THE ENTERED APPRENTICE MASON

As you have now learned, Freemasonry originated with the builders of those remarkable structures created in the Gothic style of architecture in the Middle Ages in Europe and Great Britain. Our name for these builders is “Operative Masons” because they hewed the stone, dressed it to shape, laid up the walls and built the spires that to this day pierce the skies. They were organized into lodges, with Masters and Wardens. They had lodge rooms, often what we would think of as sheds or huts, at their work sites. The members were divided into grades. They employed ceremonies of initiation, used signs, symbols, and passwords, maintained strict rules of secrecy and (as a rule) only admitted men to membership.

An apprenticeship system was then in use in all trades and crafts. The word “apprentice” means “learner” or “beginner,” one who is taking his first steps in mastering a trade or craft. He was required to be of sound body and mind, of good habits, obedient and willing to learn. Important, too, was the requirement that he be free to travel for his work and not be bound to the land of any lord.

After searching inquiry, an applicant went to live with a Master Mason, indentured to him for the period of his initial schooling. The applicant obligated himself to obey his superiors, to work diligently, to observe the laws and rules, and to keep the secrets of his trade or craft as they were taught to him.

His name was entered on the books of the lodge, and he thus became an Entered Apprentice Mason. The Master Mason was required by law to teach him the theory as well as the practice of Operative Masonry. The apprentice was also given moral instruction and rules to govern his life and conduct. The Old Charges devoted much space to the Apprentices.

In substance and meaning, the Entered Apprentice Degree is fundamentally the same as it was in the days of the Operative Masons. As an Entered Apprentice Mason, you are a beginner, a learner in Speculative Masonry. You are not a member until you are passed and raised, and thus you have only certain limited rights. As with the Operative Apprentice, you are expected to be eager in your desire for more knowledge and light. You are expected to show obedience to your teachers. You are expected to learn the Lectures with the same determination to perfect himself in them which was shown by your Operative forebears. If errors were condoned and each varied his rendition to suit himself, chaos would result and the whole structure of Freemasonry would collapse.