, that is, the Lord's House. At others basilica (in Latin, a royal palace), for the abodes of earthly kings are thus termed: and how much more fittingly our houses of prayer, the dwelling-places of the King of Kings! Again, it is called temple, from tectum amplum, [{14}] where sacrifices are offered to God: and sometimes the tabernacle of God, because this present life is a journey, and a progress to a lasting country: and a tabernacle is an hostelrie: [Footnote 122] as will be explained when we speak of the dedication [Footnote 123] of a church. And why it is called the Ark of the Testimony, we shall say in the ensuing chapter, under the title Altars. Sometimes it is called Martyrium, when raised in honour of any martyr; sometimes capella [Footnote 124] (chapel), (see under the head Priest in the second part); sometimes coenobium, at others sacrificium; sometimes sacellum; sometimes the house of prayer: sometimes monastery: sometimes oratory. Generally, however, any place set apart for prayers is called an oratory. Again, the church is called the Body of Christ sometimes a virgin, as the Apostle saith, 'that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ': [Footnote 125] sometimes a bride, because Christ hath betrothed her to Himself, as saith the Gospel: 'he that hath the bride is the bridegroom': [Footnote 126] sometimes a mother, for daily in baptism she beareth sons to God: sometimes a daughter, according to that saying of the Prophet, 'Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children': [Footnote 127] sometimes a widow, because 'she sitteth solitary through her afflictions, and, like Rachel, will not be comforted.' Sometimes she is set forth under the emblem of an harlot, because she is called out of many nations, and because she closeth not her bosom against any that return to her.
[Footnote 122: Compare Cicero de Senect. xxiii. Et ex vita ita discedo tanquam ex hospitio, non tanquam ex domo: commorandi enim Natura diversorium nobis, non habitandi dedit.]
[Footnote 123: Chapter vi, sect. 5, ad fin.]
[Footnote 124: Durandus, II. 10. 8. 'In many places, priests be called chaplains. For of old the Kings of France, when they went forth to war, carried with them the Cope of Blessed Martin, which was kept in a certain tent (where Mass was said), and from the cope (cappa) the tent was called chapel (capella).'
We may observe that chapel was used in former times with much greater latitude than now. An additional aisle or chantry was so called. So in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, on a brass in the north aisle, Orate pro Aniniabus fundatorum hujus Capellae: that is, the aisle itself.]
[Footnote 125: 2 Cor. xi, 2.]
[Footnote 126: S. John iii, 29.]
[Footnote 127: Psalm xlv (Eructavit cor meum), 16.]
Sometimes she is called a city, because of the communion of her holy citizens, being defended by the munitions of the Scriptures, whereby heretics are kept off: having stones and beams of divers kinds, because the merits of the saints are of divers kinds also, as shall be said below. Whatever the Jewish Church received by the law, that doth the Christian Church receive, and with large increase by grace, from Christ whose bride she is. The setting up of an oratory, or church, is not new. For the Lord commanded Moses in Mount Sinai, that he should make a tabernacle of curiously wrought materials. This was divided by a veil into two parts: the outer, called the holy place, where the people attended the sacrifices: the inner, the holy of holies, where the priests and Levites ministered before the Lord (see the Preface to the Fourth Book and also Appendix A).
5. This tabernacle having decayed through age, the Lord commanded that a temple should be built, which Solomon accomplished with wonderful skill: this also had two parts, like the tabernacle. From both of these, namely, from the tabernacle and the temple, doth our material church take its form. In its outer portion, the laity offer their prayers, and hear the Word. In the sanctuary, the clergy pray, preach, offer praises and prayers.
6. The tabernacle, built as it was amidst the journeyings of the Israelites, is sometimes taken as a type of the world which 'passeth away, and the lust thereof' [Footnote 128] Whence it was formed with curtains of four colours, as the world is composed of four elements. 'God,' said the Prophet, 'is in His tabernacle': [Footnote 129] God is in this world, as in a temple dyed scarlet by the blood of Christ.
[Footnote 128: S. John ii, 17.]
[Footnote 129: Psalm xi (In Domino confido), 4.]
The tabernacle is, however, more especially symbolical of the Church Militant, which hath 'here no continuing city, but seeketh one to come.' [Footnote 130] Therefore is it called a tabernacle, for tabernacles or tents belong to soldiers: and this saying, God is in his tabernacle, meaneth, God is among the faithful collected together in His name. The outer part of the tabernacle, where the people sacrificed, is the active life, wherein men give themselves up to the love of their neighbour: the interior, wherein the Levites ministered, is the contemplative life, where a band of religious men devote themselves to the love and contemplation of God. The tabernacle gave place to the temple: because after the warfare cometh the triumph.
[Footnote 130: Hebrews xiii, 14.]