1 W. L. Watkinson.
ST. MATTHEW xvi. 18 295
all builders under Hi 111 — masons, carpenters, hodmen — and the business of these people, from the foreman of the works right downward, is to carry out the Architect's plan.1
Tj A foundation must be hidden and out of sight unto all those that outwardly look upon the house. They cannot perceive it, though every part of the house doth rest upon it. And this hath occasioned many mistakes in the world. An unwise man coming to a great house, seeing the antics [wall decorations] and pictures [figures ? pillars ?] stand crouching under the windows and sides of the house, may haply think that they bear up the weight of the house, when indeed they are for the most part pargeted [painted] posts. They bear not the house : the house bears them. By their bowing and outward appearance, the man thinks the burden is on them, and supposes it would be an easy thing, at any time, by taking them away, to demolish the house itself. But when he sets him- self to work, he finds these things of no value. There is a founda- tion in the bottom, which bears up the whole, that he thought not of. Men looking upon the Church do find that it is a fair fabric indeed, but cannot imagine how it should stand. A few supporters it seemeth to have in the world, like crouching antics [wall decora- tions] under the windows, that make some show of under-propping it ; here you have a magistrate, there an army or so. Think the men of the world, " Can we but remove these people, the whole would quickly topple to the ground." Yea, so foolish have I been myself, and so void of understanding before the Lord, as to take a view of some goodly appearing props of this building and to think, How shall the house be preserved if these be removed — when lo ! suddenly some have been manifested to be held up by the house, and not to hold it up. I say then, Christ, as the foundation of this house, is hidden to the men of this world ; they see it not, they believe it not. There is nothing more remote from their appre- hension than that Christ should be at the bottom of them and their ways, whom they so much despise.2
III.
The Security of the Structure.
"The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
1. The figure of the gates is one of the oldest and most familiar
in Eastern life. At the gate of every city its elders sat in judg-
1 W. B. Selbie, in The British Congregationalism March 23, 1911. s John Owen.
296 MY CHURCH
meat and in council, as Lot sat in the gates of Sodom. From the gates of the city there issued forth its armies of conquest. " The gates of Hades " is a picturesque and Oriental metaphor for the counsel and craft and force of evil. By the figure Jesus con- jured up to the imagination of His disciples that underworld of spiritual evil from which there issued forth the powers of darkness. From these gates of hell Jesus saw down the centuries of the history of His Church, in which all the wisdom of this world, its cunning and cruelty and foul passion, would assail His society of believing men. He foresaw the long struggle when
Zion in her anguish With Babylon must cope.
He foresaw those eras when the battle would seem to go against His Church. He saw His disciples before the Council. He saw His martyr saints witnessing with their lives when paganism sprung on them like a savage beast roused from its lair. He saw the subtler powers of darkness sapping the faith, corrupting the purities, and leavening the simplicities, of His people's worship, and service. He saw the enemy sowing his tares among the wheat. But He saw His Church, in the power of its moral and spiritual energy, emerging from every conflict with a greater victory. He saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied.
2. History has justified this promise. The gates of Hades have not prevailed. The Christian Church, on whose foundation in Himself He began to build with, as it were, but a single stone in His hand, has, beyond all other positive institutions, defied and surmounted destruction. Great changes have taken place since Jesus ventured the promise of this portion of Scripture to a poor fisherman, and threw into the air that challenge against fate. Numerous old customs have decayed. Whole systems of religion and philosophy have passed away. Famous cities have crumbled in the dust, and wild beasts have roamed, and birds of prey have screamed over their ruins. Eaces of men have been dispersed, or are even now in their last remnants thinly melting into the grave which this earth has for nations as well as for individuals. Yea, the very shores of the seas have begun to shift their places, and the everlasting bills have bowed their heads since Jesus spoke to
ST. MATTHEW xvi. 18 297
Peter. But the gates of hell have not prevailed against His Church. Not only has it survived unhurt, as the promise implies, but it has flourished and increased ; and under its various names, and with open doors, it still invites the sons of men at once to the shelter of its walls and through the opening of its aisles into paths of endless advancement.