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Remarks On The Symbolical Nature Of Jeavels As Connected With Freemasonry.
figures into a divine form , we have the Freemason ' s spiritual square in perfection . Pope Innocent III ., from the letter which accompanied his presents to King John , appears to have understood Freemasonry ; for he therein expresses himself in the following terms : — " Among the riches that mortals prize as the most valuable , and desire with the greatest earnestnessit is our opinion that pure gold and
, precious stones hold the first rank . " Though we are persuaded your Royal Excellence has no want of these things , we have thought proper to send you as a mark of our good will , four rings , set with stones ; we beg the favour you would consider the mysteries contained in their form , their matter , their number , and their colour , rather than their value ; their roundness denotes eternity , which having neither beginning nor endought to induce you to tend
, without ceasing , from earthly things to heavenly , and from things temporal to things eternal . " The number four , which is a square , signifies firmness of mind , not to be shaken by adversity , nor elevated by prosperity , but always continuing in the same state . This is a perfection to which yours will
not tail to arrive , when it shall be adorned with the four cardinal virtues , justice , fortitude , prudence , and temperance ; the first will be of service in your judgments , the second in adversity , the third in dubious cases , the fourth in prosperity . " By the gold is signified wisdom ; but as gold is the most precious of metals , wisdom is of all endowments the most excellent , as the Prophet witnesses in these words , ' The spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him , ' and indeed there is nothing more requisite in a sovereign ; accordingly ,
Solomon , that pacific king , only asked of God wisdom to enable him to well govern his people . The green colour of the emerald denotes faith , the clearness of the sapphire hope , the redness of the ruby charity , and the colour of the topaz good works , concerning which our Saviour said , ' let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works . ' In the emerald , therefore , you have what you are to believe , in the sapphire what you are to hope , in the ruby what you are to love , and in the topaz what you are to practise , —to the end you may proceed from virtue to virtue , till you come to the vision of the God of Gods in Sion . "
The most holy stone was the emerald , because it denoted faith ; it was the fourth foundation-stone in the " new Jerusalem , " and perhaps the fourth in the high-priest ' s breastplate . The bow that surrounds the holy throne , St . John tells us , displayed no other shade of glory , but that which encircled it was like unto an emerald . It is an oriental tradition
that any serpent will grow blind at the sight of that stone if held near its eyes . Figuratively , Satan in his fallen state cannot bear its refulgence . It was the type of Christ ' s coming , David ' s tribe being descended from the fourth son of Jacob by Leah . The common emerald is ranked among the gems , but is now found only in Peru ; it is green , harder than quartz , and always in crystals . The oriental emerald is a green sapphire . The beryl is a variety of the emerald of a paler green or blue . The emerald of Brazil is a tourmaline .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Remarks On The Symbolical Nature Of Jeavels As Connected With Freemasonry.
figures into a divine form , we have the Freemason ' s spiritual square in perfection . Pope Innocent III ., from the letter which accompanied his presents to King John , appears to have understood Freemasonry ; for he therein expresses himself in the following terms : — " Among the riches that mortals prize as the most valuable , and desire with the greatest earnestnessit is our opinion that pure gold and
, precious stones hold the first rank . " Though we are persuaded your Royal Excellence has no want of these things , we have thought proper to send you as a mark of our good will , four rings , set with stones ; we beg the favour you would consider the mysteries contained in their form , their matter , their number , and their colour , rather than their value ; their roundness denotes eternity , which having neither beginning nor endought to induce you to tend
, without ceasing , from earthly things to heavenly , and from things temporal to things eternal . " The number four , which is a square , signifies firmness of mind , not to be shaken by adversity , nor elevated by prosperity , but always continuing in the same state . This is a perfection to which yours will
not tail to arrive , when it shall be adorned with the four cardinal virtues , justice , fortitude , prudence , and temperance ; the first will be of service in your judgments , the second in adversity , the third in dubious cases , the fourth in prosperity . " By the gold is signified wisdom ; but as gold is the most precious of metals , wisdom is of all endowments the most excellent , as the Prophet witnesses in these words , ' The spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him , ' and indeed there is nothing more requisite in a sovereign ; accordingly ,
Solomon , that pacific king , only asked of God wisdom to enable him to well govern his people . The green colour of the emerald denotes faith , the clearness of the sapphire hope , the redness of the ruby charity , and the colour of the topaz good works , concerning which our Saviour said , ' let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works . ' In the emerald , therefore , you have what you are to believe , in the sapphire what you are to hope , in the ruby what you are to love , and in the topaz what you are to practise , —to the end you may proceed from virtue to virtue , till you come to the vision of the God of Gods in Sion . "
The most holy stone was the emerald , because it denoted faith ; it was the fourth foundation-stone in the " new Jerusalem , " and perhaps the fourth in the high-priest ' s breastplate . The bow that surrounds the holy throne , St . John tells us , displayed no other shade of glory , but that which encircled it was like unto an emerald . It is an oriental tradition
that any serpent will grow blind at the sight of that stone if held near its eyes . Figuratively , Satan in his fallen state cannot bear its refulgence . It was the type of Christ ' s coming , David ' s tribe being descended from the fourth son of Jacob by Leah . The common emerald is ranked among the gems , but is now found only in Peru ; it is green , harder than quartz , and always in crystals . The oriental emerald is a green sapphire . The beryl is a variety of the emerald of a paler green or blue . The emerald of Brazil is a tourmaline .