First Degree Catechism

Discipline: Religious studies

Type of Paper: Question-Answer

Academic Level: Undergrad. (yrs 3-4)

Paper Format: APA

Pages: 1 Words: 275

Question

Religion/Theology

Whence came you as an entered apprentice?
From a Lodge of the holy Saints John at Jerusalem

What came you here to do?
To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry

are a Mason?
I am an entered apprentice , so taken and accepted among brothers and fellows.

What makes you a Entered apprentice?
My obligation

Where were you made an entered apprentice?
In a just and legally constituted Lodge on the first degree of masonry"

How do you know yourself to be a Mason?
By having been tried, never denied, and now willing to be tried again.

How shall I know you to be a Mason?
By certain signs, tokens, a word and and the perfect points of my entrance

What are the signs?
Right angles, horizontals, and perpendiculars

Give me a sign.
Give due guard .....Has that an Allusion?

Has it an lusion?
It has, to the position in which my hands were placed when I took upon myself the solemn obligation of an entered apprentice

Give me another sign........ Throat
Has it an allusion
It has, to the penalty of my obligation wherein I swore that sooner then reveal any of the secrets of free masonry unlawfully I would have my throat cut from ear to ear and soforth

Have you further signs
I have not but have tokens

What Are tokens
Certain brotherly or friendly grips whereby one Mason may know another in the dark as in the light.

Give me a token. I hele
I conceal.

What do you conceal?
All of the secrets of free masonry except from those to whom they rightly belong
What is this?
The grip of an entered apprentice

Has it a name?
It has.

Will you give it me?
I did not so receive it, nor can I so impart it.

How will you dispose of it?
letter or syllable it

Letter it and begin
Begin you

You must begin
A-Z AZ B-O- BO, BOAZ

How many and what are the perfect points of your entrance
Four
The guttural , pectoral, manual and pedal

To what do they allude
The four cardinal virtues to wit
Temperance fortitude prudence and justice

Where were you first prepared to be made a Mason?
In my heart.

Where next
In a room adjoining the body of a just and legally constituted lodge on the first degree of masonry

How were you prepared?
By being divested of all minerals and metals, neither naked nor clothed barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, with a cable tow about my neck, in which condition I was conducted to the door of the lodge by a friend whom afterward I found to be a brother. 

Being hoodwinked, how did you know it to be a door?
By first meeting with resistance, afterward gaining admittance

How gained you admittance
By three distinct knocks from without answered by a like number from within with the question who comes there

Your answer?
Mister _(insert name)_, a poor blind candidate who has long been in darkness an now wishes to be brought to light to have and receive a part of the rights and benefits of this right Worshipful Lodge of ancient free and accepted Masons on the first degree of masonry, erected to God and dedicated to the holy Saints John, as many brothers and fellows have done before.

What were youthen asked?
If it was of my own free will and accord, if I was duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified, of lawful age and properly avouched for, all which being answered in the affirmative, I was them asked by what further rights and benefits I expected to obtain this great and important privilege

Your answer?
By being a man, freeborn, of good report and well recommended.

What were you then told
To await a time with patience til the Worshipful Master could be informed of my request and his answer returned.

What was his answer
Let him enter in the name of the God and be received in due form.

How were you received:
On the point of a sharp instrument piercing my naked left breast, and was told that as it was an instrument of torture to the flesh, so should the recollection thereof of be to my conscience should I ever presume to reveal any of the secrets of Freemasonry unlawfully.

How were you then disposed of?
conducted to the center of the lodge, caused to kneel, and attend Lodge prayer. 

Lodge prayer being over, what were you asked?
In whom I put my trust.

Your answer?
In God. And was told, my trust being in God my faith was well-founded. Taken by the right-hand ordered to arise, follow my conductor and fear no danger

How were you then disposed of?
conducted once around the Lodge to the Junior Warden in the South where the same questions were asked and like answers returned as at the door.

How did the Junior Warden dispose of you?
directed me to be conducted to the Senior Warden in the West where the same questions were asked and like answers returned as before

How did the senior warden dispose of you?
directed me to be conducted to the worshipful master in the East where the same questions were asked and like answers returned as before

How did the Worshipful Master then dispose of you?
ordered me to be reconducted to the Senior Warden in the West who taught me to advance by one upright regular Masonic step, stepping off with my left foot bringing the heel of the right to the hollow thereof thereby forming the angle of an oblong square , my body erect to the worshipful master in the East

What did the Worshipful Master then inform you
That before proceeding further I should take upon myself a solemn obligation which did not infringe upon my allegiance to my country my duty to my God my neighbor or myself

What did the worshipful master then do with you?
Made me an entered apprentice in due form

What was that due form
Kneeling on my naked left knee, my right forming a square, my body erect, my left hand supporting the Holy Bible, Square, and Compasses, my right resting thereon, in which due form I took upon myself the solemn obligation of an Entered Apprentice. which is as follows: 

(OATH)
I, (name), of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God and this right Worshipful Lodge of ancient free and accepted Masons on the first degree of Masonry, erected to Him and dedicated to the holy Saints John, do hereby and hereon solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will always hele, ever conceal, and never reveal any of the secret arts, parts, or points of the mysteries of Freemasonry which have been, may now, or shall at any future time be communicated to me ,

(OATH CONTINUED)
or in anyway come to my knowledge to any person, except it be in a just and legally constituted lodge, or to a known brother Mason. Nor to him or them til by strict trial, due examination or legal Masonic information I shall have found him or them as Justly entitled to the same as I am now about to be..

(OATH PART III)
I furthermore solemnly swear that I will not write, indite, cut, carve, print, paint, stamp, stain, mark or engrave the same on anything movable or immovable under the canopy of heaven and will make no letter, figure, character, or cypher legible or intelligible to myself or any other person whereby the secrets of free Masonry maybe unlawfully obtained.

(OATH PART IV)
All which I solemnly and sincerely promise and swear with a fixed and steady purpose of mind to keep and perform without hesitation, mental reservation or secret evasion of mind, binding myself under the no less penalty than that of having my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots and buried in the rough...

(OATH PART V)
sands of the sea, a cabletows length from shore where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, so help me, God, and keep me steadfast in this my Entered Apprentices solemn obligation. 

After taking the obligation, what were you asked?
What I most desired.

Your answer?
Light

Did you receive light?
I did, and by order of the Worshipful Master and the assistance of the bretheren.

Upon being brought to light, what did you first discover?
The three great lights in Masonry by the assistance of the three lesser.

What are the three great lights in Masonry?
The Holy Bible, Square and Compasses.

What are their Masonic uses?
The Bible is given as the rule and guide of our faith, the Square to square our actions, and the Compasses to circumscribe and keep us within due bounds. 

What are the three lesser lights?
Three burning tapers placed in a triangular form, representing the sun, moon. ad Master of the lodge.

Why so?
As the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night, so should the Worshipful master endeavor to rule and govern his lodge with equal regularity.