Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated - The Masonic Trowel

152 KN~GIIT OF THE BRAZES SERPENT.
that Adonai hath sent to punish them.
Junior Deacon—Wait a time with patience until the
Most Powerful Grand Master is informed of his request
and his answer returned. (Junior Deacon closes the
door, goes tot the altar, knoek~ five, three a~id one;
Grand Master answers it and the same questions are
asked and like answers returned as at the door.
Grand Master—Let him be admitted. (Junior Deacon
opens the door, Senior Deacon enters with him,
conducts him in front of the Grand Master and causes
him to kneel.)
Grand Master—Brother Senior Deacon, whom do you
bring hither thus loaded with chains?
Senior Deacon—One of the tribe of Reuben, sent in
behalf of the people, who dare not come before you,
Adonai being angered with them.
Grand Master—Disobedient race; have they again
tempted his anger?
Senior Deacon—Most Powerful Grand Master, the
soul of the people was much discouraged because of
their journeying in the wilderness, and they spake
against Adonai, callIng him the powerof evil and against
you, saying, why hat1~ Moses brought us up out of
Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread nor
any water, and dur souls loathe this unsubstantial
manna. We go to and fro, lo now almost these forty
years, and as Aaron hath died in the desert, so also
shall we all die here. Let us trust in Adonai no longer.
Let us call on the great gods to deliver us from this
bondage of misery, and as they cried aloud unto these
gods, lo Adonai sent venomous serpents among them,
who darted among Ihe people, curling round and biting
them, and by their venom many of the people of isratil
hath already died, and those that remain have repented
and say we have sinned, for we have spoken against
Adoriai and his servant Moses. And they said unto me,
INITIATION’. 153
put heavy chains upon thy neck in token of our penitence,
and go for us unto Moses our leader, and beseech
him to pray unto Adonai that he take away the
serpents from us, and I have done as they desired.
Grand Mast er—Hast thou (to candidate) also murinured
and called upon the false gods.
Senior Deacon—( For candidate.) I have not, but
because I refused and withistood the people, and rebuked
them in the name of Adonai, thiey sought to slay me,
but repenting they sent me hither because I had not
sinned like them.
Grand Master—Thou has done well. Arise! Relieve
him of his chains and give him a seat of honor, for that
he hath not forgotten his duty to his
God. I will now retire and pray unto
the God of Israel again to forgive and
save his people that he hath chosen. (He
retires and the Senior Deacon relieves
the candidate of his chains and gives
him a seat. After a while the Grand
Master enters, bringing with him a serand
Coas, pent of brass entwined round a tau cross
with his head elevated above it, and after taking his seat
says:)
Grand Master—I have prayed for the people, and
Adonai hath said unto me; make thee an image of a
venomous serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall
come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it shall live. Take thou, therefore, Eleazar
the High Priest, this serpent”
4 and cross and place it
upon a pole and set it in the middle of the camp; and
Bote 34.—1n the Tempiar and in the Phttoa~phtc degrees—such as
the Knight of the Brazen Serpent, where the serpent is combined with
the cross—it is evidently a symbol of Christ: and thus the symbolism of
these degreeC is closely connected with that of the Rose Croix.”—
3aokey’s EnOFoiOitUdiL of Frssmonly, Artiole Serpent.