A. By being divested of all metals, neither naked nor clothed; barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, with a cable-tow around my neck; in which condition I was conducted to the door of a Lodge by a friend, whom I afterward found to be a brother.1
Q. How did you know it to be a door, being hoodwinked?
A. By first meeting with resistance, afterward gaining admission.
Q. How gained you admission?
A. By three distinct knocks.
Q. What were said to you from within?
A. Who comes here?
Q. Your answer?
A. Mr ——, who has long been in darkness, and now seeks to be brought to light, and to receive a part in the rights and benefits of this worshipful Lodge, erected to God, and dedicated to the holy Ste. John, as all brothers and fellows have done before.
Q. What were you then asked?
A. If it was of my own free will and accord; if I was worthy and well qualified; duly and truly prepared; of lawful age and properly vouched for. All of which being answered in the affirmative, I was asked by what further right or benefit I expected to gain admission.
Q. Your answer?
A. By being a man, free born, of good repute, and well recommended.
Q. What followed?
A. I was directed to wait with patience until the Worshipful Master should be informed of my request, and his answer returned.
Q. What answer did he return?
p. 44
A. Let him enter, and be received in due form.
Q. How were you received?
A. On the point of a sharp instrument pressing my naked left breast.
Q. How were you then disposed of?
A. I was conducted to the centre of the Lodge, caused to kneel, and attend at prayer.
Q. After attending at prayer, what were you then asked?
A. In whom I put my trust.
Q. Your answer?
A. In God.
Q. What followed?
A. My trust being in God, I was taken by the right hand, and informed that my faith was well founded; ordered to arise, follow my conductor, and fear no danger.
Q. Where did you follow your conductor?
A. Once around the Lodge, to the Junior Warden’s station in the south, where the same questions and like answers were asked and returned as at the door. (See Note H, Appendix.)
Q. How did the Junior Warden dispose of you?
A. He bid me be conducted to the Senior Warden in the west, and he to the Worshipful Master in the east, where the same questions were asked and like answers returned as before.
Q. How did the Worshipful Master dispose of you?
A. He ordered me to be reconducted to the Senior Warden in the west, who taught me to approach the east by one upright, regular step, my feet forming an angle of an oblong square, my body erect, at the altar before the Worshipful Master in the east.1
Q. What did the Worshipful Master then do with you?
A. He made me a Mason in due form.
Q. What was that due form?
A. Kneeling on my naked left knee, my right forming a square, my left hand supporting the Holy Bible, square, and compasses, my right resting thereon, in which due form I took the solemn oath of an Entered Apprentice, which is as follows, viz.; (some Lodges require the obligation repeated, but not as a general thing).
Q. After the obligation, what were you then asked?
p. 45
A. What I most desired.
Q. Your answer?
A. Light.
Q. Did you receive light?
A. I did, by the order of the Worshipful Master and the assistance of the brethren.
Q. On being brought to light, what did you first discover?
A. The three great lights in Masonry, by the help of the three lesser.
Q. What are the three great lights in Masonry?
A. The Holy Bible, square, and compasses.
Q. What are their Masonic use?
A. The Holy Bible is the rule and guide to our faith and practice; the square, to square our actions; and the compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind, but more especially with a brother Mason.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.
