rfect union, which was being brought about
in Christ, of men of all nationalities and belonging to mutually hostile
races, to be little better than the fortuitous union of a pile of stones
huddled together on the roadside. Measured against the architecture of
the Church, as Paul saw it in his lofty idealism, the aggregations of
men in the world do not deserve the name of buildings. His point of view
is the exact opposite of that which is common around us, and which,
alas! finds but too much support in the present aspects of the so-called
churches of this day.

It is to be observed that in our text these stones are, in accordance
with the propriety of the metaphor, regarded as _being_ built, that is,
as in some sense the subjects of a force brought to bear upon them,
which results in their being laid together in orderly fashion and
according to a plan, but it is not to be forgotten that, according to
the teaching, not of this epistle alone, but of all Paul's letters, the
living stones are active in the work of building, as well as beings
subject to an influence. In another place of the New Testament we read
the exhortation to 'build up yourselves on your most holy faith,' and
the means of discharging that duty are set forth in the words which
follow it; as being 'Praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in
the love of God, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

Throughout the Pauline letters we have frequent references to
_edifying_, a phrase which has been so vulgarised by much handling that
its great meaning has been all but lost, but which still, rightly
understood, presents the Christian life as one continuous effort after
developing Christian character. Taking into view the whole of the
apostolic references to this continuous process of building, we cannot
but recognise that it all begins with the act of faith which brings men
into immediate contact and vital union with Jesus Christ, and which is,
if anything that a man does is, the act of his very inmost self passing
out of its own isolation and resting itself on Jesus. It is by the vital
and individual act of faith that any soul escapes from the dreary
isolation of being a stranger and a foreigner, wandering, homeless and
solitary, and finds through Jesus fellowship, an elder Brother, a
Father, and a home populous with many brethren. But whilst faith is the
condition of beginning the Christian life, which is the only real life,
that life has