The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-05-06

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heart Of man is older than his head.
And where shall we find a create
heart, or kindlier beating heart
than in the Masonic fold The lif,
and example Of the men l see here
form a tree whose fruit must be gold
en- and Of good SAVIOR, and under the
grateful shade of whose spreading
limbs men and Free Masons shall re
fresh themselves and rest during
many coming generations, long after
our swords are rust and We are dust
Side by side with the administra
tion OF the functions of municipal
government shall the supremacy OF
the law be maintained in this temple
Devotion to law, fidelity to duty
loyalty to the principle Of self-govern
ment has ever distinguished the An.
glO-Saxon race. The sturdy qualities
of mind and body, which have been
the glory of this people, have been
the sustaining force Of the ideas of
Liberty. Through its history runs this
spirit. It's earliest records show a
comprehension of the significant fact
that law was created for the relief,
not the oppression of the governed.
Amid the dim obscurity of the early
reachings out after this principle at
| times it seems to have been lost in
the darkness; yet the vital spark has
never been eXtinguished, and though
often hidden from sight, has burnt
on as though sacredly fed. by the
divine hand Of the Promethean angel.
It's splendid characteristic has been
that it did not reach perfection at
once. The tests and trials of the
centuries were the needed discipline
for its development. The recognH
ton of this principle that law should
protect and not oppress gave birth to
the conviction that self-government
was an inalienable right of man. How
brightly shines this truth upon the
pages of this peoples history. From
the fatherland it came in the begin
ming. Deep in the recesses of the
virgin forests of Germany it had it's
woodland temples. Well has it been
said that in the woods of Sloswick
English parliaments were born. The
Saxon banner raised on English soil
f1A Gfgr D,f 4u, aestNlc Nf,,ce
there of this principle. The fierce
pirate kings of the north swept down
upon it, left it crushed and yet it
lived again. The Norman could not
shake it's integrity. 1t died not with
Harold at Hastings. John could not
destroy it. Magma Charta was its
early offspring. Behold it transplant
ed to the shores of the new world.
Witness that tempest-tossed bark up
on whose deck clustered the little
band Of Puritan pioneers. Amid all
adverse surroundings, there burnt i'll
that precious freight of hearts within
the Mayfower the light of liberty to
be set again in the dark forests of an
unknown wilderness, to be brought
to brilliant perfection by the sacri-
fees Of human effort and the eXpen-
diture Of human activity. A blow
from tyranny smote it into living fire.
1t burnt at Lexington, at Bunker Hill,
at Yorktown. Few and insignificant
were its defenders, and yet they tri-
umphed.
And at last behold it crystalized
into the federal constitution. This is
the fabric the centuries have woven.
We have tested it on foreign battle
fields, among the halls of the Monte
zumas, upon the coast of the Afric
pirate. In internecine strife it has
been welded into everlasting strength.
1t shall never die. The law is SUI
because it is just.
In the beginning God said let there
be light and there was light. In that
self-same moment law was born, the
law which bids the day succeed the
night, which brings the change Of
seasons, which bids the stars sing to-
gether, the planets roll, which unbars
the gates of life and death, which
teaches the human soul to hope for
Nations seized the an
geic hand extended. That grasp
which linked the finite to the infinite
has been for good and evil. Yet, amid
all its perversions its vital essence
has lived to bless men. And to-day
men bow to it in reverent love, not
fear, for in it's preservation they see
assured human safety, happiness and
10 this principle is this
consecrated.
Beutiful in architectural design as
this. temple may become, and impos-
ing in appearance. let us remember
1t is but the harbinger of greater ac-
compllshments and achievement.
And when 1t shall have been com
pleted and accepted by the county, as
done in the due course of time, may
tho nllrnoea for which II ia intendad