s, in
which the prominent topic is this building of the Solomonic temple as
referring to the construction of a moral temple.

Thus writes Bro. Rhode, of Berlin:--

"So soon as any one has received the consecration of our Order, we say to
him that we are building a mystical temple;" and he adds that "this temple
which we Masons are building is nothing else than that which will conduce
to the greatest possible happiness of mankind." [210]

And another German brother, Von Wedekind, asserts that "we only labor in
our temple when we make man our predominating object, when we unite
goodness of heart with polished manners, truth with beauty, virtue with
grace." [211]

Again we have Reinhold telling us, in true Teutonic expansiveness of
expression, that "by the mystical Solomonic temple we are to understand
the high ideal or archetype of humanity in the best possible condition of
social improvement, wherein every evil inclination is overcome, every
passion is resolved into the spirit of love, and wherein each for all,
and all for each, kindly strive to work." [212]

And thus the German Masons call this striving for an almost millennial
result _labor in the temple_.

The English Masons, although they have not treated the symbolism of the
Order with the same abstruse investigation that has distinguished those of
Germany and France, still have not been insensible to this idea that the
building of the Solomonic temple is intended to indicate a cultivation of
the human character. Thus Hutchinson, one of the earliest of the symbolic
writers of England, shows a very competent conception--for the age in
which he lived--of the mystical meaning of the temple; and later writers
have improved upon his crude views. It must, however, be acknowledged that
neither Hutchinson nor Oliver, nor any other of the distinguished masonic
writers of England, has dwelt on this peculiar symbolism of a moral temple
with that earnest appreciation of the idea that is to be found in the
works of the French and German Masons. But although the allusions are
rather casual and incidental, yet the symbolic theory is evidently
recognized.[213]

Our own country has produced many students of Masonic symbolism, who have
thoroughly grasped this noble thought, and treated it with eloquence and
erudition.

Fifty years ago Salem Towne wrote thus: "Speculative Masonry, according to
present acceptation, has an ultimate reference to that spiritual building
erected