ENTERED APPRENTICE
The initial appeal of our
Ancient Craft is as strong to-day as it has ever been. Freemasonry attracts as good
men now as in the past. But in the absence of a concerted effort to teach quickly
what in a more leisurely age could be spread over many years, the Institution often fails
to hold the interest of the new brother against the many attractions of modern
life. Habits of lodge attendance and interest in the Fraternity should
be created while the first enthusiasm is high; moreover, every candidate has an inherent
right to understand the reality of our rites, the meaning of our mysteries, the truth of
our tenets, and the significance of our symbols. Freemasonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and
illustrated by symbols. This definition of the Ancient Craft means much
more to the well-informed Freemason than to the initiate, to whom it can convey but
little. Naturally he wants to know "Why Freemasonry?
Why is it veiled? Why illustrated with symbols?"
THE LODGE:
During the ceremony of initiation, the Entered Apprentice is informed what a
lodge is in the Jnr. Wdn's. Tracing Board. In other than those words of
the ritual, a Masonic lodge is a body of Masons, warranted or chartered, as
such by its Grand Lodge and possessing the three Great Lights in Masonry.
Lodges are referred to as Symbolic, Craft, and Subordinate. All of which
names distinguish them from other organizations, both Masonic and non-Masonic.
Lodges in the United States are referred to as "Blue Lodges" We
refer to ours as "Craft Lodges." Blue is the distinctive
Masonic colour, from the blue vault of heaven which is the covering of a symbolic lodge,
and which embraces the world, of which the lodge is a symbol.
He then becomes an Entered Apprentice Mason. He is a Mason to the extent that he is called
"brother" and has certain rights. He is not yet a Mason in the legal
Masonic sense. Seeing a framework erected on a plot of ground we reply
to the question, "What are they building?" by saying, "A house." We
mean, "They are building something which eventually will be a house." The
Entered Apprentice is a Mason in the sense that he is a rough ashlar in the process of
being made into a perfect ashlar. He can receive his Fellowcraft
and Master Mason degrees nowhere else without its permission. He can enter it
only when it is open in the first degree. He has the right of
instruction by competent brethren to obtain that "suitable proficiency" in the
work of the first degree which will entitle him to progress within the Craft.
It is of interest to the lodge that the initiate know his work well. The
initiate should be not only willing but eager to learn what is required because of its
effect upon his future Masonic career. The Apprentice should not be
discouraged if the ritual "comes hard." He should fail not in the task nor
question that it is worthwhile, for on what he does and on the way in which he does
it depends in great measure the Freemasonry of the future.
"FREE WILL AND ACCORD":
Though he knows it not, the petitioner encounters his first Masonic symbol when he
receives from the hands of a friend the petition for which he has asked. He
must come to the West Gate of a lodge "of his own free will and accord," and can
come only by the good offices of a friend whom he has enlisted on his behalf.
The candidate obligates himself for all time: "Once he becomes a Mason, he will
always be a Mason." He may take no interest in the Order. He may resign
from the Lodge, be suspended for N.P.D., be tried for a Masonic offense or
expelled, but he cannot "unmake" himself as a Mason,
or at any time, avoid the moral responsibility of keeping the obligations he
voluntarily assumed at the altar.
THE LODGE AS A SYMBOL:
The lodge is a symbol of the world. Its shape, the "oblong square" is the
ancient conception of the shape of the world. The Entered Apprentice is taught
these dimensions, its covering, its furniture, its lights, its jewels, and will learn more
of it as a symbol as he proceeds through the degrees. Within the lodge the
Initiate does as all others who have gone this way before him, and all, youngest Entered
Apprentice and oldest Past Master, travel a common way to an end which is the same for
all.
CIRCUMAMBULATION:
This mouthful of a word, meaning literally "walking around," is not only the
name of a part of a degree but also of a symbol. The candidate is conducted
around the lodge room for a reason which unites the initiate not only with all who have
gone this way before in a Masonic lodge, but with those uncounted millions of men who for
thousands of years have made of circumambulation an offering of homage to the Unseen
Presence. When the candidate first circles the lodge room about the
altar, he walks step by step with a thousand shades of men who have thus worshipped the
Most High by humble imitation. Thus the thought of circumambulation is no
longer a mere parade but a ceremony of significance, linking all who take part in it
with the spiritual aspirations of a dim and distant past. We must in humility
trust our Guide, learn His ways, follow Him and fear no danger.
CHARITY:
The Entered Apprentice practices the Rite of Destitution before he hears the beautiful
words of the lectures of the N.E.A. and the description of the three principal rounds of
Jacob's ladder: "the greatest of these is charity; for faith is lost in
sight, hope ends in fruition, but charity extends beyond the grave, through the boundless
realms of eternity. " But he may reflect upon both at once and from that
reflection learn that Masonic giving to the destitute is not confined to alms. If
the charity of Freemasonry meant only the giving of alms, it would long ago have
given place to a hundred institutions better able to provide relief. The
charity taught in the lodge is charity of thought, charity of the giving of self.
The visit to the sick is true Masonic charity. The
brotherly hand upon a bowed shoulder in comfort to give courage is Masonic charity.
NORTHEAST ANGLE:
Cornerstones are laid in the Northeast Corner because the Northeast is the point of
beginning; midway between the darkness of the North and the light of the East.
Here, if indeed he be a man of imagination, he receives a thrill that
may come to him never again, save once only, in Masonry. Here he
enters into his heritage as an Entered Apprentice. All that has
gone before has been strange, mysterious, puzzling, with its newness and
its differences from the world he knows. Now he stands "a just and
upright Mason" to receive those first instructions which, well studied, will
enable him to understand what has been done with and to him as to all who have gone before
him. Never again will he stand an Entered Apprentice. A man receives the
degree but once. Never, therefore, will he forget that once
he stood there, how he stood there, nor why.
The Golden Rule, is that a man should not do unto others that which he does not wish
others to do unto him. "This is called the principle of acting on the
Square." The initiate walks around the lodge turning corners on the square.
On the altar is again the Square. He sees the Square hung about the
neck of the Master particularly the Square is the jewel of the Master, because from him
must come all Masonic light to his brethren, and his teachings must be "square."
The Square shares with the Level and the Plumb the quality of immovability in
the lodge, meaning that as it is always the jewel of the Master, so is it immovably in the
Symbolic East. An emblem of virtue , it is always in sight of the brethren in
the lodge; for him who carries his Masonry into his daily life, it is forever in sight
within, the try square of conscience, the tool by which he squares his every act and word.
"You receive from
Freemasonry just what you put into it" has been so often said that it has become
trite, but it is as true now as when first uttered.
The Entered Apprentice is obligated in a lodge which wants him; all its members are
predisposed in his favour. They should do all in their power to take him into the
Circle. The brethren of the order will not do it all; the Entered
Apprentice must do his part. To be successful, he must make that daily advancement in
Masonic knowledge, then both he and the Craft of Freemasonry will be the
beneficiaries.
THE PRINCIPAL TENETS:
The Entered Apprentice receives a monitorial explanation of these which is both round and
full, but neither full nor round enough, to instruct him wholly in these three
foundation stones of the Ancient Craft. Nor can he receive that roundness and
fullness of explanation by words alone. He must progress through the degrees,
attend his lodge, see the Fraternity in action fully, to understand all that
Freemasonry means by Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.
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