OPENING.--The Master strikes five. At this signal the Grand Marshal
rises, and the Master addresses him: Master. Your place in the Lodge?
Answer: In the North, Most Powerful.
M. Your business there? A. To see that the Sanctum Sanctorum is duly
guarded.
M. Please to attend to your duty, and inform the guards that we are
about to open a Lodge of Secret Masters by the MYSTERIOUS NUMBER. A.
It is done.
M. How are we guarded? A. By seven Secret Masters stationed before the
veil of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
The Master strikes six. The Inspector rises. Master. Brother Adoniram,
are you a Secret Master? Inspector. I have passed from the square to
the compass.
M. What is the hour? I. The dawn of day has driven away darkness, and
the great light begins to shine in this Lodge.
The Master strikes seven. The brethren rise. Master. If the great
light is the token of the dawn of day, and we are all Secret Masters,
it is time to begin our labors; give notice that I am about to open a
Lodge of Secret Masters by the mysterious number. The Inspector obeys.
The signs of the degrees from Entered Apprentice to Royal Arch,
inclusive, are given with that of silence, which belongs to this
degree. The Master places the two forefingers of his right hand on his
lips. This is answered by the brethren with the two forefingers of the
left. All clap hands seven times.
M. I declare this Lodge of Secret Masters open, and in order for
business. Brother Grand Marshal, please to inform the guards.
* * * * *
SECOND SECTION.--Question--What did you see in the Sanctum Sanctorum
when the thick veil was removed? Answer--I saw the great circle, in
which was enclosed the blazing star, which filled me with awe and
reverence.
Q. What do the Hebrew characters in the triangle signify? A. Something
above my knowledge, which I cannot pronounce.
Q. What word did those Hebrew characters compose? A. The ineffable
name of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Q. To whom was that name revealed? A. To Moses; he received the
pronunciation thereof from the Almighty on the mount, when he appeared
to him, and by a law of Moses it was forbidden ever to be pronounced
unless in a certain manner, so that in process of time the true
pronunciation was lost.
Q. What more did you perceive? A. Nine other words.
Q. Where were they placed? A. In the nine beams of the blazing
luminary.
Q. What did they signify? A. The nine names which God gave himself
when speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, and the promise that his
posterity should one day discover his real name.
Q. Give them to me, with their significations? A. "Eloah," The Strong.
"Hayah," He is. "Shaddai," The Almighty. "Elyon," The Most High.
"Adonai," The Lord. "Ahad Kodesh," The Holy One. "Riba," The Mighty.
"Mahar," Merciful. "Eloham," Merciful God.
Q. What doth the circle which surrounds the delta signify? A. The
eternity of the power of God, which hath neither beginning nor end.
Q. What doth the blazing star denote? A. That light which should guide
us to the Divine Providence.
Q. What is signified by the letter G in the centre of the blazing
star? A. Glory, Grandeur and Gomez, or Gibber Hodihu.
Q. What is meant by these? A. By Glory is meant God, by Grandeur, man
who may be great by perfection; and Gibber Hodihu, is a Hebrew word
signifying thanks to God. It is said to have been the first word
spoken by the first man.
Q. What else did you see in the Sanctum Sanctorum? A. The ark of
alliance or covenant.
Q. Where was the ark of alliance placed? A. In the west end of the
Sanctum Sanctorum, under the blazing star.
Q. What did the ark with the blazing star represent? A. As the ark was
the emblem of the alliance which God had made with his people, so is
the circle which surrounds the delta in the blazing star, the emblem
of the alliance of Brother Masons.
Q. Of what form was the ark? A. A solid oblong square.
Q. Of what was it made? A. Of shittim wood covered within and without
with pure gold, surmounted with a golden crown and two cherubims of
gold.
Q. What was the covering of the ark called? A. Propitiatory.
Q. Why so? A. Because God's anger was there appeased.
Q. What did the ark contain? A. The tables of the law which God gave
to Moses.
Q. Of what were they made? A. Of white marble.
Q. Who constructed the ark? A. Bezeleel of the Tribe of Judah, and
Aholiab of the Tribe of Dan, who were filled with the spirit of God in
wisdom and understanding, and in knowledge and in all manner of
workmanship.