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APPRENTICE DEGREES
APPRENTICE, EGYPTIAN.
APPRENTICE, ENTERED.
APPRENTICE, HERMETIC.
APPRENTICE MASON.
APPRENTICE MASONESS.
APPRENTICE MASONESS, EGYPTIAN.
APPRENTICE, MYSTIC.
APPRENTICE OF PARACELSUS.
APPRENTICE OF THE EGYPTIAN SECRETS.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, BY THE NUMBER 3.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, HERMETIC.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER TO THE NUMBER 9.
APPRENTICE PILLAR.
APPRENTICE, SCOTTISH.
APPRENTICE THEOSOPHIST.
APPRENTI ET COMPAGNON DE SAINT ANDRE.
APRON LECTURE.
APRONS, GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MASONIC.
APPRENTICE DEGREES
Thory gjves this list of the various rites:
1. Apprentice Arehitect; Apprenti Architecte, a Grade in ttle collection of Fustier.
2. Apprentice Perfect ,Architect; Apprenti Architecte Parfait, in Le Page's collection.
3. Apprentice Prussian Architect ; Apprenti Arehitecte Prussien, in Le Page's colleetion.
4. Apprentice Cabalistic; Apprenti Cabalistique.
5. Apprentice Cohen; Apprenti Coën: these two in the archives of the Motther Lodge of the Philosophic Scottish Rite.
6. Apprentice Egyptian ; Apprenti Egyptien, the First Degree of the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro.
7. Apprentice of Paracelsus; Apprenti de Paracelse, found in the collection of Peuvret.
8. Apprentice of Egyptian Secrets; Apprenti des Secrets Egyptiens, the First Grade of the African Architects.
9. Apprentice Scottish; Apprenti Ecossais.
10.Apprentice Scottish Trinitarian ; Apprenti Ecossais Trinitaire, in the collection of Pyron.
11.Apprentice Hermetie; Apprenti Hermétique, the Third Grade, Ninth Series, of the Metropolitan Chapter of France.
12.Apprentice Mystical; Apprenti Mystique, grade in the collection of Pyron.
13.Apprentice Philosophical, or Number Nine; Apprenti Philosophique ou Nombre Neuf, a Grade in Peuvret's collection.
14.Apprentice Philosophical Hermetic; Apprenti Philosophique Hermétique.
15.Apprentice Philosophical by the Number Three; Apprenti Philosophique par le Nombre Trois.
16.Apprentice Theosophical; Apprenti Théosophe, name of a Swedenborgian Rite.
APPRENTICE, EGYPTIAN.
The French being Apprenti, Egyptien. The First Degree of the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro.
APPRENTICE, ENTERED.
The First Degree of Freemasonry, in all the rites, is that of Entered Apprentice. In French it is called apprenti; in Spanish, aprendiz; in Italian, apprendente; and in German, lehrling; in all of which the radical or root meaning of the word is a learner.
Like the lesser Mysteries of the ancient initiations, it is in Freemasonry a preliminary degree, intended to prepare the candidate for the higher and fuller instructions of the succeeding degrees. It is, therefore, although supplying no valuable historical information, replete, in its lecture, With instructions on the internal structure of the Order.
Until late in the seventeenth century, Apprentices do not seem to have been considered as forming any part of the confraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.
Although Apprentices are incidentally mentioned in the 01d Constitutions of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, these records refer only to Masters and Fellows as constituting the Craft, and this distinction seems to have been one rather of position than of degree. The Sloane Manuscript, No. 3,329, which Findel supposes to have been written at the end of the seventeenth century, describes a just and perfect Lodge as consisting of "two Interprintices, two Fellow Craftes, and two Masters," which shows that by that time the Apprentices had been elevated to a recognized rank in the Fraternity.
In the Manuscript signed "Mark Kipling,'' which Hughan entitles the York Manuscript, No. 4, the date of which is 1693, there is a still further recognition in what is there called "the Apprentice Charge," one item of which is, that "he shall keepe councell in all things spoken in Lodge or chamber by any Masons, Fellows, or Freemasons." This indicates they had close communion with members of the Craft.
But notwithstanding these recognitions, all the manuscripts up to 1704 shlow that only "Masters and Fellows" were summoned to the Assembly.
During all this time, when Freemasonry was in fact an operative art, there was but one Degree in the modern sense of the word. Early. in the eighteenth century, if not earlier, Apprentices must have been admitted to the possession of this Degree ; for after what is called the revival of 1717, Entered Apprentices constituted the bulk of the Craft, and they only were initiated in the Lodges, the Degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason being conferred by the Grand Lodge.
This is not left to conjecture. The thirteenth of the General Regulations, approved in 1721, says that "Apprentices must be admitted Masters and Fellow Crafts only in the Grand Lodge, unless by a Dispensation."
But this in practise, having been found very inconvenient, on the 22d of November, 1725, the Grand Lodge repealed the article, and decreed that the Master of a Lodge, with his Wardens and a competent number of the Lodge assembled in due form, can make Masters and Fellows at discretion.
The mass of the Fratemity being at that time composed of Apprentices, they exercised a great deal of influence in the legislation of the Order; for although they could not represent their Lodge in the Quarterly Communications of the Grand Lodge---a duty which could only be discharged by a Master or Fellow-yet they were always permitted to be present at the grand feast, and no General Regulation could be altered or repealed Without their consent; and, of course, in all the business of their particular Lodges, they took the most prominent part, for there were but few Masters or Fellows in a Lodge, in consequence of the difficulty and inconvenience of obtaining the Degree, which could only be done at a Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge.
But as soon as the subordinate Lodges were invested with the power of conferring all the Degrees, the Masters began rapidly to increase in numbers and in corresponding influence. And now, the bulk of the Fratemity consisting of Master Masons, the legislation of the Order is done exclusively by them, and the Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts have sunk into comparative obscurity, their Degrees being considered only as preparatory to the greater initiation of the Master's Degree.
APPRENTICE, HERMETIC.
The French is Apprenti Hermétique. The Thirteenth Degree, ninth series, of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France.
APPRENTICE MASON.
The French is Apprenti Maçon. The Entered Apprentice of French Freemasonry.
APPRENTICE MASONESS.
The French is Apprentie Maçonne. The First Degree of the French Rite of Adoption. The word Masoness is a neologism, perhaps an unsanctioned novelty, but it is in accordance with the genius of our language, and it is difficult to know how else to translate into English the French word Maçonne, which means a woman who has received the Degrees of the Rite of Adoption, unless by the use of the awkward phrase, Female Freemason. To express this idea, we might introduce as a technicality the word Masoness.
APPRENTICE MASONESS, EGYPTIAN.
The French is Apprentie Maçonne Egyptienne. The First Degree of Cagliostro's Egyptian Rite of Adoption.
APPRENTICE, MYSTIC.
The French is Apprenti Mystique. A Degree in the collection of M. Pyron.
APPRENTICE OF PARACELSUS.
The French is Apprenti de Paracelse. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret. There existed a series of these Paracelsian Degrees---Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master. They were all most probably forms of Hermetic Freemasonry.
APPRENTICE OF THE EGYPTIAN SECRETS.
The French is Apprenti des secrets Egyptiens. The
First Degree of the Order of African Architects.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, BY THE NUMBER 3.
The French is Apprenti Philosophe par le Nombre 3. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, HERMETIC.
The French is Apprenti Philosophe Herm‚tique. A degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER TO THE NUMBER 9.
The French is Apprenti Philosophe au Nombre 9. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PILLAR.
See Prentice Pillar.
APPRENTICE, SCOTTISH.
The French is Apprenti Ecossais. This Degree and that of Trinitarian Scottish Apprentice, which in French is Apprenti Ecossais Trinitaire, are contained in the collection of Pyron.
APPRENTICE THEOSOPHIST.
The French is Apprenti Théosophe. The First Degree of the Rite of Swedenborg.
APPRENTI ET COMPAGNON DE SAINT ANDRE.
French for Apprentice and Companion of Saint Andrew, the Fourth Grade of the Swedish system. The Fifth Grade is known as Maître de Saint André or Master of Sint Andrew, and the Ninth Degree being known as Les Favoris de Saint Andréé (the Favored of Saiut Andrew), sometimes called Knight of the Purple Band or Collar.
APRON LECTURE.
The coming years may bring to you success,
The victory laurel wreath may deck your brow,
And you may feel Love's hallowed caress,
And have withal domestic tenderness,
And fortune's god may smile on you as now,
And jewels fit for Eastern potentate
Hang over your ambitious heart, and Fate
May call thee ''Prince of Men,'' or ''King of Hearts,''
While Cupid strives to pierce you with his darts.
Nay, even more than these, with coming light
Your feet may press fame's loftiest dazzling height,
And looking down upon the world below
You may exclaim, "I can not greater grow!"
But, nevermore, O worthy Brother mine,
Can innocence and purity combine
With all that's sweet and tender here below
As in this emblem which I now bestow.
'Tis yours to wear throughout a life of Love,
And when your spirit wings to realms above
'Twill with your cold clay rest beneath the sod,
While breeze-kissed flowers whisper of your God.
O, may its stainless, spotless surface be
An emblem of that perfect purity
Distinguished far above all else on earth
And sacred as the virtue of the hearth,
And when at last your naked soul shall stand
Before the throne in yon great temple grand,
O, may it be your portion there to hear
"Well done," and find a host of brothers near
To join the angel choir in glad refrain
Till Northeast comer echoes come again
Then while the hosts in silent grandeur stand
The Supreme Builder smiling in command
Shall say to you to whom this emblem's given,
"Welcome art thou to all the joys of heaven."
And then shall dawn within your 'lightened soul
The purpose divine that held control-
The full fruition of the Builder's plan-
The Fatherhood of God-The Brotherhood of man.
The above lines were written by Captain Jack Crawford for Dr. Walter C. Miller of Webb's Lodge No. 166, Augusta, Georgia.
" . . . Lambskin or white leathern apron. It is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason: more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and when worthily worn, more honorable than the Star and a Garter, or any other Order that can be conferred upon you at this or any future period by king, prince, potentate, or any other person, except he be a Mason and within the Body of a just and legally constituted Lodge of such.
"It may be that, in the years to come, upon your head shall rest the laurel wreaths of victory ;
pendant from your breast may hang jewels fit to grace the diadem of an eastern potentate ; yea, more than these : for with the coming light your ambitious feet may tread round after round the ladder that leads to fame in our mystic circle, and even the purple of our Fraternity may rest upon your honored shoulders; but never again by mortal hands, never again until your enfranchised spirit shall have passed upward and inward through the gates of pearl, shall any honor so distinguished, so emblematic of purity and all perfection, be bestowed upon you as this, which I now confer. It is yours; yours to wear through an honorable life, and at your death to be placed upon the coflin which contains your earthly remains, , and with them laid beneath the silent clods of the valley.
"Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of 'purity of life, of rectitude of conduct,' a never-ending argument for higher thoughts, for nobler deeds, for greater achievements; and when at last your weary feet shall have reached the end of their toilsome joumey, and from your nerveless grasp forever drop the working tools of a busy life, may the record of your life and conduct be as pure and spotless as this fair emblem which I place within your hands tonight; and when your trembling soul shall stand naked and alone before the great white throne, there to receive judgment for the deeds done while here in the body, may it be your portion to hear from Him who sitteth as Judge Supreme these welcome words: 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'
"I charge you-take it, wear it with pleasure to yourself and honor to the Fraternity."
The above is from the New Kentucky Monitor arranged by Brother Henry Pirtle, 1918, for the Grand Lodge of that State.
"This emblem is now yours ; to wear, we hope, with equal pleasure to yourself, and honor to the Fratemity.
If you disgrace it, the disgrace will be augmented by the consciousness that you have been taught, in this Lodge, the principles of a correct and manly life. It is yours to wear as a Mason so long as the vital spark shall animate your mortal frame, and at last, whether in youth, manhood or age, your spirit having Winged its flight to that 'House not made with hands,' when amid the tears and sorrows of surviving relatives and friends, and by the hands of sympathizing Brother Masons, your body shall be lowered to the confines of that narrow house appointed for all living, it will still be yours, yours to be placed with the evergreen upon the coffin that shall enclose your remains, and to be buried with them.
"My Brother, may you so wear this emblem of spotless white that no act of yours shall ever stain its purity, or cast a reflection upon this ancient and honorable institution that has outlived the fortunes of Kings and the mutations of Empires.
May you so wear it and "
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,
Scourged to his dungecn, but, austained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
The above extract is from the Shaver Monitor, compiled by Brothers William M. Shaver, Past Grand Master, and Albert K. Wilson, Grand Secretary, of the Grand Lodge of Kansas. The concluding lines of verse are from William Cullen Bryant's famous poem Thanatopsis.
APRONS, GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MASONIC.
Two aprons of a Masonic and historic character were owned by General George Washington. One of these was brought to this country by our Masonic Brother, the Marquis de Lafayette, in1784.
An object of his visit was to present to General Washington a beautiful white satin apron bearing the National colors, red, white and blue, and embroidered elaborately with Masonic emblems, the whole being the handiwork of Madame la Marquise de Lafayette.
This apron, according to Brother Julius F. Sachse in his book, History of Brother General Lafayette's Fraternal Connections with the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (page 5), was enclosed in a handsome rosewood box when presented to Brother George Washington.
Another apron was presented to General Washington. This gift was also made in France and the similarity of purpose and of origin has caused some confusion as to the identity of the two aprons that happily were preserved and proudly cherished by their later owners after the death of Brother Washington.
The gift of the second apron was due to the fraternal generosity of Brother Elkanah Watson and his partner, M. Cassoul, of Nantes, France. The name Cassoul in the old records is also spelled Cossouland Cosson. Watson and Cassoulacted as confidential agents abroad for the American Government during the revolutionary period, the former being also a bearer of dispatches to Dr. Benjamin Franklin.
Brother Sachse, in the above-mentioned work, quotes Brother Watson from a book Men and Times of the Revolution, or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, (New York, 1856, pages 135-6), as follows: "Wishing to pay some mark of respect to our beloved Washington, I employed, in conjunction with my friend M. Cossoul, nuns in one of the convents at Nantes to prepare some elegant Masonic omaments and gave them a plan for combining the American and French flags on the apron designed for this use.
They were executed in a superior and expensive style. We transmitted them to America, accompanied by an appropriate address."
An autograph reply to the address was written by Brother Washington and this letter was purchased from the Watson family and thus came into the possession of the Grand Lodge of New York.
The Washington apron owned by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was first given by the legatees of Brother George Washington to the Washington Benevolent Society on October 26, 1816, sind was presented to the Grand Lodge on July 3, 1829.
The other Washington apron and sash came into the possession of Alexandria Washington Lodge No. 22, at Alexandria, Virginia, on June 3, 1812, and as recorded in the Lodge of Washington (page 90), were presented, with the box made in France which contained them, by Major Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of Washington, on behalf of his son, Master Lorenzo Lewis.
The pamphlet, George Washington the Man and the Mason, prepared by the Research Committee, Brother C. C. Hunt, Chairman, of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, 1921, raises the question as to the number of degrees conferred upon Brother Washington.
Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Brother Washington received his Masonic Degrees, conferred the Royal Arch Degree under the authority of its Lodge Warrant. In fact, the first known record of this degree being conferred anywhere is in the Minutes of this Lodge under date of December 22, 1753.
There is a reference to the degree by the Grand Committee of the Antients, September 2, 1752, and the books of Vernon Lodge, No. 123, Coleraine in Ireland, show that "a Master and Royal Arch Mason" was proposed for membership, April 16, 1752, and also that a Royal Arch reception was held on March 11, 1745 (see Miscellanea Latomorum, volume ix, page 138).
On the flap of the apron presented to Washington are the familiar letters H T W S S T K S arranged in the usual circular form. Within the circle is a beehive which may indicate the Mark selected by the wearer.
The above pamphlet points out that as this apron was made especially for Washington it is probable that he was a Mark Master Mason at least, and that it is not likely that this emblem would have been placed on the apron had the facts been otherwise. Certainly the beehive as an emblem of industry was an appropriate Mark for Washington to select.