Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1858-08-05
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
LAYING Or THE CORNER STONE
OF THE
New vi sonic Tenn pie.
GRAFTON nv
HON. BELLAMY STORER.

the King Of Israel dedicated the first
temple to the worship and service Of
Jehovah.
Art had indeed triumphed; a struc-
turc had risen upon Mount Moriah,
whose walls Of pure white reflected the
gorgeous sunlight of Palestine, and
shed rich. yet mellow glow upon the
surrounding hills. There was the
costly material from Lebanon, from
Tyre and Elath, combined to beautify
the universe and the outer courts:-
those wonderful proportions SO nicely
adjusted and fitted together by the
cCnsummate skill of the architect who
laid the foundation and superintended
the edifice until the cap-stone was set
in the last arch; there, too, vas the
priestly ceremonial. so imposing, so
elaborate-thc chant, the posture, the
incense, and then, without and within
the hallowed place, the assembled
tribes had gathered to offer their
thanksgiving.
But it was not from any one of
these. nor yet from all, that the son
of David felt he had received the in
spiration with which he spoke. These
were material objects alone. though
types Of higher and holier dispensa-
ton He looked away from the scenes
before him. and in prophetic vision
caught glimpse of the New Jerusa-
lem, of which the Holy City was the
blessed emblem; he saw in the Temple
just completed by human hands, a
symbol Of that spiritual temple whose
walls will be precious stones, and
whose gates pearls"
The ark had been borne from the
tabernacle, the slaves been Withdrawn
from its sides. its covering removed
There the law proclaimed on Sinai,
and the tables on which it was in
scribed had been preserved for nearly
four. hundred years, amid the darkest
hours of the Jewish nation; whether
journeying through the wilderness or
passing the uplifted food of Jordon;
or when the sun stood still at Ajalon,
an invisible power was its guardian.
No rude hand could profane it, the
eye of curiosity never explored it, the
pentalty for the attempt even was
death.
1t was at once solemn and signifi-
cant. when within the Holy of HOLES,
the precious treasures were deposited
and man made the instrument to per-
form the service. Gods law was to
be enshrincd where the visible glory
should attend it. The great princi-
pies of this government again to be
revealed in somewhat of the splcndor
they had been announced to Moses,
and the awful power with which
they had been vindicatcd in the del
ugc. In such scene Solomon might
we'll exclaim, "Will God in very deed
dwell with man on earth? Behold
Heaven and the Heaven Of Heavens
can not contain Him, much less this
house that | have built" Such Ian
guage was in harmony with the mighty
events, already become historical, and
those still more stupendous that were
to happen in the march of time.
To us the period we have described
is full of interest. We find there the
key to our mysteries. for it was there
Masonry had its real Development
The operative part Of the science was,
indeed, illustrated in the toll, the ge-
, MUS, the skill that overcame every OBJ.
staclc, and the faith that sustained tho
craftsmen. whether in shaping tho
block, adcrning the ceiling, or polish.
ing the pillar: but at the completion
of the work, when the entire structure
passes before the eye, and we have, a.
it were, a panoramic view of the bean
tiful whole, we begin the true stud,
OF our art. Nature teaches her stern
/ est, as well as her most profitable les
sons, in symbols; her movements al,
all harmonious, though in many o
: their phases apparently diverse. ant
she thus illustrates the existence anC
supremacy of the Godhead.
, So it is with the results of human
genius, the greater the conquest owe
matter, whether in the delicate analy
sis of the chemist, the subjugation o
I the elements 10 our own daily wants
the construction of beacon-light up
:, on an ocean rock, or in those tongue
of fame which speak in burning let
tiers upon the wire, we may learl
. something of the Divinity that stir
, within us, and ascending fror. on
, achievement of art TO another. b
brought at last to wonder and admir-
the presence OF the Supreme Architec
of the Universe. Our theater for &C
tion we then have in the world, an,
!, !. as we shape its institutions, as We ele