Lecture.—­Question—­Are you a Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges?  Answer.—­They know me at Jerusalem to be such.

Q. How shall I know that you are a Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges?  A. By observing my zeal in rebuilding the temple.

Q. Which way did you travel?  A. From the South to the East.

Q. How often?  A. Nine.

Q. Why so many?  A. In memory of the Grand Masters who traveled to
Jerusalem.

Q. Can you give me their names?  A. Their names are Esdras, Zerubbabel,
Phachi, Joshua, Elial, Toyada, Homen, Nehemias, and Malchias.

Q. What are the pass-words?  A.  “Jechson,” “Jubellum,” and “Zanabosan.”

Q. What object engaged your attention most, when you first entered the
Lodge of Grand Masters?  A. The candlestick with nine branches.

Q. Why are the nine candles therein always kept burning in this Lodge? 
A. To remind us that there cannot be less than nine Masters to form a
Grand Master’s Lodge.

Q. What were your reasons for wishing to be admitted and received in this Lodge of Grand Masters?  A. That I might receive the benefit of the two lights I was unacquainted with.

Q. Have you received those lights, and in what manner?  A. In receiving first the small light.

Q. Explain this?  A. When I was received by steel and fire.

Q. What signifies the steel?  A. To remind us of the steel by which our Most Respectable Chief, Hiram Abiff, lost his life, and which I am sworn to make use of whenever I can revenge that horrible murder of the traitors of Masonry.

Q. What means the fire?  A. To put us in mind that our forefathers were purified by fire.

Q. By whom were you received?  A. By Cyrus.

Q. Why by Cyrus?  A. Because it was he who ordered Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple.

Q. What did you promise and swear to perform when you received this degree?  A. I swore that I would see the laws, statutes, and regulations strictly observed in our Lodge.

Q. What was your name before you received this degree?  A. Zerubbabel.

Q. What is your name now?  A. Cyrus.

Q. What means the word Animani?  A.  “I am that, I am;” and it is also the name of him who found the lion’s den.

Q. Why is the Lodge decorated with blue and yellow?  A. To remind us that the Eternal appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, in clouds of gold and azure, when he gave to his people the laws of infinite wisdom.

Q. Where do you find the records of our order?  A. In the archives of Kilwinning, in the north of Scotland.

Q. Why did you travel from the South ’round to the East?  A. In allusion to the power of the Grand Architect of the universe, which extends throughout all the world.

Q. Why did you wash your hands in the taking of one or the previous degrees?  A. To show my innocence.

Q. Why is the history of Hiram Abiff so much spoken of?  A. To put us always in mind that he chose rather to sacrifice his life than reveal the secrets of Masonry.