Reference has been made to inscription-stones which form part of the exterior walls. The principal stone of this class is seen on the east centre tower, above the windows, corresponding in position to the starry constellation on the center tower at the west. The main inscription, which occupies a surface a little over twenty by six feet, consists of letters deeply cut and heavily gilded.[5] In the arches over the great windows of the central towers {179} appear inscriptions which are alike at both ends of the building. The keystone of the lower window bears on a carven scroll "_I am Alpha and Omega_."[6] This inscription, a figurative epitome of both time and eternity, and a proclamation of Him who is without beginning and without end, has a peculiar appropriateness over the central casements of this, the House of the Lord; and he who pauses to read may well consider the text and its context in full: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."[7] Immediately beneath this inscription in the lower window arch of the centre tower appears in relief the emblem of the clasped hands, betokening the bond of brotherhood and the free offering of the right hand of fellowship. On the corresponding stones above the upper windows in each of the center towers is a carven emblem of the All-seeing Eye. Entrance to the Temple directly from without is afforded by four great doorways, two at either end; each of these portals occupies a court between the center tower and the adjoining corner tower. The four door-ways are of like construction. A flight of sixteen granite steps leads up the court; the lowest of these steps is approximately sixteen feet in length, the top step about nine feet, and each of the steps between about ten feet long. On the uppermost granite slab rests the threshold or door-step proper, which is of cast bronze. The door-way is eight feet wide, and sixteen feet six inches in extreme height. This is closed by double doors with {180} arched transom. The doors proper are twelve feet high, and each single door is four feet wide. In each door the bottom panel is of oak, while the middle and upper panels are occupied by beveled plate glass protected by bronze grills of intricate pattern carrying a bee-hive medallion in the center. The hardware attachments are all of cast bronze, and are of special design. The door-knob bears in relief the bee-hive, above which, in a curved line, appear the words, "Holiness to the Lord." The escutcheon presents in relief the clasped hands within a wreath of olive twigs, an arch with keystone, and the dates "1853-1893"--the years in which the great building was commenced and completed. On the side of each of the doorways flanking the center tower is a canopied niche in the granite, large enough to receive a statue of heroic proportions.[8]