Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord

Installation Ceremony of President of a

Consistory

2010

President: Companions, we shall now proceed with the Installation of the

President Elect.
Companion Director of Ceremonies you will so present.
Director of Ceremonies and Assistant Director of Ceremonies, with
swords at the carry, collect the President Elect, usually the Primus of
Lectures, and place him about six feet west of the Pedestal facing east.
Director of Ceremonies is holding the President Elect's furled Patent of
Appointment. The President Elect should have removed his officers sash
and collar.
Director of Ceremonies: We have the pleasure to present to you our
Distinguished Companion, …, who has been regularly elected President
of this Consistory that he may receive at your hands the benefit of
installation. He has his Patent, signed by the Most Distinguished Grand
Summus authorising you to install him.
President: Let the Patent be displayed.
Director of Ceremonies returns his sword, unfurls the Patent, holds it in
front of himself, shows it to the President and then slowly perambulates
around the Consistory showing the patent to all companions.
President: Companion Recorder you will read the Patent aloud to the
companions.
Director of Ceremonies hands Patent to the Recorder who reads Patent
and then hands it back to Director of Ceremonies. He then conveys it to
the President who places it on his pedestal.
President: Distinguished Companion …, I congratulate you on the honour
conferred upon you by the companions of this Consistory who have
elected you to this high office.
As you are an experienced Freemason and have doubtless previously
been installed into the Chair in other Orders of Masonry, it would be
invidious of me to attempt to advise you on your duties or on how you
should conduct yourself while discharging those duties.
However I will remind you that when you were prepared for this ceremony
you avowed that the first three grades of our Order taught you to have
Faith in the God of Our Fathers, to seek Hope in salvation and to be in
Charity with all men.
You were then informed that as a Distinguished Companion you should
always keep the promises you make to your fellow companions.
Are you willing to accept the office of President of this Consistory under
these conditions?
President Elect responds.
President: You will now advance to the Pedestal, kneel on both knees
place both hands on the Volume of the Sacred Law, state your names at
length and repeat after me. Gavels once and all stand with sign of
fidelity.
I, …, of my own free will and accord and in the presence of the God of our
Fathers and of these my companions here assembled, do agree to accept
the office of President of this Consistory and to discharge the duties
thereof, zealously, conscientiously and to the best of my ability until the
next regular period of election within the Consistory and until a successor
shall have been duly elected, prepared and installed in my stead.
I likewise promise that I will never reveal the secrets restricted to the
President's chair to anyone who is not, a Distinguished Companion, and
lawfully elected to preside over a Consistory.
I furthermore solemnly promise and swear that I shall constantly
endeavour to keep whatever promises I may make to my fellow
Distinguished Companions and will always assume that they will likewise
be honest and truthful in their dealings with me.
All these points I swear to observe. So help me the God of our Fathers
and keep me steadfast in this my solemn obligation as President of this
Consistory.
President: As a pledge of your fidelity you will seal that obligation with
your lips on the Volume of the Sacred Law. Done.
Rise duly obligated President of this Consistory.
Director of Ceremonies leads President to a vacant seat in the
Consistory.
Director of Ceremonies: Be seated, Companions.
Installing President: I must now ask all companions who have not been
installed President of a Consistory to retire under the direction of the
Director of Ceremonies.
Director of Ceremonies requests Companions to leave their officer's
sashes on their chairs and leads them to the door.
Installing President, gavels once: I declare this to be a duly constituted
Assembly of Installed Presidents and I will thank
Distinguished Companion ... to act as Episcopus,
Distinguished Companion … to continue to act as Director of
Ceremonies
Distinguished Companion … to act as Guarder.
Assistant Director of Ceremonies places a kneeling stool east of the
Pedestal.
Director of Ceremonies removes President's chain/collar and sash and
places them on a cushion.
Installing President: Distinguished Companion …, you will kneel in front of
the Pedestal and be attentive to a portion of Holy Scripture.
Escorted to the kneeling stool by the Director of Ceremonies.
Episcopus reads l Samuel Ch. 7 Verses 15-17: And Samuel judged Israel
all the days of his life.
And he went from year to year in circuit of Bethel, and Gilgal and Mizpeh,
and judged Israel in all those places.
And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he
judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
Installing President: Companions you will turn to the east and assume an
attitude of prayer.
Episcopus: O God of our Fathers, we implore Thee to bestow Thy
blessing upon this candidate, who now offers himself to be President of
this Consistory.
Endue him with the strength and wisdom to fulfil his duties, so that with
Faith, Hope and Charity and Thy given word, he may rule and judge
worthily over his companions.
And may he ever remember that service to his companions and all good
works are the pathway to Thy most glorious presence.
Freely has he received, freely may he give.
S.M.I.B.
The companions face inwards. The Installing President leaves his chair
and proceeds to a position in front of the President Elect who is still
kneeling. The Director of Ceremonies proffers the cushion with the
President's chain/collar and sash and the Installing President invests the
PE with first the sash and then the chain/collar. He then places both
hands on the President's Elect's shoulders and says:
Installing President: To the service of the God of Our Fathers I dedicate
you as a High Priest and Judge in our Order.
He then grasps him by both hands.
Installing President: Rise, President of this Consistory.
The Installing President wheels the President ninety degrees clockwise
so that the new President is facing south.
I will now entrust you with the mysteries restricted to the office of
President.
The sign is given by putting forth the left hand as if holding a horn of oil
and turning the hand clockwise in allusion to Samuel pouring the
anointing oil on the head of the boy David.
The word is Elkanah. President repeats.
Elkanah was the father of Samuel who with his wife Hannah kept their
promise by giving up their only son to the Lord.
The grip is given by grasping each other's right hand and then covering
the back of the other's right hand with the left hand. This grip is
accompanied by the words "My Word is my Bond"
This grip is an indication of the binding attachment between Presidents of
our Order.
The Installing President takes the President's right hand in his right hand
and passing between the President and the pedestal he guides the
President to the Chair.
With the grip and the words "My Word is my Bond" I place you in the chair
of this Consistory and may the God of our Fathers grant you the wisdom
to rule and judge over your Consistory as did the prophet Samuel rule
and judge over Israel.
I place in your hands this Gavel, the symbol of your authority.
The Third Grade jewel you wear may now have attached to it a silver
representation of the horn of oil in order to indicate to your companions
that you are now a Distinguished President in our Order.
Installing President: Distinguished Companions you will now all pay
homage to your new President.
Each companion present passes before the President and gives him the
grip and says the words "My Word is my Bond".
Installing President: Companion President, will you now be pleased to
gavel once and declare this Assembly of Installed Presidents
closed. Done.
President: I declare this Assembly of Installed Presidents closed.
Installing President: Companion Director of Ceremonies you will admit the
Companions.
The companions line up in the north under the direction of the Director of
Ceremonies.
Installing President: Companions, our Distinguished Companion … has
been regularly installed as President of this Consistory and I now call
upon you to salute him with three taking the time from our Companion
Director of Ceremonies.
Director of Ceremonies leads Salutation which is three times xx xx.
Installing President: Companions, I now proclaim that Distinguished
Companion … has this day been regularly installed as President of this
the … Consistory No … on the books of the Grand Senatus of the Ancient
and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord in the British Isles and its Districts
and Consistories Overseas for the ensuing 12 months and until a
successor shall have been duly elected, prepared and installed in his
stead and I call upon you to pay homage to your President by proceeding
to a position in front of him, showing reverence to him with a court bow
and returning to your seats. Done.
Installing President: Companion President, you will please stand. I now
present to you the Warrant of this Consistory which has passed through
the hands of many Distinguished Companions. I am sure that whilst it is in
your possession it will lose none of its lustre and you will pass it to your
successor as pure and unsullied as you now receive it.
Installing President: Companion President, you will please be seated. I
now present to you the Constitutions and Regulations of our Ancient
Order which you should carefully study. I also present to you the By-Laws
of the Province with which you will make yourself familiar and finally the
By Laws of this Consistory which you will enforce.
Installing President: Companion President, you will now appoint and
invest your officers. Done.

Address to the President

To be given by the Installing President, or a Past President, after the

appointment and Investure of the Consistory Officers.
Distinguished Companion …, now that you have attained the Presidency
of this Consistory, I congratulate you on behalf of all the companions
present on reaching that high station and I pray that the God of our
Fathers will be pleased to grant you the health and strength to enjoy it.
I must also remind you of your Preparation for the office of President,
when your attention was drawn to the three cardinal virtues on which our
ceremonies are based - Faith, Hope and Charity. It will be your
responsibility to ensure that the performance of these ceremonies is
sufficiently dignified to reflect the fundamental importance of those
virtues.
I enjoin you to rule and direct the proceedings of your Consistory with
zeal and enthusiasm as well as justness and fairness. An equal measure
of kindness, modesty and compassion will enable you to preside with the
wisdom of the Prophet Samuel.
Never forget the scarlet thread which binds you to our Order and its
members and that special bond of faithfulness you have just solemnly
engaged to uphold as an Installed President.
Such conduct will add much lustre to your year of office, so that at its
conclusion, the members of this Consistory will unite in regarding you as
a truly distinguished Companion.

Closing of a Consistory

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

Consistory.
President: The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Companion Guarder,
what saith the Watchman?
Guarder gives a Court Bow to the President, opens door and says to the
Watchman outside: Companion Watchman, what of the day?
Watchman reports to Guarder: The morning cometh and all is safe and
well.
Guarder returns to his place and says: Companion President, all is safe
and well.
President: Companions, you will stand to order with the sign of the First
Grade.
President: All our work having been happily conducted and completed, I
now call on Companion Episcopus for prayer.
Episcopus: May He, Who watching over Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps,
take into His most intimate keeping all His faithful Ostiarii. May He
preserve and comfort us all and, under the shadow of His wing, may we
rest secure from harm. S.M.I.B.
President: By virtue of the Authority vested in me, I close this
Consistory. President knocks once, repeated by Guarder & Watchman.
DC closes VSL.
President: God speed you, fideles.