Question--Are you a Fellow Craft Mason? A. I am; try me.
Q. By what will you be tried? A. By the Square.
Q. Why by the Square? A. Because it is an emblem of virtue.
Q. What is a Square? A. An angle extending to ninety degrees, or the
fourth part of a circle.
Q. Where was you prepared to be made a Fellow Craft Mason? A. In a
room adjacent to the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of
such, duly assembled in a room or place, representing the middle
chamber of King Solomon's Temple.
Q. How was you prepared? A. By being divested of all metals; neither
naked nor clothed; barefooted nor shod; hoodwinked; with a cable-tow
twice 'round my neck; in which situation I was conducted to the door
of the Lodge, where I gave two distinct knocks.
Q. What did those two distinct knocks allude to? A. To the second
degree in Masonry, it being that on which I was about to enter.
Q. What was said to you from within? A. Who comes there? Who comes
there?
Q. Your answer? A. A worthy brother, who has been regularly initiated
as an Entered Apprentice Mason; served a proper time as such; and now
wishes for further light in Masonry, by being passed to the degree of
a Fellow Craft.
Q. What was then 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; and had made suitable
proficiency in the preceding degree; all of which being answered in
the affirmative, I was asked by what further rights I expected to
obtain so great a benefit.
Q. Your answer? A. By the benefit of a pass-word.
Q. What is that pass-word? A. SHIBBOLETH.
Q. What further was said to you from within? 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 did you enter? A. On the angle of the Square presented to my
naked right breast, in the name of the Lord.
Q. How were you then disposed of? A. I was conducted twice regularly
around the Lodge, and halted at the Junior Warden in the South, where
the same questions were asked, and answers returned as 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
more 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, by
advancing upon two upright regular steps to the second step, my feet
forming the right angle of an oblong square, and my body erect; at the
altar before the Worshipful Master.
Q. What did the Worshipful Master do with you? A. He made a Fallow
Craft Mason of me.
Q. How? A. In due form.
Q. What was that due form? A. My right knee bare bent; my left knee
forming a square; my right hand on the Holy Bible, Square, and
Compass; my left arm forming an angle, supported by the Square, and my
hand in a vertical position; in which posture I took upon me the
solemn oath, or obligation, of a Fellow Craft Mason. [See pages 26 and
27 for obligation.]
Q. After your oath, or obligation, what was said to you? A. I was
asked what I most desired.
Q. Your answer? A. More light.
Q. On being brought to light, what did you discover different from
before? A. One point of the Compass elevated above the Square, which
denoted light in this degree; but as one point was yet in obscurity,
it was to remind me that I was yet one material point in the dark
respecting Masonry.
Q. What did you next discover? A. The Worshipful Master approaching me
from the East, under the sign and due-guard of a Fellow Craft Mason,
who presented me with his right hand in token of brotherly love and
confidence, and proceeded to give me the pass-grip and word of a
Fellow Craft Mason, and bid me arise and salute the Junior and Senior
Wardens, and convince them that I had been regularly passed to the
degree of a Fellow Craft, and had the sign, grip, and word of a Fellow
Craft Mason.
Q. What next did you discover? A. The Worshipful Master approaching me
a second time from the East, who presented me a lamb-skin, or white
apron, which, he said, he hoped I would continue to wear with honor to
myself and satisfaction and advantage to my brethren.
Q. What was you next presented with? A. The working tools of a Fellow
Craft Mason.
Q. What are they? A. The Plumb, Square, and Level.
Q. What do they teach? [I think this question ought to be, "How
explained?"] A. The Plumb is an instrument made use of by operative
Masons to raise perpendiculars; the Square, to square the work, and
the Level, to lay horizontals; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons,
are taught to make use of them for more noble and glorious purposes.
The Plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly, in our several stations,
before God and man; squaring our actions by the square of virtue; and
remembering that we are all traveling upon the level of time, to that
undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns.
Q. What was you next presented with? A. Three precious jewels.
Q. What were they? A. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Q. What do they teach? A. Faith in God, hope in immortality, and
charity to all mankind.
Q. How was you then disposed of? A. I was conducted out of the Lodge,
and invested of what I had been divested.
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