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INAUGURATION OF THE TEMPLE. 535
human race! what a history could they not give ot the utrocities
of which man is capable when enslaved bj his feai of the angry
and murderous gods, or changed to a wild beast b) a savage
fanaticism! How have the shrieks of human victims echoed
within the walls of those pagan fanes, and the blood of human
sacrifice flowed over their altars down the sides of the pyramids
of Mexico
How often has the mosque heard Paradise and the hour!
promised as a reward for the slaughter I how often the church
and cathedral rung with the thunder of interdict and excom-
munication, and the frenzied shouts that responded to the fanat-
ical apostles of the Crusades
Sublime Princes, you propose to erect here a Masonic Temple,
and dedicate it to the God of Beneficence and Love. The cardinal
principles of Free Masonry are Charity and Toleration. Accord-
ins to its principles, ambition, rivalry, ill-will, and the jealousies
and disputes of sects, cannot cross the threshold of its sanctuaries
and yet such are the frailties
and enter within their sacred walls ;
and imperfections of man, that they do find entrance there ;
sect
denounces sect, and even borrows of an intolerant church its
weapons to smite down heresies withal.
Into this temple, my brethren, which we are now about to
inaugurate, into this Consistorial Chamber of our beautiful and
beloved Ancient and Accepted rite, let no such unholy visitors
ever intrude ; let ambition and rivalries, jealousies and heart-
burnings, never effect an entrance within its portals! Let its
sacred walls never resound with the -accents of hatred, intoler-
ance, uncharitableness ! Let it be truly a temple of peace and
concord, and not of Pharisaical self-righteousness. Let charity
and
and loving-kindness be ever enthroned between its columns ;
let its members, recognizing every Mason as a brother, hold out
to him the hand of amity and fraternity, and practise here and
everywhere, to their utmost extent, the great, tolerant, generous,
liberal doctrines of our Ancient and Accepted rite..
Persuaded, my brethren, that these are your views and feel-
ings, that your only desire is to advance the prosperity and for-
tunes of Masonry, and to inform and improve yourselves, aud
that it is to this end you seek to establish a point of union, where
you may the more effectually labor for the good of the craft and
art to which we are all loyal ; where you may offer up your lov-