrets of this degree. The grip or token is given by a distinct pressure of the thumb on the second joint of the hand, or that of the middle finger. This demands a word; a word to be given and received with the same strict caution as the one in the former degree, either by letters or syllables. The word is JACHIN. As in the course of the evening, you will be called on for this word, the Senior Deacon will now dictate the answers you have to give.

S. D. What is this?

Noodle. The grip or token of a Fellow Craft Freemason.
S. D. What does it demand?

Noodle. A word.

S. D. Will you give me that word?

Noodle. I was taught to be cautious in this degree, as well as in the former: I will letter or halve it with you.

S.D. Which you please and begin.

Noodle. Ja,

« הקודםהמשך »