Duncan's Ritual of Freemasonry.pdf - FatimaMovement

the brethren are again reminded what is the chief
care of a Mason. The avenues to the Lodge are
carefully inspected by the meridian officer,
whose knowledge and fidelity have entitled him
to the confidence of the brethren, and, after he
had publicly proclaimed the security of the
Lodge, the business of closing proceeds. The
particular duties of the leaders of the respective
bands of craftsmen are rehearsed. At the
command of the Worshipful Master, the Senior
Warden performs his duty, after seeing that the
brethren have received their due proportion of
Masonic instruction and improvement; and the
whole concludes with an impressive address to
the brethren on their respective duties as men and
Masons, when pursuing their accustomed
avocations in the world; and with a fervent
petition to the Deity, supplicating his blessing on
the fraternity wheresoever dispersed under the
wide canopy of heaven."--Theo. Phil., p. 297.
This Degree has a reference to the Christian
dispensation, when the day of salvation is more
fully revealed; atonement is made for sin; and the
resurrection from the dead plainly communicated
and confirmed by the resurrection of Christ from
the grave. The Jewish law had degenerated into a
mass of rottenness and corruption:--piety, which
planned the Temple at Jerusalem, was expunged;
the reverence and adoration due to the Divinity
was buried in the filth and rubbish of the world;
and religion and morality were scattered to the
four winds of heaven. Three ruffian nations from
the south, the west, and the east--the Syrians, the
Chaldeans, and the Romans--gave in succession
this temporary dispensation its death-blow; those
who sought religion through the wisdom of the
ancients were not able to raise her; she eluded
their grasp, and the polluted hands were also
stretched forth in vain for her restoration. Her