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"Entered Apprentice Degree" is the name of the first step a man takes in becoming a Mason. The general nature of this step is well described by the word "Apprentice", which, throughout the many languages that use it, always means "a learner, a beginner, or one who has passed through the first stage of birth into a new world". An Apprentice is a beginner in Masonry; he is a learner of the lore and teachings of that which Masons describe as "the Royal Art". For Masonry is an art, one of the finest there is; and he is one in the process of being born into the world of Masonry, so different from the profane (or uninitiated) world, a world by itself, with its own nature and laws, its own culture and fellowship, its own purposes and ideals.

This fact that Masonry is a world by itself, with a life of its own, is clearly suggested by the nomenclature of the Craft. In a broad and general fashion all three Degrees together are described as "initiation", but in a stricter sense it is the Apprentice who is "initiated"; a candidate is initiated an Entered Apprentice, passed a Fellowcraft, raised a Master Mason.

This usage is literally correct, for "initiation" means in its true and original sense "a birth"; it applies peculiarly to the beginner of the First Degree because he is one who is just born, or is about to be born, into the Masonic life.

Nor is the word "life" itself a misnomer. To a casual observer Freemasonry might appear to be a kind of artificial thing, like the wearing of a fancy dress at some costume ball, something with no roots deep in experience, a luxury rather than a necessity.

The same kind of observer might also consider the rights of initiation to be a series of formalities or colorful ceremonies not to be taken seriously. An experienced Freemason, however, knows differently; he knows that Masonry is a way of life; a mode of living, which moves in him and helps to shape his life all of the time, whether inside of Lodge or out.

Since an Apprentice is beginning a new life rather than a formality, it follows that if he is sincere in his undertaking he will make an earnest effort to understand the Entered Apprentice Degree. That Degree, as will be shown later, is not to be taken as a mere bridge to be crossed and then forgotten; it is the first appearance of Masonry in the Candidate's experience. Masonry does not lie waiting at the end of the Third Degree; it is present in the First. And though it does not reveal itself there in full, yet it is there--as much so as it ever will be elsewhere. If an Apprentice doesn't embrace it there in an earnest desire to win for himself all that it has to give him, it is difficult to know where else he may then be expected to do so.

From the official and institutional point of view the status of an Entered Apprentice is a modest one. He cannot be a full member of a Lodge, with a voice or vote in it; he may sit in a Lodge only when it is opened in the First Degree; he is not entitled to hold office; he may not join in public processions. He is a man on probation, and what he shall be hereafter will be determined by what account he gives of himself during this period of trial. It is his duty to be obedient to his superiors, to trust his leaders, to follow his guide and fear no danger.

But while all this is true, there is a larger sense in which the First Degree stands on a level of equal dignity with any other honor or Degree. In a Lodge of Ancient Craft Masonry the First Degree serves at least five important purposes: It is a first step in initiation; as such it is over and done with when its last word is spoken, and if a candidate has been regularly made in a regular Lodge he will never be required to go through it again. It defines and creates a status, a grade, a rank, of which a brief description was given in the paragraph just above; here again, and in this particular sense, it is over and done with when it is over. It contains the obligation of Entered Apprentice, wherein he binds himself to do and not to do certain things, upon his honor as a man. And in certain respects this obligation forms the basis of the disciplinary law to which every Apprentice is held; in other respects it contains duties that will be binding on him throughout his whole Masonic career. Again, the Degree puts the Apprentice in possession of certain modes of recognition; these he will always need, because even after he has become a Master Mason he will have occasion to exchange them with Entered Apprentices. Lastly, the Degree contains a set of teachings which remain permanent throughout all of Masonry, binding on Masons of whatever degree.

If the reader examines carefully the last three of the five purposes named he will discover at once in what sense it may be said that the First Degree remains in force permanently, and is not something finished and left behind when a candidate has passed to the Degree of Fellow Craft. There are certain elements in the obligation of the First Degree as binding on Master Masons as on Apprentices; Master Masons will have need to use the modes of recognition that it furnishes; and the teachings are not for the Apprentice only, but for the whole Craft, and are to be accepted and practiced as much by the Brother who has been fifty years a Mason as by him who has been five minutes an Apprentice.

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