Blanchard J (anti-masonic) - Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated Part I

220 SUBLIMU nnowrs ULEOTUD. INITIATION. 221have embraced, with care to muikis the necessary inquiryfor the knowledge you ought to possess. I will besatisfied to expose the duties and obligations of it.The promise you have just now made and contractedin the quality of( Sublime Elected Knight, is the greatestand most solemn of them all. I will not speak toyou of the prudence with which you have so often laidthe law of, on yourself, you know that virtue too well,and with the.practice of it it must be so familiar ~toyouthat it would be needless to exhort you to it; and forthat reason we fear no violation from your side.I shall only renew to you the importance of the promisesyou just now have made and which are the chiefmatters of your obligation. There is no one in this degreewho has not submitted like you, and in short, if allmen have indispensibly fulfilled those duties you justnow imposed on yourself, with what zeal, what eagernessand what ardour, should not a Sublime ElectedKnight acquit himself.We first promise to love and adore God. This is thenatural law which is engraved in us. I say more, whichcame into the world before us, and who is he that couldtransgress this duty and not render the lawful tributeto him which is owing from us to the vilest creature hehas formed, sustaining us only by the means of his powerwhich he may destroy or annihilate without our beingable to accuse him of rigour and injustice.This is, my Illustrious Knight, the first of your duty,that Reason teaches, Truth shows and Justice establishesto us.Youhave also promised to be faithful to your country.Is there any among us who does not feel it perfectlyand is not fully convinced of the necessity of this partof our obligation of loyalty, as we conform ourselves tothe customs which have been established for all thoewho as well as you, attained to a degree as eminent amthis in which you are now clothed, and to whom is trustedthe glory of justice which you have in your hand.We mu4 now, my brother, explain to you the namesand letters which werc shown you when you were initiatedin our sublime degree and mysteries.It is not one of the common names which has neithersense, reason nor signification. It is a name which is asthose in use in eastern nations, showing the virtue ofthose who are found worthy of having it.Yours in the quality of Sublime Knight Elected isEmeth” a Hebrew word signifying “a true man on alloccasions.” Can tl~ere be any better or more gloriousname, and would it not be a shame and disgrace to anyof us who should expose himself to do anything and becapable of degeneraling from it?Now let us come to the allegorical explanation of thefigures you have seen in the draft: they will serve toinstruct you in the sense and science of your state, andteach you to unfold little by little, the moral sense. Theycontain the precepts you ought to follow, the principleson which you ought to act, and the duties you have tofulfill.The Elected as you know, were those Solomon choseto watch the work which was done in the temple afterthe death of Hiram AbuT. The temple was at last finishedand completed to its last perfection. God appearedsatisfied with this building which was consecrated tohim. It is that cloud in which theyhave been willing tolob U.—”One of the word. in the high degree.. It signifies intsgri~.UgU~, bsusss, and constancy in keepin~ a ~romiae. and esrciaiil!rtth as OppoSed to falsehood. In e • a e tiightlUhot of Twelee of the sloycoth degree are called •Prlnces 3meth.’~ which~ ezaited character who are devoted to trath.~—of 1255580317, Aitiol. Imeth.