SECOND SECTION.
The second section of this lecture is of pre-eminent importance. It recites the legend or historical tradition on which the degree is founded; a legend whose symbolic interpretation testifies our faith in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul, while it exemplifies a rare instance of virtue, fortitude, and integrity.
The legend of the third degree has been considered of so much importance that it has been preserved in the symbolism of every Masonic rite. No matter what modifications or alterations the general system may have undergone—no matter how much the ingenuity or the imagination of the founders of rites may have perverted or corrupted other symbols, abolishing the old, and substituting new ones—the legend of the Temple Builder has ever been left untouched, to present itself in all the integrity of its ancient mythical form.
The idea of the legend was undoubtedly borrowed from the Ancient Mysteries, where the lesson was the same as that now conveyed in the third degree of Masonry.
Viewed in this light, it is evident that it is not essential to the value of the symbolism that the legend should be proved to be historical. Whether considered as a truthful narrative of an event that actually transpired during the building of the Temple, or simply as a myth, embodying the utterance of a religious sentiment, the symbolic lesson of life and death and immortality is still contained in its teachings, and commands our earnest attention.
Again is the lesson taught here, as it was in the first degree, that a Mason should enter upon no great and important labor without first invoking the blessing of Deity. But the symbol-
