The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 7 - Rituals
The ceremony in which we now ask you to engage is to partake with us
of the sacred emblems of Friendship and Hospitality - bread and salt.
[...] Bread is for nourishment, and salt for preservation. [...] To share
bread and salt with another is to exchange confidence and pledge
hospitality. In thus partaking with you of these emblems, it is with the
wish that you may be nourished by the true Bread of life, and that your
days may be prolonged and made happy, even as you shall strive to
nourish others [...]. (p. 85)
When by this act, their mutual bond of friendship is sealed and made
perpetual, the candidate is escorted by the Conductress to the northeast part of
the room. Now, the most important lesson begins - the four virtues are to teach
the candidate the beauties and usefulness of the degree. After each has spoken,
there is an interplay of music. The first officer to hold a lecture is Truth. She
advises the candidate in a language of water symbolism that
[t]he allegories and traditions embodied in its lectures are full of
instruction. The broad streams of knowledge that are open to all
inquirers [...] must be traced to their sources if you would acquire the
genuine meaning of their symbols and the mystic forms that make up
this system. (p. 86)
Then, Truth explains that her virtue is the universal principle of human
thought and action, and that Truth remains forever, while generation after
generation passes away. "Then let Truth be the beacon-light upon which your
eye is fixed. It will surely guide you over the stormiest seas." (p. 87). The next
virtue to speak is Faith, who advises the candidate to have constant faith in God,
because "confidence in the assistance and protection of an Almighty Being
naturally produces patience, hope, cheerfulness [...]" (p. 88). Then, she refers to
the setting of the Court by making a comparison with the time of knighthood:
The age of chivalry was the age of undeviating faith and unblemished
honor. It was the period when the word was as strong a bond as the
oath. Among the sublime principles of chivalry it held in faithful
reverence the protection of woman. To us has been handed down this
sacred trust in its purity, and it becomes our highest honor to maintain
and perpetuate it. (p. 88)
Wisdom steps forward and proclaims that her virtue embraces the whole of
practical knowledge. She relates two short anecdotes about wise people, the first
one dealing with an ancient lawgiver who, being asked if his code of laws was
the best for his countrymen, answered, "It is the best they are capable of
receiving" (p. 89). The second story is about a little city against which came a
great king and besieged it. In it there was a poor wise man who delivered the city
by his wisdom, however, although wisdom is better than strength, "the poor