10. The cement, without which there can be no stability of the walls, is made of lime, sand, and water. The lime is fervent charity, which joineth to itself the sand, that is, undertakings for the temporal welfare of our brethren: [{18}] because true charity taketh care of the widow and the aged, and the infant, and the infirm: and they who have it study to work with their hands, that they may possess wherewith to benefit them. Now the lime and the sand are bound together in the wall by an admixture of water. But water is an emblem of the Spirit. And as without cement the stones cannot cohere, so neither can men be built up in the heavenly Jerusalem without charity, which the Holy Ghost worketh in them. All the stones are polished and squared—that is, holy and pure, and are built by the hands of the Great Workman into an abiding place in the Church: whereof some are borne, and bear nothing, as the weaker members: some are both borne and bear, as those of moderate strength: and some bear, and are borne of none save Christ, the corner-stone, as they that are perfect. All are bound together by one spirit of charity, as though fastened with cement; and those living stones are knit together in the bond of peace. Christ was our wall in His conversation: and our outer wall in His Passion.
11. When the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, their enemies strove hard to let the works: so that 'they built with one hand, and held their weapons of war in the other.' And round us too do enemies gather, while we are building the walls of our Church: our own sins, or ungodly men, willing to hinder our success. Whence, while we build our walls, that is, while we add virtue to virtue, we must fight with the enemy, and grasp our weapons firmly: we must 'take the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness: and for our sword the word of God,' [Footnote 138] that we may defend ourselves against them: and God's priest shall be unto us in Christ's stead, to teach us by his lessons, and defend us by his prayers.
[Footnote 138: Eph. vi, 16, 17.]
12. Furthermore, of what the tabernacle was made the Lord hath told us, saying unto Moses, 'Take the first fruits,'—that is, the most precious gifts—'of the children of Israel: but from him alone who willingly offereth gold, and silver, and brass, and precious stones, and purple and linen twice dyed'; namely cloth of the colours of blue, purple, and scarlet: and of biss, which is a kind of Egyptian linen white and soft: 'and goat's hair, and rams' skins dyed red,' which we call Parthian, because the Parthians first dyed them thus, 'and purple skins and shittim wood' (shittim is the name of a mountain, and also of a tree: its leaves are like the white thorn, and to be injured neither by fire nor by decay): 'and oil for the lights, frankincense, and ointment of a sweet savour, onyx stones, and sard-onyxes, and jewels: and let them make Me a house, that I may dwell in the midst of them: and that they may not weary themselves in returning to this mountain.' [Footnote 139]
[Footnote 139: Exodus xxv, 2.]
14. The arrangement of a material church resembleth that of the human body: the chancel, or place where the altar is, representeth the head: the transepts, the hands and arms, and the remainder—towards the west—the rest of the body. The sacrifice of the altar denoteth the vows of the heart. Furthermore, according to Richard de Sancto Victore, the arrangement of a church typifieth the three states in the Church: of virgins, of the continent, of the married. [{20}] The sanctuary [Footnote 140] is smaller than the chancel, and this than the nave: because the virgins are fewer in number [Footnote 141] than the continent, and these than the married. And the sanctuary is more holy than the chancel: and the chancel than the nave: because the order of virgins is more worthy than that of the continent, and the continent more worthy than the married.
[Footnote 140: The sanctuary of course means that eastermost division in churches consisting of three parts, which still remains in many Norman buildings, and of which Kilpeck, in Herefordshire, may be taken as a type. These churches are generally apsidal: but there are instances to the contrary, as Bishopstone, in Sussex. A view of the sanctum sanctorum and chancel arches in this church is given in the Cambridge Camden Society's 'Illustrations of Monumental Brasses,' part iv.]
[Footnote 141: This passage is somewhat obscure; but the difference between the virgins and the continent appears to be this: by the former are meant those who have taken vows of celibacy; by the latter, those who practise it, without, however, having bound themselves to it by vow.]
15. Furthermore, the church consisteth of four walls, that is, is built on the doctrine of the Four Evangelists; and hath length, breadth, and height: the height representeth courage, the length fortitude, which patiently endureth till it attaineth its heavenly home; the breadth is charity, which, with long suffering, loveth its friends in God, and its foes for God; and again, its height is the hope of future retribution, which despiseth prosperity and adversity, hoping 'to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.' [Footnote 142]
[Footnote 142: Psalm xxvii (Dominus illuminatio), 13.]