The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1905-10-13

Jesus called Solomon's Temple his
Fathers House. Why is it not our
Father HouseY Why should not
every piece of timber, every stone,
every gem and every piece of gold
have meaning2 God never planned
useless thing. When He plants a
daisy in the meadow. a pebble in
the brook, a star in the heaven, q
Temple on Mt. Moriah. He puts on
it the seal of his divine approvaE
and purpose. God loves art When
the Temple was finished it looked
more like work of God than of man.
Mt. Moriah is where the temple was
built. 1t is sacred place. Jerusalem
has always been dear to the hearts of
all true followers of God. David said,
eff forget Thee o Jerusalem let my
right hand forget her cunning. If
do not remember Thee let my tongue
clave to the roof of my mouth, if 1
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief
joy. - David could not forget Jerusa
lem because the temple was there. 1t
was God 8 local habitation. When the
Supreme Architect of the Universe
wanted an earthly temple to dwell in
He gave his plans to David, David
communicated them to Solomon, 'Who
took due notice and governed himself
accordingly. Solomon in due time
by the help of Hiram, a widows son
of the tribe of Naphalia erected the
temple to God.
Solomon was an operative Mason
and in degree a speculative Mason,
Jesus Christ was speculative Mason
and in a degree an operative Mason,
you and I are Free and Accepted
Masons. We are to talk of the sym
bolism of Solomons Temple. Is not
its symbolism part of the bible? Is
not biblical hermmeutics interested in
the interpretations Of the symbolisms
of the bible? Can a man interpret
the bible and not interpret symbol
isms' Can we drop symbolisms out
and say they are useless? There are
many symbols in the Old and New
Testament. Christianity finds many
of its best lessons in these symbols
while speculative Masonry is founded
in them. Now the temple symbolizes
the Spiritual Temple. AS the work
was planned by God so God plans the
Spiritual Temple. That magnificent
temple on Mt. Moriah could never be
supported unless the builders dug down
deep to find solid rock. The temple
could never be supported on a weak
foundation. You must have a foun-
dation for everything. They had to
build upon rock. This rock symbol
ICES the Eternal God. God had prom
ised David. "That in strength He
would establish His Kingdom God
is often called the Rock. David said,
''Thee Lord is my Rock and my
strength. This teaches two things.
First that Christ's Church is founded
upon rock and therefore it will stand
because it is founded upon the rock of
eternal truth. Second, on the other
hand, any institution founded upon
the clay, sand or wood of human in
vention will crumble and decay. 1t
will never stand Before the building
of the temple the inequalities were
leveled down the little hills and points
were cut Oft, other holes filled up to
make it perfectly level. They had to
have level foundation as we'll as
solid one. What does this symoblize
It symbolizes the work of Christianity
which makes men brethren. You caD
not unite men unless there is feeling
of brotherhood. Christianity teaches
a common brotherhood, it places men
upon level. Some people have OBJ
jected to Masonry because the Jew
might become Mason. Is there any
thing wrong in allowing him member
ship in u Christian church? Our Mas
ter Jesus Christ was a Jew. Did he
ever disgrace himself9 He had no
place to lay his head. he was entirely
uOStAUutO. 4AC WAC IOu Ill q VOuD
that belonged to another man. Chris
tianity teaches US that he was man
for all that. Wealth, position, clothes,
nationality and blood never made a
man. IA man is man for all that. -
Christianity teaches and levels us all
to a common brotherhood. Judaism
was the parent of Christianity. 1t
was limited by the boundaries of one
nation but Christianity in it's extern
tion and comprehension comes to all
men. Christianity and Masonry go
back to the same source. If we have
studied widely we have learned that
religions like languages have life
history of birth, development and
transformation. Not only men but
nations and religions have their capa
city to change That which is no
longer susceptible to change may exist
but it ceases to live. Christianity is
broad enough to gather contributions