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Presenting Brother. It is my pleasant duty this evening to present you your own volume of Sacred Law; that Great Light in Masonry. Before doing so, however, I have certain observations to make concerning this Holy Book to which I trust you will pay strict attention. The Holy Bible is commonly thought of as one Book, because it is contained between two covers. It is in reality a library of 66 books, 39 of which are found in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. These books represent the sacred literature of the Hebrew race and are the product of many centuries of varied authorship and subject matter. They combine law, history, poetry, philosophy, biography, ethics and the revelation of the Divine Truth and Light. Diverse as the subjects and authors are; remote as the legend types and styles of expression are, the intelligent reader discovers an ever increasing purpose running through the pages like a silver thread through a darker fabric. Veritable flashes of Truth and Light reveal the true character and mind of God; and His never failing Love towards all mankind. The Holy Bible is the world's supreme record of man's experience with faith. It is the Mason's trestle board in character building, that important duty to which you have dedicated yourself this evening and have been emblematically presented the tools of the degree. In this Holy Book are laid down the principles for correct living. Its great men loom large upon the background of world history, they lived, they fought, they loved, they sinned, they repented; and they have left behind them here in this Holy Book, the testimony that the keeping of God's law and the doing of God's will are the only things in this life worth living for.
We need to know our Bible, to learn its precepts, to reverence it as our Great Book Friend. And my brother, that your feet may not stumble; and that your pathway through life may be well lighted, your brethren of this lodge have commissioned me to place in your hands this evening, your own volume of the Sacred Law, that Great Masonic Light, with the prayer that It may indeed be a lamp unto your feet and light unto your path. They bid you read It frequently, carefully and thoroughly; and urge you use It as a rule and guide in your earnest effort to become a better man and a better Mason; a credit to this lodge in particular and an asset to the community wherein you may at any time reside.
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