Q. What followed?  A. I was conducted to the altar and caused to recede five steps, and then to advance to the altar by five steps of regular exactness.

Q. What is meant thereby?  A. That I should recede from vice, and advance to virtue, before I was qualified to supply the place of so good a man as the lamented Hiram Abiff.

Q. What followed?  A. I was laid prostrate before the altar, with a sprig of cassia in my right hand, and my left upon the first great light of Masonry, in which posture I took the obligation of this degree.

Q. Repeat that obligation.  A. (Same as Perfect Master) under penalty of being deprived of my sight.  So help, etc.

Q. What followed?  A. I was thus addressed by the Most Puissant:  “Your present posture is that of a dead man, and is designed to remind you of the fate of our worthy Hiram Abiff.  I shall now raise you in the same manner he was raised, under the sprig of cassia.”  I was then raised by the Master’s grip, and further addressed, “By your being raised, our hope is signified, that in some measure you will repair his loss, by imitating his bright example.”

Q. What followed?  A. I received the signs, tokens and words of this degree.

Q. Give me the signs.  A. (Interlace the fingers, and place the hands over the eyes, alluding to penalty; second sign is that of grief, made like Fellow Craft’s, with left hand on the left hip.)

Q. Give me the token?  A. (Take hold of each other by the right wrists with the right hand.)

Q. Give me the pass-word.  A. Bonahim.

Q. What does that word signify?  A. Builders.

Q. Give me the words.  A. Achard, jenok (pronounced yo-kayn).

Q. Give me the mysterious word.  A. Jah (pronounced yaw).

Q. What was next done?  A. I was invested with the apron, gloves and jewels of this degree, and was thus addressed:  “I decorate you with a red ribbon, to be worn crossing the breast from the right shoulder to the left hip, to which is suspended a triangle fastened with a green ribbon.  I also present you with a white apron, lined with red, and bordered with green.  The red is emblematical of that zeal which should characterize you as an I. of B., and the green, of the hope we entertain that you will supply the place of our lamented Hiram Abiff.

Q. What is meant by the letters B. A. J. in the triangle which you wear?  A. They are the initials of the pass-word and words of this degree.

Q. What followed?  A. I was directed to salute the Senior Warden as an Intendant of the Buildings, and return to the east for further instruction.

* * * * *

Second section.—­Question—­What did you see in the Lodge?  Answer—­A triangle enclosing a circle, having on its circumference the letters J. A. I. N., and in its centre the letters J. J. J.

Q. What is signified by the circle in the triangle?  A. The eternity of the powers of God, which hath neither beginning nor end.