should have allied himself to Jesus Christ, who is the foundation; and
should be in a position to draw from Him all the power, and to feel
raying out from Him all the impulses, and lovingly to discern in Him all
the characteristics, which make Him a pattern for all men in their
building.

The first course of stone that we lay is Faith; and that course is, as
it were, mortised into the foundation, the living Rock. He that builds
on Christ cannot build but by faith. The two representations are
complementary to one another, the one, which represents Jesus Christ as
the foundation, stating the ultimate fact, and the other, which
represents faith as the foundation, stating the condition on which we
come into vital contact with Christ Himself.

Then, further, in this great thought of the Christian life being
substantially a building up of oneself on Jesus is implied the need for
continuous labour. You cannot build up a house in half an hour. You
cannot do it, as the old fable told us that Orpheus did, by music, or by
wishing. There must be dogged, hard, continuous, life-long effort if
there is to be this building up. No man becomes a saint _per saltum_. No
man makes a character at a flash. The stones are actions; the mortar is
that mystical, awful thing, habit; and deeds cemented together by custom
rise into that stately dwelling-place in which God abides. So, there is
to be a life-long work in character, gradually rearing it into His
likeness.

The metaphor also carries with it the idea of orderly progression. There
are a number of other New Testament emblems which set forth this notion
of the true Christian ideal as being continual growth. For instance,
'first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,'
represents it as resembling vegetable growth, while elsewhere it is
likened to the growth of the human body. Both of these are beautiful
images, in that they suggest that such progressive advancement is the
natural consequence of life; and is in one aspect effortless and
instinctive.

But then you have to supplement that emblem with others, and there comes
in sharp contrast to it the metaphor which represents the Christian
progress as being warfare. There the element of resistance is
emphasised, and the thought is brought out that progress is to be made
in spite of strong antagonisms, partly to be found in external
circumstances, and partly to be found in our own treacherous selves. The
growth of the corn