After the prayer the following charge ought to be delivered, but it is seldom attended to; in a majority of lodges it is never attended to.
Master to brethren, “Brethren, we are now about to quit this sacred retreat of friendship and virtue to mix again with the world. Amidst its concerns and employment forget not the duties which you have heard so frequently inculcated, and so forcibly recommended in this lodge. Remember, that around this altar, you have promised to befriend and relieve every brother who shall need your assistance. You have promised in the most friendly manner to remind him of his errors and aid a reformation. These generous principles are to extend further: Every human being has a claim upon your kind offices. Do good unto all. Recommend it more “especially to the household of the faithful.” Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind, live in peace, and may the God of love and peace delight to dwell with and bless you.”
In some lodges, after the charge is delivered, the Master says, “Brethren, form on the square.” When all the brethren
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form a circle, and the Master, followed by every brother (except in using the words) says, “And God said let there be light, and there was light.” At the same moment that the last of these words drops from the Master’s lips, every member stamps with his right foot on the floor, and at the same instant bring their hands together with equal force, and in such perfect unison with each other that persons situated so as to hear it would suppose it the precursor of some dreadful catastrophe. This is called “the shock.”
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
