286 THE MAGIC OP JEWELS AND CHARMS
Friday,
and for this day also we have a singularly appropriate stone, the
variety of jasper known as the bloodstone. Here the red markings can be
regarded as symbolical of the blood of Our Lord, shed for the salvation
of mankind in the supreme sacrifice of the Passion. When the head of
the Christ is cut in this stone it is often possible to utilize the red
spots to figure the drops of blood flowing from the wounds inflicted by
thè Crown of Thorns.
With
the glad tidings of Christmas Day is intimately associated the memory
of the Star of Bethlehem, which served as a beacon light to guide the
three wise men of the East to the humble manger wherein reposed the
newly-born Saviour of the World. Hence for this great Christian
festival no gem can equal the star-sapphire, combining as it does the
pure sapphire-hue, always looked upon as symbolic of the highest moral,
spiritual, and religious sentiments, and the mysterious moving star,
which, shifting its apparent place with the slightest movement of the
stone, seems endowed with a wonderful independent life, just as the
phenomenal star of Bethlehem, unlike the fixed and changeless stars
of the firmament, glided through the heavenly expanse, by a miraculous
motion, due indeed to some supernatural law, but differing in kind and
degree from all the usual, every-day aspects of nature.
The
symbolism of precious stones presented in so many different ways by the
early ecclesiastical writers appears in the prayer offered by the
Archbishop of Canterbury at the coronation of the kings and queens of
England. While the king kneels upon a footstool, the archbishop takes
St. Edward's Crown and lays it upon the altar; whereupon he pronounces
the following words:
0,
God, the crown of the faithful, who on the heads of Thy saints placed
crowns of glory, bless and sanctify this crown, that as the same is
adorned
