most worshipful grand lodge - Louisiana State University

20 SPECIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE GRAND LODGEharmony, soft, sweet, touching ; and how the hand of the artisthas inspired the solid stone with the very soul of poetry.In these cathedrals there is not a single ornament, from thefoundation to the lofty arches, thence to the more lofty towers,but touches and awakens the sublimest and purest sentiments.Of this, our temple, how near' does it attain to the conception ofsimilar sensations"? May I say, with truth, in kind, if not in degree'I From its foundation to spire the grand purpose, intelligentlyexpressed, is inwrought in its form; it speaks its purpose—•A house dedicated to Masonry. Those who come after us willread upon its front: Faith, Hope, Charity.In the words of the psalmist, our temple speaks to you thisday : ; ' Go ye around about Jerusalem, tell the towers thereof,mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces that ye may tellit to the generations following." 1As the years roll on, the splendid evidence of your faith inFather God and brotherhood of man shall find testimony here.As you have inbreathed into these walls your faith in the sublimeteachings of Masonry, they shall be a record of the unwrittenhistories of brotherly love, relief and truth.AGE AND ORIGIN OF MASONRY.Architecture was not the creation of the savage or half-civilized; the same may be said of Masonry. Architecture was conceivedand developed and nourished under law and order in thoseplaces where the worship of God, in some of its forms, was acceptedand regulated by authority. In such portions of the globeMasonry is found in its fullness and its teachings are best understoodand appreciated. Into its lodges it gathered the useful, thebrave and the just. It taught a knowledge of one God, and thenecessity for the observance of the moral law.How old then is Masonry ? It counts its great age by the centuries.It has its history. All along the centuries we may readl. Psalm xlvlli, IS.