As Living Stones

IN architecture the comerstone occupies an important place in the building. It is the starting-point in construction. The figure is used in the New Testament, where Jesus Christ is called the corner-stone of the great spiritual temple which is rising through the ages. In this case the corner-stone seems to include the whole foundation on which the building rests. Everything in Christian life rests on Christ. To leave Christ out of life, out of any hope, or trust, or joy, or plan, is to build on the sand. To have Christ as the ground of our hope, our trust, our confidence, is to build on the eternal rock.

But while the corner-stone is the most important stone in a building there are hundreds, thousands, of other stones that go into the walls, and each one is important in its place. A corner-stone alone does not make a building. Every true Christian is a stone in the temple. Believers on Christ are called “living stones.” Everything that belongs to Christ is living. Nothing dead has any place in His church. There is no such thing as a dead Christian.

The stones built into a wall are of many different sizes and shapes. Some are large, some are small, some are only little fragments used in filling in the interstices. Among Christian people there are all measures of strength and ability. There are those that are great, fitted for large positions. There are those that are small in their capacity or experience. But every one has his place, and is important in his place. Some Christians fill a place of very great usefulness. They seem to be essential. Every church has its members who bear much of the burden and the responsibility. In every community there are those who are very useful. The weary and the discouraged turn to them for strength and help. But there are only a [ 122]

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few such great Christians in any particular church, while there are many of lesser power to bless. Yet the smallest and least important have also their place; and it is just as necessary that the little places shall be filled, and well filled, as that the greatest and most conspicuous positions shall be occupied. The tendency is for those with small gifts to say: “My little will not be of any value. I could drop out and not be missed.” But this is not true. The widow’s mites meant more that day in the temple-offering than the gifts of the richest Pharisee. The youngest and weakest Christian in any church has a place to fill and a work to do. If he fails in his duty there will be a vacant place, a flaw in the wall, which will imperil the work. Stradivarius, the old violin-maker, said that if he did not do his best work he would rob God and leave a blank in God’s world instead of good violins. It is true of every one whose hand slacks and who does not do his part, however small, that he leaves a blank where there ought to be something beautiful, some- [ 123] a ieart (BarDen

thing good. If you are not gentle and kind to-morrow, some life will miss the gentleness and kindness, and may sink down beneath its burdens. If you fail to be strong and true in witnessing for Christ to-morrow the Master’s cause will suffer at some point. We dare not fail the Master-builder in our place, however small it is.

The other day a very old Christian said: “My work is now done. I cannot be of any use longer to other lives. My strength is all gone.” But there is no member of the com- .munity who is really a greater blessing than this old man is. The influence of his life is felt everywhere. He takes no part any longer in the activities of church and neighborhood. But he is loved by all. His life has been one of uprightness, honorable dealing, kindness to his neighbors, faithfulness as a Christian, and his ministry goes on though his hand is too feeble now to do life’s tasks. No Christian can be so old as to be no longer of any use. A piece of wood was burned. Its usefulness is past now, you might say. But its ashes were [ 124] a0 iLibing ^tonesj

gathered up and strewn about the root of a plant, and the plant was greener next day.

“/ saw the gardener bring ayd strew
Gray ashes where blush roses grew.

Ah, dreary life, whose gladsome spark
No longer leaps in song and fire.
But lies in ashes gray and stark,
Defeated hopes and dead desire,
Useless and dull and all bereft, — Take courage — this one thing is left:
Some happier life may use thee so
Some flower bloom fairer on its tree;
Some sweet or tender thing may grow
To stronger life because of thee.
Content to play a humble part,
Give of the ashes of thy heart.
And haply God, whose dear decrees
Taketh from those to give to these,
Who draws the snowdrop from the snows,
May from these ashes feed a rose.”

We must not forget that there Is not one

needless stone in all the building. Every one

Is necessary to the completeness, the strength,

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and the security of the wall. And there is not one Christian in all the church of Christ who is foreordained to uselessness, not one who is not needed, not one who cannot honor the Master and bless the world by some service. This is true of the weakest, the youngest. It may be seen at the last that many who think themselves the least and lowliest have done greater and more beautiful and more important work than those who boast of their strength and their power. There is a beautiful legend of Fra Bernardo. The monastery had vowed to set a carved altar to the Christ at Christmastide. Every monk was to do his own part. All the other monks had finished their work. On Christmas eve Fra Bernardo knelt and told his Lord of his failure. He had tried with his poor skill to carve something for the altar, for Christ’s dear sake, but somehow he could not make anything worthy. So he prayed that his fingers might have skill, and that he might be able that very night to carve the dream of beauty that was in his heart. In the morning the [126] ass Libing ^toncsj

monks sought Bernardo’s cell and found him there —

“Deady smiling still, and prostrate as in prayer; While at his side a wondrous carving lay — A face of Christ sublirnely tender, sweet, — The work of Fra Bernardo was complete.’’

So it will be with those who seem to fail but who continue striving faithfully, doing their lowly work as well as they can. When the end comes it will be seen that what to them seemed failure was beautiful with the beauty of Christ. God finishes the work that His lowly ones try to do for Him. The stones that go into a building must be made ready for their place before they are put into the wall. The preparation of these stones begins in the quarry. First there is the blasting which shatters the great solid mass of the rock. Then follows the work of breaking the stones into shape, and cutting, hewing, and polishing them until they are ready to be laid on the wall. Quarry work is hard and painful. If stones had human feelings [127] they would cry out ofttimes as the hammer and chisel do their pitiless work on them. Yet it is in this way that they are fitted to take their place in the great building for which they are designed. In their rough, unhewn state they never could be used, and could lie only as worthless blocks in the quany. But when they have been cut, dressed, and carved according to the design of the architect, they are lifted to their place and henceforth are honored of all who look upon the noble edifice in which they fill so important a place.

All this is a parable of the way in which these living stones are prepared. God’s word is a hammer, and as we read it and allow it to go through us, its convictions, its commands, its corrections, its reproofs and revealings are hammer strokes smiting upon us. Trials, sorrows, and sufferings are the sharp iron tools which God uses in shaping and polishing our lives and fitting us for our place as living stones in the spiritual building. No chastening is joyous for the present, but afterward [128] asi Wfaing ^tonesi

we shall thank God for the sharp cutting which removes the unsightly roughnesses in us and carves lines of beauty. We may not thrust away the hand that smites, for it is preparing us for worthy life and blessedness.

“When the Lord afflicts thee, think He hews a rugged stone Which must be shaped, or else aside as useless thrown.”

It is not hard to cut and dress natural stones so as to shape them for their place. They yield readily to the chisel and hammer. But these living stones have wills and can resist. If we would be made ready for our place on the wall we must let Christ have His way with us, however severe and painful His discipline may be.

One of St. Paul’s favorite words is edification. To edify is to build up. We are builders. Human lives everywhere are unfinished buildings, and every one who passes by lays a block on the wall or adds an ornament. A r 129 1 a ieart dD^artien

hundred people touch you each day, in business contacts, in social fellowships, in friendships, in letters, in transient meetings, and every one of them builds something on the wall of your life, either something that will add to the adornment of your character or something that will mar and hurt it. Every one.^ho comes into our presence, who speaks a word to us, who even reaches us most remotely with his influence, leaves some line of beauty or some mark of marring on our character.

“Souls are built as tenples are, — Here a carving rich and quaint
There the image of a saint;
Here a deep-hued pane to tell
Sacred truth or miracle.
Every little helps the much;
Every careful, careless touch
Adds a charm or leaves a scar.’*

In a building, while all rests upon the foundation, each stone becomes in turn a foundation for another stone to rest upon. Course after [130] aijs Lfbing ^tonejs

course is laid on the wall until the topmost stones are in their place, and each one must support the block that is laid upon- it. Jesus spoke of Peter as a rock, and said that on this rock He would build His Church. It was Peter resting on Christ that Jesus meant. The apostles were the first living stones laid on the great bedrock foundation, and ever since believers on Christ have In turn become rocks on which the Church of Christ is built. To-day Christ says to each one of us as we confess our faith: “Blessed art thou... and I also say unto thee that thou art a living stone, and upon this living stone I will build my church.” It is a serious thing to know that Christ will build His Church upon us. Other people trust us and follow us, other people lean on us, depend upon us. As one stone In the wall bears other stones that are laid upon it, so must we by our faithfulness, our truth, our firmness, our security, be living stones on which others may build. It is but a little portion that is assigned to each one in God’s great building. We should [131] do our little part so beautifully, make it so radiant, so holy, so true, that we shall not be ashamed of it when our work is revealed at last. In Europe, long ago, a cathedral was being built. One day an old man, broken with the weight of years, came and begged to be allowed to do some work on the great building. The master architect did not suppose that the old man could do any important work because of his age and feebleness. But to please him he gave him something to do on the vaulted roof. Day by day the old man wrought there in the shadows. One evening he was missed — did not come down — and the men found him lying beside his finished work — the sculptured face of one whom he had loved long years before. When the building was completed and people came from far and near to admire it, they found this face that was so hidden in the shadows that only once a day, when the sunlight touched it, could it be seen distinctly. But the face was so beautiful that men waited for the sight of it when the light fell upon it, and then said:” This [ 132] ajs Utim ^toneg

is the noblest work in all the cathedral. Love wrought this.”

We are set to do our own little piece on the great temple in which God is to have His habitation. Let us do it well. Our love for Christ should be so great, so strong, so intense that when our task is finished the world will see that we have put the face of the Master on the little stone we have been set to adorn.

“We are builders, and each one
Should cut and carve as best he can;
Every life is but a stone,
Every one shall hew his own,
Make or mar, shall every man.’’

Cie €l)titian in tle IS^ortD We who are not of the earth need not be earthy;

God made our nature like His own — divine; Nothing of selfishness can be unworthy

Of this pure image, meant through us to shine. The death of deaths it is, ourselves to smother

In our own pleasuring His honored gift; And life — eternal life — to love each other;

Our souls with Christ in sacrifice to lift.

This is the beauty of our new-born morning;

In Him humanity may now arise Out of the grave of self, all baseness scorning;

The holy radiance of His glorious eyes Illumines everywhere uplifted faces;

Touches the earthly with a heavenly glow; And in that blessed light all human graces

Unto divine beatitudes must grow.

—Lucy Larcom.