When the Master of the Lodge presents the candidate with his apron, using these impressive words, he is performing perhaps the most important single act in all the ceremonies of Masonry. In this act alone, the craft speaks to the candidate in worldly terms calculated to impress upon him all of the esteem in which Masons hold the fraternity. In every other ceremony, Masonry teaches man his duty to God, his neighbor and himself, but only in those few words does Masonry speak of itself.

To a real Mason, the fraternity and its teachings, its ceremonies and its associations are very precarious. The Brothers who first gave voice to these sentiments were stating the veneration in which Masons hold their craft as compared with other very noble human institutions.

The Roman Eagle, going back to Pre-Christian Era, was the standard under which the legions of Rome marched to conquer the ancient world. The Order of the Golden Fleece was an order of nobility founded by Philip, Duke of Burgundy in 1329. The Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III, King of England in 1349. To be compared to the dignity and antiquity of these organizations is to speak most highly of the craft. To compare the simple, snow-white apron, to the ornate trappings and insignia of these orders, is to set its value as a pearl above price.

To speak of the innocence of a Mason is to use the old connotation of the word. It means "to do no hurt or injury." It certainly does not mean a "lack of knowledge of evil" which is its present usage. The choice of the gentle lamb, as an emblem of this innocence in all ages, to furnish the proper material for the apron bears out this connotation. Haywood, the great Masonic writer says:

The innocence of a Mason, is his gentleness, his chivalrous determination to do no moral evil to any person, man or women or babe; his patient forbearance of the crudeness and ignorance of men, his charitable forgiveness of his brethren when they willfully or unconsciously do him evil; his dedication to a spiritual knighthood in behalf of the values and virtues of humanity, by which alone man rises above the brutes, and world is carried forward on the upward way.

To be part of this fraternity, to help fulfill its mission in the world by a faithful adherence to the duties imposed in its obligations, are the meanings of this spotless vestment. To don the badge of a Mason, to wear it with pleasure to oneself and honor to the fraternity is to take upon oneself the highest, purest and noblest standards of humanity. It is an ever-present personal challenge to the craft, to be worthy to wear this badge. Virtue and exemplary conduct are said to be the title of our privileges, and the right to wear the apron worthily is the only reward we get for virtue in this world.

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