_1st_, There is a Table Lodge, opened as usual, but in virtue of the ancient Master-word. Then it is said, "Let moderation, fortitude, morality, and genuine love of the Brethren, with the overflowing of innocent and careless mirth reign here." (This is almost verbatim from Toland.) _2d_, In the middle of a bye-table is a chalice, a pot of wine, an empty plate, and a plate of unleavened bread--All is covered with a green cloth. _3d_, When the Table Lodge is ended, and the Prefect sees no obstacle, he strikes on this bye-table the stroke of Scotch Master, and his signal is repeated by the Senior Warden. All are still and silent. The Prefect lifts off the cloth. _4th_, The Prefect asks, whether the Knights are in the disposition to partake of the Love-Feast in earnest, peace, and contentment. If none hesitates or offers to retire, he takes the plate with the bread and says, "J. of N. our Grand-Master, in the night in which he was betrayed by his friends, persecuted for his love for truth, imprisoned, and condemned to die, assembled his trusty Brethren, to celebrate his last Love-Feast--which is signified to us in many ways. He took bread (taking it) and broke it (breaking it) and blessed it, and gave it to his disciples, &c.--This shall be the mark of our Holy Union, &c. Let each of you examine his heart, whether love reigns in it, and whether he, in full imitation of our Grand-Master, is ready to lay down his life for his Brethren. "Thanks be to our Grand-Master, who has appointed this feast as a memorial of his kindness, for the uniting of the hearts of those who love him.--Go in peace, and blessed be this new Association which we have formed.--Blessed be ye who remain loyal and strive for the good cause." _5th_, The Prefect immediately closes the Chapter with the usual ceremonies of the _Loge de Table_. _6th_, It is to be observed, that no priest of the Order must be present at this Love-Feast, and that even the Brother Servitor quits the Lodge. I must observe here, that Philo, the manufacturer of this ritual, has done it very injudiciously; it has no resemblance whatever to the Love-Feast of the primitive Christians, and is merely a copy of a similar thing in one of the steps of French Masonry. Philo's reading in church-history was probably very scanty, or he trusted that the candidates would not be very nice in their examination of it, and he imagined that it would do well enough, and "tickle such as had a religious hankering." Spartacus disliked it exceedingly--it did not accord with his serious conceptions, and he justly calls it _Jouer la Religion_.