ing of
Israel.

Q. What was the second libation? A. To the memory of Hiram, King of
Tyre.

Q. What was the third? A. To the memory of Hiram, the widow's son, who
lost his life in defence of his integrity.

Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander then addressed me: "Pilgrim,
the Order to which you seek to unite yourself is founded on the
Christian religion; let us, then, attend to a lesson from the holy
evangelist."

Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read a lesson
relative to the apostasy of Judas Iscariot. (See Templar's Chart.)

Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander then addressed me: "Pilgrim,
the twelve tapers you see around the triangle, correspond in number
with the disciples of our Saviour while on earth, one of whom fell by
transgression, and betrayed his Lord and Master; and as a constant
admonition to you always to persevere in the paths of honor,
integrity, and truth, and as a perpetual memorial of the apostasy of
Judas Iscariot, you are required by the rules of our Order to
extinguish one of those tapers; and let it ever remind you that he who
can basely violate his vow and betray his secret, is worthy of no
better fate than Judas Iscariot." (The candidate extinguishes one of
the tapers; the triangle is placed in the centre of the room, on which
are twelve burning candles; between each candle stick a glass of wine;
in the centre of the triangle is placed a coffin, on which are the
Bible, skull and cross-bones.)

Q. What followed? A. The relics were then uncovered, and the Grand
Commander thus addressed me: "Pilgrim, you here behold an emblem of
mortality resting on divinity--a human skull resting on the Holy
Scriptures; it is to teach us that among all the trials and
vicissitudes which we are destined to endure while passing through the
pilgrimage of this life, a firm reliance on divine protection can
alone afford us the consolation and satisfaction which the world can
neither give nor take away."

Q. What followed? A. The Most Excellent Prelate then read a lesson to
me with respect to the bitter cup.

Q. What followed? A. The Grand Commander took the skull in his hand,
and pronounced the following soliloquy: "How striking is this emblem
of mortality, once animated, like us, but now it ceases to act or
think; its vital energies are extinct, and all the powers of life have
ceased their operations; and such, my brethren, is the state to which
we are all hastening; let us, ther