stowed upon him this priesthood, and is now demanding entire obedience to him and his successors.
An oath, with the penalty of throat-cutting, was the condition of the first; heart being plucked out, etc., etc., dragged into agonizing details, is the penalty of the second oath. New secrecy is impressed, and the second degree of Aaronic priesthood, with signs, grip, and key word, is bestowed.
This farce, heightening into a fearful reality, is continued. The allegory presumes man to be now in a partially saved state. He is ushered into a room with an altar in, the center of it. Undying fidelity to the brethren is here inculcated. "Never to speak evil of the Lord's anointed," or, in other words, to shut your mouth on all iniquity; to see and not to speak. Not only to think with their thoughts; to come to them as mediators between Christ and man, as Christ is their Mediator between them and God; to feel as they feel, and act as they act; to render implicit obedience to any requisition however treasonable, however criminal, however unnatural, however impious it might be; not only all this, but never to "speak evil of the Lord's anointed." To have the "Church" the first thing in your mind, and filling the only place in your affections; to be ready to sacrifice to its dictum or its interests the warmest friend, the nearest relation, the dearest wife, or even life itself; to hold no trust as sacred, no duty obligatory, no promise or oath binding that militates or infringes the interests of the Church. On this oath being taken, the penalty, on either breaking or revealing it, being that you shall have your navel ripped across, and your bowels gush out, etc., etc., in all sorts of disgusting and horrifying details, another sign,
