Senior Warden.
Inst. Off.: Brother —— ——, you have been elected Senior Warden of this Lodge. Do you solemnly promise that you will serve the Lodge as Senior Warden for the ensuing year, and will perform all the duties appertaining to that office to the best of your ability? (He assents.) You will now be invested with the insignia of your office.
The Level teaches that we are descended from the same stock, partake of the same nature, and share the same hope; "that we are all children of one common father, heirs of the same infirmities, and exposed to the same vicissitudes." It also reminds us that, although distinctions among men are necessary to preserve subordination, no eminence of station should make us forget that we are brethren, and that in the Lodge and in all our Masonic associations, we are on a level. This implement teaches us that a time will come, and the wisest knows not how soon, when all distinctions but that of goodness, shall cease, and death, the grand leveler of all human greatness, reduce us to the same state.
Your regular attendance on the stated and other meetings of the Lodge is essentially necessary. In the absence of the Master you are to govern the Lodge, and in his presence assist him in the government of it. Hence you will perceive the necessity of preparing yourself for the important duties which may devolve upon you. Look well to the West, and guard with scrupulous care the pillar committed to your charge.
He is conducted to his proper station.