The oath forbids writing the secrets in any form (Batavia, NY, 1826)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet provenCode: a stated code
Year: 1826
SUMMARYThe oath forbids writing the secrets in any form (Batavia, NY, 1826) [Connections: Word coding & Masonic method, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDMorgan's text of the Entered Apprentice oath says: "I will not write, print, stamp, stain, hew, cut, carve, indent, paint, or engrave it on any thing movable or immovable" (p. 21). The penalty follows: "my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots" (p. 22)
WITNESSanti-Masonic exposé (hostile witness). The penalty wording is as the exposé prints it
CODEThis is the reason the order needed spoken passwords, split words and ciphers in the first place
PATTERNWhen writing is banned, secrets travel by mouth, by grips, and in halves or letters
LENS (WW9)Do not expect a secret word to be written out plainly on a building or a seal. The rule itself works against that
OPENCompare the oath wording with Duncan's 1866 text
SOURCEMorgan, First Degree Initiation (sacred-texts mirror) (William Morgan, Illustrations of Masonry, copyright entered 14 Aug. 1826, pp. 21–22).