SOLOMON, KING HIRAM, AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.--In the degrees of Elected of Fifteen, Illustrious Knights, Grand Master Architects, and Knights of the Ninth Arch, you have seen many things which are only a repetition of what you have already examined. You will always find in those degrees initial letters enclosed in different triangles, or Deltas. You have also seen the planet Mercury, the chamber called "Gabaon," or the "Third Heaven;" the "winding staircase," the "Ark of Alliance," the "tomb of Hiram Abiff," facing the ark and the urn--the precious treasure found by the assiduous travels--the three zealous brethren Masons--the punishment of the haughty Master Mason, in being buried under the ancient ruins of Enoch's temple--and finally, you have seen the figures of Solomon, and Hiram, King of Tyre, and St. John the Baptist. 3. I. I. I.--By the 3. I. I. I. you know the three sacred names of the Eternal and "Mount Gabaon" (Third Heaven) which you came to by seven degrees that compose the winding staircase. The seven stars represent the seven principal and different degrees to which you must come to attain the height of glory represented by the mount, where they formerly sacrificed to the Most High! When you arrive to that, you are to subdue your passions, in not doing anything that is not prescribed in our laws. By the planet Mercury, you are taught continually to mistrust, shun, and run away from those who, by a false practice, maintain commerce with people of a vicious life, who seem to despise the most sacred mysteries--that is, to depart from those who by the vulgar fear, or a bad understanding, are ready to deny the solemn obligations that they have contracted among us.--When you come to the foot of our arch you are to apprehend that you come to the "Sanctum Sanctorum." You are not to return; but rather to persist in sustaining the glory of our order, and the truth of our laws, principles, and mysteries, in like manner as our Respectable Father Hiram Abiff, who deserved to have been buried there for his constancy and fidelity. We have also another example in the firmness of "Galaad," the son of "Sophonia," chief of the Levites, under Surnam, the High Priest, as mentioned in the history of perfection. Learn in this moment, my dear brother, what you are to understand by the figures of Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, and St. John the Baptist. The two first exert you, by their zeal in the royal art, to follow the sublime road of which Solomon was the institutor, and Hiram of Tyre, the "supporter;" a title legitimately due to that king, who not only protected the order, but contributed with all his might to the construction of the temple (furnishing stone from Tyre, and the cedars of Lebanus) which Solomon built to the honor of the Almighty.