A splendid opportunity is presented by the great group next in order, the three associated windows piercing the end wall of the nave. Majestic in their simple dignity of outline, what will they not be when filled with stained glass as they should be? Here is space, indeed—ample room for that scene treatment of which the side-wall windows are incapable.
Let the middle one, which is much the largest, be the Nativity;[F] that on the right side (next to St. John Baptist) the Presentation in the Temple,[F] with Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis; that on the left side, the Epiphany,[F] with the Gifts of the Magi. Thus will this entire end-wall set forth the Incarnation, up to which the Old Testament has led us, and out of which proceeds the New, and all the history of the Christian Church.
[F] Now in place.
Turning again, and passing on, back once more toward the chancel, the first and second pairs of lancets on the Cottage Street side are devoted to the four Evangelists, Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. No explanation is needed of the propriety of putting these figures here. Not only as the biographers of the Lord Jesus Christ, but as chief Founders of that Church which is builded upon Historic Facts—men of deeds as well as writers—we commemorate them.
The middle pair is again given to two great women of the New Testament, mothers both and as mothers supremely great: St. Elizabeth[G] and St. Mary.[G] Of the son of the first one it was said, Among those born of women there hath not appeared a greater than John. To the other the Angel’s word was, Hail, thou that are highly favored: the Lord is with thee; and blessed art thou among women. No two characters can lay more claim to our gratitude and reverence than these two women to whom an Allwise God entrusted the tender formative years of the Forerunner and of the Messiah.
There is indeed a glorious company of Apostles, and a noble army of martyrs, whom one would gladly set forth, two and two, in goodly succession. Two pairs must suffice us: first St. Andrew[G] and St. Stephen;[G] next St. Peter[G] and St. Paul.[G] We begin with St. Andrew, for he readily obeyed the calling of Christ and followed Him without delay, bringing his brother also: type of self-devotion and personal service, forever. St. Stephen, set apart for the Church’s charitable work, filled with the Holy Ghost and a mighty preacher,—he was the first Deacon, and became the first Martyr. St. Peter and St. Paul bring us to a climax in the Church’s realization of the great commission; prince apostles, the former first led to the Gentiles but afterward distinctly charged with the Gospel to the Circumcision; the latter sent out to the Uncircumcision, truest champion of a Catholic Faith and uncompromising leader of a Catholic Church. He brings us, as we pass the two Angel figures over the door, up to the pulpit,—who fitter than he to be set always before the preacher?—and thence again we see before us the altar and the figure of Our Blessed Lord from which we started on our circuit;
[G] Now in place.
“Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning:
Christ the beginning, and the end is Christ.”