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Gold; Silver; Brass; Iron
or The Four Masonic Values in the Euclid Lodge
Robert Morris
Euclid Lodge is a good Lodge for work, and far beyond
the ordinary, for practical benevolence and fraternity.
Strangers who have visited "Watchall county, have declared it to be
a matter of surprise to them how so well-governed and so
well-informed a Lodge as Euclid ever got there. Although
it is not situated at the county seat, and is but one amongst
six in the county, yet there is no Lodge in the State with a
sounder membership, and it is not at all uncommon for applicants
to obtain permission from the Lodges nearest which they
live, to come up, from a considerable distance, to Euclid, and,
if found worthy, to be made Masons there. The membership
of Euclid Lodge, however, is not numerous, but little over
the old standard, in fact, for they do not follow the modern
notion of making members of all whom they make Masons;*{The Ahiman
Rezon declares that "more than forty or fifty members,
when they can attend regularly, as the wholesome rules of the craft require,
are generally found inconvenient for working to advantage." The declaration
is true to this day.}
far from it. The last report of the Secretary, Bro. Plumbe,
to the Grand Lodge, gives fifty-four Master Masons as the
total of membership. The reasons why they have no more,
are found in a small handful of black marbles at the further
end of the ballot box. Those reasons are considered amply
sufficient.
The Worshipful Master of Euclid Lodge, Brother Coverly,
has somewhere picked up the following tradition, and seems
never so happy as when he is telling it once a month to his
brethren in open lodge: "At the building of King Solomon's
Temple, bands of the Fellow-crafts, eighty men in each, were
sent to Mount Lebanon to examine the cedar trees, while the
ten thousand Jews, under Adoniram, followed after to cut
them down. Every tree was scrutinized by eighty pair of
eyes, and if any one of them observed the minutest defect,
such as a crook, crack, wind-shake, knot-hole, decay or flaw
of any sort, he marked it, (not being called upon to give his
reasons) and that cedar tree stood rejected."
So well known abroad is Euclid Lodge for the virtue of
good fellowship, that its representative in the Grand Lodge is
invariably appointed chairman of the Committee of Complaints
and Appeals, an office for which he is considered well qualified
on account of the many compromises he has witnessed at home.
For the Supreme Court itself is not better known as a tribunal
of last resort than is Euclid Lodge. Whenever a serious
difficulty springs up between brethren of a neighboring Lodge,
or between a member and one of those amphibious creatures,
styled demitted Masons, it most assuredly finds its way to
Euclid Lodge at last; and it is worth any man's twenty-five
dollars to see Brother Coverly, sitting behind his monstrous
big goggles (he declares that he can't sit up late at night
unless he guards his eyes with green glass) presiding at one
of these appeal cases. The code of practice at his court is
uniform and simple. First, he requires a pledge from both
parties that they will stand to and abide by the decision of
the Lodge ; then he hears both sides with unwearied patience,
("it has been whispered that he goes to sleep behind the
goggles aforesaid); then he makes both parties acknowledge
themselves partly wrong, and shaks hands over the holy spot.
Then comes a speech from Brother Coverly, a heartfelt prayer
from grayheaded Parson Logue, a shaking of hands and
handkerchiefs all around, and then the Lodge closes and that's
the last you ever hear of it. People outside may go wild with
curiosity; it makes no difference — the thing is locked up, and
the key lost. They may waylay the Masons on their road
home, and try to entrap them with questions; all in vain.
"How did that trial come out? "a solemn stare is the only
response. "Did the parties make their statements? "No
answer. "Didn't Higgs call Diggs a liar? "A gentle
whistle, tune, freemason's March. "Well then, how was
the thing settled? "A smile and a turning away, a scratching
of heads and a general disappointment. That's just the way
they did when Stovall was accused of kicking Marcus, knowing
him to be a Mason, and to this day old Mother Phlote has
labored in vain to get at the particulars.
Ah, bless yoar heart, there's no leaky barrels in Euclid
Lodge; the bungs are well drove in, the hoops hammered
down and riveted; the whole Lodge is tight as a drum. The
members have often enough been cautioned that the manner
in which Masons settle their difficulties, is one of the
impenetrable secrets of the art. This is in accordance with the well
known views of Dr. Oliver, the sage historian of Masonry,
who advises that "all differences which may occur amongst
us, ought to be kept secret from the world: the degree of
Provost and Judge was instituted by Solomon to hear complaints
and decide differences."
The amiable character of Euclid Lodge is so noted that the
colonies which go out from her every year or two to organize
new Lodges, as a beegum expands itself in new swarms, may
be recognized by their family resemblance. The sapient Sam
Slick, in his book of travels, says "the character of the mother
is a sure index to the character of the daughter;" and so it
proves here, for no Lodges in the State rank higher on the
books of the Grand Lodge than these offshoots of Euclid.
But highly exalted as Euclid Lodge is and deserves to be,
it has nevertheless a variety amidst its membership, and this
variety it is that has suggested the title of this sketch, Gold,
Silver, Brass, and Iron. Four grades are distinctly marked
even as these four metals were used in the temple of King
Solomon, and we greatly err if it does not prove upon examination
that every other Lodge possesses nearly the same variety
Let us commence at
The Iron Value
Squire Blunt is a fair specimen of this material. He became
a Mason principally because his neighbors did, and he continues
his membership in the Lodge because he likes to hear
it said that he is a Mason. He wears a Masonic breastpin,
and has painted a square and compass on his sign, both being
for the purpose of affording prima facie evidence to the same
effect. He pays his Lodge dues only occasionally; is always
astonished to find they have run up so large; is convinced
that the Secretary forgot to enter his last payment; hunts
over his papers at home for the receipt; fails to find it, then-
gives it up with a grumble. Whenever he visits the Lodge,
which is very rarely the case except at elections, installations,
and funeral occasions, he has a resolution to offer that the
quarterage dues be reduced one half, declaring that for the
life of him he doesn't see what becomes of all the money. He
would like very much to hold office, and frequently proposes
that Euclid Lodge should fall into the modern practice of
holding elections semi-annually, in hopes that his turn would
come the sooner.
When a stranger falls into the neighborhood to visit an
acquaintance or to look for land, Squire Blunt is usually
foremost to hail him as a Mason, to examine him, and then
who but he is ready to take him by the hand, introduce him
into the Lodge room and boldly vouch for him. Squire Blunt
invariably objects on the score of expense, to the employment
of the authorized lecturer when he comes around, and as one
noisy man can sometimes do much more harm than a score of
sensible folks can remedy, he did once succeed in preventing
an engagement of this sort, greatly to the injury of the Lodge.
The Squire has no Masonic books, but being fond of reading
such things, he depends upon borrowing from others; he
adopts the same economical rule concerning Masonic magazines
and newspapers.
Squire Blunt has very limited notions of the Cable Tow. It
is not more than three miles long in his opinion, and some of
the brethren have whispered that the particular rope which he
holds on to, is somewhat warped at that — perhaps for the
want of use. It was on this account that when Bennington
Lodge lost its hall by fire, and when Croswell Lodge appealed
to Masonic charities on behalf of their Orphan school, and
when the poor Hungarian brother who was collecting means
to bring his family to America, came with a recommendatory
letter from the Grand Master, none of these things moved the
heart of Squire Blunt. He declared "they were not within
the length of bis Cable Tow," and who could gainsay his
declaration.
Squire Blunt is more liable to be imposed upon than other
Masons in his vicinity. For instance, he was overtaken one
day on the road by a cute Yankee fellow in the rifle trade,
who passing himself off on the Squire as a Royal Arch Mason,
got a five dollar bill out of him for an old copy of Alien's
Ritual, that veritable exposition of all the degrees and a good
deal more. But when Squire Blunt brought his costly purchase to
the Lodge and triumphantly exhibited it, Brother
Coverly put on his large green goggles, looked it through from
end to end and then dropping it softly into the stove, he
remarked in his sweet mild way, "either this exposition is
true or false; if true you have no right to handle the perjured.
leaves, if false, you have no use for it: in either case you are
acting unmasonically to patronize the enemies of morality by
paying out your money for these works!" — and so Squire
Blunt lost his five dollars.
Brethren, who read this little sketch, have you any member
of the Iron value in your Lodge ?
The Brass Value
Brass is not so much a metal in itself aa a compound of
other metals, and the mixture is very little like the original.
Dr. Swazey is a specimen of the Brass value in Euclid
Lodge. Dr. Swazey has many excellent Masonic qualities
He pays his quarterage dues like a hero. His cable tow
reaches to the furthest parts of the earth and comprehends
all mankind in a single coil. The fact is the Doctor is so
good hearted and benevolent to all men that he can hardly
proportion his bounties to any particular class above the rest.
Dr. Swazey is extravagantly fond of side degrees. He has
got them all, and glories in having them all. He has been
ground over in the Button factory degree; burnt his fingers
in the Call-and-Answer; plead to scandalous charges in the
Blue hen ; tussled manfully in the Row-your-own-oar; shot
his arrow; eat his words; held on to his cable tow; been
down to Joppa; conquered divers temptations — in short, his
education in this branch is complete. Finding the thing so
easy he manufactured a side degree for himself called the
Pestle-and-Mortar; but as none but physicians can take it,
we are in the dark as to its mysteries; but we have been told
that the candidate commences by swallowing twelve pills in
succession as a trial of his fortitude.
And here now lies the error of Dr. Swazey, Ms metal is too
much compounded. He has more zeal than discretion.
No person in the Lodge is better prepared to be a bright,
Mason than he. His library of Masonic books is large, the
largest in the district. He has the education to understand
them, and the talent to apply them, but his Masonic reputation
is not first rate, for he attaches himself to every secret
society that springs up, and devotes as much time and means
to one as the other. He seems unable to discriminate between
an association born within half a century and one that has
stood the brunt of twenty-eight centuries. In the tenets of
Masonry Dr. Swazey is as apt as any other person, in Brotherly
Love, Belief and Truth; likewise in the cardinal virtues
of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice. But even
here his brassy-compound value is visible, for he has got his
temperance so much mixed up with temperance societies and
his relief with mutual relief associations that for the life of
him he cannot see the difference.
But it is much more pleasant to commend than to blame.
The charitable disposition of Dr. Swazey is so well understood
by his brethren, that when a contribution is to be made
up they always put his name down, whether present or not,
and he fulfills their expectations like a Trojan. When Brother
Joon died, leaving his family in a destitute condition, the
Doctor sent in his account for medical attendance receipted
in full, and furthermore declared himself indebted to the estate
Seven dollars — (it was a falsehood, but the angels smiled over
it and refused to report at the heavenly east,) — and he paid
over the seven dollars to the widow.
Yet there is another fault this brassy brother has. He has
got into the erroneous idea that as Masonry doesn't take away
any privileges which a man possessed before he joined the
Order, therefore if a person insults you, you may knock him
down, Mason or no Mason. This doctrine is not pure gold,
like Electa's; it is brass. The Doctor is wrong in his
premises, therefore he errs materially in his conclusions. He
goes beyond the parallels and the book: no wonder then if his
orbit becomes in this respect a lawless one.
Brother Swazey belongs to the progressive party in Masonry.
He believes in going ahead. He thinks that because
King Solomon never heard the puff of a steamboat, nor saw a
newspaper, nor smelt chloroform, therefore all the wisdom
didn't die with him; and so he is in favor of improving Masonry.
He forgets that perfection in the art of architecture is lost
He thinks he has a patent way for the grips; a new kink in
giving the signs; one grande flourishe, as the Frenchmen say,
for the words. The year he attended the Grand Lodge he
made a three hours' speech developing his ideas; but unfortunately
that stubborn body voted them down, seriatim, and
Dr. Swazey has never been there since.
Brethren, who read this little sketch, have you any mem-
bers of the brass value in your Lodge?
The Silver Value
Silver is a white, ponderous, costly and pure metal, much
sought after, both for mechanical and ornamental purposes.
In its nature it is indestructible. It is rather scarce among
the fifty-five elementary bodies, but very widely diffused
throughout nature.
The finest specimen of the. silver value in Euclid Lodge is
Parson Logue. This reverend brother comes from a silver
family, morally speaking, for his brother Robert was so
universally beloved both by Mason and Cowan, that after he
died and his poor wife followed him to the grave on account
of her grief, their children were raised at the expense of
Masons, and more than seven years afterwards, a Lodge,
organized in a room that overlooked his grave, was named
Logue Lodge in honor of his memory.
Parson Logue is equal to that deceased brother both in
morals (Masonry) and religion; and resembles him as well
in his holy walk and conversation, as in the lineaments of his
face recorded in the portrait suspended on his parlor wall.
The brethren of Euclid Lodge highly appreciate the silver
value of this pure hearted brother, and they manifest it bv
using his talents freely in the various Lodge offices and duties.
He has filled all the elective stations so frequently, and it has
become so much a matter of course to elect him, that when an
absent brother meets one after St. John Evangelist's day, his
enquiry is "and what did you make of parson Jim this time?"
In fact he has perambulated the Lodge room from East to
South and from South to West so frequently, and occupied all
the intervening places so thoroughly, that the work of Masonry
comes as pat to him aa it does to preach a sermon on Free
Grace.
Brother Logue is emphatically a working man. Had he
been present at the building of King Solomon's Temple, the
King would certainly have employed him, and put him in an
honorable station and given him Master Mason's wages.
But there are soots in the sun. We must now turn the
picture. The good old gentleman lacks something. We
cannot elevate him to the highest standard of Masonry, and it
is for this reason, he does not know the lectures and cannot
elucidate the landmarks. The consequence is that he is often
compelled to defer his judgment to far younger men, and it
injures his Masonic character to do so. Furthermore, when
he has conferred a degree he depends on some brother present
to give the lecture, or in default of that, sends him home
without it, which is a fraud (however innocent the motive)
upon the candidate.
Again, this Reverend brother of the silver value is sadly
deficient in the disciplinary regulations of a Lodge. He is
uninformed as to the principles on which the most vital questions
are founded. For instance, he cannot say what rule
governs in vouching for visitors; or whether a fellow-craft
Mason is or is not to be admitted into a funeral procession;
or whether a motion to reconsider can be entertained after
balloting; or how it can be discovered which member of the
Lodge cast a black ball.
He believes that side degrees are injurious to the interests
of Masonry, but he cannot prove it, and this gives Dr. Swazey,
who is extravagantly fond of such things, as we have said
before, a great advantage in the debate. He thinks that
Squire Blunt ought to pay his quarterage dues more punctually
and attend the stated meetings more regularly, and study
the work of Masonry more completely, but he has no unanswerable
argument with which to meet that. selfish cry, "It isn't
within the length of my cable tow" — and thus the Squire
wins the argument.
Yet there are many precious virtues in this silver value of
Parson Logue. He preaches all the Masons' funerals in the
county, and most beautifully does he perform it too. His
independence of thought, his Masonic reputation, his long
experience, and his incorruptibleness of character, are a sufficient
guarantee to every hearer that he shall have a mental feast.
These occasions bring out a large concourse of people who
acknowledge their gratification at his success in presenting
Masonry so appropriately as the adjunct to Christianity. This
excellent brother is generally installed agent in all the Masonic
charities of his brethren. Is there a widow to be visited? —
an orphan family to be provided for? — a sick brother to be
comforted? Parson Logue is the man ever ready, always
willing, ever efficient. Whole chapters might be written to
illustrate his silver value, and a volume of anecdotes paraded
to show it up, but a single instance must suffice.
The two Masonic brothers, both amphibious, Thomas Lane
and Jacob Hall, had quarreled. The original difficulty was an
insignificant one, connected with some church matter, but the
sore had come to a head, on a five dollar account which Hall
bought up against Lane, and a bad offensive sore it proved to
be. Many a stamp with the foot had well nigh led to a smite
with the hand, but thus far the Lord had led them on and they
had not come to blows. Mischief however had been heaped
upon mischief, and rumor upon rumor, and the breach was
every day widening, when Brother Logue, the silver Mason,
declared that the quarrel had proceeded far enough, and he
would go a frogging himself to settle it. His first motion
was to buy up the aforesaid five dollars account, and present
it to Brother Lane receipted in full. Then he took back
Brother Lane's thanks and respects to Brother Hall; then
Brother Hall's warm good wishes to Brother Lane. Then he
brought the two parties face to face at his house (accidentally
of course) and the whole thing was reconciled in five minutes,
natural as a turnip. The best of it was they both handed in
their demits to Euclid Lodge, were elected without a demur,
and became active members — thus diminishing the number of
croakers by two.
It is just such things as these that the old brother lives for,
and if he didn't believe there was a Mason Lodge in the next
world, he would care very little about going there.
Brethren, who read this little sketch, have you any
members of the silver value in your Lodge? "then let every
Mason prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing
in himself alone, and not in another."
The Gold Value
Gold is about sixteen times more valuable than silver.
Estimating iron at four cents a pound, gold exceeds that
metal in value nearly five thousand times; in other words it
will nearly take five thousand pounds of iron to purchase one
of gold. We do not know the relative value of the four metals
in King Solomon's time, but there must have been great
disproportion, for we observe the numbers 8, 17, 18, and 100
representing the number of talents respectively that were
consumed in the Temple. The division of officers and
artificers is also indicative of great disproportion, viz, 3, 300.
8,800 and 80,000.
A fine specimen of the gold value in Euclid Lodge is Bro.
Coverly, and would that we could worthily display his character.
But who can describe the refined gold of the Temple
as it flashed answering back to the god of day, from every
pinnacle and spearhead upon the roof. No foul bird was to
alight there and defile it; no vile flesh was to encumber it:
it was to reflect nothing but Holiness to the Lord.
When Brother Coverly first became a Mason (it was long,
long ago: not a hand which then hailed him with a brother's
grip but is now consumed in death,) he embarked in it as a
man would encounter some abstruse science that demands
time, and toil and talent to comprehend. He had his choice
between the four values, gold, silver, brass, iron. He might
have come up to the iron value merely by possessing himself
of the grips and a few technicalities of the order; but this had
no temptation for him. "Once a Mason always a Mason,"
is a severe truth, and Brother Coveriy early declared "that
when a man enters any state of existence either with or without
his own consent, prudence dictates that he should make it
as tolerable as he may." So he took hold of the thing
vigorously and vowed to see the end of it.
He might have attained to the brass value with great
facility. By uniting the more obvious beauties of Masonry
to those engrafted into other secret societies he could have
displayed his talent and gained high honors with the mass.
But he declared himself opposed to polygamy; didn't believe
in breeding in-and-in: loved pure blood; would sew no new
patches upon old garments. Therefore he never joined any
other secret society, and jested at the idea of dipping water
from the spring-branch below, when he could have free access
to the spring-head above,
He might have gone up to the silver value, and stood side
by side with that exemplary brother, Parson Logue.
He had all the qualifications in advance of a prepared heart,
a consistent life, a good education, experience for this world,
and religion for the next; Masonry can add but little to such
as that, to bring her votaries up to the silver value. This little
was soon acquired. He learned the work of Masonry in a few
days, while after a year's novitiate none could preside with
more dignity or wield the gavel with more propriety than he.
The honors of the Lodge and of the Grand Lodge were awarded
him; the brethren had respect to their own interest in his
speedy elevation, and soon Brother Coverly began to be looked
upon as an embodiment of the principles and practice of
Freemasonry both at home and abroad.
But all this was far from satisfying his mind. The silver
value however precious and pure, ranks but second in the
scale of Masonic values, and his heart aspired excelsior.
Having the beauty and skill of the Widow's son, the strength
and fulness of the Tyrian monarch, he sighed for the wisdom
of the King of Israel, and he made the gold of Ophir his
standard of Masonry. Those who aim high may not hit their
mark, but they will assuredly send their missiles to a more
extensive flight.
These considerations influencing the mind of Bro. Coverly,
he resolved to make three sacrifices on the altar of Masonry,
yea four: time, study, will, money. The expenditure of the
latter procured Masonic books for his study, and the personal
experience of Masons for his guidance. The outlay of the
former gave him that further experience of Masons which is
recorded in books; to these he added the stock he had
gathered in his own person.
The sacrifice of his will — he was delighted with the old
symbol, the Masonic slipper — purchased for him one of the
principal secrets of Masonry, a secret which thousands who
pass through our Lodges, Chapters, Councils, &c., and incur
much expense of money never do acquire; and the knowledge
of that secret it was more than all the rest which ennobled him.
Brother Coveriy early adopted the opinion that the work
of Masonry is to the senses, what the lectures are to the mind,
and that the lectures themselves should only be considered as
a text to the development of those principles, wise, strong,
and beautiful, which underlie, like the immense stones which
were in the Temple's base, the whole moral system.
Pursuing the subject by the aid of tradition, revelation and
the study of symbols, he arrived at this sketch of Masonic
theology; — that there is a God; that he created man and
placed him in circumstances of happiness; that man forfeited
his blessings and was banished to an inferior state; that to
repenting humanity God promised restoration; that the unrepentant
were destroyed by water; that miracles were worked
to release the people of God from bondage and to strengthen
them with hope; and that a tabernacle and afterwards a
temple were constructed on a divine plan to fix the promises
by symbols and types. Who that has stood by him in the
sanctum of Euclid Lodge and heard his thrilling illustration
of the doctrine of the Resurrection through Judah's Lion, but
what has felt like declaring his feelings in Jacob's own words,
this is no other than the house of God and this is the very
gate of heaven, — and then has gone forth with a firmer faith
in the religious tendencies of the order than he had before.
The course of Masonic labor drafted on his Trestle Board,
being actively pursued for many years, elevated Brother Coverly
to the gold value. He can see why Masons should pay
quarterage dues punctually, and attend the stated meetings
promptly, and study Freemasonry diligently. He can tell
not only that Masons must not gamble, drink, swear, and
fight, but why they must not; and his why is an overwhelming
why, irresistible, unanswerable.
In addition to an exposition of the landmarks of Masonry,
Brother Coverly has devoted himself at great cost of time and
money to the disciplinary regulations of a Lodge. When he
commenced the study of this topic it was in vast confusion.
The various Masonic journals in America had not touched
upon it. There was no standard authority of faith and practice
on this head. To acquire the necessary information then,
demanded patience, study, correspondence and travel.
But Brother Coverly has it plumbed, squared, and leveled
now. Be knows whether or not each Lodge must be opened
and closed separately; what code of Masonic laws is universal
and universally binding; what amount of Masonic knowledge
is comprehended in the term suitable proficiency; what are
the privileges and what the responsibilities of a demitted
Mason - to which Lodge the petitioners for a new Lodge
belong - whether an adjournment of the Lodge can be made
an motion — and a myriad of the same sort.
Not only is he able to give you a satisfactory answer to
such questions, but he advances such arguments and offerg
such reasons, (all based upon the ancient and admitted landmarks,)
that you yourself are perfectly convinced, and you
feel able to convince every one else who has got an ear to hear.
Brother Coverly is not an opponent of side degrees as such.
On the contrary, he knows too well that all the degrees, save
the first three, are in strictness such, but yet that some of.
them are essential to the understanding of symbolic Masonry.
Instead therefore of offering a blind opposition to side degrees
in mass, he separates such as are instructive from such as are
merely impressive and rejecting those (far the larger part)
which are neither, he gives their relative place to the rest.
This good brother of the gold value is opposed to all innovations
from whatever source or motive they may spring. He
opposes such large numbers in a single Lodge; such irregular
hours; such a rush of work; so much demitting; opening the
Lodge doors so wide; so much gewgaw and tinsel in decoration;
the modern bastard politeness in Lodge work; the
arbitrary by-laws; and other things not lawful to mention
here. He makes his opposition practical. When Triangle
Lodge, in his vicinty, imitated the Oddfellows and fixed a
sliding pannel in the door of their Lodge room, for the
convenience of the tyier, Brother Coverly, being Deputy Grand
Master at the time, nailed it up with his own hands, and
terrified the members by asseverating that curiosity once killed
a tyier, and that he thought another one was in great danger
of his life!
There is a tradition afloat in his county that seeing the tyler
peep into the room one day while he was presiding, he threw
his gavel at him, and with so much precision as to strike that
respectable functionary directly upon the forehead, and thus
to knock off considerable of the vices and superfluities of his
life. Whether this tale be true or not, we know that the
tyiers all dread Brother Coverly as far as they can see him.
Such is our understanding of the gold value in Euclid Lodge.
Brothers, you who read this little sketch, have you any
such in your Lodge? If you have, prize them; for, as our
Grand Master saith, wisdom is better than rubies; and all
the things that may be desired are not to be compared with it.
You will miss them when they die, and well for you if the loss
do not prove to be irreparable. The same plumb, square, and
level, with which you level the footstone of your mansion, will
be used to level the block above your grave, but oh with what
different emotions. So when we assay the metals of our
Lodge, and pronounce this one or that to be up to the gold
standard, we enjoy far happier feelings than when called upon
by the stroke of death to declare in the words of Jeremiah.
"How is the fine gold become dimmed?"
Prize them, brothers, while yet they walk and work and
shine among you. Your iron and your brass may be replaced;
Your silver, although its loss will be greatly mourned, can be
supplied; for the mine is large and the metal widely diffused:
but who shall replace your fine gold.
Brethren, young and zealous, who look forward to the
double aim of Masonry, getting good and doing good, aim for
the gold value. Slight the other metals, but strive for the
crown, for the pure, yellow, glittering gold of Masonry.
Who amongst you will attain to the gold value. His God
be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah,
and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (HE is THE
God,) which is in Jerusalem. Amen. So mote it be. 
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