 Brother (surname) whence come you as a Mason?
From a Lodge dedicated to the Holy Saint's John.
 Whence come you here to do?
To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry.
 Then you are a Mason I Presume?
I am so taken and accepted among brothers and fellows.
 How do you know you to be a Mason?
By having been tried, never denied, and willing to be tried again.
 How may I know you to be a Mason?
By certain signs, a token, a word, and the perfect points of
entrance.
 What are signs?
Right angles, horizontal, and perpendiculars.
 What is a token?
A certain friendly or brotherly grip whereby one Mason may
know another in the dark as well as in the light.
 Give me a token. I hele.
I Conceal.
 What do you conceal?
All the secrets of Masons in Masonry to which this token
alludes.
 What is this?
The Grip of an Entered Apprentice Mason.
 Has it a name?
It has.
 Give it me.
I did not so receive it, neither will I so impart it.
 How will you dispose of it?
I will letter it with a brother.
 Letter and begin.
You begin.
 Nay, begin you.
O
 B
A
 Z
BO
 AZ
BOAZ
 What does it denote?
Strength
 How represented?
By the left hand pillar in the porch of King Solomon's Temple.
 What are the perfect points of entrance?
There are four in number: petrol, manual, Guttural and peddle,
alluding to the breast, the hands, the throat, and the feet.
 What makes you a Mason?
My obligation.
 Where were you first prepared to be made a Mason?
In my heart.
 Where next?
In a room adjoining a regular lodge of free and accepted
Masons.
 How were you prepared?
By being divested of all minerals and metals; neither naked nor
clothed; barefoot nor shod; hoodwinked; a cable-toe about my
neck; left foot, knee and beast bear; in which condition I was
conducted to a door.
 Being hoodwinked, how did you know it to be a door?
By first meeting resistance, afterwards gaining admission.
 How did you gain admission?
By giving three distinct knocks.
 To what do these knocks allude?
To a certain portion of Scripture: " Ask, and it shall be giving
you; Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you. "
 What were asked from within?
Who comes here.
 Your answer?
Mr. (full name) who is desirous of having and receiving a part of
the rights, light, and Benefits of this Worshipful Lodge, erected
to God and dedicated to the Holy Saint's John.
 What additional questions were asked you?
If this was an act of my own free will and accord, if I was
worthy and well qualified, duly and truly prepared and properly
avouched for, all of which being answered in the affirmative, I
was then asked by what further rights or benefit I expected to
obtain this important privilege.
 Your answer?
By being a man, free-born, of lawful age and well
recommended.
 What were you then told?
To wait until the Worshipful Master was informed of my request
and his answer returned.
 What answer did he return?
Let him enter and be received in due form.
 How were you Received?
Upon the point of a sharp instrument, piercing my naked left
breast, which was to teach me as that was an instrument of
torture to the flesh, so should the recollection of it be to my
mind and conscious, should I ever presume to reveal any of the
secrets of Freemasonry unlawfully.
 What were you then told?
That as Masons we are taught never to enter upon any great or
important undertaking without first invoking the blessing of
Deity, I was therefore then conducted to a place near the center
of the lodge-room and caused to kneel for the benefit of prayer.
 After prayer, what were you asked?
"In all the great trials, troubles and difficulties thru life", In
whom I place my trust: my answer being " in God", I was told
since in God was my trust, my faith was well founded; was
taken by the right hand, ordered to arise, follow my conductor,
and fear no danger.
 Where were you then conducted?
Once regularly about the lodge, then pausing at the stations of
the Junior Warden in the South, the Senior Warden in the West,
and the Worshipful Master in the East, where the same questions
were asked and liked answers returned as at the door, with the
addition question from the Worshipful Master, "whence come
you, weather traveler"
 Your Answer?
From the West, Traveling East.
 Why did you leave the West and travel East?
In search of light in Masonry.
 Light in Masonry being your object, what was then ordered?
That I be reconducted to the Senior Warden in the West, who
instructed me how to approach the East in a proper manner.
 What is the proper manner?
By advancing one step with my left foot, bring the heal of the
right to the hollow of the left, feet forming the angle of a square,
body erect, facing East.
 What did the Worshipful Master then say to you?
That I was now standing before the consecrated Alter of
Freemasonry, where it would be necessary for me to taken upon
myself a solemn and binding obligation belonging to this decree,
but he gave me the assurance that there was nothing therein
contained which would conflict with any of my civil, moral, or
religious duties or privileges, be they what they may; with that
assurance from him, I was still willing to proceed.
 What did the Worshipful Master then make you?
He made me an Entered Apprentice Mason.
 How?
In due Form.
 What is due form?
By kneeling at the Alter on my naked left knee, right extended,
forming the angle on a square; left hand supporting the Holy
Bible, Square and Compass's; right resting thereon; body erect;
facing the Worshipful Master; in which due form I took upon
myself the solemn and binding obligation of an Entered
Apprentice Mason.
 Read the obligation.
I, (full name) of my own free will and accord, in the presence of
Almighty God and this Worshipful Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons, 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, forever keep and conceal, and
never reveal any of the secrets of Freemasonry, which have been
heretofore, shall at this time or may at any future period be
communicated to me, to any person or persons whatsoever,
except it be to a true and lawful Brother Mason or within a
regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and not unto him
or them, until after due trial, strict examination of lawful
information, I shall have found him or them justly entitled to
receive the same. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not
write, indite, print, paint, cut, carve, stamp, stain, mark, dot, or
engrave them upon anything movable or immovable under the
canopy of Heaven, whereby or whereon a single word, syllable,
letter, or character may become legible or intelligible to myself
or another, and the secrets of Freemasonry be thereby
unlawfully obtained. To all of which I do most solemnly and
sincerely promise and swear, with a firm and steadfast resolution
to keep and perform the same, without any equalcation, mental
reservation, or secret evasion of mind in me whatever; binding
myself under no less 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 a cable length from shore where the tide
ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, should I ever
knowingly, willfully or unlawfully violate or transgress this, my
solemn Entered Apprentice Obligation. So Help me God and
keep me steadfast.
 After the Obligation, what were you told?
In token of my sincerity and that I have voluntarily taken upon
myself this solemn and binding obligation, to kiss the Holy
Bible, open before me.
 What then ordered?
That I be released from the cable-toe as I was now bound by the
strong cord of a moral obligation.
 What were you then asked?
I my present contention, what I most desired.
 Your Answer?
Light.
 Did you receive it?
I did, by the order of the Worshipful Master, assisted by the
Brethren.
 Upon being brought from darkness to light, to what was your
attention first directed?
To the three Great Lights in Masonry, assisted by
representatives of the three Lesser Lights. The three Great
Lights in Masonry are the Holy Bible, Square and Compass’s.
The Holy Bible is dedicated to the service of God, because it is
the insatiable gift of God to Man, and the rule and guide to his
faith and practice; the Square to the Worshipful Master, because
it is the proper Masonic emblem of his office; and the
Compass’s to the Craft, because, by a due attention to their use,
we are taught to circumscribe our desires and keep our passions
within due bounds towards all mankind especially a Brother
Mason. The three Lesser Lights are the Sun, Moon, And
Worshipful Master represented by three burning tapers placed in
a triangular pattern about the Alter, and are thus explained : as
the Sun rules the day and the Moon governs the night, so should
the Worshipful Master with equal regularity endeavor to rule
and govern the Lodge.
 What did you then behold?
The Worshipful Master approaching me from the East with the
step, due-guard and sign of an Entered Apprentice Mason; who
having confidents in my integrity, presented me his right hand in
token of friendship and brotherly love, and proceeded to invest
me with the grip and word of an Entered Apprentice Mason. I
was ordered to arise and, under direction of the Senior Deacon,
go and salute the Junior and Senior Wardens as an Entered
Apprentice Mason.
 What did you next behold?
The Worshipful Master approached me from the East a second
time for the purpose of presenting me with a lambskin or white
leather apron, which he informed me was an emblem of
innocence and the badge of a Mason; more ancient than the
Golden Flee or Roman Eagle; more honorable than the Stars and
Garter, or any other order that could be conferred upon me at
this or any future period by king, prince, potentate or any other
persons except he be a Mason. It was hope that I would wear it
with pleasure to myself and honor to the Fatuity. I was order to
take it to the Senior Warden in the West, who instructed me how
to wear it as an Entered Apprentice Mason.
 How does an Entered Apprentice Mason ware his apron?
With the flap turned up.
 Being clothed as an Entered Apprentice, what were you
presented?
The Working Tools of an Entered Apprentice Mason, which are
the twenty-four inch gauge and the common gavel. Twenty-four
Inch Gauge is an instrument made use of by operative masons to
measure and lay out there work; but we, as Free and Accepted
Mason, are taught to use it for the more noble and glorious
purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four
equal parts, Is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day.
Which we are taught to divide into twelve equal parts, whereby
are found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed
Brother, eight for our usual vocations, and eight for refreshment
and sleep. The common gavel is an instrument made use of by
operative Masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the
better to fit them for the builder’s use; but we as Free
and Accepted Masons, are taught to use it for the more noble
and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and conscious’s of
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.
 Where were you then placed?
In the northeast corner of the Lodge. The Worshipful Master
was pleased to say to me that I there stood, as the youngest
Entered Apprentice and to all outward appearances, a just and
upright man and Mason, and he gave it me strictly in charge,
ever to walk and act as such before God and man.
 What was then ordered?
That I be returned to the place whence I came, and there
reinvested with that of which I had been divested, and returned
to the Lodge for further instructions.
 Advance on the step of an Entered Apprentice Mason, salute
with the due-guard and sign. Worshipful Master this concludes
the examination.