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470 BOOK OF THE A. AND A. RITE.
ferring on you is the military organization, as the
31st degree is the judicial organization of the Order.
The camp which you are entering, and its several
parts, are all symbols, the meaning of which we will
hereafter endeavor to explain to you. As you t »ass
around and through this camp, we will give you the
necessary explanation as to its external features, and
recall briefly to your mind the characteristics of the
several degrees whose standards float over the camp,
to aid you in hereafter understanding the esoteric
meaning of the whole. The external lines of the
camp form a nonagon, or a figure of geometry with
nine equal sides. You perceive that on each side of
the nonagon is a tent with a flag and pennon; that
each flag and its pennon are of a different color from
the others, and that each tent is designated by a
letter. Each represents a camp, and the several
sides of the nonagon are assigned by our rituals to
the Masons of the different degrees from the 1st to
the 18th.
At the 9th tent were encamped the Apprentices,
Fellow-Crafts and Masters of the Blue or Symbolic
Degrees, and the volunteers. The commanding offi-
cer represents Ezra.
The 1st degree shows you man, such as nature has
made him, with no other resources than his physical
strength.
The 2d degree teaches the necessity and holiness
of labor, and consequently of knowledge.