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552 A. O. of O. H.
Grand Herald; present the friends
to the Grand Seignor to be further
instructed in the mysteries and
the Grand Secret of the Order
Grand Herald takes the brothers
to the Grand Seignor and says
Grand Seignor;
I present to you
these strangers, who having
passed the first ordeal, now
wish to receive the Grand Secret
of our order
"Grand Seignors Charge"
My Friends,
That
mutual protection is the corner
stone of all political situations
has long since been demonstrated.
It is a secret that a people Even
if thrown into a savage state
would soon discover. It is this
principle that causes order to
spring out of chaos, law to
succeed barbarious rule and
peace and safety to supplant
civil discord and danger.
But
political organizations deal only
with the physical wants of man;
they leave his moral nature in a
normal condition. It has;
therefore, been the chief aim of
benevolent associations, or
secret societies, to elevate mans
moral nature; to teach him
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A. O of O. H. 553
to circumscribe his desires, govern
his passions, and sacrifice his
selfishness to the welfare of his
fellow beings. Even in the
night of time, men formed
themselves into societies for
mutual assistance, and the
welfare of their race, and
had to protect themselves, their
plans and objects, by certain
passwords, signs and grips
to guard themselves from
imposition; and such has
been the progress of these
principles and orders, that
they weild an influence in
the moral world, second only
to Christianity.
But while
other orders Emprace in thier
creeds the culture and observance
of all the virtues, we confine
ourselves to one Humility
That pride is
one of the great sources of Evil
to the human family, needs
neither argument nor illustration
to prove. We read that Pride
goeth before destruction, and
a haughty spirit before a fall.
Against its baneful influence
we would warn you, and the
object of our Order is to shield
you from it.
Like others, ours
claims to have been handed down
from a remote age. Whether this
is the truth on the fact is assumed
in order to surround it with a halo.
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