Masonry 1st Degree Section 1
As an enterer apprentice, from whence you came?
From a lodge of the Holy Saint Johns of Jerusalem?
From whence you came here to do?
To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry.
Then I presume you are a Mason?
I am so taken and accepted among brothers and fellows.
What Makes you a Mason?
My Obligation
How do you know yourself to be a Mason?
By having often being tried, never denied, and willing to be tried again.
How shall I know you to be a Mason?
By certain signs, a token, a word, and the perfect points of my entrance.
What are signs?
Right angles, horizontals, and perpendiculars.
Give me a sign (gives a sign) Has it an illusion?
It has, to the penalty of my obligation.
Give me a token (Gives a token) I hail.
I conceal
What do you conceal?
All the secrets of Masonry to which this token alludes.
What is that?
A grip
A grip of what?
An Entered Apprentice.
Has it a name?
It has
Will you give it to me?
I do not receive it, neither will I so impart with it
How will you dispose of it?
I will letter and half it.
Letter it and begin.
No you begin
Where were you first prepared to be a Mason?
In my heart
Where next?
In a room adjacent to a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of Masons.
How were you prepared?
By being divested of all metallic substances, neither naked nor clad, barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, and a cable-tow about my neck, in which condition I was conducted to the door of the Lodge and caused to give 3 distinct knocks, which were answered by 3 within.
What was said to you from within?
Who comes here?
Your answer.
A poor blind candidate who is desirous of having and receiving a part in the rights lights and benefits of this worshipful lodge erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Saints John, as all brethren and fellows have done who have gone this way before me.
What were you then asked?
If it was of my own free will and accord; if I was worthy and well qualified, duly, and truly prepared; all of which being answered in the affirmative, I was then asked by what further right I expected to obtain this important privilege.
Your answer?
Being a Man, free born, of lawful age and well recommended.
What were you then asked?
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 returned.
What was his answer when returned?
Let him enter this Worshipful Lodge in the name of God and be received in due and ancient form.
How were you received?
On the point of a sharp instrument, piercing my naked left breast.
How were you then disposed of
I was conducted to the center of the Lodge and caused to kneel for the benefit of prayer.
After prayer, what were you then asked?
In whon1 I put my trust.
Your answer?
In God.
What were you then told?
My trust being in God, my faith was well founded, I was taken by the right hand, ordered to rise, follow my conductor, and fear no danger.
How were you then disposed of?
I was conducted once around the Lodge and to the Junior Warden in the South, where the same questions were asked, and answers returned as at the door.
How did the Junior Warden dispose of you?
He directed me to be conducted to the Senior Warden in the West, where the same questions were asked, and the answers returned as before.
How did the Senior Warden dispose if you?
He directed me the Worshipful Master in the East, where the same questions were asked and the 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 of 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 was the due and ancient form?
Advancing on my left foot, bringing the heel of my right foot into the hollow of my left foot, thereby forming the angle of an oblong, my body erect, facing the East.
What did the Worshipful Master then do with you?
He made me a Mason.
How?
In due form.
What was that due form?
K.neeling on my naked left knee, n1y right forming the angle of a Square, resting on the Holy Bible, Square and Compasses, in which due form I took the solemn obligation of an Entered Apprentice.
Have you the obligation?
I have.
Repeat it?
I, ______ , of n1y own free will and accord, in the presence of almighty God and this worshipful Lodge of Entered Apprentices, erected to Him and dedicated to the Holy Saints John, do hereby and hereon solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will forever conceal and never reveal any of the secret arts parts or points of the hidden mysteries of Masonry which may have been heretofore, or shall be, at this time, or any future period, communicated to me as such, to any person or persons whomsoever, except it be a true and lawful brother Mason, or within the body of a just and lawfully constituted Lodge of Masons; nor unto him or them, until by strict rial, due examination, or lawful information, I shall have found him or them, as lawfully entitled to them as I am myself. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not write, print, paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, hew, mark, or engrave them on any thins movable or immovable capable of receiving the least impression of a sign, word, syllable, letter or character, whereby they may become legible or intelligible to any person under the canopy of heaven, and the secrets of Masonry be thereby unlawfully obtained by my unworthiness. All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, with a finn and steadfast resolution to keep and perform the same, without the least equivocation, mental reservation, or secret evasion whatsoever, binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by the roots, and buried in the sands of the sea at low water mark where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours should I in the least knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Entered Apprentice Obligation. So help me God and keep me steadfast.
After the obligation, what were you then asked?
What I most desired.
Your Answer?
Light in Masonry.
Did you receive it?
I did, by the order if the Worshipful Master, with the assistance of the brethren.
On being brought to light, what did you behold?
The three Great Lights in Masonry, by the aid of the representatives of the Three Lesser Lights.
What are the Three Great Lights in Masonry?
The Holy Bible, Square and Compasses.
How are they explained?
The Holy Bible is given us as the rule and guide for our faith and practice, The Square to square our actions, and the Compasses to circumscribe our desires and keep our passions in due bounds with all mankind.
What are the Three Lesser Lights?
The Sun, The Moon, and the Master of the Lodge.
How are they explained?
As the sun rules the day, and the moon governs the night, so should the Worshipful Master, with equal regularity, rule and govern the Lodge.
What were the representatives of the Lesser Lights?
Three burning candles or tapers, placed upon candlesticks or pedestals, situated East, West, and South.
What did you next behold?
The Worshipful Master, approaching from the East, on the step under the due guard and sign of an Entered Apprentice, who presented his right hand in token of friendship and brotherly love, invested me with the grip and word, ordered me to rise, salute the Senior and Junior Wardens, and satisfy them that I was in possession of the step, due guard, sign, grip, and word of an entered apprentice.
What did you next behold?
The Worshipful Master approaching fron1 the East a second tiine, who presented me with a lambskin or white leather apron, informed me that it was emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason, ordered me to carry it to the Senior Warden in the West, who taught me how to wear it as an Entered Apprentice.
How should an Entered Apprentice wear his apron?
With the bib turned up to prevent soiling his clothes. Masonically, to prevent daubing with un-tempered mortar.
What was then demanded of you?
Some metallic substance 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 was at that time and place made a Mason, but upon strict search, I found myself entirely destitute.
With what were you then presented?
The working tools of an Entered Apprentice, which are the Twenty-Four Inch Gauge and the Common Gavel.
How are they explained?
The Twenty-Four Inch Gauge is an instrument used by operative Masons to measure and lay out their work; but we as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to use it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twentyfour equal parts is emblen1atic of the twenty-four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby we find eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy brother, eight hours for our usual vocations, and eight hours for refreshment and sleep. The Con1mon Gavel is an instrument used by operative Masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builders to use, but we as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons are taught to use it for the more noble purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby
fitting our minds, as living stones, for that spiritual building that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
How were you then disposed of?
Placed in the northeast corner of the Lodge, before the Worshipful Master who informed tne that there, I stood an upright man and a Mason, and gave it me strictly in charge ever to walk and act as such before God and man.
With what were you then presented?
A new name, which is CAUTION. It teaches me to be cautious over all my words and actions, especially on the subject of Freemasonry, when in the presence of its enemies.
How were you then disposed?
I was re-conducted to the place whence I came, invested with that of which I had been divested, and returned to the Lodge for further instruction.