Observations on the Seventh Degree.

The lecture of this degree is divided into two sections, and should be well understood by every royal arch mason; upon an accurate acquaintance with it, will depend his usefulness at our assemblies; and without it, he will be unqualified to perform the duties of the various stations in which his services may be required by the chapter.

The first Section.

The first section opens to our view a large field for contemplation and study. It furnishes us with many interesting particulars relative to the state of the fraternity, during and since the reign of King Solomon; and illustrates the causes and consequences of some very important events which occurred during his reign.

This section explains the mode of government in this class of masons; it designates the appellation, number, and situation of the several officers; and points out the purposes and duties of their respective stations.

The Second Section.

This section contains much valuable historical information, and proves, beyond the power of contradiction, and in the most striking colours, that prosperity and happiness, are ever the ultimate consequences of virtue and justice, while disgrace and ruin invariably follow the practices of vice and immorality.

A proper arrangement of the following charges, &c. is essentially necessary to be observed in every chapter; and their application should be familiar to every royal arch

mason.

"At first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring fear and dread upon him, and prove him with her discipline, until she may trust his soul, and try him by her laws. Then will she return the straight way unto him, and comfort him, and shew him her secrets."-Ecclesiasticus.

Prayer rehearsed during the Ceremony of Exaltation to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason.

"Supreme Architect of Universal Nature, who by thine almighty word, didst speak into being the stupendous Arch of Heaven, and for the instruction and pleasure of thy rational creatures, didst adorn us with greater and lesser lights; thereby magnifying thy power, and endearing thy

goodness, unto the sons of men: we humbly adore and worship thine unspeakable perfection. We bless thee, that when man had fallen from his innocence and his happiness, thou didst still leave unto him the powers of reasoning, and capacity of improvement and of pleasure. We thank thee that amidst the pains and calamities of our present state, so many means of refreshment and satisfaction are reserved unto us, while travelling the rugged path of life. Especially would we at this time render thee our thanksgiving and praise for the institution, as members of which we are at this time assembled, and for all the pleasures we have derived from it. We thank thee that the few here assembled before thee, have been favored with new inducements, and laid under new and stronger obligations, to virtue and holiness. May these obligations, O blessed Father, have their full effect upon us. Teach us, we pray thee, the true reverence of thy great, mighty, and terrible name. Inspire us with a firm and unshaken resolution in our virtuous pur suits. Give us grace diligently to search thy word in the Book of Nature, wherein the duties of our high vocation are inculcated with divine authority. May the solemnity of the ceremonies of our institution, be duly impressed on our minds, and have a lasting and happy effect upon our lives. O thou, who didst aforetime appear unto thy servant Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, enkindle, we beseech thee, in each of our hearts, a flame of devotion to thee, of love to each other, and of charity to all mankind. May all thy miracles and mighty works fill us with the dread, and thy goodness impress us with the love of thy holy name.

May holiness to the Lord be engraven on all our thoughts, words and actions. May the incense of piety ascend continually unto thee from the altar of our hearts, and burn, day and night, as a sacrifice of sweet smelling savour, well pleasing unto thee. And since sin hath destroyed within us the first temple of purity and innocence, may thy heavenly grace guide and assist us in rebuilding a second temple of reformation, and may the glory of this latter house be greater than the glory of the former.-Amen.”

OR THIS:

Ahabath Olam.-A Prayer, repeated in the Royal Arch Lodge at Jerusalem.

Thou hast loved us, O Lord our God, with eternal love; thou hast spared us with great and exceeding patience, our

father and our king, for thy great name's sake, and for our fathers' sake, who trusted in thee, to whom thou didst teach the statutes of life, that they might do after the statutes of thy good pleasure with a perfect heart; so be thou merciful unto us, O our Father, merciful father, that sheweth mercy, have mercy upon us, we beseech thee, and put understanding into our hearts, that we may understand, be wise, hear, learn, teach, keep, do, and perform all the words of the doctrine of thy law in love, and enlighten our eyes in thy commandments, and cause our hearts to cleave to thy law, and unite them in the love and fear of thy name, we will not be ashamed, nor confounded, nor stumble, for ever and ever.

Because we have trusted in the Holy Ghost, mighty and terrible name, we will rejoice and be glad in thy salvation, and in thy mercies, O Lord our God; and the multitude of thy mercies, shall not forsake us for ever, Selah: And now make haste and bring upon us a blessing, and peace from the four corners of the earth; for thou art a God that workest salvation, and hast chosen us out of every people and language; and thou, our king, hast caused us to cleave to thy great name, in love and praise to thee and to be united to thee, and to love thy name; blessed art thou, O Lord God, who hast chosen thy people Israel in love. Amen.

Exodus iii. 1-6. "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned, And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God."

Deuteronomy v. 1—24. "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant

with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount) saying,

"I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Keep the sabbath-day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seoenth day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day.

"Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. And

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it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth."

2 Chron. xxxvi. 11-20. "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God, but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart, from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.

"Moreover all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers; rising up betimes and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets; until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man, or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king; and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword, carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia."

Ezra i. 1-3. "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me