In addition to the usual teachings of Masonry, Peter Gower gave his apprentices 75 precepts or aphorisms to contemplate. Many seem on the surface to be simple common sense, while others seem quite bizzare and enigmatic. Have no doubt, all of them deserve careful contemplation and have meanings beyond what is apparent. Some of his followers even published their own interpretations, but they are presented here without commentary, just as they were to Peter Gower's apprentices.
1. Go not beyond the balance.
2. Sit not down on the bushel.
3. Tear not the crown to pieces.
4. Eat not the heart.
5. Stir not up the fire with a sword.
6. When you are arrived on the frontiers, desire not to return back.
7. Go not in the public way.
8. Suffer no swallows about your house.
9. Wear not the image of God upon your ring.
10. Help men to burden, but not to unburden themselves.
11. Shake not hands easily with any man.
12. Leave not the least mark of the pot upon the ashes.
13. Sow mallows, but never eat them.
14. Wipe not out the place of the torch.
15. Wear not a straight ring.
16. Feed not the animals that have crooked claws.
17. Abstain from beans.
18. Eat not fish whose tails are black.
19. Never eat the gurnard.
20. Eat not the womb of animals.
21. Abstain from the flesh of beasts that die of themselves.
22. Abstain from eating animals.
23. Always put salt upon the table.
24. Never break the bread.
25. Spill not oil upon the seat.
26. Put not meat into a foul vessel.
27. Feed the cock but sacrifice him not, for he is sacred to the sun and to the moon.
28. Break not the teeth.
29. Keep the vinegar cruet far from you.
30. Spit upon the parings of your nails, and the clippings of your hair.
31. Make not water against the sun.
32. Speak not in the face of the sun.
33. We ought not to sleep at noon.
34. Stir up the bed as soon as you are risen, and leave in it no print of your body.
35. Never sing but to the harp.
36. Always keep your things ready packed up.
37. Quit not your post without the order of your commander.
38. Cut not wood in the way.
39. Roast not that which is boiled.
40. Avoid the two-edged sword.
41. Pick not up what is fallen from the table.
42. Abstain even from a cypress chest.
43. Sacrifice an odd number to the celestial gods, and to the infernal an even.
44. Offer not to the gods the wine of an unpruned vine.
45. Never sacrifice without meal.
46. Adore the gods and sacrifice barefoot.
47. Turn round when you worship.
48. Sit down when you worship.
49. Pare not your nails during the sacrifice.
50. When it thunders, touch the ground.
51. Regard not yourself in the looking-glass by the light of a torch.
52. One, two.
53. Honor the marks of dignity, the throne and the ternary.
54. When the winds blow, adore Echo.
55. Eat not in the chariot.
56. Put on your right shoe first, and wash your left foot first.
57. Eat not the brain.
58. Plant not the palm tree.
59. Make the libations to the gods by the ear.
60. Never eat the cuttlefish.
61. Stop not at the threshold.
62. Give way to a flock that goes by.
63. Avoid the weasel.
64. Refuse the weapons a woman offers you.
65. Kill not the serpent that chances to fall within your walls.
66. It is a crime to throw stones into the fountains.
67. Feed not yourself with your left hand.
68. It is a horrible crime to wipe off the sweat with iron.
69. Stick not iron into the footprints of a man.
70. Sleep not upon a grave.
71. Lay not the whole bundle of wood upon the fire.
72. Leap not from the chariot with your feet close together.
73. Threaten not the stars.
74. Place not the candle against the wall.
75. Write not in the snow.