Masonry - Third Degree

Question 1

Are you a Master Mason?

Answer 1

(Rises, gives sign) I am.

Question 2

What induced you to become a Master Mason?

Answer 2

In order that I might travel in foreign countries, work and receive wages as such, and thereby be the better enabled to support myself and family and contribute to the relief of poor distressed Brother Master Masons, their widows and orphans.

Question 3

Where were you made a Master Mason?

Answer 3

In a just and lawfully constituted lodge of Master Masons.

Question 4

How were you prepared?

Answer 4

By being divested of all metals of a removable nature, neither naked nor clad, barefoot, hoodwinked, and a cable toe three times about my naked body in which condition I was conducted to the door of the lodge by a brother

Question 5

Why had you a cable-tow three times about your naked body?

Answer 5

To teach me that as I advance in Masonry, my duties and obligations bcame more and more extended.

Question 6

How gained you admission?

Answer 6

By three distinct knocks.

Question 7

What was said to you from within?

Answer 7

Who comes here?

Question 8

Your Answer?

Answer 8

A brother who has been regularly initiated as an Entered Apprentice, passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, and now wishes to receive further light in Masonry by being raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason.

Question 9

What were you then asked?

Answer 9

If it were of my own free will and accord that I made this request, if I were duly and truly prepared, worthy and well qualified, and if I had made suitable proficiency in the preceding degrees, all of which being answered in the affirmative, I was asked by what further right or benefit I expected to gain admission.

Question 10

Your Answer?

Answer 10

By the benefit of the pass.

Question 11

Did you give the pass?

Answer 11

I gave it not, my guide gave it for me.

Question 12

What followed?

Answer 12

I was directed to wait with patience until the Worshipful Master of was informed of my request and his answer returned.

Question 13

What answer did he return??

Answer 13

Let him enter this lodge in the name of God and be received in due and ancient form.

Question 14

How were you received?

Answer 14

On both points of the compasses extending from my naked right to left breast, which was to teach me that as the vital parts of man are contained within the breast, so the most useful tenets of our institution are contained within the points of the compasses which are Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love.

Question 15

How were you then disposed of?

Answer 15

I was conducted three times regularly about the lodge to the Junior Warden in the south, to the Senior Warden in the west, and to the Worshipful Master in the east, where the same questions were asked and like answers returned as at the door.

Question 16

What did the Worshipful Master then demand of you?

Answer 16

From whence I came and where I was traveling.

Question 17

Your Answer?

Answer 17

From the West and traveling toward the East.

Question 18

What did he further demand of you?

Answer 18

Of what I was in pursuit.

Question 19

Your Answer?

Answer 19

That which was lost, and which by my own endeavor and his assistance I was in hopes to find.

Question 20

What did he further demand of you?

Answer 20

To what I referred.

Question 21

Your Answer?

Answer 21

To the secrets of a Master Mason to which he observed that my pursuit was truly laudable and ordered me to be reconducted to the Senior Warden in the West who taught me to approach the East advancing by three regular steps, my feet forming a right angle of a perfect square, my body erect facing the East.

Question 22

What did the Worshipful Master then do with you?

Answer 22

He made me a Master Mason.

Question 23

How?

Answer 23

In due form.

Question 24

What is that due form?

Answer 24

Kneeling on my naked knees, my body erect, my hands resting on the Holy Bible, square, and compasses, in which due form I took the obligation of a Master Mason.

Question 25

Repeat it.

Answer 25

I Samuel Austin of my own free will and accord, in the presence of Almighty God and this worshipful lodge, erected to him and dedicated to the holy Saints John do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear as I have heretofore done but with these additions, that I will not communicate the secrets of a Master Mason to a Fellow Craft, any more than those of a Fellow Craft to an Entered Apprentice, Neither those of an Entered Apprentice to the rest of the world, neither these nor any of them to any person or persons whomsoever, until by strict trial, due examination or lawful information I shall have found him or them as lawful entitled to the same as I am myself. I furthermore promise and swear that I will stand to and abide by all the laws, rules, and regulations of a Master Masons lodge, together with the constitution, laws and edicts of the most worshipful Grand Lodge under whose jurisdiction the same may be holden, so far as they shall come to my knowledge. I furthermore promise and swear that I will answer and obey all due signs and summons sent to me from a lodge of Master Masons or handed me by a brother of this degree, if within the length of my cable-tow. I furthermore promise and swear that I will help aid and assist all poor distressed brother Master Masons, their widows and orphans, they applying to me as such and I finding them worthy. I furthermore promise and swear that I will keep a brother Master Masons secrets inviolate when received by me as such, murder and treason alone excepted and that left to my own choice. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not be present at nor give my consent to the making of a woman a mason, an old man in his dotage, a young man in his nonage, an atheist, a libertine, a mad man or a fool, knowing him or them to be such. I Furthermore Promise and swear that I will not visit a clandestine lodge of Masons nor converse on the secrets of Masonry with a clandestine Mason, nor with anyone who has been expelled or suspended while under such sentence, knowing him or them to be such. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not cheat, wrong, or defraud a lodge of Master Masons or a brother of this degree, knowingly or wittingly, nor surplant him in any of his laudable undertakings but will give him due and timely notice that he may ward off all approaching danger. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not have illicit carnal intercourse with a Master Masons wife, mother, sister or daughter nor suffer the same to be done by another if within my power to prevent it. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not give the grand Masonic word in any other manner than that in which I shall receive it, and then in a low breath. I furthermore promise and swear that I will not give the Grand Hailing Sign of distress of a Master Mason except in case of most imminent danger or Suffering in the cause of innocents and virtue, in a just and Lawfully constituted lodge or for the purpose of instruction and when I see the sign given or hear the words uttered, by a brother in distress, I will fly to the relief of him who gives it, if there be a greater probability of saving his life than of losing my own. All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear with a firm and steadfast resolution to keep and perform the same, without the least equivocation, mental reservation, or secret evasion whatsoever, binding myself under no less a penalty than that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken from thence and burned to ashes and these ashes scattered by the four winds of heaven that there may be no more rememberance among men or Masons of so vile a wretch as I, should I in the least, knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Master Masons obligation, so help me God and keep me steadfast.

Question 26

After taking the obligation, what were you asked?

Answer 26

What I most desired.

Question 27

Your Answer?

Answer 27

Further light in Masonry.

Question 28

Did you receive it?

Answer 28

I did.

Question 29

How?

Answer 29

By order of the Worshipful Master and assistance of the brethren.

Question 30

On being brought to light, what did you discover more than you had heretofore done?

Answer 30

Both points of the compasses elevated above the square, which was to teach me to never lose sight of the Masonic application of that useful and valuable instrument which teaches Friendship, Morality, and Brotherly Love.

Question 31

What did you then discover?

Answer 31

The Worshipful Master approaching me from the East on the step, under the due guard and with the sign of a Master Mason, which is token of the further continuance of his brotherly love pressented me his right hand and withit the pass and token of the pass of a master mason, bid me arise and salute the wardens as such.

Question 32

After saluting the Wardens, how were you then disposed of?

Answer 32

I was reconducted to the Senior Warden in the West, who taught me how to wear my apron as a Master Mason.

Question 33

How should a Master Mason wear his apron?

Answer 33

With the bib and apron turned down.

Question 34

After being taught how to wear your apron as a Master Mason, how were you disposed of?

Answer 34

I was conducted to the right hand of the Worshipful Master in the East, who presented me with the working tools of a Master Mason and taught me their uses.

Question 35

What are the working tools of a Master Mason?

Answer 35

All the instruments of Masonry indiscriminately, more especially the Trowel.

Question 36

What is the use of the Trowel?

Answer 36

The Trowel is an instrument made use of by Operative Masons to spread the cement which unites the several parts of a building into one common mass. but we, as Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of spreading the cement of Brotherly Love and Affection—that cement which unites us into one sacred band or society of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, save that noble contention or rather emulation of who can best work and best agree.

Question 37

How were you then disposed of?

Answer 37

I was reconducted to the place from whence I came, there reinvested with that of which I had been divested, and returned to the Lodge for further instruction.

Question 38

Have you any signs pertaining to this degree?

Answer 38

I have several.

Question 39

Give me a sign.

Answer 39

Give due guard of a Master Mason.

Question 40

What is that?

Answer 40

The due guard of a Master Mason.

Question 41

To what does it allude?

Answer 41

To the position in which my hands were placed when I took my obligation and when our ancient brethren assembled at the grave of their Grand Master Hiram Abiff, they found their hands involuntarily placed in this position (Give due guard) to guard their nostrils from the disagreeable effluvia arising from the grave.

Question 42

Give me another sign.

Answer 42

Give sign of a Master Mason.

Question 43

What is that?

Answer 43

The sign of a Master Mason.

Question 44

Has it an allusion?

Answer 44

It has to the penalty of my obligation.

Question 45

Give me another sign.

Answer 45

Give Grand Hailing Sign of Distress.

Question 46

What is that?

Answer 46

The Grand Hailing Sign of Distress.

Question 47

Has it an allusion?

Answer 47

It has to the raising of the body of our Grand Master Hiram Abiff and when our ancient brethren, in token of their sorrow, thrice raised their hands to heaven and exclaimed: (Give words) 'Oh Lord my God, is there no help for the widow's son?'

Question 48

When should that be given?

Answer 48

Never, except in case of most imminent danger or suffering, in the cause of innocence and virtue, in a just and lawful constituted lodge, or for the purpose of instruction.

Question 49

What are the words uttered when the sign cannot be shown?

Answer 49

Oh Lord my God, is there no help for the widow's son?

Question 50

Give me a token.

Answer 50

Senior Warden gives token to Junior Deacon or some brother near him.

Question 51

Will you be off or from?

Answer 51

From.

Question 52

From what and to what?

Answer 52

From the grip of a Fellow Craft to the pass grip of a Master Mason.

Question 53

Pass (done). What is that?

Answer 53

The pass grip of a Master Mason.

Question 54

Has it a name?

Answer 54

It has.

Question 55

Give it to me.**

Answer 55

(Gives Pass) 'Tubal Cain.'

Question 56

Will you be off or from?

Answer 56

From.

Question 57

From what and to what?

Answer 57

From the pass grip of a Master Mason to the true grip of the same.

Question 58

Pass. What is this?

Answer 58

The strong grip of a Master Mason or the Lion's Paw.

Question 59

Has it a name?

Answer 59

It has.

Question 60

Give it to me.**

Answer 60

I cannot, nor can it be given except on the Five Points of Fellowship and then in a low breath.

Question 61

Advance and give it.**

Answer 61

(Candidate advances and whispers th word Mahabone.)