Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord

Ceremony of the Second Grade

2010

Opening Second Grade

The Consistory having been previously opened in the First Grade and
Adjourned:
President stands and gavels once: Companions, assist me to open this
Consistory in the Second Grade of our Order.
President: Companions, the day is far spent, the night is at hand.
Companion Guarder what saith the Watchman?
Guarder gives a Court Bow to the President, opens the door and says to
the Watchman outside: Companion Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman: Companion Guarder, the night is at hand and all is safe and
well.
Guarder returns to his place and says: Companion President, all is safe
and well.
President: Companions Ostiarii, you will stand to order with the sign of the
First grade.
They stand to Order with the sign of the First grade.
Primus (O): Companions Ostiarii, we will now retire.
Let no passageway be opened to a stranger, or to anyone else who fails
to give the countersign of an Ostiarius
Primus (O) leads the Ostiarii to the door where, together, they all give the
sign of the First Grade and the words D... G... to the Guarder, who
responds with the sign and words B... D and the Companions Ostiarii
retire.
The Primus (O) gives the sign and the words D... G... to the President
who responds with the sign and the words B... D.... The Primus (O)
retires.
President: Companion Primus of Lectores, you will prove all those
present are members of
the Second Grade of the Order.
Primus (L): Companions, you will stand to order as Companions of the
Seeond Grade
All Companions give sign.
Primus (L): Companion President, all the Companions have duly proved
themselves.
President: I declare this Consistory duly opened in the Second Grade.
Companions drop sign.
Gavels twice repeated by the Guarder and Watchman.
Director of Ceremonies opens the Volume of the Sacred Law at Ruth.
Director of Ceremonies: Be seated, Companions.

Ceremony of the Second Grade

Primus (O), without knocks once.

Guarder, with Sign of the Second Grade: Companion President, there is
an alarm.
President: Enquire who seeks admission.
Guarder gives a Court Bow to the President, opens door and says to the
Watchman outside: Who comes here?
Watchman: Companion Primus of Ostiarii seeks admission
Guarder shuts Door, returns to his place, gives the sign of the Second
Grade and says: It is our Primus of Ostiarii, Companion President.
President: Let him be admitted.
Primus of Ostiarii enters, greets President with the sign of the Second
Grade.
President: My Companion, what tidings do you bring?
Primus (O): Glad tidings! Companion …, an Ostiarius of this Consistory of
the Order of the Scarlet Cord is without, and desires to be promoted to
the rank of Lector in our Order. Primus of Ostiarii proceeds to his seat.
Primus (L): Companion Director of Ceremonies, you will introduce the
Candidate.
The Director of Ceremonies retires. The Candidate, who is wearing a
First grade sash, jewel and scarlet cord, is introduced into the Consistory.
He stands with the Director of Ceremonies in the west, just outside the
square.
Primus (L): Companion Director of Ceremonies, whom have you there?
Director of Ceremonies: An Ostiarius well recommended.
Primus (L): What is his rank?
Director of Ceremonies: He is a Companion of the Scarlet Cord.
Primus (L): Is he in possession of the grip and the word of a Companion
of the Scarlet Cord?
Director of Ceremonies to candidate: Give me the grip and word of a
Companion of the Scarlet Cord. (R....) Give me the password you
received when you attained the rank of Ostiarius in our Order. (S....)
Primus (L): Whence comes he?
Director of Ceremonies: From among the Companions of our own
Consistory.
Primus (L): What does he desire?
Director of Ceremonies: To join his Companions in the labours of this
Consistory of Lectores.
Primus (L): Does he bring anything with him to recommend him to our
favour?
Director of Ceremonies: He bears the Sash and Jewel of the First Grade
of our Order.
Primus (L): Companion What further qualifications do you bring?
Candidate: I love my fellow men and would do them good.
Primus (L): You will now retire and await our pleasure.
The candidate is conducted from the temple by the Director of
Ceremonies, who then returns to his station. Outside the Watchman
divests the candidate of his sash and jewel, instructs him to remove his
shoes and place slippers on his feet.
President: Companion Officers, you have heard the responses given by
Comp. …. If you consider them satisfactory you will each stand and
signify in the usual manner.
Each officer rises and gives OSM sign of approval starting with Primus
(O) and finishing with President. All officers sit.
President: Companion Director of Ceremonies, you will re-admit the
candidate.
The Director of Ceremonies and candidate, wearing slippers, will both
stand just outside the square in the west, both facing east.
Primus (L): Companion, your replies have favourably impressed this
Assembly, and I now enquire if you know of any distinguished personage,
also known to us, whom you are prepared to emulate?
Candidate, prompted by Director of Ceremonies: "I desire in all things to
follow the example of the illustrious, pre-eminent and worthy Abou Ben
Adhem."
Primus (L): Ah! Abou Ben Adhem. That is a glorious memory amongst
us.
May his tribe increase.
For he awoke one night, from a deep dream of peace.
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel, writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And, to the presence in the room, he said,
"What writest Thou?" The vision raised its head
And with a look, made all of sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay not so,"
Replied the Angel: Abou spoke more low.
But cheerily still, and said "I pray thee then.
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."
The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again, with great awakening light, and
showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo, Ben Adhem's name, led all the rest.
Primus (L) to candidate: Companion do you pledge your Masonic honour
that you will follow the example of one so noble.
Candidate, prompted by Director of Ceremonies: "I do, upon my fidelity to
all my Companions Ostiarii."
Primus (L), stands: Companion you will enter the square, stand erect in
front of the Pedestal, and place both hands on the Volume of the Sacred
Law.
Director of Ceremonies: To order, Companions.
The Lectores stand to order with the Sign of Fidelity.
Primus (L): Companion …, you are now about to take the solemn
obligation of a Companion Lector. State your names at length and repeat
after me:
"I, …, in the presence of the God of Our Fathers and before this
Consistory of Lectores, do solemnly promise, on my honour as a
Companion Ostiarius, that I will never disclose the secrets restricted to
this the Second Grade of our Order. I further solemnly promise that I
shall
always bear my full share of its responsibilities, and assist in its regular
labours with willingness and alacrity, pleading no excuse save absolute
necessity or illness, for absence from its assemblies."
Primus (L): As a pledge of your fidelity, you will seal that solemn
obligation twice with your lips upon the Volume of the Sacred Law.
This promise being satisfactory, my Companions Lectores will now bring
to your attention an example of the love and compassion the human race
would do well to show one another.
The candidate is seated in the west.
Director of Ceremonies: Be seated Companions.
First Lecturer rises and addresses the candidate.
1st Lecturer: Now it came to pass that, in the days when the Judges
ruled, there was a famine in the land and a man from Bethlehem in
Judaea, together with his wife and two sons, went for a while to live in the
country of Moab.
The man, whose name was Elimelech, died, leaving his wife Naomi to be
cared for by her two sons Mahlon and Kilion.
They married Moabite women, the one named Orpah and the other Ruth,
but after ten years the two sons Mahlon and Kilion both died leaving
Naomi without her sons or her husband.
When she heard that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by
providing food for them, Naomi with- her daughters-inlaw, decided to
return to Judah. Shortly after they had set out on their journey Naomi said
to them, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home and may the Lord
show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead husbands and to
me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of a
new husband."
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, "We will go
back with you to your people."
But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have
another husband. It is more bitter for me than for you because the Lord's
hand has gone out against me!" At this they wept again. Then Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. "Look," said
Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go
back with her."
But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be
my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I
will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if
anything but death separates you and me." When Naomi realised that
Ruth was determined to go with her she stopped urging her. So Naomi
returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess arriving in
Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
First Lecturer sits, and Second Lecturer rises to address the Candidate.
2nd Lecturer: Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side from the
clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz and he was
the son of Salmon and Rahab.
One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the
leftover grain behind the men working there so that we may put food on
our table." Naomi said, "Go ahead, my daughter." So she went out and
began to glean the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she
found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz.
When Boaz arrived he greeted the harvesters and said, "Whose woman
is that?" The foreman replied, saying "She is the Moabitess who came
back from Moab with Naomi, and pleaded to be allowed to glean and
gather behind the harvesters. She has been working steadily all day."
So Boaz approached Ruth and said to her, "My daughter, listen to me, do
not go and glean in another field and do not go away from here. Stay here
with my servant girls. I have told the men not to touch you, and when you
are thirsty go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
At this she bowed down with her face to the ground and exclaimed, "Why
have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me - a foreigner?"
Boaz replied, "I have been told all about what you have done for your
mother-in-law since the death of your husband - how you have come to
support her among people who you do not know. May you be richly
rewarded for what you have done by the Lord, the God of Israel, under
whose wings you have come to take refuge."
At mealtime Boaz offered her some food, and she ate all she wanted and
had some left over. As she got up to continue gleaning, Boaz gave orders
to the men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not embarrass
her, rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them
for her to pick up, and do not rebuke her."
Second Lecturer sits and Third Lecturer rises to address the Candidate.
3rd Lecturer: So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. She then
threshed the barley and carried it back to her mother-in-law. Ruth also
gave to her the food she still had left over.
Her mother-in-law asked, "Where did you glean today? Where did you
work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Ruth replied, "The
name of the man I worked with today is Boaz." She then told her of his
kindness. "The Lord bless him!" Naomi said. "The Lord has not stopped
showing his kindness to the living and the dead. That man is our close
relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."
Third Lecturer sits, and the Registrar stands.
Registrar: It was the law in those days that, following a man's death, his
land and property could only be passed on to his nearest relatives to
redeem, so that the land stayed within the family. In purchasing the land
he would also be responsible for all debts, and take on an obligation to
support the deceased's family.
Registrar sits.
3rd Lecturer, stands and continues: Then Ruth said, "He even said to me,
'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain'". Naomi
said to Ruth, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the girls,
because in someone else's field you may be harmed." So Ruth stayed
close to the servant girls of Boaz until the barley and the wheat harvests
were finished, and she lived with her mother-in-law. Some time later,
Naomi said to Ruth, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you,
where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls
you have been, a kinsman of ours?
Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor. Wash and
perfume yourself and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the
threshing-floor, but do not let him know you are there until he has finished
eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying.
Then go and uncover his feet and lie down." So Ruth went down to the
threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
Third Lecturer sits and Fourth Lecturer rises to address the candidate.
4th Lecturer: When Boaz had finished eating and drinking, and was in
good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth
approached silently, uncovered his feet and laid down. In the middle of
the night something startled the man and he turned and discovered a
woman lying at his feet.
"Who are you?" he asked. "I am your servant Ruth," she said, "Spread
the corner of your garment over me since you are a kinsman-redeemer."
'The Lord bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater
than that which you showed earlier. You have not run after the younger
men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will
do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know you are a woman of
noble character. Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a
kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. Stay here the night and in the morning if
he wants to redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing
so to do, I vow that as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until
morning."
So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be
recognised. Before she left he said to her, "Bring me the shawl you are
wearing and hold it out." When she did so he poured into it six measures
of barley and put it on her. Then he went into the town.
When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked "How did it go, my
daughter?" Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and
added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, "Do not go
back to your mother-in-law empty handed." Then Naomi said, "Wait, my
daughter, until you find out what happens, for the man will not rest until
the matter is settled today."
4th Lecturer resumes his seat.
Primus (L), stands to complete the Lectures: Meanwhile, Boaz went up to
the town gate and sat there. Primus (L) sits. When the kinsman-redeemer
he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend,
and sit down."
Director of Ceremonies instructs candidate to rise and advance to the
east.
Candidate sits on the right of the Primus (L).
Boaz then took ten of the elders of the town and said: "Naomi, who has
come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our
brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention,
and would suggest that you buy it in the presence of those seated here,
and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do
so. But if you will not, tell me, so that I will know. For no-one has the right
to do it except you, and I am next in line."
Candidate, prompted by Director of Ceremonies: I will redeem it.
Primus (L): On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth, the
Moabitess, you also acquire the dead man's widow in order to maintain
the name of the dead with his property.
Candidate, prompted by Director of Ceremonies: Then I cannot redeem it
because I might endanger my own estate. You must redeem it yourself.
Registrar, rises: Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and
transfer of property to become final, one party took off his right sandal
and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalising transactions in
Israel. So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself," and
removed his sandal.
Registrar sits. Candidate and Primus (L) stand; Candidate hands his
slipper to Primus (L) and says:
Candidate: "Buy it yourself
Primus (L), holding the candidate's slipper in right hand: Then Boaz
announced to the elders of the people, "Today you are witnesses that I
have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon.
I have also acquired Ruth, the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife in
order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, and so that his
name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records.
Today you are witnesses."
Primus (O) and all Officers within the Square rise, and together exclaim
aloud: "We are witnesses".
Officers sit.
Primus (L) and candidate resume seats.
Episcopus, rises and recites: So Boaz took Ruth and she became his
wife, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
The women of the town said to Naomi, "Praise be to the LORD who this
day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become
famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your
old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you
than seven sons, has given him birth."
Then Naomi took the child, who they named Obed, laid him in her lap and
cared for him. The women living there said, "Naomi has a son called
Obed." He in turn had a son called Jesse - who was the father of King
David.
The Episcopus resumes his seat, and the Director of Ceremonies then
places the candidate in front of the President.
Primus (L): Companion, your careful attention to what we have heard is to
your credit, and I now enquire if you are prepared to pledge your word
that you will preserve inviolate the further Masonic secrets I am
empowered to entrust to you.
Director of Ceremonies: Companion …, repeat after me: "My secrecy may
be fully relied upon."
Primus (L): Companion …, I now invest you with the jewel of the Second
Grade of this Ancient Order, the emblem of the rank to which you have
progressed. It is a miniature golden scroll upon which are written, in
Greek, the words 'Ara ge ginooskeis' which means 'Dost thou
understand?'
To answer this question, when put to you by a Companion of the Order,
you will nod your head in the affirmative, and holding up your open left
hand thus, place the tip of the right forefinger at the base of the forefinger
of the left hand and figuratively write on your palm the Greek words I have
just communicated to you. This is the Sign of the Second Grade.
I also invest you with this white Sash which is worn over the right
shoulder and under the left arm.
The Scarlet Cord which you wear around your waist with the tassels on
your left hip may now be worn with the tassels on your right hip.
Primus (L) moves the tassels of the candidate to the right hip.
This will indicate to all your Companions the progress you have made in
our Ancient Order.
Primus(L) resumes his seat.
President: I congratulate you on being advanced to this rank, and trust
that your assiduity will be such as to warrant this Consistory
recommending you for promotion.
Companion Director of Ceremonies, you will now place our newly
obligated, entrusted, and invested Companion Lector to be 'Received' in
accordance with ancient custom.
All officers rise and form a circle facing inwards. The Director of
Ceremonies then places the candidate to the immediate right of the
President.
President: Companions, let us now receive our new Companion Lector
into our circle and greet him, collectively and heartily, as one of the
Elected and Chosen.
All the Lectores stand with the hands crossed on the breast, right
uppermost. Each Companion then grasps with his right hand the left hand
of the Companion on his left. In this position, they all pass the words
round, beginning with the President, who whispers the words to
Companion on his left (the Primus (O)), and so on, until it reaches the
representative candidate who will be standing on the right of the
President. The candidate gives the words to the President, receives them
back from the President, and then immediately gives the sign with an
affirmative nod, and by writing on the palm of his left hand, as already
instructed.
Director of Ceremonies: Companions resume your places and be seated.

Closing

President, stands and gavels once: Companions, assist me to close this

Consistory of Lectores.
Companions Lectores, you will stand to Order with the sign of the Second
Grade.
President: By virtue of the Authority vested in me, I close this Consistory
of the Second Grade.
All drop the Sign.
President then gavels twice, repeated by Guarder and Watchman. The
Volume of the Sacred Law is closed.
The Consistory is then resumed in the First grade.

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