National Union
Installation Ritual

1892

Any member of the Senate, the Senate Deputy, or any person duly authorized to act as such, can officiate as Installing officer, who will be called upon by the President to take a seat upon his right.
The Installing officer may either bring his Marshal with him or select a member of the Council to perform the work. During the Installation the Marshal is virtually Usher, and entirely at the command of the Installing officer; and both of them should carefully study the manual for installation, as here set down. The altar should be covered by the National colors, with flag and staff in place, environed by the Diamond. The Installing officer must receive the per capita tax and semi-annual report before installation, and see that the bonds of the Financial Secretary, Treasurer and Trustees are properly drawn and signed.
When order of New Business is reached, the President rises, * * * , and says:
PRESIDENT: Friends, another year has sped into the past; our annual election has been held, and you have chosen new and trustworthy officers. With sincere pleasure I now present to you the honored representative of the Senate of the National Union, Friend, … (giving name,) who comes here to perform the installation ceremony; and to his charge I now confide control of our Council.
If re-elected the President may here express his thanks; and, if retiring from the position, he may make his farewell remarks, concluding by handing the gavel to the Deputy, and taking his place among the members.
INSTALLING OFFICER, *: Members of … Council: It is with pleasure that I come to perform the duties assigned me by the Senate, namely, to install the trusted officers in whose hands you have placed the destinies of your Council. I pray you give them hearty support, and overlook slight faults that may be errors more of judgment than intention.
Friend Secretary, you will please read the bonds furnished by the Financial Secretary, Treasurer and Trustees elect.
Bonds are read.
The Council will please take action regarding these bonds.
A motion should be made in the regular way, and the deputy will submit the question.
Having been formally accepted, the bonds have my official sanction.
Let the officers-elect now prepare themselves for installation.
Friend Secretary call the roll.
The roll is called, after which the Secretary hands it to Installing officer, the name and positions of officers-elect not present being designated.
SONG.
The Marshal then collects from the officers' stands the gavels and badges. He also places the chairs in position in front of the Installing officer. and then seats himself. The Installing officer raps once, rises and says:
INSTALLING OFFICER: Officers-elect of … Council, Number …, National Union, you will now occupy the chairs provided by our Marshal, the President on my left, the others in regular order.
INSTALLING OFFICER: 0fficers-elect, please rise. Do you accept the offices to which you have been elected?
Officers respond.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Members of … Council, these are the officers whom you have elected. If any one present has any objection to offer why any of them should not be installed let him now prefer it. Pause.
No objection being made, we take it for granted you are willing to yield a cheerful obedience to all of their official demands, and do all in your power to assist them in the discharge of their several duties.
Officers-elect: You will now place your right hands over your hearts, and listen attentively to this solemn obligation:
Do you, and each of you, solemnly and sincerely promise, that you will faithfully and impartially perform, to the best of your ability, the duties of the office to which you have been elected, and ever strive to sustain and practice the principles of the Order? *.
Officers respond.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Will the President, Vice-President, Speaker and Ex-President arise. Friends, absolute trust has been placed in you by this Council, which has elected you to fill the four most influential positions within its power to bestow. To you, Mr. President, is intrusted the government of the Council, and your duties and obligations are multifarious and onerous. I charge you, in the name of our honorable Order, to see that the demands of your office are fully met, and that you do not shrink from the performance of the manifold duties which it imposes. Rule tenderly, charitably, manfully, and withal justly; and draw unto you the respect and affection of your Council, even as the unpretending magnet attracts to itself the cold and impassive iron. Above all, be careful that the Rituals and the emblems of our secret work do not fall into the hands of strangers.
To you, Mr. Vice-President, this Council has given a noteworthy trust. You are here second in command the President's chief helper in conducting the affairs of the Council. To your charge has been committed, in a measure, the guardianship of the inner door, and it should be your especial care to see that none gain admittance who are not members in good standing of the National Union. In the absence of the President you will be called upon to preside, and you should familiarize yourself with what appertains to that position.
Perform your duties faithfully, and thus deserve the Order's commendation and your Council's praise.
And now, Messrs. President and Vice-President, you who virtually hold the destinies of this Council in your hands – I appeal to you in the name of the friends whom you represent, and in the name of our Order at large, that you do not abuse the confidence reposed in you. Behold our noble flag! be straight and upright as its staff, true and honest as its colors, fair and undeviating as its snow-white bars.
Friends Speaker and Ex-President: You are, as it were, the arms of the President, to assist in managing the Council's affairs.
You, Mr. Speaker, at the left angle of the Diamond.
And you, Mr. Ex-President, at its right point.
Should promote by all proper means the good government of the Council and also the growth of the Order. You personify Truth and Charity, in that, from the center of our emblematic jewel flash the brightest rays; and from the heart of man, the seat of life, springs that touch of nature that makes the whole world kin. While your duties are less exacting, yet they should be so performed that honor will accrue to yourselves and to your Council. Be prompt in attendance, gracious to the members, courteous to visitors, and true to the trusts which you now assume.
You, Mr. Speaker, as director of instruction and amusement for the Council, should be energetic and painstaking in that pursuit, and in that way earn the encomiums of our friends; and you, Mr. Ex-President, having had experience in office, should be watchful that the affairs of your Council are conducted in a proper manner.
INSTALLING OFFICER: And now let these Friends who have been chosen Secretaries, Treasurer and Chaplain please arise. Pause.
I command you all to remember that important trusts have been confided to your keeping. Friends Secretaries, the inditing of the records of the Council and the management of its financial concerns are, indeed, difficult positions to fill. Mr. Secretary, in your various entries "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice;" and, Mr. Financial Secretary, dare to be true in your accounts: "Nothing can need a lie; a fault which needs it most, grows two thereby." You, worthy Treasurer, husband the funds with the greatest care; be true as the stars and straight as the bars on our glorious flag; and Friend Chaplain, by your bearing and conduct, remind us that we are subject to Divine guidance, and that even our failings lean in the right direction. Again I urge upon you all prudence, fidelity, honesty and constancy.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Those members who have been chosen as Medical-Examiner, Usher, Sergeant and Door-keeper will now please arise.
Friends, you have been elected to positions of the highest importance, and your several duties should be performed with the utmost exactitude. You Mr. Examiner, must exercise the greatest vigilance and skill, to the end that no person of unsound health shall secure entrance into our Order. You Mr. Usher, should be scrupulous! y careful and painstaking that the property of this Council is well preserved, and that the Rituals, books and badges shall not come into the possession of strangers. And you, Sergeant and Door-keeper, must be particularly watchful and constantly on the alert, so that persons who are not members of the Order shall not gain admission to the Council while in session. In your case it may be truly said that eternal vigilance is the price of secrecy.
INSTALLING OFFICER: N ow let the Trustees-elect please arise.
My Friends, you have been summoned last, but your office is not, however, the least in importance. You will have control of the Council's property, invested funds, and the bonds of its officers; and the membership expect that your duties will be performed in the most satisfactory manner. Let me counsel caution, prudence, exactness, and sound methods, so that at the end of your term your Council as a body can say, "Well done, good and faithful servants."
INSTALLING OFFICER: The Marshal will now present the gavels, attach the badges and conduct the officers to their stations, beginning with the Trustees; and any officers now filling the positions will yield them up.
The Trustees should be seated in the three chairs adjacent to the Secretary 's station, and the Medical Examiner in chair nearest the Financial Secretary's desk. Each officer should be conducted first to the altar and, with the Marshal, salute the Installing Officer, awaiting the answering sign before proceeding. When all have been seated except the President.
INSTALLING OFFICER to Marshal: Now, my Friend, I thank you for your willing services, and give you leave to be seated with the other members of the Council.
Marshal salutes and retires.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Mr. President, your officers having been duly installed and conducted to their several stations, it will now be my privilege to personally request you to assume your rightful position. Receive, my Friend, the Charter of this Council intrusted to your keeping by our Senate. I will now give you the grip and the semi-annual password, which you will communicate to the members of your Council in good standing at the earliest opportunity.
And now, that my special mission is completed, summon your officers to come to attention.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Mr. President, I present you with your duly installed assistants, and trust that the progress of this Council, under your and their direction, will be rapid, healthy and harmonious. And now, Mr. President, oblige me by calling up the entire Council.
INSTALLING OFFICER: Members of … Council, Number …, National Union: I deem it my duty to express gratification that my work is so nearly and happily ended. I congratulate you that you are so ably equipped with competent and zealous officers, chosen by constitutional methods, and regularly installed by the legal representative of the Senate. Let us trust that during the ensuing year, until the occasion of another installation rolls around, fraternity, harmony and prosperity will, as heretofore, rule in this Council, and that the officers and members will be welded together in Love, Purity and Truth-the sacred bonds of our beneficent Order.
Installing Officer, assuming position of "Love," steps to the front of President's station and says: Now, by the power vested in me by the Senate of the NATIONAL UNION, I hereby declare the officers of … Council, No. …, legally installed, and authorized to enter upon their several duties for the term ending …, or until their successors are elected and installed.