The Mysteries of Freemasonry (Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge)

a selection from the HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE KIDNAPPING OF WILLIAM MORGAN: Captain Morgan was born in Virginia, and was a mason by trade. He commenced the business of a brewer at York, Upper Canada, in 1821, but having lost all his property by fire, he removed to New York State, and worked at his trade both in Rochester and Batavia. In the year 1826 rumors were heard that Morgan, in connection with other persons, was preparing and intended to publish a book which would reveal the secrets of Freemasonry, and an excitement of some kind existed in relation to the publication of the book. In the month of September he was seized under feigned process of the law, in the day time, in the village of Batavia, and forcibly carried to Canandaigua. Captain Morgan was at this time getting ready his book, which purported to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. This contemplated publication excited the alarm of the fraternity, and numbers of its members were heard to say that it should be suppressed at all events. Meetings of delegates from the different Lodges in the Western counties has been held to devise means for most effectually preventing the publication. The zealous members of the fraternity were angry, excited, and alarmed, and occasionally individuals threw out dark and desperate threats. About this time an incendiary attempt was made to fire the office of Col. Miller, the publisher of the book. The gang who seized Morgan at Batavia were Masons. They took him to Canandaigua; after a mock trial he was discharged, but was immediately arrested and committed to prison on a debt. The next night, in the absence of the jailer, he was released from prison by the pretended friendship of a false and hollow-hearted brother Mason. Upon leaving the prison door he was seized in the streets of Canandaigua, and notwithstanding his cries of murder, he was thrust with ruffian violence into a carriage prepared for that purpose. At Batavia he had been torn from his home-from his wife and infant children. At Canandaigua he was falsely beguiled from the safe custody of the law, and was forcibly carried, by relays of horses, through a thickly populated country, in the space of little more than twenty-four hours, to the distance of one hundred and fifteen miles, and secured as a prisoner in the magazine of Fort Niagara. This was clearly proved on the trial of persons concerned in the outrage, and who were found guilty and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The fate of Captain Morgan was never known, but it is supposed he was taken out into the lake, where his throat was cut, and his body sunken fifty fathoms in water. About the same time, Col. David C. Miller, the publisher of the book, was also seized, in Batavia, under the color of legal process, and taken to Le Roy. The avowed intention of Col. Miller's seizure was to take him where Morgan was-and where that was may be best gathered from the impious declaration of one of the conspirators, James Ganson, for several years a member of our Legislature-that ''he was put where he would stay put until God should call for him.'' Miller was, however, set at liberty, as the inhabitants of Le Roy interfered with the schemes of his kidnappers. He soon after put to press the first part of the volume which is here presented to the public. Additions have been made to Captain Morgan's revelations, from time to time, until we are now able to make public all the Masonic degrees of any note or interest, entered into by modern Freemasons. Mysteries of Freemasonry......Page 2 Ceremonies of Opening a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons.......Page 3 Ceremonies of the Admission and Initiation of a Candidate in the First Degree of Freemasonry.......Page 5 Ceremony of Closing a Lodge of Entered Apprentices.......Page 11 Lecture on the First Degree of Masonry.......Page 14 SECOND SECTION.......Page 18 THIRD SECTION.......Page 21 END OF THE LECTURE, AND OF THE FIRST DEGREE.......Page 23 THE SECOND OR FELLOW CRAFT MASON'S DEGREE.......Page 24 FIRST SECTION.......Page 31 SECOND SECTION.......Page 33 THE THIRD, OR MASTER MASON'S DEGREE.......Page 36 FIRST SECTION.......Page 47 SECOND SECTION.......Page 50 THIRD SECTION.......Page 53 Test-Oath and Word.......Page 56 Ceremonies Used in Opening a Lodge of Mark Master Masons.......Page 57 Ceremonies Generally Gone Through in Closing a Lodge of Mark Masons.......Page 66 FIRST SECTION.......Page 67 SECOND SECTION.......Page 69 THE PAST MASTER'S DEGREE.......Page 72 Ceremonies Used in Opening a Lodge of Most Excellent Masters.......Page 77 Ceremonies of Initiation.......Page 79 ROYAL ARCH DEGREE.......Page 84 KNIGHTS OF THE RED CROSS.......Page 99 First Section.......Page 100 Second Section.......Page 102 KNIGHT TEMPLAR, AND KNIGHT OF MALTA.......Page 108 First Section.......Page 109 Second Section.......Page 110 KNIGHTS OF THE CHRISTIAN MARK, AND GUARDS OF THE CONCLAVE.......Page 118 KNIGHTS OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.......Page 122 Diploma of a Comp. of the Ancient Council of the Trinity, Anno Cr. seu Covt. 896.—The Ancient Council of the Trinity, by Their Successors in the United States of America.......Page 124 THE OBLIGATIONS OF THRICE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS.......Page 126 SECRET MASTER.......Page 131 DEGREE OF PERFECT MASTER.......Page 134 INTIMATE SECRETARY.......Page 137 PROVOST AND JUDGE.......Page 140 INTENDANT OF THE BUILDINGS (OR I. B.).......Page 142 ELECTED KNIGHTS OF NINE.......Page 146 MASTERS ELECTED OF FIFTEEN.......Page 148 ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS ELECTED.......Page 150 GRAND MASTER ARCHITECTS.......Page 152 KNIGHTS OF THE NINTH ARCH.......Page 154 GRAND ELECT, PERFECT, AND SUBLIME MASON.......Page 159 The Philosophical Lodge; or, the Key of Masonry: being the Degree of Knights Adepts of the Eagle or Sun.......Page 165 MORAL LODGE.......Page 174 GENERAL LECTURE IN THIS DEGREE.......Page 177 PRINCES OF JERUSALEM.......Page 180 KNIGHTS OF THE EAST AND WEST.......Page 184 SOVEREIGN PRINCES, MASTERS ADVITIAM, OR VENERABLE GRAND MASTERS OF ALL SYMBOLIC LODGES.......Page 190 PRINCE OF THE ROYAL SECRET.......Page 197 SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL.......Page 202 FOOTNOTES:......Page 203 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE KIDNAPPING OF WILLIAM MORGAN.......Page 205 Mysteries of Freemasonry 2 Mysteries of Freemasonry 2 MORGAN'S EXPOSE OF FREEMASONRY. 3 Ceremonies of Opening a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons. 3 Ceremonies of the Admission and Initiation of a Candidate in the First Degree of Freemasonry. 5 Ceremony of Closing a Lodge of Entered Apprentices. 11 FIRST SECTION. 14 Lecture on the First Degree of Masonry. 14 SECOND SECTION. 18 THIRD SECTION. 21 END OF THE LECTURE, AND OF THE FIRST DEGREE. 23 THE SECOND OR FELLOW CRAFT MASON'S DEGREE. 24 FIRST SECTION. 31 SECOND SECTION. 33 THE THIRD, OR MASTER MASON'S DEGREE. 36 An Address to be Delivered to the Candidate after the History Has Been Given. 47 FIRST SECTION. 47 SECOND SECTION. 50 THIRD SECTION. 53 Test-Oath and Word. 56 FOURTH, OR MARK MASTER'S DEGREE. 57 Ceremonies Used in Opening a Lodge of Mark Master Masons. 57 Ceremonies Generally Gone Through in Closing a Lodge of Mark Masons. 66 Lecture on the Fourth Degree of Masonry, or Mark Master's Degree. 67 FIRST SECTION. 67 SECOND SECTION. 69 THE PAST MASTER'S DEGREE. 72 MOST EXCELLENT MASTER'S DEGREE. 77 Ceremonies Used in Opening a Lodge of Most Excellent Masters. 77 Ceremonies of Initiation. 79 ROYAL ARCH DEGREE. 84 KNIGHTS OF THE RED CROSS. 99 First Section. 100 Second Section. 102 KNIGHT TEMPLAR, AND KNIGHT OF MALTA. 108 First Section. 109 Second Section. 110 KNIGHTS OF THE CHRISTIAN MARK, AND GUARDS OF THE CONCLAVE. 118 KNIGHTS OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 122 THE HOLY AND THRICE ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER OF THE CROSS, CALLED A COUNCIL. 124 Diploma of a Comp. of the Ancient Council of the Trinity, Anno Cr. seu Covt. 896.—The Ancient Council of the Trinity, by Their Successors in the United States of America. 124 THE OBLIGATIONS OF THRICE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS. 126 THE LODGE OF PERFECTION: COMPRISING THE ELEVEN INEFFABLE DEGREES OF MASONRY. 131 SECRET MASTER. 131 DEGREE OF PERFECT MASTER. 134 INTIMATE SECRETARY. 137 PROVOST AND JUDGE. 140 INTENDANT OF THE BUILDINGS (OR I. B.). 142 ELECTED KNIGHTS OF NINE. 146 MASTERS ELECTED OF FIFTEEN. 148 ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS ELECTED. 150 GRAND MASTER ARCHITECTS. 152 KNIGHTS OF THE NINTH ARCH. 154 GRAND ELECT, PERFECT, AND SUBLIME MASON. 159 The Philosophical Lodge; or, the Key of Masonry: being the Degree of Knights Adepts of the Eagle or Sun. 165 MORAL LODGE. 174 GENERAL LECTURE IN THIS DEGREE. 177 PRINCES OF JERUSALEM. 180 KNIGHTS OF THE EAST AND WEST. 184 SOVEREIGN PRINCES, MASTERS ADVITIAM, OR VENERABLE GRAND MASTERS OF ALL SYMBOLIC LODGES. 190 PRINCE OF THE ROYAL SECRET. 197 SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL. 202 [THE END.] 203 FOOTNOTES: 203 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE KIDNAPPING OF WILLIAM MORGAN. 205