Jewels.

mitted , then does it , indeed , bacome the peerless jewel that opens wide the gates of Heaven to the purified soul . Many centuries ago , when Romo sat in pride upon her seven hills , and the nations did homage to her as the mistress of the world , a Roman matron , stung by the taunts of senseless vanity , presented her sons as her jewels , and proudly pointed to them as far beyond the gold and silver and precious stones that her boasting rivals displayed . " These , " she said , " are my jewels—match them if you can . "

Priceless indeed were tho Roman mother's jewels . Not all the wealth of India ; not all the treasures the broad Amazon washes down his thousand miles of rushing waters ; not all Golconda's mines , nor where beneath the tropic heats the Brazilian slave toils in search of the sparkling diamond ; not all the gems that shone upon the wondrons work of Solomon , when Sheba ' s Queen turned to view the matchless Temple looming in all the glory of the noonday sun ; not all these combined could equal the jewels of that proud mother—jewels of bone , of sinew , of flesh , of blood ; jewels of bright and glorious manhood ;

jewels into which the Creator had breathed the breath of life , out of whose eyes beamed the emanation of a bright intelligence moved and inspired by an immortal soul . My brethren , those were the mortal jewels set in the form of humanity , to subdue and govern the earth , and she , who had brought them forth , was in herself the personification of the sweetest , purest , the most tender of all jewels—a virtuous woman ! Then we might refer to the jewel of a stainless life , the

conscious rectitude of good deeds , the strict doing of justice to our fellow men—the jewels of charity , of mercy , of love , the jewels of chastity . Then there are the the night's bright and glittering jewels looking out of the darkness . The thousand eyes of the firmament , the gems set in the celestial forehead by the Creator , to make beautiful the face of night , to cheer the belated wayfarer and guide the mariner over , life ' s tempestuous sea . Go out with me to-night and look upon those glistening orbs circling through space . Jupiter ,

grand and mighty in all his regal splendour ; Saturn , enclosed by those curious circles , the use or purpose of which has fret the soul of philosophy for so many ages ; Venus , child of love , softly beaming in the dark azure ; the fixed and never changing North Star , fit emblem of the Landmarks of Freemasonry ! true , constant and unalterable , as it was in the beginning , so shall it ever be ; the Pleiades , their light obscured by the tears shed for their lost companion . All these amidst the innumerable host that stud the heavens .

Brethren , those are God ' s jewels , with which He has adorned His handiwork , teaching His creatures that His vigilance never sleeps , and will endure for ever . And so I might go on enumerating the endless variety of jewels with which world , and sky , and life are adorned . Even death is not without its jewels . The blessings that fall around the good man ' s grave ; he that living laboured for the welfare of mankind , and dying , gave his goods to feed the poor . The undaunted youth springing into the yawning gulf , that the anger of the gods might be appeased . The dying patriot , shedding his consecrated blood upon the altar of freedom . The noble women ,

ministering to tne sick and wounded , sinking beneath the pestilence contracted in their devotion to suffering humanity . Those were jewels , once in human form , now clasped in the arms of death ; but all the more bright and beautiful as self-sacrificing jewels ; eternally living after death in the loving remembrance of mankind . I Bufc let me leave these general references and turn to the Masonic jewels before me , and which , 1 have no doubt , the Brethren would much rather hear spoken of than speculations concerning the Roman mothers and their sons of three thousand years ago .

At the installation of a Masonic officer the brethren hear certain words spoken which are no donbt fresh in their •memories , making it unnecessary to repeat them here , only to say that the jewel of the Officer is especially referred to ; and the question naturally arises , Why is the figure attached to the callar of a Masonic Officer called a jewel ? The question may be answered thus : That as Freemasonry works by signs and symbols , the figure pendant from the Officer ' s collar is valuable as symbolical of his station and authority , and it is therefore to him a jewel , without which he would be unknown and undistinguished from the ordinary members of the Lodge . " Every Lodge , " says a

Jewels.

Masonic writer , " is furnished with two sets of jewels , the movable and the immovable . The movable jewels , so called because they are not confined to any particular part of the Lodge , are the rough ashlar , the perfect ashlar ; and the trestle board . The immovable jewels are the square , level and plumb . They are termed immovable because they are appropriated to particular parts of the Lodge ,

where alone they should be round , namely , tne square to the East , the level to the West , and the plumb to the South . " To these may be added the three jewels of Wisdom , Strength and Beauty . Wisdom to the Master in the East , Strength to the S . W . in the West , and Beauty to the J . W . in the South . While reference to the movable jewels is frequently made in the work of other jurisdictions , here they are not often mentioned , and I shall briefly speak of them as of interest to the brethren .

The rough Ashlar is the stone as it comes from the quarry , without form , in its natural state , before the tools of the workman have been applied to it , rough , misshapen and unhewn . The perfect Ashlar is a true stone , cube or square , finished from the Craftsman ' s hands . In speculative Masonry the one is symbolic of the rude and uncultivated man , full of the grossness and vices of his profane life j rough from Nature's quarry ; and the other denotes the polished and educated Mason , freed from the impurities of the material existence and prepared for his station in the everlasting Temple , there to shine a perfect jewel to all eternity .

When we are about to build , we first survey the site , then , upon a material trestle board , we draw the plans and make the estimates , and take those designs for guide and director , until the completed structure rewards our labours always referring to the trestle board for information as the work proceeds . And so building up our spiritual temple , in speculative Masonry , the trestle board represents the Great Light , shining from the Masonic altar as an inspired jewel ; its sacred lustre , undimned by the passing ages , lighting and guiding the Craftsman along the road adorned with the jewels of virtue and happiness .

Let us defer for a moment the consideration of the immovable jewels before us , and , turning to the outer door , examine and comment upon the jewel of the officer occupying the important post of guard or sentinel , known in Freemasonry as the Tyler . First , one might inquire , Why is the officer stationed at the outer door of a Masonic Lodge called the Tyler ? such being the technical name of the workman who covers roofs with tiles . I confess that I could never [ exactly understand the pertinency of that

designation to the " guard , or sentinel of the outer door , and I will give you the explanation of a distinguished Masonic author : "As in operative Masonry , the tiler , when the edifice is erected , finishes and covers it with the roof , so in speculative Masonry , when the Lodge is duly organised , the Tyler closes the door and covers the sacred precincts form all intrusion . " The Tyler we all know to be an important and responsible officer . He should be of retentive memory , quick intelligence and vigilant in the discharge of his duties . His jewel is a sword , pendant from a blue collar . It is a

representation of the weapon he carries to enforce the execution of his duties and to defend the entrance against attack . That he should be armed and ready at all times to protect the door at which he is stationed is but a proper and justifiable precaution , and in the early days of Freemasonry the Tyler was never to be seen on duty without his sword ; but of later years it has become the custom to neglect the wearing of this weapon , " a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance . "

I may here say thafc men with the proper qualifications for Tylers are not easily to be found . Having spoken of the Tyler and his jewel , let us re-enter the Lodge and examine the jewels appertaining to the three most important officers , the Master and Wardens . We will first take up the Plumb—the Jewel of the J . W . Why is the Plumb the jewel that distinguishes that officer ? He calls the Craft

from Labour to Refreshment , and it is his duty to see that the brethren do not overstep the bounds of decorum or carry the enjoyment of the hour to excess . I might call attention here to the fact that it was the custom in former times to call the Lodge off from Labour to Refreshment literally , and that the brethren would be served in the Lodge Room . The J . W . at that time having charge of the Lodge , and upon him rested the responsibility that