Page:Manual of the Lodge.pdf/77

badge of a Mason, more ancient than the Golden Fleece^[1] or Roman Eagle;^[2] more honorable than the Star and Garter,^[3] or any other order that could be conferred upon you, at this or any other future period, by king, prince, or potentate, or any other person, except he were a Mason and in the body of a Lodge, and which, I trust, you will wear with equal pleasure to yourself and honor to the fraternity.

THE LAMBSKIN APRON.

The use of the apron, or some equivalent mode of investiture as a mystic symbol, was common to all the religious systems of antiquity. Among the Israelites, the girdle formed a part of the investiture of the priesthood. In the Persian mysteries of Mithras the candidate was invested with a white apron. In the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, the Zennaar, or sacred Lord, was substituted for the apron. The Essenians clothed their novices with a white robe. Even the Japanese, in their rites of initiation, invest their candidate with a white apron.

The color of a Mason's apron should be pure white, because this color has in all ages and countries been deemed an emblem of purity and innocence. Thus, in the early ages of the Christian Church, the newly-baptized convert was invested with a white robe, to denote that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a life of purity. With a similar meaning, the same undefiled color has been preserved in tho apron of the Freemason.

The material of a Mason's apron must be lambskin. No other

1. The Order of the Golden Fleece was an order of knighthood Instituted in 1429, by Philip, Duke of Burgundy.
2. There is no such order as the Knights of the Roman Eagle. The expression (which is an unhappy one) probably refers to the fact that the Eagle was the standard of the ancient Roman Empire.
3. The Order of the Garter, the most noble of the British orders of knighthood, was instituted in 1341, by Edward III. The Star and the Garter are the insignia bestowed upon and worn by a knight.