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

82 PERFECT MA.BTER’5 DEGREE. LECTuRE. 88LECTURE PERFECT MASTflRS DRORICI~.Adoniram—Brother Stolkin,” are you a Perfect Master?Stollcin—I have seen the circles and the square placedon the two columns across.Adoniram—Where were they situated?Stolkin—On the place where the body of our RespectableMaster Hiram Abiff was deposited.Adoi&iram—.What do these columns represent?Stoilcin—The columns of Jachin and Boaz which Ihave passed to obtain the degree of Perfect Master.Adonirarn—In what part of the Temple were thepillars erected?Stolkin—In the porch.Adoniram—Have those words any meaning?Stolkin—Thrice Respectful Master, they have; thefirst is Cemented, the second is Strength. Besides thebeauty which they added to the building, they conveyedto the minds of those who entered a knowledge of thedivine attributes of that Being to whom the Temple wasdedicated. The Entered Apprentices were called afterthe name of the first column, at which place they metand received their wages. The Fellow .Crafts bore thename of the second column for the same reason.Adonirarn—What was Solomon’s intention in creatingthis degree?Stolicin—To excite the brethren to an active inquiryafter the bloody ruffians who had assassinated our dearMaster Hiram Abiff, the names of whom they were thenignorant of, but suspected they were among the workmen,Solomon ordered a strict and general search to be madeNote 89.—”Stolkfn. (Scotch Macoury.)—A name introduced In ScotchMosonry. In the ,kgrecs of Pcrteci Master. Itleet of Nine. Master Itiectof Fifteen. and others. It in not blstorlcaL”—MoniS Kaaouio Diatien.eq. Article Stolkin.aliiong them; and when he found that three of the numberwere missing whom they supposed to be guilty, hedesired Adoniram to raise a superb monument or tombat the west end of the Temple and place on the top thereofan urn enclosing the heart of Hiram Abiff well embalmed,of which none had any knowledge but the PerfectMasters. Agreeable to those orders the heart ofour dear and much lamented Chief was enclosed in anurn, and placed on the top of the obelisk until vengeanceshould be accomplished. Through the urn was a nakedsword, an emblem of the anxious desire of all the brethrento assist in discovering the assassins and obtainingvengeance. The body was buried in a separate apartmen:from the Temple where Solomen kept his chapter.Adoniram—What have you learned from the degreesyou have already passed through ?~Stolkin—To rule my actions, and purify my heart inorder to merit the degree of Perfection.Adoniram—What signifies the square stone in themiddle of the circles?Stolicin—It teaches us that our edifice should havefor its foundation a perfect stone, that is, that our conductshould be raised on a permanent and imperishablebasis that it may stand the time and test of seasons.Adoniram—What is the meaning of these circles?StolIcin-.—They are emblematical of the Divinity, whohath neither beginning nor end.Adoniram—What is the meaning of the letter “J”which is in the center of the square stone?StolA~in—.—It is the initial of the ineffabie name of theGrand Architect of the Universe and of the sacred wordof the Perfect Masters.Adotiiram—Pronounce it.Stoilcin—Je&ova&.