CHARGE AT RAISING. BROTHER, "Your zeal for the institution of masonry, the progress you have made in the mystery, and your conformity to our regulations, have pointed you out as a proper object of our favour and esteem. "You are now bound by duty, honour, and gratitude, to be faithful to your trust; to support the dignity of your character on every occasion; and to enforce, by precept and example, obedience to the tenets of the order. "In the character of a Master Mason, you are authorized to correct the errors and irregularities of your uninformed brethren, and to guard them against a breach of fidelity. To preserve the reputation of the fraternity unsullied, must be your constant care, and for this purpose it is your province to recommend to your inferiors, obedience and submission; to your equals, courtesy and affability; to your superiors, kindness and condescension. Universal benevolence you are always to inculcate; and, by the regularity of your own behaviour, afford the best example for the conduct of others less informed. The ancient landmarks of the order, intrusted to your care, you are carefully to preserve; and never suffer them to be infringed, or countenance a deviation from the established usages and customs of the fraternity. "Your virtue, honour, and reputation are concerned in supporting with dignity the character you now bear. Let no motive, therefore, make you swerve from your vows, or betray your trust: but be true and faithful, and imitate the example of that celebrated artist whom you this evening represent. Thus you will render yourself deserving of the honour which we have conferred, and merit the confidence that we have reposed." MASTER'S SONGS. Selected and amended. Not the fictions of Greece, nor the dreams of old Rome, All clouds now dissolve; from the east beams the day; The eagle-eyed Muse sees the light-fills the grove, Inspired with the theme, the Divinity flies, From ages remote, see the muse speeds her flight, That the future may keep what the present bestows, As she sung through the skies, angels echoed the sound, The grand proclamation our song shall repeat, "That Masons for ever in harmony meet; "And till Time be no more, our fraternity prove, "That the objects we aim at are Friendship and Love. D Composed for this work by Com. S. Brown. In the slumbers of night, when the craft are at rest, And ruffian hands reek in his innocent blood! CHAPTER VIII. MARK MASTER. GENERAL REMARKS. By means of this degree, every operative brother was known and distinguished, at the erection of king Solo Disorder mon's temple, by the Senior Grand Warden. and confusion were thus banished from among the workmen, and every part of the workmanship was discriminated with the greatest nicety, and with the utmost facility. The faulty workman was detected, and the overseer was enabled to distinguish the industrious and skilful from the indolent and undeserving. CHARGE AT OPENING. "Wherefore, brethren, lay aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious; ye also, as living stones, be ye built up in a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up sacrifices acceptable to God. "Wherefore, also, it is contained in the scriptures, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste to pass it over. Unto you therefore, which believe, it is an honour; and even to them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. "Brethren, this is the will of God, that with well doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God." FIRST SECTION. This part of the lecture explains the manner of opening a Lodge of Mark Master Masons. The stations and duties of the respective officers are noticed--and the mystic ceremony of introducing a candidate is explained, The number of artists employed by king Solomon are specified; the order that prevailed among them is accounted for; and the section ends with a beautiful dis play of the manner in which one of the principal events originated which distinguish this degree. SECTION SECOND. Here the Mark Master is particularly instructed in the origin and history of the degree; and learns the extent of his obligation, to extend the hand of relief to a worthy and necessitous brother. An effectual mode of punishing guilt and rewarding merit is here presented, and the marks of distinction which were conferred on our ancient brethren, as the rewards of excellence, are particularly named. The following Scriptural passages are introduced. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in that stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it."-Rev. ii. 17. "And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and will bring it to thee in floats, by sea, to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem."-2 Chron. ii. 16. "The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner."-Psalm cxviii. 22. "Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner?" -Matt. xxi. 42. "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner."--Acts iv. 11. "He that hath an ear to hear let him hear--Rev. iii, 13. "Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh towards the east ; and it was shut."--Ezek. xliv. 1. "It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same."--Esek. xliv, 3. |