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CEREMONIAL DEGREE OF PERFECTION. 507
on which he ordered this inscription, in hieroglyphics, to be engraved,
" * * * " *****
It was known to the brethren that on his
signet the inscription, " Solomon, King of Israel, son of David
,
and Bathsheba ' was engraved in the same hieroglyphics.
After his death, in consequence of the disorders and civil commotions
which prevailed in the kingdom of Judah, Masonry was
much neglected until the time of Hezekiah.
In the first year of his reign the brethren assembled by order ot
that king, for the purpose of reorganizing the Lodge of Perfec-
tion, but being unable to discover the Secret Directory, they could
not fully effect their purpose. They therefore passed a decree
that the next candidate for an office in the Lodge of Perfection,
before he took his seat as such, should make diligent search for
the same. This decree was carried into effect on the admission
of the next candidate, who discovered the Secret Directory in the
manner you have represented ; and in consequence of this discovery
the secrets of Ineffable Masonry were again communi-
cated to worthy brethren from generation to generation.
0.\ H.\ P.'.
M. E. S. P. ;
•—when the G.\ H.\ P.-. says
" If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
or any poor without covering ; if his loins have not blessed me,
and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ; if I have
lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in
the gate ; then let mine arm fall from my shonlder-1 >lade, and mine
arm be broken from the bone."
" Behold ! happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore de-
spise not thou the chastening of the Almighty ; he shall deliver thee
in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee ;
:
when
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame be kindled upon thee ;
when thou passest through
the waters they shall not overflow thee ;" for the Lord God ol
Israel shall be thy defender and preserver; he will be thy rock
and thy shield ; blessed be his holy name, forever and ever
Amen.
The newly-installed officers retire, unless they are Princes of Jerusa-
and none but Princes of Jerusalem being present, the Council
lem ;
18 closed in due form.