Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor - Rose Croix

secrets of this Degree. You have a rough and rugged road to travel, beset with thieves,
robbers, and murderers; and should you lose your life in the attempt, it will not be the
first instance of the kind, my brother. You will remember in whom you put your trust,
with that divine assurance, that "he who endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Heretofore you have had some one to pray for you, but now you have none. You must
pray for yourself. You will therefore suffer yourself to be again hoodwinked, and kneel
where you are, and pray orally or mentally, as you please. When through, signify by
saying Amen, and arise and pursue your journey.
The candidate then kneels, and the conductor ties a hoodwink very closely over both
eyes, so that he cannot see.
After the candidate has said Amen, and the Lodge-room has been darkened by turning
down the gaslights or lamps, the conductor takes the candidate by the right arm, assists
him to arise, and they proceed to travel three times around the room, travelling with the
sun. As they start, the conductor commences to relate to the candidate the following:
Conductor--Brother, it was the usual custom of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff (this is
the first he hears about Hiram Abiff), to enter into the unfinished "Sanctum Sanctorum,
or Holy of Holies," of King Solomon's Temple, each day at high twelve, while the craft
were called from labor to refreshment, for the purpose of drawing out his designs upon
the trestle-board, whereby the craft might pursue their labors; after which, it was further
his custom to offer up his devotions to the Deity. Then he would retire at the south gate
of the outer courts of the Temple; and, in conformity with the custom of our Grand
Master, whose memory we all so reverently adore, we will now retire at the south gate of
the Temple.
They have now passed around the Lodge three times, and as
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they approach the Junior Warden's station in the south, he steps silently out from his seat
to the floor, and confronts the blind-folded candidate, clinching him by the collar in a
very rough manner, and at the same time exclaiming: