says, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." At the
same moment that the last of these words drops from the Master's lips,
every member stamps with his right foot on the floor, and at the same
instant brings his hands together with equal force, and in such
perfect unison with each other, that persons situated so as to hear it
would suppose it the precursor of some dreadful catastrophe. This is
called "THE SHOCK." The members of the Lodge then separate.

The above comprises all the secret forms and ceremonies in a Lodge of
Entered Apprentice Masons; but if the candidate would thoroughly
understand the whole, he must commit to memory the following
"Lecture." Very few do this except the officers of the Lodge. The
"Lecture" is nothing more nor less than a recapitulation of the
preceding ceremonies and forms by way of question and answer, in order
fully to explain the same. In fact, the ceremonies and forms
(masonically called the WORK) and Lecture are so much the same that he
who possesses a knowledge of the Lecture cannot be destitute of a
knowledge of what the ceremonies and forms are. The ceremonies used in
opening and closing are the same in all the degrees.

* * * * *


FIRST SECTION.

LECTURE ON THE FIRST DEGREE OF MASONRY.

Question--From whence came you as an Entered Apprentice Mason?
Answer--From the Holy Lodge of St. John at Jerusalem.