At the end of the 7 years, the apprentice would apply to be made free of his bond and another application would be made to the Superintendent of the Works and posted as before:

       The candidate had to go and kneel on the same Ashlar where he was bound seven years before. The apprentice’s bond is torn up and the blue cord removed.  At this point, a pass grip and pass word leading from the first to the second degree is given.  The grip is covered. The pass grip and pass word are the same as used in today’s speculative Lodges.  He must make a formal farewell address to the other apprentices and from this point forward, he can only associate with other Fellows. He must then prepare a rough dressed Ashlar as a specimen of his work.  (It is dressed 1/16 of an inch too large all over).  It must be presented to the Inspector of Material before the brother can be passed.  At the appointed time, the candidate must have brought the stone with him and swear to all present that “No man hath used a tool upon it”

      He presents himself at 12 noon on a Friday and giving the pass word (S*********) and grip, he is allowed to enter the second degree yard. He is led much like the apprentice degree except

1.       He is led around the yard twice

2.  This time his right foot is put transversely across the axis of the lodge and his left foot  parallel to the axis (put upon the square)  This was called “header and stretcher work” or “one on one”.

      He then takes an oath, which mainly deals with (1) secrecy  (2) not allow common labors to work within the Craft (3) that he will not teach common laborers and unaccepted Masons as he would apprentices and fellows of the craft. Following this oath, he is given the sign and word of a member of the Craft.  The word is “Bonai”, meaning builder. The first Master then gives the traditional history lecture.

 

Traditional Lecture of the Fellow of the Craft

 

 Good Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons, you have been passed as a Fellow of this ancient and worshipful Fraternity.  It is our purpose to tell you how and in what manner this worthy Craft of Masonry was begun, and afterward, how it was kept by worthy Kings and Princes and by many other worshipful men.

 

      Before Noah’s flood, there was a man that was called Lamech, and he had two wives, one called Adah and the other Zillah.  By his first wife, Adah, he had two sons, one called Jabal and the other Jubal.  By the other wife, he had one son, Tubal Cain, and a daughter Nazmah, and these four children founded the beginning of all the crafts of the world.  The eldest son, Jabal, founded the craft of Geometry; he had sheep and lambs in the field and was the first Mason who wrought houses and walls of stone.  His brother, Jubal, founded the craft of music, song of mouth, harp, organ and trumpet.  His third son, Tubal Cain, found out the smith’s craft of working in gold, silver, iron and steel and all manner of forging.  His daughter Nazmah, founded the craft of weaving. 

 

      These four children knew well that God would do vengeance for sin, either by fire or water. They wrote the sciences that they had founded on two pillars of stone that they might be found after either fire or flood.  One pillar was made of marble, to resist fire, and the other pillar was made of stone called laternes, for it cannot drown in any water. Our intent is to tell you truly in what manner these stones were found, on which was written these sciences.

 

      After the destruction of the world by Noah’s flood, Hermes, the founder of wisdom, found one of the seven sciences written thereon, and he taught it to other men.  The first of these sciences is Grammar, and that teacheth a man to speak truly and write truly.  The second is Rhetoric and that teacheth a man to speak fair and in subtle terms. The third is Logic, and teacheth a man to discern or know the truth from falsehood.  The fourth is Arithmetic, and teacheth a man to reckon and to count all manner of numbers. The fifth is Geometry, and that teacheth a man to mete and measure the earth, all other things on which science is founded, Masonry and Architecture. The sixth is called Music, and teacheth a man the craft of song, and voice of tongue, organ, harp, and trumpet.  And the seventh science is called Astronomy, and that teacheth a man to know the course of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars of heaven.

      These be the seven liberal sciences of the which all be founded by one; that is geometry, for geometry teacheth a man measure, ponderation and weight of all things on earth; for there is no man that worketh in any craft, but he worketh by some measure; and every man that buyeth or selleth,  buy or sell by some measure or weight, and all this is geometry . . . . and all the others are founded upon it.

      At the making of the Tower of Babylon were Masons first made much of, and that great King of Babylon called Nimrod was himself a Master Mason.  He loved well the Craft and made the Masons free men and Freemasons in his kingdom.  And when the city of Nineveh and other cities in the east were built, Nimrod, the King of Babylon, sent thither sixty Lodges of his Freemasons to Ashur, the King of Nineveh, his cousin, and when he sent them forth he gave them a charter and a charge after his manner.

 

The second master then gave the following charge known as the Charges of Nimrod:

 

1. That the Freemasons shall be true to El Shaddai, their King, their Lord and their Masters.

2. That they shall truly serve their Master for their pay, so that their Masters have worship, and all that belongeth to them.

3. That they shall ordain the most wise and cunning men to be Masters of the work, and neither love, riches nor favor set another that hath little cunning to be master of any work whereby the Lords should be ill served and the science shamed.

4. That they shall be true one to another, and that they shall live truly together.

5. That they shall assemble together one every year, to see how they might best serve the King and the Masters for their profit and their own worship.

6. That they shall correct within themselves, those that have trespassed against the Craft, so the worthy science be not dishonored.

7. To all these charges he made them swear a great oath that men used at that time and he ordained for them reasonable pay whereby they might live honestly.

8. Long after, when the children of Israel were come in the land of Beerhest, that is now called amongst the country of Jerusalem, King David began to prepare the ground and the stone of the Temple at Jerusalem.  And the same King David loved well the Freemasons, and cherished them much and gave them good pay. And after the decease of King David, Solomon, that was King David’s son, performed out the Temple that his father had begun, and he sent for Freemasons into diverse countries and lands and gathered them together so that he had four score thousand workmen that were workers of stone, and were all Freemasons, and he chose of them three thousand, three hundred that were ordained to be Masters and Governors of his works. And the same Solomon confirmed both the charges and manners that his father had given to the Masons, and thus was that worthy Craft confirmed in the country of Jerusalem and in many other kingdoms.

The ancient charges were then given to the new Fellow of the Craft which consisted of 26 separate admonitions to which he must consent.  Due to their length, they will not be presented except by the following examples:

 

 #14: You shall not take any apprentice to serve you in the said science of Masonry, under the terms of 7 years, nor any but such as are descended of good and honest parentage; that no scandal may be imputed to the said science of Masonry.

 

#15: You shall not take upon you to make any Mason, without the privity or consent of six, or five at least of your Fellows, and not but such as is free born, and whose parents live in good fame and name, and that hath his right and perfect limbs, and able body to attend the said science.

 

      The third master then presents the working tools to the new Fellow of the Craft

a new apron

plumb

level

square

another straight edge

perfect Ashlar square  (an oxford frame 21 7/8” inside, the size of a royal cubit)

 

 He was now a free man and a Freemason in the town in which he had been apprenticed.  As he begins to work in the 2nd yard, he must present his rough dressed Ashlar as a perfect Ashlar, polished and smooth. If so, he is given the word “Giblim”, which means perfect stone squarer or expert mason. He was also given a special new sign much like that used today.

 

      Having made his test piece of work and after serving one year as a Fellow and being at least 22 years old, he was then eligible to apply to be advanced to the third degree, that of a Super Fellow.