William Morgan - Illustrations of Masonry - First Section of the Fellow Craft Mason Lecture lyrics

SECTION FIRST OF THE FELLOW CRAFT MASON LECTURE. "Are you a Fellow Craft Mason?" Ans. "I am—try me." "By what will you be tried?" Ans. "By the square." "Why by the square?" Ans. "Because it is an emblem of virtue." "What is a square?" Ans. "An angle extending to ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle." "Where were you prepared to be made a Fellow Craft Mason?" Ans. "In a room adjacent to the body of a just anti lawfully constituted lodge of such, duly a**embled in a room or place, representing the middle chamber of King Solomon's temple." "How were you prepared?" Ans. "By being divested of all metals; neither naked nor clothed; barefoot nor shod; hood-winked; with a cable-tow twice round my neck; in which situation I was conducted to the door of the lodge, where I gave two distinct knocks." "What did those two distinct knocks allude to?" Ans. 'The second degree in Masonry, it being that on which I was about to enter." "What was said to you from within?" Ans. "Who comes there? Who comes there?" "Your answer?" Ans. "A worthy brother who has been regularly initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason, served a proper time as such, and now wishes for further light in Masonry by being pa**ed to the degree of a Fellow Craft." "What was then said to you from within?" Ans. "I was asked if it was of my own free will and accord I made this request; if I was duly and truly prepared, worthy, and well qualified, and had made suitable proficiency in the preceding degree; all of which being answered in the affirmative, I was asked by what further rights I expected to obtain so great a benefit." "Your answer?" Ans. "By the benefit of a pa**-word." "What is that pa**-word?" Ans. "Shibboleth." "What further was said to you from within?" Ans. "I was bid to wait till the Worshipful Master in the east was made acquainted with my request, and his answer returned." "After his answer was returned what followed?" Ans. "I was caused to enter the lodge." "How did you enter?" Ans. "On the angle of the square, presented to my naked right breast, in the name of the Lord." "How were you then disposed of?" Ans. "I was conducted twice regularly round the lodge and halted at the Junior Warden in the south, where the same questions were asked and answers returned as at the door. "How did the Junior Warden dispose of you?" Ans. "He ordered me to be conducted to the Worshipful Master in the east, where the same questions were asked and answers returned as before, who likewise demanded of me from whence I came and whither I was traveling." "Your answer?" Ans. "From the west, and traveling to the east." "Why did you leave the west and travel to the east?" Ans. "In search of more light." "How did the Worshipful then dispose of you?' Ans. "He ordered me to be conducted back to the west, from whence I came, and put in care of the Senior Warden, who taught me how to approach the east, by advancing upon two upright regular steps to the second step, my feet forming the right angle of an oblong square, and my body erect at the altar before the Worshipful Master. "What did the Worshipful Master do with you?" Ans. "He made a Fellow Craft Mason of me." "How?" Ans. "In due form." "What was that due form?" Ans. "My right knee bare, bent, my left knee forming a square, my right hand on the Holy Bible, Square and Compa**, my left arm forming an angle supported by the Square, and my hand in a vertical position, in which posture I took upon me the solemn oath or obligation of a Fellow Craft Mason." "After your oath of obligation what was said to you?" Ans. "I was asked what I most desired." "Your answer?" Ans. "More light." "On being brought to light, what did you discover different from before?" Ans. "One point of the Compa** elevated above the Square, which denoted light in this degree, but as one point was yet in obscurity, it was to remind me that I was yet one material point in the dark respecting Masonry." "What did you next discover?" Ans. "The Worshipful Master approaching me from the east, under the sign and due-guard of a Fellow Craft Mason, who presented me with his right hand, in token of brotherly love and confidence, and proceeded to give me the pa**-grip and word of a Fellow Craft Mason, and bid me rise and salute the Junior and Senior Wardens, and convince them that I had been regularly pa**ed to the degree of a Fellow Craft, and had the sign, grip, and word of a Fellow Craft Mason." "What did you next discover?" Ans. "The Worshipful Master approaching me a second time from the east, who presented me with a lambskin or white apron, which he said he hoped I would continue to wear with honor to myself, and satisfaction and advantage to the brethren." "What were you next presented with?" Ans. "The working tools of a Fellow Craft Mason" "What are they?" Ans. "The Plumb, Square, and Level." "What do they teach?" [I think this question ought to be, "How explained?"] Ans. "The Plumb is an instrument made use of by operative Masons to raise perpendiculars; the Square to square their work and the Level to lay horizontals; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of them for more noble and glorious purposes: The Plumb admonishes us to walk uprightly in our several stations before God and man, squaring our actions by the square of virtue, and remembering that we are all traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." "What were you next presented with?" Ans. "Three precious j**els." "What were they?" Ans. "Faith, hope, and charity." "What do they teach?" Ans. "Faith in God, hope in immortality, and charity to all mankind." "How were you then disposed of?" Ans. "I was conducted out of the lodge, and invested of what I had been divested."