^ The plain historic truth in regard to the Christian Church is this, that from the beginning the Christian Church has held an ^ R. Vaughan Pryce.
EPHESIANS II. 20-22 75
attitude towards Jesus that absolutely forbids His classification with other men, that absolutely lifts Him above all that have ever trodden the earth before or since, and pays to Him such honour as can justly be given only to the perfect incarnation of the eternal God. The very first record that we have tells us that the early Church used to sing a hymn to Christ as God early in the morning ; and it was for that that He was ever worshipped.^
Christ is made the sure foundation
And the precious corner-stone, Who, the two walls underlying
Bound in each, binds both in one, Holy Sion's help for ever,
And her confidence alone.
All that dedicated City,
Dearly loved by God on high. In exultant jubilation
Pours perpetual melody ; God the One and God the Trinal,
Singing everlastingly.
To the temple, where we call Thee,
Come, 0 Lord of Hosts, to-day ; With Thy wonted loving-kindness
Hear Thy people as they pray, And Thy fullest benediction
Shed within its walls for aye.
Here vouchsafe to all Thy servants
What they supplicate to gain; Here to have and hold for ever
Those good things their prayers obtain, And hereafter in Thy glory
With Thy blessed ones to reign.
Laud and honour to the Father,
Laud and honour to the Son, Laud and honour to the Spirit,
Ever Three and Ever One: Consubstantial, coeternal
While unending ages run.^
' H. van Dyke.
'■' Angulcuris FundaTnentum, Latin Office Hymn, translated by J. M. Neale.
^^ SPIRITUAL ARCHITECTURE
II.
The Design of the Building.
The plan of the Spiritual Temple was drawn by the hand of the Master Architect, who threw up the over-arching dome of the skies and scattered it full of worlds ; and taught all architects how to design and all builders how to build. The plan bears on its face the Divine imprint. No human mind could have con- ceived it, and no human hand could have drawn it. It is inherent in the nature of the Infinite. It is not an afterthought of man, but a forethought of God ; not a human accident, but a Divine plan. In beauty it as far exceeds anything that man could draw as the blue sky or the star-studded arch of the heavens exceeds in beauty the highest triumph of human skill. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's thoughts higher than our thoughts, and God's ways than our ways.
^ There is a story of an old mason whose work day by day was the mixing of the mortar for use in the erection of a beautiful building. It was this old man's custom to contemplate the plan of the finished building as displayed outside the contractor's office. He said it helped him to mix his mortar so much better if he could keep before his mind the lovely thing that the architect had planned. The Bible is the rule of Faith, the character- builder's " Vade mecum." It pictures the Perfect Temple, Christ Jesus. It says that we shall be like Him. And he that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as He is pure.^
*]j The greatest European painter of the past fifty years was probably Arnold Boecklin. He has influenced modern painting abroad more, perhaps, than any other. How ? When a young man in Florence his soul was filled with an ideal of painting which was quite other than that of any of his contemporaries, and he laboured to put this ideal upon canvas. At first no one would buy his pictures, and he nearly starved to death. But he laboured on because he loved his art. By and by when he became known, his work, it might almost be said, produced a revolution in the art world. It was not this revolution, however, that he had striven for, but the beauties his soul had seen. So with the Church. The Church will reform the world, not by making that reform her object, but by fixing her gaze and desire upon the
1 E. J. Padfield.
EPHESIANS II. 20-22 ^^
ideal which has been set before her by her Lord, the ideal of the "Holy Catholic Church." 1
1. There is unity in the design. — The building is not a heap of stones thrown carelessly together. It has a marvellous symmetry. It is fitly framed together. The idea in the Apostle's mind seems to be a temple, with a number of courts all being built at the same time. At first there seems to be but very little connexion between them, but as the building proceeds, every several building grows into a holy temple. How lovely it is to trace the gradual growth of this building, the simple devotion of the first believers, the brotherly love of the Pentecostal Church, the missionary ardour of St. Paul and his companions, the faith and constancy of the early martyrs, who loved not their lives to the death; the steadfast devotion to truth of Waldenses, and Lollards, the Huguenots, and our own Eeformers ; the consistent godliness in some unknown cottage home, and the brilliant services of Christian philanthropists, who have overthrown gigantic evils by the power of the cross of Christ. And for all this building the chief corner- stone is Jesus Christ, but if He is the chief corner-stone, we also are to be corner-stones, joining together what would otherwise run counter to one another.