The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1907-06-06
Masons Lay Corners Stone

will greet them with the hand grasp or
welcome. They will find here the met
ropolis of this vast extent Of territory.
A city of destiny, supplied with all
the various ines of trade and business
and enjoying the advantages and con-
veniences of older communities. They
will find the energetic and progressive
people of Minot fully alive to all the
possibilities of it's coming greatness,
and ready to aid in any undertaking
that will advance the general good
and prosperity of all.
1t is, therefore, fitting and proper
that these newcomers, among whose
numbers will be found many members
of our beloved order, shall find here
a beautiful Masonic temple, an esot-
eric shrine, where they can mingle
with their brethren and renew their
devotion to our everlasting principles.
l trust that long after we who have
participated in these solemn cere-
monies have passed away and return
ed to the elements of nature, this
beautiful building will stand as mon
ument to the achievements of those
whose zeal, unflagging purpose and
unremitting toll have brought it into
being. trust that it will ever stand
as beacon light to morality and
good works; that it will act as a
polar star to the weary and heartsick
mariner who has been buffeted by the
pillows of adversely, and who is drift
ing on an unknown and tempestuous
sea, and be in truth and verify the
"Star of the West" that shall guide
him into the heaven of Masonic peace
and charity.
Temple building has always been
the Mason's duty and pleasure Our
institution was called into existence
nearly six thousand years ago for the
purpose of building temple. Not a
temple erected to the honor to the
name and reign or some king, or in
which to practice the mysterious rites
of come deity of bygone mythology
but temple erected to the honor and
glory of the Great Jehovah, a temple
sacred and set apart for the worship
of the living God. The three great
men who entered upon this grand and
glorious undertaking, our three first
Grand Master-Solomon, King OF
of 1sreal; Hiram, King of Tyre; and
Hiram Abiff, were actuated by lofty
ambitions, by noble aims when they
founded the brotherhood of Masonry,
and entered upon the holy work of
building the temple on Mount Moriah.
They were the great men of their time
Solomon, the wise; Herim the just;
and Hiram Abiff, the greatest and
most cunning builder of his age
These men stood for something.
They were men of great purposes and
g'"-l deeds The first stood for We
dom the second for strength and the
til;11 for beatty. They have hanuej
down to us the principal herit;gcs. A
he, ltage greatly fear we 10 not tp-
preciate or comprehend. According
to our history and legends these
great men gathered about them a
mighty army of workers and they en-
tered upon the gigantic task of build
ing the temple of Solomon. There
were three thousand three hundred
Masters or overseers of the work:
eighty thousand Fellow Crafts, and
seventy thousand Entered Apprenti-
ces, or bearers of burdens. These
workers were all taught their various
tasks. Some to hue the lumber in
the forests of Lebanon, some to dress
the rough asher into the finished
block in the quarries, from whence
they were conveyed to the mount and
raised to their place in the walls until
course upon course the mighty build
ing grew into symmetrical complete
ness, the wonder and admiration of
the world. These great men taught
the workers the use and symbolism
of all the working tools of our below
ed craft-aye more, they taught them
the great lessons of fraternity and
unity, the lesson of TIE Fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man. They
taught them that men were not to be
esteemed because of their wealth and
power because of the accident of birth
or the acquisition of riches, but for
what they really were, what they could
accomplish. Down through the ages
from that remote time the uses of the
working tools and their symbolic les
sons have been handed from genera
ton to generation.