As in Operative Freemasonry, the compasses are used for the measurements of the architect’s plans, and to enable him to give those just proportions which will ensure beauty as well as stability to his work. The compasses most prominent emblem is virtue, the true and only measure of a Freemason’s life and conduct. As the Volume of the Sacred Law gives us Light on our duties, so the compasses give that additional light which is to instruct us in the duty we owe to ourselves, the great, imperative duty of circumscribing our passions, and keeping our desires within due bounds. In the earliest rituals of the eighteenth century, the compasses are described as a part of the furniture of the Lodge, and are said to belong to the Master.