from the "London Freemason"

It came to pass, when Solomon, the son of David, had finished the Temple of Jerusalem, that he prepared a feast for his chief craftsmen and artificers and spread the table with the fatness of the land and the wine and oil thereof.  The seat of the King was at the head of the table on a raised dais, and the two famous pillars of bronze with their beautiful capitals of lilies, pomegranates, and delicate network, stood one on his right hand and the other on his left, and the lintel thereof was a canopy over the head of King Solomon.

And Solomon had also prepared a seat of honor and set it on his right hand, ready for that craftsman who might be pronounced most worthy among all who wrought in the building of the houses of the Lord.  And when all was ready he called unto him his chief architects and master overseers, and the head artificers who were cunning workers in gold and silver, in bronze and ivory, and in wood and stone; yea, all who labored in the building the Temple of the Most High, and he said unto them, “Sit ye down at my table and partake of the feasts which I have prepared. Stretch forth thy hands, eat drink and be merry.  The skilled artificer is worthy of honor. Is not the laborer worthy of his hire?  Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn upon the threshing floor.”

And when Solomon and his guests were seated there came one who knocked  loudly upon the door and, having entered, forcibly advanced even to the festal board.

And the King waxed wroth, and said, “What manner of man art thou? Why comest thou rude and unseemly and unbidden to our feast, where none were invited, save the chief workers of the Temple?”

And the man answered and said, “ Please you, I come rudely because the servants at the portal barred my entrance and obliged me to force my way; but I come not unbidden. Was it not proclaimed this day that the chief workmen of the Temple dine with the King? Therefore am I come.”

And when the man had thus spoken, the guests talked with one another, and he who carved the cherubim spake loud and said, “This man is no sculptor, I know him not.”  And he who inlaid the roof with pure gold said, “Neither is he one of those who worked in refined metals.” And he who wrought in raising the walls said, “ He belongs not with those who are cutters of stone.  And one who labored in the shaping of the timbers of the roof said, “We who are cunning in cedar wood and know the mystery of joining strange timbers together know him not, he is not one of us.”

Then said King Solomon, “How sayest thou? Wherefore should I not have thee plucked by the beard and scourged with a scourge and stoned with stones, even unto death?”

Bu the man was no wise daunted, and taking a cup of wine from the table, raised it high and spake aloud, saying, “O King, live forever.” He then drank until the cup was emptied.  He now turned to the guests who had rebuked him, and said unto the chief of the carvers in stone. “ Who made the instruments with which you carve?”

And he answered, “The Blacksmith.”

And to the chief of the workers in wood, “Who made the tools with which you felled the cedars of Lebanon and shaped them into pillars and roof for the Temple?”

And he answered also, “The Blacksmith.”

Then he spake unto the artificers in gold and ivory and precious stones saying, “Who fashioned the instruments with which you made beautiful ornaments for my Lord the King?”

And, they too answered the same, “The Blacksmith.”

Then said the man to Solomon, “Behold O King, I am he whom men deride when they call me Blacksmith, but when they would honor me they call me Son of the Forge.

These Craftsmen say truly, I am not one of them. I am their Superior. Without my labor first, their labor could not be. The great Tubal-Cain whom all men honor, taught those  who in turn taught me my handicraft, and the mighty Vulcan who wrought in fire and sweat as I do, it was not deemed unmeet should have the Queen of Beauty to wife.

“Son of the Forge” said King Solomon, “I too honor thee thou worthy successor of the great master Tubal-Cain.  Take thou thy seat at my right hand prepared for the most worthy. It is thy due.

Posting borrowed from:

Christopher A. Harris (Christian & Master Mason)
McDonald Lodge # 324 AF & AM
Independence, Missouri
Craft Lodge,  York Rite (RAM,RSM, KT), Harry S. Truman York Rite College, AASR 32, OTK

homepage: http://members.aol.com/CHarris141/mason.html