When being clothed as an Entered Apprentice, the candidate receives the following charge:
I present you with this lambskin or white leather apron, which is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason, more ancient than the Golden Fleece3 or Roman Eagle;4 more honorable than the Star and Garter,5 or any other order that could be conferred upon you, at this or any other future period, by king, prince, or potentate, or any other person, except he were a Mason and in the body of a Lodge, and which, I trust, you will wear with equal pleasure to yourself and honor to the fraternity.
THE LAMBSKIN APRON.
The use of the apron, or some equivalent mode of investiture as a mystic symbol, was common to all the religious systems of antiquity. Among the Israelites, the girdle formed a part of the investiture of the priesthood. In the Persian mysteries of Mithras the candidate was invested with a white apron. In the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, the Zennaar, or sacred Lord, was substituted for the apron. The Essenians clothed their novices with a white robe. Even the Japanese, in their rites of initiation, invest their candidate with a white apron.
The color of a Mason's apron should be pure white, because this color has in all ages and countries been deemed an emblem of purity and innocence. Thus, in the early ages of the Christian Church, the newly-baptized convert was invested with a white robe, to denote that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a life of purity. With a similar meaning, the same undefiled color has been preserved in tho apron of the Freemason.
The material of a Mason's apron must be lambskin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, can be substituted, without entirely destroying the symbolic character of the apron, because the lamb has in all ages been deemed the appropriate emblem of innocence.
The true Masonic apron should, then, be of unspotted lamb skin, from 14 to 16 inches wide, and from 12 to 14 inches deep, with a fall about 3 or 4 inches deep, square at the bottom, with sharp angular corners, and without device or ornament of any kind. The usage of the craft in this country has, within a few years past, allowed a narrow edging of blue ribbon, in allusion to that universal friendship which is the bond of the Society, and of which virtue blue is the symbol. But this, undoubtedly, is an innovation, for the ancient apron was without any edging or ornament. All extraneous ornaments and devices are in bad taste, and detract from the symbolic character of the investiture. But the silk or satin aprons, bespangled, and painted, and embroidered, which have been gradually creeping into our Lodges, have no sort of connection with Ancient Craft Masonry. They are an innovation of French origin, which should be persistently discouraged by all who admire the simplicity and beauty of our symbols. A Mason who duly and truly appreciates the symbolic meaning of his apron would no more tolerate a linen one for its economy, or an embroidered satin one for its decorations, than an artist would a gilded statue. The lambskin, and the lambskin alone, is the badge "more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and more honorable than the Star and Garter."
THE NORTHEAST CORNER.
In the important ceremony which refers to the northeast corner of the Lodge, the candidate becomes as one who is to all outward appearance a perfect and upright man and Mason, the representative of a spiritual corner-stone, on which he is to erect his future moral and Masonic edifice.
This symbolic reference of the corner-stone of a material edifice to a Mason when, at his first initiation, he commences the moral and intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is beautifully sustained when we look at all the qualities that are required to constitute a "well-tried, true, and trusty" corner-stone. The squareness of its surface, emblematic of morality—its cubical form, emblematic of firmness and stability of character—and the peculiar finish and fineness of the material, emblematic of virtue and holiness—show that the ceremony of the northeast corner of the Lodge was undoubtedly intended to portray, in the consecrated language of symbolism, the necessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truthfulness and uprightness of character, and of purity and holiness of life, which just at that time and in that place the candidate is most impressively charged to maintain.
THE WORKING TOOLS.
The working tools of an Entered Apprentice are the Twenty-four-inch Guage and the Common Gavel.
The Twenty-four-inch Guage is an instrument used by operative masons to measure and lay cut their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of 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 three equal parts; whereby are found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy 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 make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of all 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."
This presentation of the working tools of a stone-mason to the candidate must necessarily attract his attention to the fact that there is a connection between the operative art and the speculative science, which connection simply consists in this, that speculative Masonry is the application and sanctification of the working tools and implements, the rules and principles of operative masonry, to the veneration of God and the purification of the heart.
The Operative Masons at Jerusalem, from whom we date our origin, were occupied in the construction of an earthly and material temple, to be dedicated to the service and worship of God—a house in which the mighty Jehovah was to dwell visibly by his Shekinah, and whence he was, by Urim and Thummin, to send forth his oracles for the government and direction of his chosen people.
The Speculative Mason is engaged in the construction of a spiritual temple in his heart, pure and spotless, fit for the dwelling-place of Him who is the author of purity; where God is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, and whence every evil thought and unruly passion are to be banished, as the sinner and the Gentile were excluded from the sanctuary of the Jewish Temple.
In the symbolic language of Masonry, therefore, the twenty-four-inch guage is a symbol of time well employed; the common gavel, of the purification of the heart.
In the Ancient Mysteries, the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or purification. The candidate was not permitted to enter the sacred vestibule, or to take any part in the secret formula of initiation, until by water or fire he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of the world which he was about to leave behind. A similar principle exists in Freemasonry where the first symbols presented to the Entered Apprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart, of which the purification of the body in the Ancient Mysteries was symbolic.
We no longer make use of the bath or the fountain, because in our philosophical system the symbolism is more abstract; but we present the candidate with the apron, the guage, and the gavel, as symbols, of a spiritual purification. The design is the same, but the mode in which it is accomplished is different.
In former times, before the general use of writing, men were accustomed to avail themselves of any imperishable substance, a memorial of some transaction, the record of which would now be committed to paper or parchment. Hence we find in the primitive Christian Church, that a fish-shaped die was used as a certificate of membership, and was so recognized from town to town and from church to church. Especially was a piece of metal or ivory made use of by