Fellowcraft Section 1
Will you be off or from?
From
From what to what?
From the degree of an entered apprentice to that of a fellow craft.
Are you a fellow craft?
I am; try me.
How will you be tried?
By the square.
Why by the square?
Because it is one of the working tools of my profession.
What is a square?
An angle of 90° or the fourth part of a circle.
What makes you a fellow craft?
My obligation.
Where were you made a fellow craft?
Within the body of a just and duly constituted Lodge of Fellow crafts assembled in a place representing the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple, furnished with the holy Bible, Square and Compasses together with a charter of dispensation from some grand body of competent jurisdiction empowering it to work.
How may I know you to be a Fellow craft?
By certain signs and tokens.
What are signs?
Right angles horizontals and perpendiculars.
Advance and give a sign. (Due guard of FC is given) Has that an illusion?
It has to the penalty of my hands while taking the obligation.
Have you a further sign?
I have. (Sign of FC is given.)
Has that an illusion?
It has, to the penalty of the obligation.
What are tokens?
Certain friendly or brotherly grips whereby one MASON may know another in the dark as in the light.
Advance and give me a token. (Candidate advances on the step and gives pass-grip of FC) What is that?
The pass grip of a Fellowcraft.
Has it a name?
It has.
Will you give it to me?
I did not so receive it, neither will so impart it.
How will you dispose of it?
I will syllable it with you.
Syllable it and begin.
Begin you?
BO
LETH
SHIB
SHIBBO
SHIBBOLETH
SHIBBOLETH
Will you be off or from?
From
From what to what?
From the past grip of a Fellow craft to the real grip of the same.
Pass. (Real grip given.) What is that?
The real grip of a Fellowcraft.
Has it a name?
It has.
Will you give it to me?
I did not so receive it, neither will I so impart it.
How will you dispose of it?
I will letter it with you.
Letter it and begin.
You begin.
Begin you?
A
J
C
H
I
N
JA
CHIN
JACHIN
Where were you prepared to be made a Fellow craft?
In a room adjoining the body of a just and duly constituted lots of Fellow Crafts.
How were you prepared?
I was divested of all metallic substances neither naked clothed, barefoot nor shod, right knee and breast bare, hoodwinked and a cable-tow twice around my right arm, clothed as an Entered Apprentice, in which condition I was conducted to a door of the Lodge and caused to give three distinct knocks, which were answered by three within.
Why was the cable tow twice around your right arm?
To teach me that as a Fellow Craft I was under a double tied to the fraternity.
To what do the three knocks allude?
To the three precious jewels of a Fellow Craft: the attentive, the instructive tongue and the faithful breast.
What was said to you from within?
Who comes here?
Your answer?
A worthy brother who has been duly initiated as an Entered Apprentice, and now wishes more light in Masonry by being passed to the degree of a Fellow Craft.
What were you then asked?
If it was an act of my own free will and accord; if I was worthy and well qualified, duly and truly prepared. If I had made suitable proficiency in the preceding degree: all of which being answered in the affirmative, I was asked by what further right or benefit I expected to obtain this important privilege.
Your answer?
By benefit of the password.
Had you the password?
I had it not, my conductor had it and gave it for me.
What were you then told?
Since I was in possession of all these necessary qualifications I should wait until the worshipful Master could be informed of my request and his answer return.
What was his answer when returned?
Let him into this Worshipful Lodge of Fellow Crafts and be received in due and ancient form.
How were you received?
On the angle of a square, applied to my naked right breast, which was to teach me that the square of virtue should be a rule and guide for my practice through life.
How are you then disposed of?
I was conducted twice regularly around the lodge and to the Junior Warden’s station in the South, where the same questions were asked and answers returned at the door.
How did the Junior Warden dispose of you?
He directed me to be conducted to the Senior Warden’s station in the West, where the same questions were asked and answers returned as before.
How did the Senior Warden dispose of you?
He directed me to be conducted to the Worshipful Master in the East, where the same questions were asked and answers returned as before, who also demanded whence I came and whither I was traveling.
Your Answer
From the West, traveling East.
Why did you leave the West and travel East?
In search for more light in Masonry.
How did the Worshipful Master dispose of you?
He ordered me to be re-conducted to the Senior Warden in the West, who taught me how to approach the east in due and ancient form.
What is that due and ancient form?
Advancing on my right foot, bringing the heel of my left foot to the hollow of my right, thereby forming the angle of an oblong, body erect, facing the East.
What did the worshipful Master then do with you?
He made me a Fellow Craft.
How?
In due form.
What was that due form?
Kneeling on my naked right knee my left forming the angle of a square, my right hand and resting upon the Holy Bible, Square and Compasses, my left in a vertical position, my arm forming a square, in which due form I took the solemn obligation of a Fellow Craft.
Have you the obligation?
I have.
Repeat it.
I, Melton Taylor, of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God and this Worshipful Lodge, erected to him and dedicated to the holy saints John, do hereby in hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, as I have heretofore done, but with these additions:
That I will not communicate the secrets of a Fellow Craft to any Entered Apprentice nor those of an Entered Apprentice to the rest of the world neither these nor any of them to any person or persons whosoever except it be a true and lawful brother Mason, or within the body of a just and lawfully constituted lots of Masons nor unto him or them until by strict trial, due examination or lawful information I still have found him or them as lawfully entitled to them as I am myself.
I furthermore promise and swear that I will stand to and abide by all the laws, rules and regulations of a Fellow Craft so far as they shall come to my knowledge.
I furthermore promise and swear that I will answer and obey all due signs and summonses sent me from a lodge of Fellow Craft or handed me by a brother of this degree, if within the length of my cable-tow.
I furthermore promise and swear that I will help, aid and assist all poor and distressed Fellow Crafts, they applying to me as such, and I finding them worthy.
I furthermore promise and swear that I will not wrong, cheat, or defraud a lodge of Fellow Crafts or a brother of this degree knowingly or willingly.
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear with a firm and steadfast resolution to keep and perform the same, without the least equivocation, mental reservation or self evasion whatsoever; binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my breasts torn open, my heart and lung taken thence to the valley of Jehoshaphat and left as prey to the vultures of the air should I ever in the least knowingly or willingly violate or transgress this my Fellow Craft obligation so help me God and keep me steadfast.
After the obligation, what were you asked?
What I most desired.
Your answer?
More light in Masonry.
Did you receive it?
I did by order of the Worshipful Master.
On being brought to the light what did you next behold?
The three great lights in Masonry as in the preceding degree with this difference; one point of the Compasses was above the Square which was to teach me that I had received and was entitled to receive more light in Masonry but as one point was still hidden from my view, it was also to teach me that I was yet one material point in the dark respecting Masonry.
What did you next behold?
The Worshipful Master approaching from the East on the step, under the due guard of a Fellow Craft, who presented his right hand in token of continuance of friendship and brotherly love and invested me with the pass, grip, password, real grip and word of a Fellow Craft.
How were you then disposed of?
I was re-conducted to the Senior Warden in the west who taught me how to wear my apron as a fellow Craft.
How should a Fellow Craft where his apron?
With the left corner tucked up.
With what were you then presented?
The working tools of a Fellow Craft, which are the Plumb, Square and Level and are thus explained; the plumb is an instrument used by operative Masons to try perpendiculars the Square to square to square their work and the Level to lay horizontals, but we as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons are taught to use them for the more noble and glorious purposes. The Plumb admonishes us to walk up rightly in our several stations before God and man, squaring our actions by the Square of virtue ever remembering that we are traveling up on the Level of time so that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.
With what were you presented?
Three precious jewels; the attentive ear, the instructive tongue and the faithful breast. They teach us this important lesson: the attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue and the mysteries of Freemasonry are safely lodged in the repository of the faithful breast.
How were you then disposed of?
I was ordered to be re-conducted to the place from whence I came there be reinvested of what I had been divested and informed that agreeable to an ancient custom and all regular and well governed lodges of Fellow Crafts it was then necessary that I should make a regular ascent up a flight of winding stairs consisting of three, five, and seven steps into place representing the middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple there to receive further instruction relative to the wages of a Fellow Craft which are corn, wine, and oil, emblematical of peace, unity, and plenty.