Senior Warden, "How do Masons part?" Ans. "On the square." Master to the Junior and Senior Wardens, "Since we meet on the level, Brother Junior, and part on the square, Brother Senior, so let us ever meet and part in the name of the Lord." Master to the brethren, "Brethren, let us pray."
"Supreme Architect of the Universe! Accept our humble praises for the many mercies and blessings which Thy bounty has conferred upon us, and especially for this friendly and social intercourse. Pardon, we beseech Thee, whatever Thou hast seen amiss in us since we have been together; and continue to us Thy presence, protection and blessing. Make us sensible of the renewed obligations we are under to love Thee supremely, and to be friendly to each other. May all our irregular passions be subdued, and may we daily increase in faith, hope, and charity; but more especially in that charity which is the bond of peace, and perfection of every virtue. May we so practice Thy precepts, that through the merits of the Redeemer we may finally obtain Thy promises, and find an acceptance through the gates and into the temple and city of our God. So mote it be. Amen."
It is often that the prayer is neglected and the following benediction substituted: May the blessing of heaven rest upon us, and all regular Masons! May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue cement us. So mote it be. Amen.
After the prayer the following charge ought to be delivered, but it is seldom attended to; in a majority of Lodges it is never attended to; Master to brethren, "Brethren, we are now about to quit this sacred retreat of friendship and virtue to mix again with the world. Amidst its concerns and employments, forget not the duties which you have heard so frequently inculcated, and so forcibly recommended in this Lodge. Remember that around this altar you have promised to befriend and relieve every brother who shall need your assistance. You have promised in the most friendly manner to remind him of his errors and aid a reformation. These generous principles are to extend further; every human being has a claim upon your kind offices. Do good unto all. Recommend it more 'especially to the household of the faithful.' Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind, live in peace, and may the God of love and peace delight to dwell with and bless you."
In some Lodges, after the charge is delivered, the Master says, "Brethren, form on the square." Then all the brethren form a circle, and the Master, followed by every brother (except in using the words), says, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." At the same moment that the last of these words drops from the Master's lips, every member stamps with his right foot on the floor, and at the same instant brings his hands together with equal force, and in such perfect unison with each other, that persons situated so as to hear it would suppose it the precursor of some dreadful catastrophe. This is called "THE SHOCK." The members of the Lodge then separate.
The above comprises all the secret forms and ceremonies in a Lodge of Entered Apprentice Masons; but if the candidate would thoroughly understand the whole, he must commit to memory the following "Lecture." Very few do this except the officers of the Lodge. The "Lecture" is nothing more nor less than a recapitulation of the preceding ceremonies and forms by way of question and answer, in order fully to explain the same. In fact, the ceremonies and forms (masonically called the WORK) and Lecture are so much the same that he who possesses a knowledge of the Lecture cannot be destitute of a knowledge of what the ceremonies and forms are. The ceremonies used in opening and closing are the same in all the degrees.
FIRST SECTION.
Lecture on the First Degree of Masonry.
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.
