Temple of Piety

The Temple of Piety is one of those rather delightful follies that idle, eighteenth-century British aristocrats commissioned for their parklands and gardens. Other than providing venues for picnics on wet days and showing off how wealthy one was, they serve no particular purpose. The Temple of Piety is built in the relatively plain doric classical style. Yet for all its bareness and simplicity, it is beautiful. This is helped by its landscaped location, but even the austerity of its masonry somehow lends it a healthful, virtuous, or should I just say, pious tone?

Piety, holiness and goodness are often considered dull and boring by our hedonistic, foolish culture, yet sin is always ugly and virtue always lovely. When we see the Lord Jesus, resplendent in His righteousness and purity, we shall behold the very meaning of beauty of which the grounds of Fountains are a mere hint, a whisper in the wind.