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 participate 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 glass 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 passing 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 pronounced 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 space 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 participate 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 shine 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 passed
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 passing; 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 God, 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 God most holy, thou God 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 assured 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 participate in the fifth libation? A. I
was.
Q. Where? A. Within the asylum.
Q. How gained you admittance there? A. After having passed 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 pass-word.
Q. Did you give that pass-word? A. I did not; my conductor gave it for
me.