Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor - Rose Croix

This ends the lecture 1 on the Entered Apprentices' Degree. But very few Masons are
sufficiently posted in these lectures to answer every inquiry respecting then. Not one in a
hundred ever gets them perfect, none but a few aspiring members seeking after office
take the trouble to commit them to memory, and some of these do so very imperfectly.
Most Masters, at the present day, qualify themselves for the office of Master by
purchasing Richardson's or Avery Allyn's Masonic exposures. These works have, of
course, to be amended. On perusing the present work the reader will be greatly surprised
at the striking resemblance it bears to the works just mentioned, especially in the lectures;
but let him mark the alterations, principally at the commencement of each lecture
In some Lodges the following lecture is used, especially in the Northwestern States:
Q. What are the points of your profession?
A. Brotherly love, relief, and truth.
Q. Why so? (See Masonic Monitors, on "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.")
Q. Brother. you informed me that I should know you by certain signs, and tokens, and
words, and the points of your en-trance. You have already satisfied me as to the signs and
words. I now require you to explain to me the points of your entrance: how many, and
what are they?
A. They are four: the Guttural, the Pectoral, the Manual, and the Pedestal, which allude to
the four cardinal virtues, viz.; Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice.
Temperance is that due restraint upon our affections and passions which renders the body
tame and governable and frees the mind from the allurements of vice. This virtue should
be the constant practice of every Mason, as he is thereby taught to avoid excess, or
contracting any licentious or vicious habit, the indulgence of which might lead him to
disclose some of those valuable secrets which he has promised to conceal and never
p. 55
reveal, and which would consequently subject him to the contempt and detestation of all
good Masons. See "Guttural," (p. 248.)
This virtue alludes to the Mason's obligation, which is the Guttural.
Fortitude is that noble and steady purpose of the mind, whereby we are enabled to
undergo any pain, peril, or danger, when prudentially deemed expedient. This virtue is
equally distant from rashness and cowardice; and, like the former, should he deeply
impressed upon the mind of every Mason, as a safeguard or security against any illegal
attack that may be made, by force or otherwise, to extort from him any of those secrets
with which he has been so solemnly intrusted; and which virtue was emblematically
represented upon his first admission into the Lodge, on the point of a sharp instrument
pressing his naked left breast. This alludes to the Pectoral. 1