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The following may be used:
It may be that, in the coming years, upon your head may rest the laurel wreaths of victory; pendant from your breast may hang jewels fit to grace the diadem of an Eastern potentate; nay, more than these, with light added to the coming light, your ambitious feet may tread round after round of the ladder that leads to fame in our mystic circle, and even the purple of the Fraternity may rest upon your honored shoulders; but never again from mortal hands, never again until your enfranchised spirit shall have passed upward and inward through the pearly gates, shall any honor so distinguished, so emblematical of purity and all perfections, be conferred upon you as this which I now bestow. It is yours; yours to wear throughout an honorable life, and at your death to be deposited upon the coffin which shall inclose your lifeless remains, and with them laid beneath the clods of the valley.
Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of a "purity of life and rectitude of conduct," a never-ending argument for nobler deeds, for higher thoughts, for greater achievements. And when at last your weary feet shall have come to the end of life's toilsome journey, and from your nerveless grasp shall drop forever the working tools of life, may the record of your life and actions be as pure and spotless as this fair emblem which I place in your hands; and when your trembling soul shall stand naked and alone before the Great White Throne, there to receive judgment for the deeds done while here in the body, may it be your portion to hear from Him who sitteth as the Judge Supreme the welcome words: "Well done, good and faithful servant! Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
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Working Tools.
The Working Tools of Entered Apprentice are the Twenty-four-Inch Gauge and the Common Gavel.
The Twenty-four-inch Gauge is an instrument used by operative masons to measure and lay out their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to use it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three equal parts, whereby are found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy brother, eight for our usual vocations, and eight for refreshment and sleep.
The Common Gavel is an instrument used by operative masons to break off the corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's use; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to use it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting our minds, as living stones, for that spiritual building—that house not made with hands—eternal in the heavens.
