The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-17

reveal itself in outward visible acts, as
the material nature of man Is sure to
claim its part in the life and workings Of
his spiritual nature. The outward honor
preffered by Magdalen to Christ was one
with the inward love and reverence she
bore Him; to restrain the outward honor
was to restrain the inward love and rev
erence, and, therefore, Christ blessed the
hand that was lifted to anoint His head.
The profuSion of riches spent by Israel
upon the ark of the covenant and the tenn
pie of Jerusalem was the outpourfng of
1Srael's SOUL full to the brim Of service
to Jehovah; and Jehovah, who exacted
tribute from IsraeFs soul, exacted tribute
also from IsraelS exterior life, and from
the earthly possessions into which that
life was woven.
Why build a great and costly church?
The reasons are easily told.
A church is a monument to the Almighty
Coda visible sign of His invisible reign
visible sign of our faith in Him. of our
love for Him. God is the creatoTand the
master; this we believe, this we confess.
That all may know Him as the Lord, that
all may know US as His servants we build
a monument that speaks unto the day and
unto the night His majesty and His glory,
that speaks unto heaven our alteration Of
His power, our submission to His law.
Need of Monument
Immersed into the visible and the ma
teFial, we easily lose sight Of the invis-
ible and the spiritual In the turmoil of
the worlds affairs, amid its cloud laden
that is outside it and above it; to forget
God and the high regions where God
dwells, where lies the true home of our
souls, and with the forgetfulneSS of God
there comes the forgetfulness of the great
duties which the remembrance of Him
imposes. How needed, then, is the monu-
ment, which, itself vested in the fascina-
ton of the visible and the material, re-
calls the invisible God, and proclaims to
the whole people His presence in the
universe and His supremacy over it,
Build, then, a monument to the Almlgh-
ly; build it majestic and sublime, that it
be not too unworthy of Him; build it in
all the profusfon of earthly wealth you are
able to dispose of. that it may reveal the
abundant store of faith and love of which
your souls are replete. Too beautiful 1t
cannot be, for the beauty it should be-
token is the beauty of the Divine.
The church is not only a monument to
God, it is the house of God. The church
is the house of prayer. Prayer every
where brings down the Almighty, in love
and in grace. But where PRAYER is the
where mysterious influences lend to it
special warmth and. elevation. the divine
descent is richer and more real. What
the house which l desire to build is
great; for our God is great above all
gods. Who then can be able to build Him
temple was built. the majesty of the
Lord filed the house, But however
much the temple of Solomon was the
house of Coo. much more truly is this
said of the Christian CHURCH There, in
deed, God dwells and God reigns. The
mysterious sacrifice of the Eucharist puts
upon the altar the Lamb slain as on
CalVary-JesuS, God incarnate, true God
of true God, as He is true man of true
man. Verify the Christian church is the
house of God and the gate of heaven, -
for verify God dwells there-the Jesus Of
EAf md of (tolx xnH fa
awaiting there the coming Of the children
Of men, that He may take them to His
embrace and enrich them with all the
precious. favors Of His redemption.
The church is the house of God. Not
only in the high heavens does He dwell,
but right here among ourselves, near US
and with usIHis delight being ever
among the children of men. And the
home in which He is pleased to dwell, He
allows us to build-making to Him an
offering Of the energies which He has
created in US, Of the earthly stores which
are primarily His, which are ours only
through His goodness and mercy. Shall
not the house which We build to Him be
respondent as we may make it of the
brightness Of our love, Respondent as we
may make it Of the glory of His eternal
majesty?
When the incarnate God was born into
the world, He chose for Himself manager
as His throne. He purpoSed to show us
what He could endure for our sake. But
even in Bethlehem He indicated what we
should in our turn do by His willingness
to accept the homage of men-of the iowly
shepherds of the hillsides of Judea, of
the opulent king of Saba. The incarnate
God is still with US. Shall it be the stable
Of Bethlehem that we shall dedicate to
Him as His house? Or, rather shall we
not hurry to the work of building Him q
home with hearts overf1ewing with love,
with gifts Of hand as generous as our
means allow, some bringing the widow
mite. others the tribute of princely
wealth-all of US resolved to do our share
to honor the divine guest, and present to
Him q house that will proclaim to earth
and to heaven our strong faith in God,
the Savior and our unboqHded loyalty to
the religion of which He is the author, Of
which He is the reWarder.