Dit amerikaanse rituaal dateert uit 1909
The Lodge is opened in due form in the Third Degree.
NG.: Recording Secretary, have any Candidates been elected to receive the First Degree?
The Secretary reports the name (or names) of the Candidate(s). The Noble Grand instructs the Warden to ascertain if the person (or persons) named are in attendance. The Warden reports that the Candidate is waiting. If there is more than one Candidate, they are initiated at the same time. By order of the Noble Grand the Lodge is reduced from the Third Degree, and the Warden declares the Lodge duly open in the First Degree. An officer of the Lodge is appointed by the Noble Grand to assume the office of Conductor; he retires into the ante-room, and works his way in due form, with the Candidate, into the Lodge-room.
Conductor: Noble Grand, I present to you ..., a worthy Brother who having been duly elected, seeks to obtain the mysteries of this degree.
NG.: Brother, in presenting yourself for advancement in our Order, it becomes my duty to remind you of the importance of the step you propose to take, and to caution you against making engagements that you may be unwilling to fulfill, or, for the gratification of idle curiosity. taking upon yourself obligations which may hereafter prove burdensome. It will be necessary before you receive this degree for you to take a solemn obligation, pledging yourself not to disclose any of its mysteries to persons whom you do not know to be lawfully in possession of them, and binding yourself to the performance of the duties prescribed in this degree, so far as it may be in your power to perform them. Have you duly considered the subject, and are you now prepared to advance?
Candidate answers.
NG. (to the Conductor): Present the Candidate to the Vice Grand for obligation.
Conductor presents candidate to Vice Grand from center of floor.
Conductor: Vice Grand, by direction of the Noble Grand, I present this Candidate for obligation.
NG. three raps, * * * calling up the Lodge.
VG. (to Candidate): Place your right hand on your left breast, say I, pronounce your name in full, and repeat after me:
I, ..., in the presence of the covenanted Brothers of the Degree of Friendship here assembled, do solemnly promise, that I will never improperly divulge the secrets of the degree about to be entrusted to my keeping; and I hereby pledge myself to help and support my afflicted and persecuted Brother, and warn him of approaching danger, whether it be from his own imprudence or from the evil designs of others, or from some accidental cause. I will point out his advantage and interest, where they do not conflict with the rights of others, if it should be in my power so to do. I will protect his property, assist his family, defend his character and save his life and limb, should opportunity offer. To the faithful performance of all which I pledge my sacred honor.
NG. (one rap * seating the Lodge): Are you willing to submit to the ordeal by which you may become a Brother of this degree? Candidate answers.
Let the Brother be taken to the anteroom, that he may re-enter and take his next step in fraternity.
Conductor conducts candidate to the ante-room, and comes with him to the door. The Conductor in the outside room gives three raps on inside door.
Inside Guardian: Noble Grand, there is an alarm at the door.
NG.: Attend to the alarm.
Inside Guardian (opening the wicket): Who comes there?
Conductor: A Brother who is ready to receive the mysteries of this degree.
Inside Guardian (closing the wicket): Noble Grand, a Brother is ready to receive the mysteries of this degree.
The following Scene is enacted, the parts of King Saul, David, Jonathan, Jesse, and the Herald being performed by members present, and the Lodge-room arranged for the purpose.
This is witnessed by the Candidate, seated.
King (seated): Jonathan, my son, draw nigh. I would have speech with thee.
Jonathan advances and stands before the King.
King: My son, thy father is sorely troubled. Pause. Methinks the days of Saul, the King, are numbered. Evil spirits beset me, and I fear that I am going mad.
Jonathan: Father, only yesterday, one of thy guardsmen told me of a shepherd lad of Bethlehem, who plays sweetly upon the harp. His music hath power to cast out evil spirits. I pray thee, send for this lad.
King: Of what avail! Pause. Yet, if it please thee, I will send for him. What is his name?
Jonathan: David, the son of Jesse.
King (to Herald): Go thou to Bethlehem; find out Jesse, the shepherd, and say unto him: “Thus commands Saul, the King; send me David, thy son, that he may stand before me.”
King (to Jonathan): Leave me, my son, I would be alone, alone.
Jesse is summoned by the Herald.
Herald: Peace be with thee and thine. Art thou Jesse, the shepherd?
Jesse: Thou hast said it. Peace be with thee.
Herald: I am from Saul, the King.
Jesse: Sit thee down and rest.
Herald: Jesse, thus saith Saul, the King: “Send me David, thy son, that he may stand before me.”
Jesse: David! My youngest son! Send David to the King! He alone is Left to tend the flocks, and comfort me in my old age. His brothers even now are under arms. O gentle stranger, go to Saul, I pray thee, and beg of him to spare me my youngest born.
Herald: ’Tis the King’s command!
Jesse (after pause): The King’s command must be obeyed. Pause, then, as if speaking to himself but so as to be heard distinctly: No evil can befall him, since the prophet Samuel has anointed him with holy oil.
Herald (aside): Samuel anointed David? Then David is chosen to rule over Israel!
Jesse comes out of house and blows horn. Music finished, David enters from ante loom.
David: Thy blessing, O father. Kneels for blessing. Jesse lays hands upon his head. David rises. Peace be with thee, O stranger. Pause. Didst thou signal, father?
Jesse: Aye. David, this stranger bears a message from the King. Saul commands me to send thee to him.
David: The King sends for me?
Herald: Thou playest upon the harp, I am told.
David: For mine own amusement.
Herald: Thy ability has reached the ears of the King. ‘Tis for that thou art summoned.
David: But I cannot leave my father alone.
Herald: ’Tis the King’s command!
David (after pause): Be it so! I am ready.
Jesse: Fare thee well, my son; fare thee well. Seek out thy brothers in the army arid give to them their father’s blessing David kneels. Jesse blessing him. The peace of God be with thee alway.
Herald: The peace of God rest on this house and all that dwell therein.
The Herald and David return and are met by Jonathan.
Jonathan (to David): Who art thou?
David: David, son of Jesse.
Jonathan: Aye, the shepherd lad. I am Prince Jonathan. David begins to kneel. Nay, kneel not to me. David, my father, the King, is sorely troubled with an evil spirit and thy music may soothe him.
David: But I am not clothed to appear before the King.
Jonathan: I would not have thee different than thou art. Come, be not afraid.
Jonathan presents David to the King.
King: Lad, who art thou?
David: David, son of Jesse. Upon the hills of Bethlehem, I tend my father’s flock
King: Come hither, lad. Thou hast found favor in mine eyes. Sit thou here at my feet.
David seats himself on dais at foot, and at one side of King. David plays a few chords on harp, then kneels and speaks to King.
King (to David): I would have thee with me alway.
David: O King, one favor I crave of thee that I may visit my brothers who serve thee on the field.
King: Go then, but soon return.
Goliath (from the ante-room): Ho! pause Ho ye! pause Choose ye a man, the greatest among you, and let him come out to me, that I may slay him ! If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be thy servants; but if I prevail against him then shall ye be our servants. I defy the armies of Israel.
Consternation among staff and attendants.
King, Guards and Star: The Giant Goliath!
Goliath (from ante-room): O Saul, thou son of Kish! Thou King of Slaves!
King (in sorrow and anger): King of slaves. Ah, woe is me! I am accursed! Three times has this braggart reviled me: and beneath the spell of this evil spirit I am powerless!
To Guards and Attendants: Oh, is there not one among you who will venture forth and slay this cursed Philistine?
After a pause, David advances to the King.
David: O King. let no man’s heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
King (contemptuously): Thou art but a stripling, and he a mighty warrior!
David: The Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
King: Enough! Array him in armor.
David is armed with shield and sword.
David: Most gracious King, I prefer my shepherd’s dress. This sword I have not proved.
King: What wilt thou?
David: This sling producing it and a stone.
King (after meditation): Go, then, and if thou slay mine enemy thou shalt be given riches and thy father’s house made free.
David returns shield and sword to attendant. He then picks up a stone and then proceeds toward ante-room, where Goliath is in waiting. Jonathan accompanies David a short distance.
Jonathan: David, thou art no match for this giant.
David: Have no fear. The Lord is with me.
Jonathan: The Lord be with thee. Farewell.
David: Fare well.
David goes to partially opened door of ante-room, in position where he can see Goliath.
Goliath (from ante-room): Boy, begone! Am I a dog, that thou cometh to me with staves? 1 will give thy flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.
David: Thou comest to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord whom thou hast reviled. This day will I smite thee and take thy head from thee, that all Philistia may know there is a God in Israel.
Goliath (from ante-room): Ha, Ha, Ha! With a sling and a stone!
David passes into the ante-room. After a pause, David re-enters with Goliath’s head. Jonathan joins him, and David kneels before the King.
David: O King, thine enemy is dead!
King: Mine enemy dead? Pause. Israel hath been delivered ! O David, champion of Israel’s host, thou hast done well ! Thou shalt be commander in my army.
To attendants: Array him
David retires to the ante-room where he is clothed as commander of the army, and remains there.
King (to Jonathan): What hat manner of man is this, that single handed he fought and slew this Philistine?
Jonathan: My father, I know not, but my heart goes out to him in a great love, for he has this day saved Israel.
Herald (saluting King): O King, David has been anointed with holy oil by the prophet Samuel.
King (angrily): How knowest thou this?
Herald: From Jesse his father.
King (slowly): It must then be so! With increasing anger: David, my successor? My kingdom to be rent from me and given to him? After meditation: True, he slew Goliath, and saved my people. Pause. And I have made of him a commander of a thousand men! Pause, with energy: By the living God, I have done well. He shall fight my wars, but he shall not come back alive! Israel’s crown is mine; Jonathan, my son, shall reign hereafter!
An alarm is heard on the inner door.
Inside guardian (opening the wicket): Who comes there?
Conductor (in a low tone): David, the son of Jesse.
Inside Guardian (from station cries loudly): David, the son of Jesse, comes.
Officers and Brothers at the Vice Grand’s end of room immediately cry out: Hail to David. Ten thousand praises are his due.
King (angrily): What sound is that?
Herald: It is the people. They rejoice with David.
King: I like it not! Pause, aside: Oh, that he were dead! Pause, to Inside Guardian: Why comes he here?
Inside Guardian (opening wicket: to Conductor): Why comes he here?
Conductor (low tone): To visit Saul, King of Israel.
Inside Guardian advances to center of floor and salutes King.
Inside Guardian: To visit Saul, King of Israel.
King (after pause): Admit him to the presence of the King.
Inside Guardian salutes King, returns to his station, and opens the door. David, Conductor and candidate enter and proceed to center of floor, facing King.
David (kneeling and reverently saluting): Hail to the King.
King (after pause): Welcome, son of Jesse! Thou hast smitten mine enemies and brought me the spoils of victory!
Herald: Saul has slain his thousands!
The Staff (with the exception of the King’s retinue): And David his tens of thousands!
All (with the exception of the King’s retinue): David his tens of thousands!
King (frantically): This is treason to the King! I will smite him with the sword!
All (with exception of the King’s retinue): Away? Away! He will kill thee! Away, away!
Jonathan steps in between King and David, at the same time saying: Father, this shall not be!
King: And wouldst thou defend this Judean who would be King: to whom the people ascribe tens of thousands, while to me they give but thousands?
Jonathan: Even so, my father, for who shall stand against the Lord’s anointed?
King: Defend him not, for while he lives thy kingdom is not safe. He shall surely die!
Jonathan: I will defend him with my life!
King: False Prince! Unfilial son!
Saul fights with Jonathan, who disarms him.
King: Ho, my guards! My guards!
Jonathan: Hold! Hold, I say! Stand back on my command!
David, I am thy friend. My father seeketh to kill thee, now therefore take heed and abide here. I will go and stand by my father and plead for thee, and what I see I will tell thee. Hide thyself by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows on its side as though I shot at a mark, and will send a lad, saying: “Find out the arrows that I shoot.” If I say to him, “Behold the arrows are on this side of thee,” then come thou, for there is peace to thee and no hurt. But if I say to the lad, “Are not the arrows beyond thee?”, Go thy way!
After a few moments Jonathan kneels before the King.
Jonathan: Father, I come to plead for David.
King: Begone! I will not hear thee! Begone
Jonathan: Father, hast thou forgotten thy promise made before thy people that he who should slay the giant, whom no man in all Israel dare stand before, to him wouldst thou give riches, and make him great in the land of Israel? Hast thou, my father, forgotten this? Pause. If so, let me no longer live.
King: Cursed be thou for an unnatural son! I will do unto thee as thou desirest!
The King raises his sword to strike, but falls back in his chair. After a short pause the King and his Guards retire from the Lodge-room.
Jonathan: Here, lad, find out the arrows that I shoot. Make haste!
Lad (running): Where are they?
Jonathan: Are not the arrows beyond thee? Pause. Make haste! Pause. Speed! Short pause. Stay not!
Lad picks up arrows and returns with them to Jonathan.
Jonathan: Here, lad, take this bow and arrows, handing them to the lad go, carry them to the city.
Lad: I go, most noble prince.
Jonathan: David, behold, my Father would kill thee! And yet I love thee as my own soul.
David: Jonathan, what is mine iniquity?
Jonathan: The King is angered and sore beset. He knows not what he does. O David, thou art as dear to me as life itself! Even shouldest thou become ruler over Israel, and my father’s throne pass to thee, yet would I ask that I might be as now, thy friend and brother, and continue at thy side.
David: Jonathan, more than brother, whether or not it some to pass that I shall rule over Israel, nothing but death shall part thee and me.
Jonathan: Let us swear the one to the other in friendship forever!
Jonathan and David each kneel upon their right knees, facing each other; their left knees touching and their right hands clasped. Conductor and candidate kneel also.
Jonathan, David and Conductor: The Lord be between me and thee and between my seed and thy seed, from this day forever.
NG.: Calls up the Lodge.
Jonathan, David, Conductor and candidate rise.
The Lodge (led by the chaplain): The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, from this day forever!
David retires to ante-room.
Jonathan: David, go thou in peace!
David: Farewell, Jonathan. Peace be with thee and thine!
Conductor and candidate face Chaplain.
Chaplain: Hail to the covenant of friendship
Conductor and candidate face Past Grand.
Past Grand: Hail to the covenant of friendship!
Conductor and candidate face Vice Grand.
VG.: Hail to the covenant of friendship!
Conductor and candidate face Noble Grand.
The Lodge (led by the Warden): Hail to the covenant of friendship!
NG. one rap *; seating the Lodge: My brother, I will now instruct you in the mysteries of this degree.
NG. (standing): Brother, by the consent of your Brethren, you have been advanced to a position of great responsibility. The most ancient as well as the most true and beautiful example of earthly friendship has been presented before you, and you have in your own person illustrated a noble history. In that touching drama you stood in the presence of royalty and listened to the voice of praise, but your merit provoked enmity, and you were hunted down as a traitors when you were full of truth and honor. You have thus enacted a part of the common life. Envy is the malicious foe of virtue, and is ever ready to destroy what it cannot imitate or surpass; it is the vice of the weak and the vain and the weapon of an ignoble mind. In suffering its persecution you have learned a lesson never to be forgotten. Man is prone to selfishness and thus to live for himself alone; in this isolation he has but little sympathy with his fellow man. In such a mind envy takes possession and hatred follows with its horrid brood. But there is also a divinity in man which weds him to lofty motives and honorable actions. The good have an affinity for each other which grows up into confidence and affection. Generous deeds and unselfish purposes are the strongest bonds of union, in his high estate, no man liveth to himself. You have acted a part where all was oppression upon the one hand, and all was love and protection upon the other. Thus you have seen the picture upon both sides. It is possible that men should combine for the common good; hence we have societies, communities, states and nations united by a compact which protects their members. But the bond is stronger when individuals are united by personal contact and held together by a personal covenant. such a covenant we have all entered into, and you have been solemnly added to our fraternal union. By such a tie has God bound himself to his creatures on the scroll of heaven, with the rainbow as his seal. Such obligations have come down to us from every age and country; by these, the mystic rights of all nations ha ye been protected, and men everywhere brought into fellowship. By your solemn pledge you are now entitled to give and receive the tokens of a deathless friendship. Every Odd Fellow is your Brother, and his family the sacred object of your fraternal care. You have become one of a vast Brotherhood which extends to many lands, and in their assemblies you will always be welcome. The mysteries you have learned will insure you an honorable reception in strange cities and distant states, where you will be the subject of tender attentions because you are an Odd Fellow.
Brother ..., such is the nature and effect of the covenant you have taken; the emblematic color of this degree is pink.
I now welcome you as a Brother of the Degree of Friendship.
All present who have not attained the Third Degree.
are dismissed.
The Lodge is then duly raised from the First to the Third Degree, in readiness
for further business or closing, as the case may be.