The Entered Apprentice's Apron And Masonic Lecturing.

mency , moderating our affections , restraining oui jDassions , and establishing chastity and sobriety , thereby promoting the health of the body and the dignity of our species . * Fortitude , as teaching us to resist temptation , to encounter danger Avith spirit and resolution ,

to aA * oid fear ou the one hand , and rashness on the other , and to prove that one characteristic of acting under the guidance of Masonic principles is the acting in all our aA * ocations in life firmly , but agreeably , to the dictates of rectitude and reason . Prudence , Avithin Avhose starry guide ail virtues

are unfolded , makes us cautious and Avise in measures ancl conduct—is wisdom applied to practice . The emblem of prudence is thefirst andmost exalted object that demands our attention iu the lodge . It is placed in the centre , ever to be present to the eye of the Masonthat his heart may be attentive to

, her dictates and steadfast in her laws , for prudence is the rule of all virtues , prudence is the channel AA hence self-approbation IIOAVS for ever . She leads us forth to Avorthy actions , ancl , as n blazing star , enlightens us throughout the dreary and darksome paths of life . * '

Justice as the indispensable duty of every man , teaching him to clo right to all , to render to every brother his just due , iiis obedience to the AA-JII of God , his attention to the sacred duties of this life , his love to his native country , his allegiance to his government , his reverence and respect to his

superiors , kindness to his equals , and to his inferiors advice , admonition , instruction , brotherly love , and protection . ^ As such , in these four corners , the speculative Mason beholds a symbolical allusion to the four great riversAA'hich flowed out of the Garden of

, Eden , illustrated thus : —In Pison , our first parents revered the fountain of prudence ; in Giiion they beheld the sacred stream of justice ; the rapid and irresistible torrent of Heddekel denotes fortitude ; and the Phrath , or Euphrates , the mild but steady current of temperance . Happj * was their state

Avhile these sacred dictates Avere impressed upon the minds , and happy may be our future life if Ave through life observe the lessons which they inculcate—instructed by prudence , guided by justice , strengthened by fortitude , ancl by temperance restrained . f

The four comers .. also symbolise the four elements , fire , air , earth , Avater , tho four Grand Masters , Moses , Solomon , Zerubbabel , and St . John , and age , virtue , strength , and constancy . The flap or triangle being the symbol of God , the essence of light and liferepresents our first

, , originating grand principle " brotherly love . " In theology it always was and still is considered the most sacred emblem , signifying eternity , science , power , morality , justice . The ancients Avorshipped it considering it thc grand principle of existence ,

the summum bonv . m—they gave it the name of God . We , as worshippers of the Great Architect of the Universe , must extend the divine principle , " brotherly love , " to all his children . The triangle , considered as a geometrical figure , is composed of three things Avhich , united , form one Avhole , viz ., of

three particular points and angles , by the union of AAdiich the triangle itself is formed as one ivhole or complete figure . It is for this reason that it has been adopted as a symbol of the triune God . * This flap is likewise said to typify the " Age " of an Entered Apprentice Freemasonbecause iu

, French , Scotch , and some other rites each degree has an emblematic age . Thus , E . \ A . . = three years , because , in the system of mystical numbers , three is the number of generation , AA'hich comprises three terms—the agent , the recipient , the product ;*]* and also to allude to the steps of an Entered

Apprentice consisting of an equal number of right lines and angles , morally teaching us upright lives ancl well-squared actions . It likewise represents the third of our Avorking tools—the chisel—symbolically , education—by Avhich means alone Ave are rendered fit members of regular organised

societies ; : ]; for as the effects of the chisel on the external coat soon present their latent beauties to the A * icw , so education discovers the latent virtues of the mind , in order to display the summit of human knowledge , our duty to God and man . § The strings symbolise Truth , our third grand principle

—also the thread of life , Avhich lies in the passage of utterance between the gutteral and the pectoral , from Avhich is suspended that mysterious key , framed of no metal , formed by no mortal hand , AA'hich speaks as well of a brother absent as if he Avere present . Thoy also remind us of the straight and uncleviatino' line of conduct laid doAvn for our

guidance in the A'olume of the Sacred Law . They further symbollise the first of our Avorking tools , the twenty-four inch square , by the correct use of AA'hich Ave may connect the central point time with the circle of eternity , Avhich two periods their duplicated nature renders them apt tokens

of—as , though apparently two distinct things , their real use is only seen ancl felt Avhen properly united . Also they refer to the Number 2 and the geometrical straight line , the nearest distance betAveen tivo given points . As this aprou * is " quite free from

stainspot-, less , " so should the character of every Mason be , and so of every candidate for admission to its mysteries . "A perfect blank , " symbolical of the mind of all men on their entrance on this their mortal career . And of the mind of the candidates for

initiation and of the neAvly-made brother , and to the coAvan world a perfect blank . But in the case of a neAA'ly-made brother , like a sheet of pure