Question--From whence came you as an Entered Apprentice Mason?
Answer--From the Holy Lodge of St. John at Jerusalem.
Q. What recommendations do you bring? A. Recommendations from the
Worshipful Master, Wardens, and brethren of that Right Worshipful
Lodge, who greet you.
Q. What comest thou hither to do? A. To learn to subdue my passions,
and improve myself in the secret arts and mysteries of Ancient
Freemasonry.
Q. You are a Mason, then, I presume? A. I am.
Q. How do you know that you are a Mason? A. By being often tried,
never denied, and willing to be tried again.
Q. How shall I know you to be a Mason? A. By certain signs, and a
token.
Q. What are signs? A. All right angles, horizontals and
perpendiculars.
Q. What is a token? A. A certain friendly and brotherly grip, whereby
one Mason may know another in the dark as well as in the light.
Q. Where were you first prepared to be a Mason? A. In my heart.
Q. Where secondly? A. In a room adjacent to the body of a just and
lawfully constituted Lodge of such.
Q. How were you prepared? A. By being divested of all metals, neither
naked nor clothed, barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, with a cable-tow
about my neck, in which situation I was conducted to the door of the
Lodge.
Q. You being hoodwinked, how did you know it to be a door? A. By first
meeting with resistance, and afterwards gaining admission.
Q. How did you gain admission? A. By three distinct knocks from
without, answered by the same from within.
Q. What was said to you from within? A. Who comes there? Who comes
there? Who comes there?
Q. Your answer? A. A poor, blind candidate, who has long been desirous
of having and receiving a part of the rights and benefits of this
Worshipful Lodge, dedicated to God, and held forth to the Holy Order
of St. John, as all true fellows and brothers have done, who have gone
this way before me.
Q. What further was said to you from within? A. I was asked if it was
of my own free will and accord I made this request; if I was duly and
truly prepared, worthy and well qualified; all of which being answered
in the affirmative, I was asked by what further rights I expected to
obtain so great a favor or benefit.
Q. Your answer? A. By being a man, free-born, of lawful age, and well
recommended.
Q. What was then said to you? A. I was bid to wait till the Worshipful
Master in the East was made acquainted with my request and his answer
returned.
Q. After his answer was returned, what followed? A. I was caused to
enter the Lodge.
Q. How? A. On the point of some sharp instrument pressing my naked
left breast, in the name of the Lord.
Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted to the centre of
the Lodge, and there caused to kneel for the benefit of a prayer.
Q. After prayer, what was said to you? A. I was asked in whom I put my
trust.
Q. Your answer? A. God.
Q. What followed? A. The Worshipful Master took me by the right hand
and said, Since in God you put your trust, arise, follow your leader,
and fear no danger.
Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted three times
regularly around the Lodge, and halted at the Junior Warden in the
South, where the same questions were asked, and answers returned at
the door.
Q. How did the Junior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be
conducted to the Senior Warden in the West, where the same questions
were asked, and answers returned as before.
Q. How did the Senior Warden dispose of you? A. He ordered me to be
conducted to the Worshipful Master in the East, where the same
questions were asked, and answers returned as before, who likewise
demanded of me from whence I came, and whither I was traveling.
Q. Your answer? A. From the West, and traveling to the East.
Q. Why do you leave the West and travel to the East? A. In search of
light.
Q. How did the Worshipful Master then dispose of you? A. He ordered me
to be conducted back to the West, from whence I came, and put in care
of the Senior Warden, who taught me how to approach the East, the
place of light, by advancing upon one upright regular step to the
first step, my feet forming the right angle of an oblong square, my
body erect at the altar before the Worshipful Master.
Q. What did the Worshipful Master do with you? A. He made an Entered
Apprentice Mason of me.
Q. How? A. In due form.
Q. What was that due form? A. My left knee bare and bent, my right
forming a square, my left hand supporting the Holy Bible, Square and
Compass; I took upon me the solemn oath or obligation of an Entered
Apprentice Mason.
Q. After you had taken your obligation, what was said to you? A. I was
asked what I most desired.
Q. Your answer? A. Light.
Q. Was you immediately brought to light? A. I was.
Q. How? A. By the direction of the Master, and assistance of the
brethren.
Q. What did you first discover after being brought to light? A. Three
great lights in Masonry, by the assistance of three lesser.
Q. What were those three great lights in Masonry? A. The Holy Bible,
Square and Compass.
Q. How are they explained? A. The Holy Bible is given to us as a guide
for our faith and practice; the Square, to square our actions; and the
Compass to keep us in due bounds with all mankind, but more especially
with the brethren.
Q. What were those three lesser lights? A. Three burning tapers, or
candles on candlesticks.
Q. What do they represent? A. The Sun, Moon, and Master of the Lodge.
Q. How are they explained? A. As the Sun rules the day, and the Moon
governs the night, so ought the Worshipful Master to use his endeavors
to rule and govern his Lodge with equal regularity, or cause the same
to be done.
Q. What did you next discover? A. The Worshipful Master approaching me
from the East, under the sign and due-guard of an Entered Apprentice
Mason, who presented me with his right hand in token of brotherly love
and esteem, and proceeded to give me the grip and word of an Entered
Apprentice Mason, and bid me arise and salute the Junior and Senior
Wardens, and convince them that I had been regularly initiated as an
Entered Apprentice Mason, and was in possession of the sign, grip, and
word.
Q. What did you next discover? A. The Worshipful Master a second time
approaching me from the East, who presented me with a lamb-skin, or
white apron, which he said was an emblem of innocence, and the badge
of a Mason; that it had been worn by kings, princes, and potentates of
the earth, who had never been ashamed to wear it; that it was more
honorable than the diamonds of kings, or pearls of princesses, when
worthily worn; and more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle;
more honorable than the Star or Garter, or any other order that could
be conferred on me at that time, or any time thereafter, except it be
in the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of Masons; and
bid me carry it to the Senior Warden in the West, who taught me how to
wear it as an Entered Apprentice Mason.
Q. What were you next presented with? A. The working tools of an
Entered Apprentice Mason.
Q. What were they? A. The twenty-four-inch gauge and common gavel.
Q. How were they explained? A. The twenty-four-inch gauge is an
instrument made use of by operative masons to measure and lay out
their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make
use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our
time; the twenty-four inches on the gauge are emblematical of the
twenty-four hours in the day, which we are taught so divide into three
equal parts, whereby we find eight hours for the service of God and a
worthy distressed brother; eight hours for our usual vocation, and
eight hours for refreshment and sleep. The common gavel is an
instrument made use of by operative masons to break off the corners of
rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as
Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more
noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of
all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting our minds as
lively and living stone for that spiritual building, that house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Q. What was you next presented with? A. A new name.
Q. What was it? A. Caution.
Q. What does it teach? A. It teaches me, as I was barely instructed in
the rudiments of Masonry, that I should be cautious over all my words
and actions, especially when before its enemies.
Q. What were you next presented with? A. Three precious jewels.
Q. What were they? A. A listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful
heart.
Q. What do they teach? A. A listening ear teaches me to listen to the
instructions of the Worshipful Master, but more especially that I
should listen to the calls and cries of a worthy distressed brother. A
silent tongue teaches me to be silent in the Lodge, that the peace and
harmony thereof may not be disturbed; but more especially that I
should be silent when before the enemies of Masonry. A faithful heart,
that I should be faithful to the instructions of the Worshipful Master
at all times; but more especially that I should be faithful and keep
and conceal the secrets of Masonry, and those of a brother, when
delivered to me in charge as such, that they may remain as secure and
inviolable in my breast as in his own, before communicated to me.
Q. What was you next presented with? A. Check-words two.
Q. What were they? A. Truth and Union.
Q. How explained? A. Truth is a divine attribute, and the foundation
of every virtue. To be good and true are the first lessons we are
taught in Masonry. On this theme we contemplate, and by its dictates
endeavor to regulate our conduct; hence, while influenced by this
principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown amongst us; sincerity and
plain dealing distinguish us; and the heart and tongue join in
promoting each other's welfare, and rejoicing in each other's
prosperity.
Union is that kind of friendship that ought to appear conspicuous in
the conduct of every Mason. It is so closely allied to the divine
attribute, truth, that he who enjoys the one, is seldom destitute of
the other. Should interest, honor, prejudice, or human depravity ever
influence you to violate any part of the sacred trust we now repose in
you, let these two important words, at the earliest insinuation, teach
you to put on the check-line of truth, which will infallibly direct
you to pursue that straight and narrow path which ends in the full
enjoyment of the Grand Lodge above, where we shall all meet as Masons
and members of one family; where all discord on account of religion,
politics, or private opinion, shall be unknown and banished from
within our walls.
Q. What followed? A. The Worshipful Master in the East made a demand
of me of something of a metallic kind, which, he said, was not so much
on account of its intrinsic value, as that it might be deposited in
the archives of the Lodge as a memorial that I had herein been made a
Mason.
Q. How did the Worshipful Master then dispose of you? A. He ordered me
to be conducted out of the Lodge and invested of what I had been
divested, and return for further instruction.
Q. After you returned, how was you disposed of? A. I was conducted to
the northeast corner of the Lodge, and there caused to stand upright
like a man, my feet forming a square, and received a solemn
injunction, ever to walk and act uprightly before God and man, and in
addition thereto received too following charge. [For this charge see
pages 10-12.]
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