Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

412 SUBLIME PRINCE OF TIlE EOYAL SECEET.
Com.mander in Chief—Sublime Prince Grand Master
of Ceremonies, let the candidate advance in front of the
camp and face the East. (Order is obeyed.)
Commander in Chief—My brother, if yon have assumed
in good faith the obligations of the preceding
degrees, the general features of which have now been
summarily recited to yon, and if you have studied and
understood the doctrines which they teach, and the principles
which they inculcate, you are entitled to our regard
and esteem, and are fitted to do the duties of a
good Mason, for you have bound yourself to do all that
virtue, honor and manhood can require, and you have
learned all that ancient and modern philosophy can
teach in regard to the great mysteries of God and the
universe.
Remember what you have been told in regard to the
tracing-board or camp of this degree, that you may the
bctter understand the explanation to be hereafter given.
if in the test which you are to undergo, you prove yourself
worthy to receive it.
First, however, as some evidence that you have not
forgotten the teachings of the previous degrees, in the
work of which we should
7 examine all candidates, you
must show that you remember that of the one through
which you have so recently passed.
Commander in Chief—Why come you hither with
weapons unfit for a judge, emblems of rude violence?
For what purpose do you bring hither two poniards?
Candidate—I was told that one was intended to punish
perjury and the other to protect innocence.
Commander in Chief—And you were also told that
perjury was no longer punished by the dagger, but by
the law and general contempt, and that innocence was
now protected otherwise than by the poniard. Rave
you again assumed them of your own accord?
INITIATION. 413
Candidate—I have not, they were placed in my hands?
Comman&r in Chief—It is well. Give them to our
brother, the Grand Master of Ceremonies. They suit
a Prince of the Royal secret no better than they unit a
judge. (Candidate takes them from the altar and gives
them to the Grand Master of Ceremonies.)
Commander in Chief—What was placed in your left
hand when you assumed the obligation of the 31st degree?
Candidate—A pair of scales.
Commander in Chief—What lesson was it meant to
teach you?
Candidate-That in all my judgments and Opinions of
men, I should be guided solely by justice and equity.
Com~maiider in Chief—What is the pass-word of the
31st degree?
Candidate-There is none.
Commander in Chief—What are the sacred words.
Candidate—Justice and equity.
Commander in Chief—What words follow these two?
Candidate—So mote it be.
Commander in Chief—Give the token of that degree
to the Sublime Prince Grand Master of Ceremonies?
(It is given.)
Master of Ceremonies—Illustrious Commander in
Chief, the token is correct.
Commander in Chief—Receive from our brother the
Grand Master of Ceremonies, in lieu of the weapons
which you have given up, that of a Knight and Prince
of Masonry, especially appropriate for one who is to
command. (Grand Master of Ceremonies hands the
candidate a sword.)
Commander in Chief— (Rising.) Order my brethren I
Sublime Prince Grand Master of Ceremonies, conduct